diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird-3.x/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird-3.x/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5381c65f5160
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/mailreaders/thunderbird-3.x/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, gtk, pango, perl, python, zip, libIDL
+, libjpeg, zlib, cairo, dbus, dbus_glib, bzip2
+, freetype, fontconfig, xulrunner
+, autoconf , libpng , alsaLib, sqlite, patchelf
+
+, # If you want the resulting program to call itself "Thunderbird"
+  # instead of "Mail", enable this option.  However, those
+  # binaries may not be distributed without permission from the
+  # Mozilla Foundation, see
+  # http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/trademarks/.
+  enableOfficialBranding ? false
+    
+}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "thunderbird-3.0beta2";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/3.0b2/source/thunderbird-3.0b2-source.tar.bz2";
+    sha256 = "17mlp0x6sf1v9w8vraln7mr566gvk84rxvxiwzhbdj2p0475zjqr";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [
+    pkgconfig gtk perl zip libIDL libjpeg zlib cairo bzip2
+    python dbus dbus_glib pango freetype fontconfig autoconf
+    libpng alsaLib sqlite patchelf
+  ];
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [xulrunner];
+
+  preUnpack = "mkdir thunderbird; cd thunderbird;";
+  setSourceRoot = "export sourceRoot=.;";
+  preConfigure = ''
+    for i in $(find . -name configure.in); do echo $i; (cd $(dirname $i); autoconf || true; ); done;
+    XUL_SDK=$(echo ${xulrunner}/lib/xulrunner-devel-*/)
+    export NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE="''${NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE} -I$XUL_SDK/include";
+    export NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE="''${NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE} -I$(echo ${xulrunner}/include/xulrunner-*/stable)";
+    export NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE="$NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE";
+    export NIX_LDFLAGS="''${NIX_LDFLAGS} -L$XUL_SDK/lib -L$XUL_SDK/sdk/lib";
+    export NIX_LDFLAGS="$NIX_LDFLAGS -L${xulrunner}/lib/xulrunner-${xulrunner.version}";
+    export NIX_LDFLAGS="$NIX_LDFLAGS -lxpcomglue -lxpcomglue_s -lxul -lnss -lmozjs -lsqlite3";
+    echo NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE: $NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE
+    echo NIX_LDFLAGS: $NIX_LDFLAGS
+    for i in $(find $(pwd) -wholename '*/public/*.idl' -exec dirname '{}' ';' | sort | uniq); do
+      export XPIDL_FLAGS="$XPIDL_FLAGS -I$i";
+    done;
+    echo $XPIDL_FLAGS
+
+    sed -e "s@\$(XPIDL_FLAGS)@\$(XPIDL_FLAGS) $XPIDL_FLAGS@" -i config/rules.mk
+  '';
+  postConfigure = ''
+    (cd mozilla/nsprpub; ./configure --prefix=$out/XUL_SDK; )
+  '';
+  preBuild = ''
+    for i in $(find . -name autoconf.mk); do echo $i; sed -e 's@-Wl,-rpath-link,$(PREFIX)/lib@@' -i $i; done
+    make -C mozilla/config nsinstall
+    mkdir -p $out/libexec/mozilla/nsinstall
+    mv mozilla/config/nsinstall $out/libexec/mozilla/nsinstall/nsinstall
+    cat > mozilla/config/nsinstall <<EOF
+    #! /bin/sh
+    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:${sqlite}/lib:${xulrunner}/lib/xulrunner-${xulrunner.version}"
+    $out/libexec/mozilla/nsinstall/nsinstall "\$@"
+    EOF
+    chmod a+x mozilla/config/nsinstall
+  '';
+
+  configureFlags = [
+    "--enable-application=mail"
+    "--enable-optimize"
+    "--disable-debug"
+    "--with-system-jpeg"
+    "--with-system-zlib"
+    "--with-system-bz2"
+    #"--with-system-png" # <-- "--with-system-png won't work because the system's libpng doesn't have APNG support"
+    "--enable-system-cairo"
+    #"--enable-system-sqlite" # <-- this seems to be discouraged
+    "--disable-crashreporter"
+    "--with-libxul-sdk=${xulrunner}/lib/xulrunner-devel-${xulrunner.version}"
+    "--enable-extensions=default"
+  ]
+  ++ (if enableOfficialBranding then ["--enable-official-branding"] else []);
+
+  postInstall = ''
+    # Strip some more stuff.
+    strip -S $out/lib/*/* || true
+
+    libDir=$(cd $out/lib && ls -d thunderbird-[0-9]*)
+    test -n "$libDir"
+    
+    ln -s ${xulrunner}/lib/xulrunner-${xulrunner.version} $out/lib/$libDir/xulrunner
+
+    # Register extensions etc. !!! is this needed anymore?
+    echo "running thunderbird -register..."
+    $out/bin/thunderbird -register
+  ''; # */
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "Mozilla Thunderbird, a full-featured email client";
+    homepage = http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/;
+  };
+
+  passthru = {
+    inherit gtk;
+  };
+}