diff --git a/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix b/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix
index 01d2dd2996da..c9247815a35c 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix
@@ -240,6 +240,7 @@
       pumpio = 216;
       nm-openvpn = 217;
       mathics = 218;
+      ejabberd = 219;
 
       # When adding a uid, make sure it doesn't match an existing gid. And don't use uids above 399!
 
@@ -457,6 +458,7 @@
       pumpio = 216;
       nm-openvpn = 217;
       mathics = 218;
+      ejabberd = 219;
 
       # When adding a gid, make sure it doesn't match an existing
       # uid. Users and groups with the same name should have equal
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/ejabberd.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/ejabberd.nix
index 97360396c79e..a990200f44c6 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/ejabberd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/ejabberd.nix
@@ -6,9 +6,16 @@ let
 
   cfg = config.services.ejabberd;
 
-in
+  ctlcfg = pkgs.writeText "ejabberdctl.cfg" ''
+    ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1
+    ${cfg.ctlConfig}
+  '';
 
-{
+  ectl = ''${cfg.package}/bin/ejabberdctl --config "${cfg.configFile}" --ctl-config "${ctlcfg}" --spool "${cfg.spoolDir}" --logs "${cfg.logsDir}"'';
+
+  dumps = lib.concatMapStringsSep " " lib.escapeShellArg cfg.loadDumps;
+
+in {
 
   ###### interface
 
@@ -17,33 +24,56 @@ in
     services.ejabberd = {
 
       enable = mkOption {
+        type = types.bool;
         default = false;
         description = "Whether to enable ejabberd server";
       };
 
+      package = mkOption {
+        type = types.package;
+        default = pkgs.ejabberd;
+        description = "ejabberd server package to use";
+      };
+
+      user = mkOption {
+        type = types.str;
+        default = "ejabberd";
+        description = "User under which ejabberd is ran";
+      };
+
+      group = mkOption {
+        type = types.str;
+        default = "ejabberd";
+        description = "Group under which ejabberd is ran";
+      };
+
       spoolDir = mkOption {
+        type = types.path;
         default = "/var/lib/ejabberd";
         description = "Location of the spooldir of ejabberd";
       };
 
       logsDir = mkOption {
+        type = types.path;
         default = "/var/log/ejabberd";
         description = "Location of the logfile directory of ejabberd";
       };
 
-      confDir = mkOption {
-        default = "/var/ejabberd";
-        description = "Location of the config directory of ejabberd";
+      configFile = mkOption {
+        type = types.path;
+        description = "Configuration file for ejabberd in YAML format";
       };
 
-      virtualHosts = mkOption {
-        default = "\"localhost\"";
-        description = "Virtualhosts that ejabberd should host. Hostnames are surrounded with doublequotes and separated by commas";
+      ctlConfig = mkOption {
+        type = types.lines;
+        default = "";
+        description = "Configuration of ejabberdctl";
       };
 
       loadDumps = mkOption {
+        type = types.listOf types.path;
         default = [];
-        description = "Configuration dump that should be loaded on the first startup";
+        description = "Configuration dumps that should be loaded on the first startup";
         example = literalExample "[ ./myejabberd.dump ]";
       };
     };
@@ -54,73 +84,72 @@ in
   ###### implementation
 
   config = mkIf cfg.enable {
-    environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.ejabberd ];
+    environment.systemPackages = [ cfg.package ];
+
+    users.extraUsers = optionalAttrs (cfg.user == "ejabberd") (singleton
+      { name = "ejabberd";
+        group = cfg.group;
+        home = cfg.spoolDir;
+        createHome = true;
+        uid = config.ids.uids.ejabberd;
+      });
+
+    users.extraGroups = optionalAttrs (cfg.group == "ejabberd") (singleton
+      { name = "ejabberd";
+        gid = config.ids.gids.ejabberd;
+      });
 
     systemd.services.ejabberd = {
-      description = "EJabberd server";
-      after = [ "network-interfaces.target" ];
+      description = "ejabberd server";
       wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
-      path = with pkgs; [ ejabberd coreutils bash gnused ];
+      after = [ "network.target" ];
+      path = [ pkgs.findutils pkgs.coreutils ];
+
+      serviceConfig = {
+        Type = "forking";
+        # FIXME: runit is used for `chpst` -- can we get rid of this?
+        ExecStop = ''${pkgs.runit}/bin/chpst -u "${cfg.user}:${cfg.group}" ${ectl} stop'';
+        ExecReload = ''${pkgs.runit}/bin/chpst -u "${cfg.user}:${cfg.group}" ${ectl} reload_config'';
+        User = cfg.user;
+        Group = cfg.group;
+        PermissionsStartOnly = true;
+      };
 
       preStart = ''
-        # Initialise state data
-        mkdir -p ${cfg.logsDir}
+        mkdir -p -m750 "${cfg.logsDir}"
+        chown "${cfg.user}:${cfg.group}" "${cfg.logsDir}"
 
