diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/gnome.nix b/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/gnome.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..616c8203601
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/gnome.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{ fetchurl }:
+
+{ project, major, minor, patchlevel, extension ? "bz2", sha256 }:
+
+let
+  baseVersion = "${major}.${minor}";
+  version = baseVersion + (if patchlevel != null then ".${patchlevel}" else "");
+  name = "${project}-${version}";
+in
+
+(fetchurl {
+  url = "mirror://gnome/sources/${project}/${baseVersion}/${name}.tar.${extension}";
+  inherit sha256;
+}) // {
+  inherit major minor patchlevel baseVersion version;
+  pkgname = name;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index e9793292d62..d614fe05d36 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -289,6 +289,9 @@ let
     inherit curl stdenv;
   };
 
+  # A wrapper around fetchurl that generates miror://gnome URLs automatically
+  fetchurl_gnome = callPackage ../build-support/fetchurl/gnome.nix { };
+
   # fetchurlBoot is used for curl and its dependencies in order to
   # prevent a cyclic dependency (curl depends on curl.tar.bz2,
   # curl.tar.bz2 depends on fetchurl, fetchurl depends on curl).  It