diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/opera/builder.sh b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/opera/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a0dadf07a9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/opera/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+source $stdenv/setup
+
+buildPhase=buildPhase
+buildPhase() {
+    true
+}
+
+installPhase=installPhase
+installPhase() {
+    # Note: the "no" is because the install scripts asks whether we
+    # want to install icons in some system-wide directories.
+    echo no | ./install.sh --prefix=$out
+
+    glibc=$(cat $NIX_GCC/nix-support/orig-glibc)
+
+    rpath=/no-such-path
+    for i in $libPath; do
+        rpath="$rpath:$i/lib"
+    done
+
+    # !!! ugh, should fix this eventually; just make a normal gcc dependency
+    gcc=$(cat $NIX_GCC/nix-support/orig-gcc)
+    rpath="$rpath:$gcc/lib"
+    
+    for i in $out/lib/opera/*/opera $out/lib/opera/plugins/opera*; do
+        patchelf \
+            --set-interpreter "$glibc/lib/ld-linux.so.2" \
+            --set-rpath "$rpath" \
+            "$i"
+    done
+}
+
+genericBuild
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/opera/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/opera/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f51b1f5cb28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/opera/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl, qt, zlib, libX11, motif ? null, libXt ? null, libXext ? null}:
+
+assert stdenv.system == "i686-linux";
+assert motif != null -> libXt != null && libXext != null;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "opera-8.51-20051114.6";
+
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = ftp://ftp.tiscali.nl/pub/mirrors/opera/linux/851/final/en/i386/opera-8.51-20051114.6-shared-qt.i386-en.tar.bz2;
+    md5 = "bf930c45023035ee4258b13b707176c2";
+  };
+
+  libPath = [qt zlib libX11 motif libXt libXext];
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
index fe11dd3d10b..8deaac6d0f4 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
@@ -1883,6 +1883,13 @@ rec {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv ncurses openssl boehmgc gettext;
   };
 
+  opera = import ../applications/networking/browsers/opera {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv zlib;
+    inherit (xlibs) libX11 libXt libXext;
+    qt = qt3;
+    motif = lesstif;
+  };
+
   ethereal = (import ../applications/networking/sniffers/ethereal) {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv perl pkgconfig libpcap;
     inherit (gtkLibs) glib;