diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc-6.8/snapshot.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc-6.8/snapshot.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8258e45e6bba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc-6.8/snapshot.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl, readline, ghc, perl, m4, gmp, ncurses}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
+  name = "ghc-6.8.2.20080602";
+  homepage = "http://www.haskell.org/ghc";
+
+  src = map fetchurl [
+    { url    = "${homepage}/dist/stable/dist/${name}-src.tar.bz2";
+      sha256 = "06374d2a65671a21b4ce44a84333cedf4a5f5e0adbb837e8985c6b46b5de4249";
+    }
+    { url    = "${homepage}/dist/stable/dist/${name}-src-extralibs.tar.bz2";
+      sha256 = "0dfea592d6be5838fa7db85a65b7d38b97451b829afe3b03a790350a9591b470";
+    }
+  ];
+
+  buildInputs = [ghc readline perl m4 gmp];
+
+  # The setup hook is executed by other packages building with ghc.
+  # It then looks for package configurations that are available and
+  # build a package database on the fly.
+  setupHook = ./setup-hook.sh;
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "The Glasgow Haskell Compiler";
+  };
+
+  configureFlags=[
+    "--with-gmp-libraries=${gmp}/lib"
+    "--with-gmp-includes=${gmp}/include"
+    "--with-readline-libraries=${readline}/lib"
+    "--with-gcc=${gcc}/bin/gcc"
+  ];
+
+  preConfigure = "
+    # still requires a hack for ncurses
+    sed -i \"s|^\\\(ld-options.*$\\\)|\\\1 -L${ncurses}/lib|\" libraries/readline/readline.buildinfo.in
+  ";
+
+  inherit (stdenv) gcc;
+  inherit readline gmp ncurses;
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index df6d4c9552db..376958eb030d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1513,6 +1513,11 @@ let pkgs = rec {
     ghc = ghcboot;
   };
 
+  ghc683snapshot = import ../development/compilers/ghc-6.8/snapshot.nix {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv readline perl gmp ncurses m4;
+    ghc = ghcboot;
+  };
+
   ghc661 = import ../development/compilers/ghc-6.6.1 {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv readline perl58 gmp ncurses m4;
     ghc = ghcboot;