diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/offline-distutils/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/offline-distutils/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2ed41b08bb71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/offline-distutils/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Used during module installation to prevent easy_install and python
+# setup.py install/test from downloading
+
+{ stdenv, python }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "python-offline-distutils-${python.version}";
+
+  buildInputs = [ python ];
+
+  unpackPhase = "true";
+  installPhase = ''
+    dst="$out/lib/${python.libPrefix}"
+    ensureDir $dst/distutils
+    ln -s ${python}/lib/${python.libPrefix}/distutils/* $dst/distutils/
+    cat <<EOF > $dst/distutils/distutils.cfg
+[easy_install]
+allow-hosts = None
+EOF
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 761f63d4be6d..318ce39022e2 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ let pythonPackages = python.modules // rec {
     inherit python wrapPython;
   };
 
+  offlineDistutils = import ../development/python-modules/offline-distutils {
+    inherit (pkgs) stdenv;
+    inherit python;
+  };
 
   ipython = import ../shells/ipython {
     inherit (pkgs) stdenv fetchurl;