diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/default.nix
index c8482200393..79b69fabfae 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/default.nix
@@ -73,12 +73,17 @@ rec {
     inherit genericStdenv gccWrapper;
   };
 
+  # MinGW/MSYS standard environment.
+  stdenvMinGW = (import ./mingw) {
+    inherit system;
+  };
 
   # Select the appropriate stdenv for the platform `system'.
   stdenv =
     if system == "i686-linux" then stdenvLinux
     else if system == "i686-freebsd" then stdenvFreeBSD
     else if system == "i686-cygwin" then stdenvCygwin
+    else if system == "i686-msys" then stdenvMinGW
     else if system == "powerpc-darwin" then stdenvDarwin
     else if system == "i686-darwin" then stdenvNix
     else stdenvNative;
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..54970acce4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/**
+ * Initial stdenv should have:
+ * - shell
+ * - mkdir
+ * - gnu tar
+ * - curl
+ */
+{system} :
+
+let {
+  /**
+   * Initial standard environment based on native cygwin tools.
+   */
+  stdenvInit1 =
+    import ./simple-stdenv {
+      inherit system;
+      name = "stdenv-initial-cygwin";
+      shell = "/bin/bash";
+      path = ["/usr/bin" "/bin"];
+    };
+
+  /**
+   * Initial standard environment based on MSYS tools.
+   * From this point, cygwin should no longer by involved.
+   */
+  stdenvInit2 =
+    import ./simple-stdenv {
+      name = "stdenv-initial-msys";
+      inherit system;
+      shell = msys + /bin/sh + ".exe";
+      path = [msys];
+
+      /**
+       * Instruct MSYS to change the uname
+       * The PATH manipulation in /etc/profile is not relevant for now:
+       * This will be overridden anyway.
+       */
+      extraEnv = {
+        MSYSTEM = "MSYS";
+      };
+    };
+
+  /**
+   * Fetchurl, based on native curl in stdenvInit1
+   */
+  fetchurl =
+    import ../../build-support/fetchurl {
+      stdenv = stdenvInit1;
+
+      /**
+       * use native curl in Cygwin. We could consider to use curl.exe,
+       * which is widely available (or we could bootstrap it ourselves)
+       */
+      curl = null;
+    };
+
+  /**
+   * MSYS, installed using stdenvInit1
+   */
+  msys =
+    stdenvInit1.mkDerivation {
+      name = "msys-1.0.11";
+      builder = ./msys-builder.sh;
+      src = fetchurl {
+        url = http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/martin/msys-1.0.11.tar.gz;
+        md5 = "7e76eec10a205ea63ada6a4e834cc468";
+      };
+    };
+
+  /**
+   * Complete standard environment
+   */
+  body =
+    import ../generic {
+      name = "stdenv-mingw";
+      # preHook = ./prehook.sh;
+      initialPath = [msys];
+      stdenv = stdenvInit2;
+      shell = msys + /bin/sh + ".exe";
+      gcc = msys;
+    };
+}
+
+
+     /* 
+
+  mingw = {
+    langC = true;
+    langCC = true;
+    langF77 = true;
+  };
+
+    gcc =
+      import ../../build-support/gcc-wrapper {
+        nativeTools = false;
+        nativeGlibc = false;
+        stdenv = stdenvInitial;
+        binutils = msys;
+        gcc = mingw;
+        shell = msys + /bin/sh;
+      }; */
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/msys-builder.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/msys-builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bfbe656bb11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/msys-builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+source $stdenv/setup
+
+mkdir $out
+cd $out
+tar zxvf $src
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/simple-stdenv/builder.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/simple-stdenv/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c59e2ad0620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/simple-stdenv/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+setupPath=
+for i in $initialPath; do
+  setupPath=$setupPath${setupPath:+:}$i
+done
+
+PATH=$setupPath
+echo $setupPath
+
+mkdir $out
+cat > $out/setup <<EOF
+PATH=$setupPath
+export PATH
+
+SHELL=$shell
+export SHELL
+
+# make fetchurl usable
+header() {
+  echo "\$1"
+}
+
+stopNest() {
+  echo "Nothing to do"
+}
+EOF
+chmod +x $out/setup
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/simple-stdenv/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/simple-stdenv/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3882afbadc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/mingw/simple-stdenv/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Here we construct an absolutely trivial `initial' standard
+# environment.  It's not actually a functional stdenv, since there is
+# not necessarily a working C compiler.  We need this to build
+# gcc-wrapper et al. for the native stdenv.
+
+{system, name, shell, path, extraEnv ? {}}:
+
+let {
+  body = 
+    derivation {
+      inherit system name;
+      initialPath = path;
+      builder = shell;
+      args = ["-e" ./builder.sh];
+    }
+
+    // {
+      mkDerivation = attrs:
+        derivation ((removeAttrs attrs ["meta"]) // {
+          builder = shell;
+          args = ["-e" attrs.builder];
+          stdenv = body;
+          system = body.system;
+        }
+
+        // extraEnv);
+
+      inherit shell;
+    };
+}