diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/eclipse/build_with_jdk_compiler b/pkgs/applications/editors/eclipse/build_with_jdk_compiler
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bac6fc035f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/eclipse/build_with_jdk_compiler
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+--- a/build.xml	2008-03-02 14:34:05.000000000 +0100
++++ b/build.xml	2008-03-02 14:34:57.000000000 +0100
+@@ -291,19 +291,6 @@
+ 		</condition>
+ 		<property name="bootclasspath" refid="default.bootclasspath" />
+ 
+-		<!--set the compiler and compiler arguments-->
+-		<!--the default compiler is set to the one used by eclipse rel. eng. -->
+-		<condition property="build.compiler" value="org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter">
+-			<available file="${basedir}/ecj.jar" />
+-		</condition>
+-		<fail message="The Eclipse compiler (ecj.jar) cannot be found.">
+-			<condition>
+-				<not>
+-					<equals arg1="${build.compiler}" arg2="org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter" />
+-				</not>
+-			</condition>
+-		</fail>
+-
+ 		<property name="compilerArg" value="-enableJavadoc -encoding ISO-8859-1" />
+ 		<property name="javacSource" value="1.6" />
+ 		<property name="javacTarget" value="1.6" />
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/eclipse/eclipse_classic.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/eclipse/eclipse_classic.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9dba9e6a791
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/eclipse/eclipse_classic.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+args: with args;
+let arch = if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then "x86_64"
+            else if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then "x86"
+            else throw "not supported system";
+in
+args.stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  #name = "eclipse-classic-3.4M5";
+  name = "eclipse-classic-3.3.1.1";
+
+  unpackPhase = "unzip \$src;     set -x ";
+  buildInputs = [ unzip jdk gtk glib libXtst ant  makeWrapper];
+
+
+  patches=./build_with_jdk_compiler;
+
+  buildPhase = "./build -os linux -ws gtk -arch ${arch}";
+  
+  libraries = [gtk glib libXtst];
+
+  installPhase = "
+    t=\$out/share/${name}
+    ensureDir \$t \$out/bin
+    cd result
+    tar xfz linux-gtk-*.tar.gz
+    mv eclipse \$out
+    "
+    #copied from other eclipse expressions
+    +" rpath=
+    for i in \$libraries; do
+        rpath=\$rpath\${rpath:+:}\$i/lib
+    done
+    find \$out \\( -type f -a -perm +0100 \\) \\
+        -print \\
+        -exec patchelf --interpreter \"$(cat \$NIX_GCC/nix-support/dynamic-linker)\" \\
+        --set-rpath \"\$rpath\" {} \\;
+
+    # Make a wrapper script so that the proper JDK is found.
+    makeWrapper \$out/eclipse/eclipse \$out/bin/eclipse \\
+        --prefix PATH \":\" \"\$jdk/bin\" \\
+        --prefix LD_LIBRARY_PATH \":\" \"\$rpath\"
+  ";
+
+  src = args.fetchurl {
+    #url = http://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/eclipse/eclipse/downloads/drops/S-3.4M5-200802071530/eclipse-sourceBuild-srcIncluded-3.4M5.zip;
+    #sha256 = "1w6fbpwkys65whygc045556772asggj24x8assnaba6nl70z00az";
+
+    url = http://download.micromata.de/eclipse/eclipse/downloads/drops/R-3.3.1.1-200710231652/eclipse-sourceBuild-srcIncluded-3.3.1.1.zip;
+    sha256 = "0n56i7ml816f839704qlkgs5ahl0iqgwc80kjq7n7g5rl9a4vhp4";
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 4e8ef444163..c822a7d9cb9 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -4761,6 +4761,14 @@ rec {
  
   dvdplusrwtools = dvdplusrwtoolsFun null;
 
+  # building eclipise from source 
+  # experimental tested on x86_64-linux only
+  eclipse_classic_src = import ../applications/editors/eclipse/eclipse_classic.nix {
+      inherit fetchurl stdenv makeWrapper jdk unzip ant;
+      inherit (gtkLibs) gtk glib;
+      inherit (xlibs) libXtst;
+  };
+
   eclipse = plugins:
     import ../applications/editors/eclipse {
       inherit fetchurl stdenv makeWrapper jdk;