diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/2.5.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/2.5.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4cc6a68c9f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/2.5.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{ callPackage, fetchurl, ... } @ args:
+
+callPackage ./generic.nix (args // rec {
+  version = "2.5.0";
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "http://protobuf.googlecode.com/files/${version}.tar.bz2";
+    sha256 = "0xxn9gxhvsgzz2sgmihzf6pf75clr05mqj6218camwrwajpcbgqk";
+  };
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/2.6.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/2.6.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..72960b0dd6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/2.6.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{ callPackage, fetchFromGitHub, ... } @ args:
+
+callPackage ./generic.nix (args // rec {
+  version = "2.6.1";
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "google";
+    repo = "protobuf";
+    rev = "v${version}";
+    sha256 = "03df8zvx2sry3jz2x4pi3l32qyfqa7w8kj8jdbz30nzy0h7aa070";
+  };
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic.nix
similarity index 65%
rename from pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/default.nix
rename to pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic.nix
index bba8481780a..003ea703517 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic.nix
@@ -1,14 +1,20 @@
-{ fetchurl, stdenv, zlib }:
+{ stdenv, version, src
+, autoreconfHook, zlib, gtest
+, ...
+}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "protobuf-2.5.0";
+  name = "protobuf-${version}";
 
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "http://protobuf.googlecode.com/files/${name}.tar.bz2";
-    sha256 = "0xxn9gxhvsgzz2sgmihzf6pf75clr05mqj6218camwrwajpcbgqk";
-  };
+  inherit src;
 
-  buildInputs = [ zlib ];
+  postPatch = ''
+    rm -rf gtest
+    cp -r ${gtest.source} gtest
+    chmod -R a+w gtest
+  '';
+
+  buildInputs = [ autoreconfHook zlib ];
 
   doCheck = true;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index f4b0d392c7e..2fde2b6ff90 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -6963,7 +6963,9 @@ let
 
   postgis = callPackage ../development/libraries/postgis { };
 
-  protobuf = callPackage ../development/libraries/protobuf { };
+  protobuf = protobuf2_6;
+  protobuf2_6 = callPackage ../development/libraries/protobuf/2.6.nix { };
+  protobuf2_5 = callPackage ../development/libraries/protobuf/2.5.nix { };
 
   protobufc = callPackage ../development/libraries/protobufc { };