diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/boot.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/boot.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..edaaac47330
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/boot.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{cabal, gmp}:
+
+cabal.mkDerivation (self : {
+  pname = "haddock";
+  version = "0.9";
+  name = self.fname;
+  sha256 = "beefd4a6da577978e7a79cabba60970accc5cd48fbb04c424a6b36ace3a9f8d0";
+  extraBuildInputs = [gmp];
+  meta = {
+    description = "a tool for automatically generating documentation from annotated Haskell source code";
+  };
+
+  # we are using this for booting, and ghc-6.4.2 doesn't have full
+  # Cabal support, therefore we have to override some things:
+  configurePhase = ''
+    sed -i -e 's|cabal-version:.*$|cabal-version: >= 1.0|' \
+           -e '/^flag/,+3d' \
+           -e '/^ *if/,+2d' \
+           -e '/^ *else/d' \
+           -e 's|^    ||' \
+           -e 's|^  ||' \
+           -e '/^executable/,$ { /^ *$/d }' \
+           -e '/^build-depends/d' \
+           -e '/data-files/ibuild-depends: base, haskell98' \
+           haddock.cabal
+    cp dist/build/haddock/haddock-tmp/*.hs src
+    ghc --make -o Setup Setup.lhs
+    ./Setup configure --verbose --prefix="$out"
+  '';
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    ./Setup copy
+  '';
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-0.9.nix
similarity index 66%
rename from pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/default.nix
rename to pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-0.9.nix
index 86d07b240a5..8dddc59d96e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-0.9.nix
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 
 cabal.mkDerivation (self : {
   pname = "haddock";
-  version = "2.0.0.0";
+  version = "0.9";
   name = self.fname;
-  sha256 = "a2ea5bdc127bc8b189a8d869f582ec774fea0933e7f5ca89549a6c142b9993df";
+  sha256 = "beefd4a6da577978e7a79cabba60970accc5cd48fbb04c424a6b36ace3a9f8d0";
   meta = {
     description = "a tool for automatically generating documentation from annotated Haskell source code";
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-2.1.0.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-2.1.0.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f170cbf7c26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-2.1.0.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{cabal}:
+
+cabal.mkDerivation (self : {
+  pname = "haddock";
+  version = "2.1.0";
+  name = self.fname;
+  sha256 = "1b67869e493e56366207a128949998851f975d821e0952c2c717840d2eadaca7";
+  meta = {
+    description = "a tool for automatically generating documentation from annotated Haskell source code";
+  };
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 1b2a1498747..0626215fde1 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1538,6 +1538,7 @@ let pkgs = rec {
   ghc683 = import ../development/compilers/ghc-6.8/ghc-6.8.3.nix {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv readline perl gmp ncurses m4;
     ghc = ghcboot;
+    haddock = haddockboot;
   };
 
   ghc69snapshot = import ../development/compilers/ghc-6.8/head.nix {
@@ -2156,10 +2157,22 @@ let pkgs = rec {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   };
 
-  haddock = import ../development/tools/documentation/haddock {
+  # used to bootstrap ghc with
+  haddockboot = lowPrio (appendToName "boot" (import ../development/tools/documentation/haddock/boot.nix {
+    inherit gmp;
+    cabal = cabalboot;
+  }));
+
+  # old version of haddock, still more stable than 2.0
+  haddock09 = import ../development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-0.9.nix {
     inherit cabal;
   };
 
+  # does not compile with ghc-6.8.3
+  haddock210 = import ../development/tools/documentation/haddock/haddock-2.1.0.nix {
+    cabal = cabal682;
+  };
+
   hsc2hs = import ../development/tools/misc/hsc2hs {
     inherit bleedingEdgeRepos stdenv;
     ghc = ghcsAndLibs.ghc68.ghc;
@@ -3658,13 +3671,16 @@ let pkgs = rec {
     ghc = ghc682;
   };
 
-  # cabal is a utility function to build cabal-based
-  # Haskell packages
   cabal683 = import ../development/libraries/haskell/cabal/cabal.nix {
     inherit stdenv fetchurl;
     ghc = ghc683;
   };
 
+  cabalboot = import ../development/libraries/haskell/cabal/cabal.nix {
+    inherit stdenv fetchurl;
+    ghc = ghcboot;
+  };
+
   cabal = cabal683;
 
   Crypto = import ../development/libraries/haskell/Crypto {