diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/openvpn.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/openvpn.nix
index e3998b1e5b28..9dc88e61865d 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/openvpn.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/openvpn.nix
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ let
 
       serviceConfig.ExecStart = "@${openvpn}/sbin/openvpn openvpn --config ${configFile}";
       serviceConfig.Restart = "always";
+      serviceConfig.Type = "notify";
     };
 
 in
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/networking/openvpn/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/networking/openvpn/default.nix
index 1717b38a90a9..0ce22b7800ef 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/networking/openvpn/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/networking/openvpn/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, iproute, lzo, openssl, pam }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, iproute, lzo, openssl, pam, systemd }:
+
+with stdenv.lib;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "openvpn-2.3.3";
@@ -8,7 +10,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "04xiwim56sb1vis93k9hhm1s29jdrlq7i2fa07jncnhh653d29gh";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ iproute lzo openssl pam ];
+  patches = optional stdenv.isLinux ./systemd-notify.patch;
+
+  buildInputs = [ iproute lzo openssl pam ] ++ optional stdenv.isLinux systemd;
 
   configureFlags = ''
     --enable-password-save
@@ -31,6 +35,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = optionalString stdenv.isLinux "-lsystemd-daemon"; # hacky
+
   meta = {
     description = "A robust and highly flexible tunneling application";
     homepage = http://openvpn.net/;
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/networking/openvpn/systemd-notify.patch b/pkgs/tools/networking/openvpn/systemd-notify.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9291f7a46642
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/networking/openvpn/systemd-notify.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+diff -ru -x '*~' openvpn-2.3.1-orig/src/openvpn/init.c openvpn-2.3.1/src/openvpn/init.c
+--- openvpn-2.3.1-orig/src/openvpn/init.c	2013-03-20 09:28:14.000000000 +0100
++++ openvpn-2.3.1/src/openvpn/init.c	2014-04-22 13:02:21.351026640 +0200
+@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@
+ 
+ #include "occ-inline.h"
+ 
++#include <systemd/sd-daemon.h>
++
+ static struct context *static_context; /* GLOBAL */
+ 
+ /*
+@@ -1241,6 +1243,9 @@
+ {
+   static const char message[] = "Initialization Sequence Completed";
+ 
++  /* Tell systemd we're ready. */
++  sd_notify(0, "READY=1");
++
+   /* If we delayed UID/GID downgrade or chroot, do it now */
+   do_uid_gid_chroot (c, true);
+