diff --git a/pkgs/applications/version-management/darcs/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/version-management/darcs/default.nix
index 8a2e80f2401..b14793f867f 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/version-management/darcs/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/version-management/darcs/default.nix
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, ghc, zlib, ncurses}:
+{stdenv, fetchurl, ghc, zlib, ncurses, curl}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "darcs-1.0.3";
+  name = "darcs-1.0.5";
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = http://abridgegame.org/darcs/darcs-1.0.3.tar.gz;
-    md5 = "d3fc141d1c91044e45ae74b74fc54728";
+    url = http://abridgegame.org/darcs/darcs-1.0.5.tar.gz;
+    md5 = "9a9a4f84ed5b6258f7ab321713adf20b";
   };
-  buildInputs = [ghc zlib ncurses];
+  buildInputs = [ghc zlib ncurses curl];
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/fetchdarcs/builder.sh b/pkgs/build-support/fetchdarcs/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3ea36f57f99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/fetchdarcs/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+source $stdenv/setup
+
+tagtext=""
+tagflags=""
+if test -n "$tag"; then
+    tagtext="(tag $tag) "
+    tagflags="--tag=$tag"
+fi
+
+header "getting $url ${tagtext}into $out"
+
+darcs get --no-pristine-tree $tagflags "$url" "$out"
+# remove metadata, because it can change
+rm -rf "$out/_darcs"
+
+actual=$(nix-hash $out)
+if test "$actual" != "$outputHash"; then
+    echo "hash is $actual, expected $outputHash" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+stopNest
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/fetchdarcs/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/fetchdarcs/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..efb37bea522
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/fetchdarcs/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{stdenv, darcs, nix}: {url, tag ? null, md5}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "fetchdarcs";
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+  buildInputs = [darcs nix];
+
+  # Nix <= 0.7 compatibility.
+  id = md5;
+
+  outputHashAlgo = "md5";
+  outputHashMode = "recursive";
+  outputHash = md5;
+  
+  inherit url tag;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
index 59d220e5fad..9267e3ae8dd 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ rec {
     inherit stdenv subversion nix;
   };
 
+  fetchdarcs = (import ../build-support/fetchdarcs) {
+    inherit stdenv darcs nix;
+  };
+
   substituter = ../build-support/substitute/substitute.sh;
 
   makeWrapper = ../build-support/make-wrapper/make-wrapper.sh;
@@ -1271,7 +1275,7 @@ rec {
   uulib = import ../development/libraries/haskell/uulib {
     inherit stdenv fetchurl ghc;
   };
-  
+
   ### DEVELOPMENT / PERL MODULES
 
   perlBerkeleyDB = import ../development/perl-modules/BerkeleyDB {
@@ -1771,7 +1775,7 @@ rec {
   };
 
   darcs = import ../applications/version-management/darcs {
-    inherit fetchurl stdenv ghc zlib ncurses;
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv ghc zlib ncurses curl;
   };
 
   pan = (import ../applications/networking/newsreaders/pan) {