diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/http_parser/build-shared.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/http_parser/build-shared.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5922cdfb5848
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/http_parser/build-shared.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+diff -Naur http-parser-2.1-orig/http_parser.gyp http-parser-2.1/http_parser.gyp
+--- http-parser-2.1-orig/http_parser.gyp	2013-03-26 18:35:20.000000000 -0400
++++ http-parser-2.1/http_parser.gyp	2013-05-23 16:47:49.280488341 -0400
+@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
+       },
+       'Release': {
+         'defines': [ 'NDEBUG' ],
+-        'cflags': [ '-Wall', '-Wextra', '-O3' ],
++        'cflags': [ '-Wall', '-Wextra', '-O3', '-fPIC' ],
+         'msvs_settings': {
+           'VCCLCompilerTool': {
+             'RuntimeLibrary': 0, # static release
+@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
+   'targets': [
+     {
+       'target_name': 'http_parser',
+-      'type': 'static_library',
++      'type': 'shared_library',
+       'include_dirs': [ '.' ],
+       'direct_dependent_settings': {
+         'defines': [ 'HTTP_PARSER_STRICT=0' ],
+@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
+ 
+     {
+       'target_name': 'http_parser_strict',
+-      'type': 'static_library',
++      'type': 'shared_library',
+       'include_dirs': [ '.' ],
+       'direct_dependent_settings': {
+         'defines': [ 'HTTP_PARSER_STRICT=1' ],
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/http_parser/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/http_parser/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8106dcff8da2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/http_parser/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, gyp, utillinux ? null }:
+
+let
+  version = "2.1";
+in stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "http-parser-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "https://github.com/joyent/http-parser/archive/v${version}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "16a2w5z4g2bma25fqcrkpidqzlq8a2jxkk93ajl721q85406j105";
+  };
+
+  patches = [ ./build-shared.patch ];
+
+  configurePhase = "gyp -f make --depth=`pwd` http_parser.gyp";
+
+  buildFlags = [ "BUILDTYPE=Release" ];
+
+  buildInputs = [ gyp utillinux ];
+
+  doCheck = true;
+
+  checkPhase = ''
+    out/Release/test-nonstrict
+    out/Release/test-strict
+  '';
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    mkdir -p $out
+    mv out/Release/lib.target $out/lib
+
+    mkdir -p $out/include
+    mv http_parser.h $out/include
+  '';
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "An HTTP message parser written in C";
+
+    homepage = https://github.com/joyent/http-parser;
+
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.mit;
+
+    maintainer = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.shlevy ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 1a161bfd9094..5c76c8af2040 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -4077,6 +4077,8 @@ let
 
   hsqldb = callPackage ../development/libraries/java/hsqldb { };
 
+  http_parser = callPackage ../development/libraries/http_parser { inherit (pythonPackages) gyp; };
+
   hunspell = callPackage ../development/libraries/hunspell { };
 
   hwloc = callPackage ../development/libraries/hwloc {