diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/s6-portable-utils/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/s6-portable-utils/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f8e7dfaddc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/s6-portable-utils/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, skalibs }:
+
+let
+
+  version = "1.0.3.2";
+
+in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+
+  name = "s6-portable-utils-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "http://www.skarnet.org/software/s6-portable-utils/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "040nmls7qbgw8yn502lym4kgqh5zxr2ks734bqajpi2ricnasvhl";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [ skalibs ];
+
+  sourceRoot = "admin/${name}";
+
+  configurePhase = ''
+    pushd conf-compile
+
+    printf "$out/bin"           > conf-install-command
+    printf "$out/libexec"       > conf-install-libexec
+
+    # let nix builder strip things, cross-platform
+    truncate --size 0 conf-stripbins
+    truncate --size 0 conf-striplibs
+
+    printf "${skalibs}/sysdeps"      > import
+    printf "%s" "${skalibs}/include" > path-include
+    printf "%s" "${skalibs}/lib"     > path-library
+
+    rm -f flag-slashpackage
+    touch flag-allstatic
+
+    popd
+  '';
+
+  preBuild = ''
+    patchShebangs src/sys
+  '';
+
+  preInstall = ''
+    mkdir -p "$out/libexec"
+  '';
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = http://www.skarnet.org/software/s6-portable-utils/;
+    description = "A set of tiny general Unix utilities optimized for simplicity and small size.";
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.isc;
+  };
+
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index d1f9487ab4a..5aa699805f3 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2051,6 +2051,8 @@ let
     ruby = ruby18;
   };
 
+  s6PortableUtils = callPackage ../tools/misc/s6-portable-utils { };
+
   sablotron = callPackage ../tools/text/xml/sablotron { };
 
   safecopy = callPackage ../tools/system/safecopy { };