diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/boot610.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/boot610.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..679f2c94dd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/boot610.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl, perl, editline, ncurses, gmp, makeWrapper}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  version = "6.10.1";
+
+  name = "ghc-${version}";
+
+  src =
+    if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then
+      fetchurl {
+        # libedit .so.0
+        url = "http://haskell.org/ghc/dist/${version}/ghc-${version}-i386-unknown-linux.tar.bz2";
+        sha256 = "18l0vwlf7y86s65klpdvz4ccp8kydvcmyh03c86hld8jvx16q7zz";
+      }
+    else if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then
+      fetchurl {
+        # libedit .so.0
+        url = "http://haskell.org/ghc/dist/${version}/ghc-${version}-x86_64-unknown-linux.tar.bz2";
+        sha256 = "14jvvn333i36wm7mmvi47jr93f5hxrw1h2dpjvqql0rp00svhzzg";
+      }
+    else if stdenv.system == "i686-darwin" then
+      fetchurl {
+        # update
+        # untested
+      }
+    else throw "cannot bootstrap GHC on this platform"; 
+
+  buildInputs = [perl makeWrapper];
+
+  # On Linux, use patchelf to modify the executables so that they can
+  # find editline/gmp.
+  postUnpack = (if stdenv.isLinux then ''
+    find . -type f -perm +100 \
+        -exec patchelf --interpreter "$(cat $NIX_GCC/nix-support/dynamic-linker)" \
+        --set-rpath "${editline}/lib:${ncurses}/lib:${gmp}/lib" {} \;
+    for prog in strip ranlib; do
+      find . -name "setup-config" -exec sed -i "s@/usr/bin/$prog@$(type -p $prog)@g" {} \;
+    done
+  '' else "")
+  + ''
+    mkdir "$TMP/bin"
+    for i in strip; do
+      echo '#!/bin/sh' >> "$TMP/bin/$i"
+      chmod +x "$TMP/bin/$i"
+      PATH="$TMP/bin:$PATH"
+    done
+  ''
+  
+  ;
+
+  configurePhase = ''
+    ./configure --prefix=$out --with-gmp-libraries=${gmp}/lib --with-gmp-includes=${gmp}/include
+  '';
+  # Stripping combined with patchelf breaks the executables (they die
+  # with a segfault or the kernel even refuses the execve). (NIXPKGS-85)
+  dontStrip = true;
+
+  # The binaries for Darwin use frameworks, so fake those frameworks,
+  # and create some wrapper scripts that set DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH so
+  # that the executables work with no special setup.
+  postInstall = (if stdenv.isDarwin then "
+
+    ensureDir $out/frameworks/GMP.framework/Versions/A
+    ln -s ${gmp}/lib/libgmp.dylib $out/frameworks/GMP.framework/GMP
+    ln -s ${gmp}/lib/libgmp.dylib $out/frameworks/GMP.framework/Versions/A/GMP
+    ensureDir $out/frameworks/GNUeditline.framework/Versions/A
+    ln -s ${editline}/lib/libeditline.dylib $out/frameworks/GNUeditline.framework/GNUeditline
+    ln -s ${editline}/lib/libeditline.dylib $out/frameworks/GNUeditline.framework/Versions/A/GNUeditline
+
+    mv $out/bin $out/bin-orig
+    mkdir $out/bin
+    for i in $(cd $out/bin-orig && ls); do
+        echo \"#! $SHELL -e\" >> $out/bin/$i
+        echo \"DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH=$out/frameworks exec $out/bin-orig/$i -framework-path $out/frameworks \\\"\\$@\\\"\" >> $out/bin/$i
+        chmod +x $out/bin/$i
+    done
+
+  " else "")
+  +
+  ''
+  # the installed ghc executable segfaults, maybe some stripping or such has been done somewhere?
+  # Just copy teh version from the $TMP dir over
+  cp ghc/dist-stage2/build/ghc/ghc $out/lib/ghc-${version}/ghc
+  # bah, the passing gmp doesn't work, so let's add it to the final package.conf in a quick but dirty way
+  sed -i "s@^\(.*pkgName = PackageName \"rts\".*\libraryDirs = \\[\)\(.*\)@\\1\"${gmp}/lib\",\2@" $out/lib/ghc-${version}/package.conf
+
+  wrapProgram $out/bin/ghc --set LDPATH "${gmp}/lib"
+  # sanity check, can ghc create executables?
+  cd $TMP
+  mkdir test-ghc; cd test-ghc
+  cat > main.hs << EOF
+  module Main where
+  main = putStrLn "yes"
+  EOF
+  $out/bin/ghc --make main.hs
+  echo compilation ok
+  [ $(./main) == "yes" ]
+  ''
+  ;
+
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 7310bb35e8a..904c90e5f36 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1715,6 +1715,11 @@ let
     perl = perl58;
   }));
 
+  ghcboot610 = lowPrio (appendToName "boot" (import ../development/compilers/ghc/boot610.nix {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv ncurses gmp editline makeWrapper;
+    # readline = if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then readline4 else readline;
+    perl = perl58;
+  }));
   /*
   ghcWrapper = assert uulib.ghc == ghc;
     import ../development/compilers/ghc-wrapper {