diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/default.nix
index 12e1989525d..4388cbc5b3d 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/default.nix
@@ -1,43 +1,9 @@
-{ lib, pythonPackages, fetchurl, libxslt, docbook5_xsl, openssh }:
-
-pythonPackages.buildPythonPackage rec {
-  name = "nixops-1.3";
-  namePrefix = "";
+{ callPackage, fetchurl }:
 
+callPackage ./generic.nix (rec {
+  version = "1.3";
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = "http://nixos.org/releases/nixops/${name}/${name}.tar.bz2";
+    url = "http://nixos.org/releases/nixops/nixops/nixops-${version}.tar.bz2";
     sha256 = "d80b0fe3bb31bb84a8545f9ea804ec8137172c8df44f03326ed7639e5a4bad55";
   };
-
-  buildInputs = [ libxslt ];
-
-  pythonPath =
-    [ pythonPackages.prettytable
-      pythonPackages.boto
-      pythonPackages.sqlite3
-      pythonPackages.hetzner
-      pythonPackages.libcloud
-    ];
-
-  doCheck = false;
-
-  postInstall =
-    ''
-      make -C doc/manual install nixops.1 docbookxsl=${docbook5_xsl}/xml/xsl/docbook \
-        docdir=$out/share/doc/nixops mandir=$out/share/man
-
-      mkdir -p $out/share/nix/nixops
-      cp -av "nix/"* $out/share/nix/nixops
-
-      # Add openssh to nixops' PATH. On some platforms, e.g. CentOS and RHEL
-      # the version of openssh is causing errors when have big networks (40+)
-      wrapProgram $out/bin/nixops --prefix PATH : "${openssh}/bin"
-    '';
-
-  meta = {
-    homepage = https://github.com/NixOS/nixops;
-    description = "NixOS cloud provisioning and deployment tool";
-    maintainers = [ lib.maintainers.eelco lib.maintainers.rob ];
-    platforms = lib.platforms.unix;
-  };
-}
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/generic.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/generic.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b9b9eee8d16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/generic.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+{ lib, pythonPackages, fetchurl, libxslt, docbook5_xsl, openssh
+# version args
+, src, version
+}:
+
+pythonPackages.buildPythonPackage {
+  name = "nixops-${version}";
+  namePrefix = "";
+
+  src = src;
+
+  buildInputs = [ libxslt ];
+
+  pythonPath =
+    [ pythonPackages.prettytable
+      pythonPackages.boto
+      pythonPackages.sqlite3
+      pythonPackages.hetzner
+      pythonPackages.libcloud
+    ];
+
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  postInstall =
+    ''
+      make -C doc/manual install nixops.1 docbookxsl=${docbook5_xsl}/xml/xsl/docbook \
+        docdir=$out/share/doc/nixops mandir=$out/share/man
+
+      mkdir -p $out/share/nix/nixops
+      cp -av "nix/"* $out/share/nix/nixops
+
+      # Add openssh to nixops' PATH. On some platforms, e.g. CentOS and RHEL
+      # the version of openssh is causing errors when have big networks (40+)
+      wrapProgram $out/bin/nixops --prefix PATH : "${openssh}/bin"
+    '';
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = https://github.com/NixOS/nixops;
+    description = "NixOS cloud provisioning and deployment tool";
+    maintainers = [ lib.maintainers.eelco lib.maintainers.rob ];
+    platforms = lib.platforms.unix;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/unstable.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/unstable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..40d56518b3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nixops/unstable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{ callPackage, fetchurl }:
+
+callPackage ./generic.nix (rec {
+  version = "2015-12-18";
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "http://hydra.nixos.org/build/29118371/download/2/nixops-1.3.1pre1673_a0d5681.tar.bz2";
+    sha256 = "177lnlfz32crcc0gjmh1gn5y2xs142kmb4b68k4raxcxxw118kw9";
+  };
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index d0d2f211548..c8781b13329 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -15407,7 +15407,7 @@ let
 
   nixops = callPackage ../tools/package-management/nixops { };
 
-  nixopsUnstable = nixops;
+  nixopsUnstable = callPackage ../tools/package-management/nixops/unstable.nix { };
 
   nixui = callPackage ../tools/package-management/nixui { node_webkit = nwjs_0_12; };