diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/builder.sh b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5878730e4023
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+. $stdenv/setup
+
+preConfigure() {
+    cat mail/config/mozconfig > .mozconfig
+    cat >> .mozconfig <<EOF
+ac_add_options --disable-debug
+ac_add_options --enable-optimize=-O2
+ac_add_options --disable-ldap
+ac_add_options --enable-xft
+ac_add_options --enable-swg
+ac_add_options --enable-strip
+ac_add_options --enable-default-toolkit=gtk2
+ac_add_options --enable-single-profile
+ac_add_options --prefix=$out
+EOF
+}
+
+preConfigure=preConfigure
+
+makeFlags="-f client.mk build"
+
+genericBuild
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4af7937c45af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gtk, perl, zip, libIDL}:
+
+assert pkgconfig != null && gtk != null && perl != null
+  && zip != null && libIDL != null;
+
+# !!! assert libIDL.glib == gtk.glib;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "thunderbird-code-0.8";
+
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = http://www.artfiles.org/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/0.8/thunderbird-source-0.8.tar.bz2;
+    md5 = "76de1827d66ac482cfc4dd32e7b1e257";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [pkgconfig gtk perl zip libIDL];
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/linker.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/linker.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..20e26de80fff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/linker.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{name, stdenv, dir, files}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  inherit name dir files;
+  builder = ./linker.sh;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/linker.sh b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/linker.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b79e2039bfec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/linker.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+. $stdenv/setup
+
+mkdir $out
+for file in $files
+do
+  subdir=`dirname $file`
+  mkdir -p $out/$subdir
+  ln -s $dir/$file $out/$file
+done
diff --git a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
index c74bfdc34eec..c368d48a8a58 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
@@ -754,6 +754,19 @@ rec {
     inherit (gnome) libIDL;
   };
 
+  thunderbird = 
+    (import ../applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird/linker.nix) {
+      name = "thunderbird-0.8";
+      dir =
+        (import ../applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird) {
+          inherit fetchurl stdenv pkgconfig perl zip;
+          inherit (gtkLibs) gtk;
+          inherit (gnome) libIDL;
+        };
+      files = ["bin/thunderbird"];
+      inherit stdenv;
+    };
+
   lynx = (import ../applications/networking/browsers/lynx) {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv ncurses openssl;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix b/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix
index 74ad4d80cbfd..47d99943a7d1 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ let {
     pan
     sylpheed
     firefox
+    thunderbird
     lynx
     MPlayer
     MPlayerPlugin