diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-repl/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-repl/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..648abe882c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-repl/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchgit, nix, readline, boehmgc }:
+
+with stdenv.lib;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "nix-repl-${getVersion nix}-${substring 0 7 src.rev}";
+
+  src = fetchgit {
+    url = https://github.com/edolstra/nix-repl.git;
+    rev = "81d658fe4afda234028cd4551e12491db4303957";
+    sha256 = "067mj8as99n0hkrr2qss3y3hnr8c5zy4n8bqx3z900n3j43cwzyc";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [ nix readline boehmgc ];
+
+  buildPhase = "true";
+
+  # FIXME: unfortunate cut&paste.
+  installPhase =
+    ''
+      mkdir -p $out/bin
+      g++ -O3 -Wall -std=c++0x \
+        -o $out/bin/nix-repl nix-repl.cc \
+        -I${nix}/include/nix -L${nix}/lib/nix \
+        -lformat -lutil -lstore -lexpr -lmain -lreadline -lgc
+    '';
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://github.com/edolstra/nix-repl;
+    description = "An interactive environment for evaluating and building Nix expressions";
+    maintainers = [ maintainers.eelco ];
+    license = licenses.gpl3;
+    platforms = nix.meta.platforms;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/default.nix
index 89cf2d1e00e..7b4bb3c6193 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/default.nix
@@ -69,5 +69,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     description = "The Nix Deployment System";
     homepage = http://nixos.org/;
     license = "LGPLv2+";
+    maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.eelco ];
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/unstable.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/unstable.nix
index 17e860f7d7c..ba0353e4507 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/unstable.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/unstable.nix
@@ -69,5 +69,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     description = "The Nix Deployment System";
     homepage = http://nixos.org/;
     license = "LGPLv2+";
+    maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.eelco ];
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index c27867cb055..5f1b2debdb4 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9798,6 +9798,8 @@ let
 
   nixops = callPackage ../tools/package-management/nixops { };
 
+  nix-repl = callPackage ../tools/package-management/nix-repl { };
+
   nut = callPackage ../applications/misc/nut { };
 
   solfege = callPackage ../misc/solfege {
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
index 1aae2ce4ee2..557203f9fb1 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
@@ -218,8 +218,6 @@ let
       ncat = linux;
       netcat = all;
       nfsUtils = linux;
-      nix = all;
-      nixUnstable = all;
       nmap = linux;
       nss_ldap = linux;
       nssmdns = linux;