diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/acrobat-reader/builder.sh b/pkgs/applications/misc/acrobat-reader/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..89774f26fb8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/acrobat-reader/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+. $stdenv/setup
+
+echo "unpacking $src..."
+tar xvfz $src
+
+mkdir $out
+
+echo "unpacking reader..."
+tar xvf ./COMMON.TAR -C $out
+tar xvf ./LINUXRDR.TAR -C $out
+
+glibc=$(cat $NIX_GCC/nix-support/orig-glibc)
+
+patchelf --interpreter $glibc/lib/ld-linux.so.* $out/Reader/intellinux/bin/acroread
+
+sed "s^REPLACE_ME^$out/Reader^" $out/bin/acroread.sh > $out/bin/acroread.sh.tmp
+echo "#! /bin/sh" > $out/bin/acroread.sh
+echo "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$libXt/lib:$libXp/lib:$libXext/lib:$libX11/lib" >> $out/bin/acroread.sh
+cat $out/bin/acroread.sh.tmp >> $out/bin/acroread.sh
+chmod 755 $out/bin/acroread.sh
+mv $out/bin/acroread.sh $out/bin/acroread
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/acrobat-reader/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/acrobat-reader/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ea4ea30a4726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/acrobat-reader/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl, patchelf, libXt, libXp, libXext, libX11}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "acrobat-reader-5.0.9";
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobatreader/unix/5.x/linux-509.tar.gz;
+    md5 = "53b7ca0fc83ab81214ba82050ce89c64";
+  };
+  buildInputs = [patchelf];
+  inherit libXt libXp libXext libX11;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
index 32e154bf0133..4382eff1c934 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
@@ -839,6 +839,11 @@ rec {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv wxGTK chmlib;
   };
 
+  acroread = (import ../applications/misc/acrobat-reader) {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv patchelf;
+    inherit (xlibs) libXt libXp libXext libX11;
+  };
+
   nxml = (import ../applications/editors/emacs/modes/nxml) {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   };