diff --git a/pkgs/servers/firebird/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/firebird/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ebacc84e8c6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/servers/firebird/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl, libedit, icu
+, superServer ? false
+, port ? 3050
+, serviceName ? "gds_db"
+}:
+
+/*
+   there are 3 ways to use firebird:
+   a) superserver 
+    - one process, one thread for each connection
+   b) classic 
+    - is built by default
+    - one process for each connection
+    - on linux direct io operations (?)
+   c) embedded.
+
+   manual says that you usually don't notice the difference between a and b.
+
+   I'm only interested in the embedder shared libary for now.
+   So everything isn't tested yet
+
+*/
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+
+  name = "firebird-2.3.1";
+
+  configureFlags =
+    [ "--with-serivec-port=${builtins.toString port}"
+      "--with-service-name=${serviceName}"
+      # "--with-system-icu"
+      # "--with-system-editline"
+    ]
+    ++ (stdenv.lib.optional superServer "--enable-superserver=true");
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = mirror://sourceforge/firebird/files/2.1.3-Release/Firebird-2.1.3.18185-0.tar.bz2;
+    sha256 = "0a7xy016r0j1f97cf2lww8fkz1vlvvghrgv9ffz2i6f7ppacniw0";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [libedit icu];
+
+  # TODO: Probably this hase to be tidied up..
+  # make install requires beeing. disabling the root checks
+  # dosen't work. Copying the files manually which can be found
+  # in ubuntu -dev -classic, -example packages:
+  # maybe some of those files can be removed again
+  installPhase = ''cp -r gen/firebird $out'';
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "firebird database engine";
+    homepage = http://www.firebirdnews.org;
+    license = ["IDPL" "Interbase-1.0"];
+    maintainers = [stdenv.lib.maintainers.marcweber];
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
+  };
+
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 7461fb284c6e..9c7c7db636bd 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -5756,6 +5756,10 @@ let
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   };
 
+  firebird = import ../servers/firebird {
+    inherit stdenv fetchurl icu libedit;
+  };
+
   ircdHybrid = import ../servers/irc/ircd-hybrid {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv openssl zlib;
   };