-        if ! test -d ${cfg.spoolDir}
-        then
-            initialize=1
-            cp -av ${pkgs.ejabberd}/var/lib/ejabberd /var/lib
-        fi
+        mkdir -p -m750 "/var/lock/ejabberdctl"
+        chown "${cfg.user}:${cfg.group}" "/var/lock/ejabberdctl"
 
-        if ! test -d ${cfg.confDir}
-        then
-            mkdir -p ${cfg.confDir}
-            cp ${pkgs.ejabberd}/etc/ejabberd/* ${cfg.confDir}
-            sed -e 's|{hosts, \["localhost"\]}.|{hosts, \[${cfg.virtualHosts}\]}.|' ${pkgs.ejabberd}/etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.cfg > ${cfg.confDir}/ejabberd.cfg
-        fi
-
-        ejabberdctl --config-dir ${cfg.confDir} --logs ${cfg.logsDir} --spool ${cfg.spoolDir} start
-
-        ${if cfg.loadDumps == [] then "" else
-          ''
-            if [ "$initialize" = "1" ]
-            then
-                # Wait until the ejabberd server is available for use
-                count=0
-                while ! ejabberdctl --config-dir ${cfg.confDir} --logs ${cfg.logsDir} --spool ${cfg.spoolDir} status
-                do
-                    if [ $count -eq 30 ]
-                    then
-                        echo "Tried 30 times, giving up..."
-                        exit 1
-                    fi
-
-                    echo "Ejabberd daemon not yet started. Waiting for 1 second..."
-                    count=$((count++))
-                    sleep 1
-                done
-
-                ${concatMapStrings (dump:
-                  ''
-                    echo "Importing dump: ${dump}"
-
-                    if [ -f ${dump} ]
-                    then
-                        ejabberdctl --config-dir ${cfg.confDir} --logs ${cfg.logsDir} --spool ${cfg.spoolDir} load ${dump}
-                    elif [ -d ${dump} ]
-                    then
-                        for i in ${dump}/ejabberd-dump/*
-                        do
-                            ejabberdctl --config-dir ${cfg.confDir} --logs ${cfg.logsDir} --spool ${cfg.spoolDir} load $i
-                        done
-                    fi
-                  '') cfg.loadDumps}
-            fi
-          ''}
+        mkdir -p -m750 "${cfg.spoolDir}"
+        chown -R "${cfg.user}:${cfg.group}" "${cfg.spoolDir}"
       '';
 
-      postStop = ''
-        ejabberdctl --config-dir ${cfg.confDir} --logs ${cfg.logsDir} --spool ${cfg.spoolDir} stop
+      script = ''
+        [ -z "$(ls -A '${cfg.spoolDir}')" ] && firstRun=1
+
+        ${ectl} start
+
+        count=0
+        while ! ${ectl} status >/dev/null 2>&1; do
+          if [ $count -eq 30 ]; then
+            echo "ejabberd server hasn't started in 30 seconds, giving up"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          count=$((count++))
+          sleep 1
+        done
+
+        if [ -n "$firstRun" ]; then
+          for src in ${dumps}; do
+            find "$src" -type f | while read dump; do
+              echo "Loading configuration dump at $dump"
+              ${ectl} load "$dump"
+            done
+          done
+        fi
       '';
     };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/xmpp/ejabberd/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/xmpp/ejabberd/default.nix
index 3a77c5cd15c6..2fb6f7a4b2df 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/xmpp/ejabberd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/xmpp/ejabberd/default.nix
@@ -1,23 +1,275 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, expat, erlang, zlib, openssl, pam, lib}:
+{ stdenv, writeScriptBin, lib, fetchurl, fetchFromGitHub
+, erlang, openssl, expat, libyaml, bash, gnused, gnugrep, coreutils, utillinux, procps
+, withMysql ? false
+, withPgsql ? false
+, withSqlite ? false, sqlite
+, withPam ? false, pam
+, withZlib ? true, zlib
+, withRiak ? false
+, withElixir ? false, elixir
+, withIconv ? true
+, withLager ? true
+, withTools ? false
+, withRedis ? false
+}:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  version = "2.1.13";
+let
+  ctlpath = lib.makeSearchPath "bin" [ bash gnused gnugrep coreutils utillinux procps ];
+
+  fakegit = writeScriptBin "git" ''
+    #! ${stdenv.shell}
+    exit 0
+  '';
+
+  # These can be extracted from `rebar.config.script`
+  # Some dependencies are from another packages. Try commenting them out; then during build
+  # you'll get necessary revision information.
+  ejdeps = {
+    p1_cache_tab = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "cache_tab";
+      rev = "f7ea12b0ba962a3d2f9a406d2954cf7de4e27230";
+      sha256 = "043rz66s6vhcbk02qjhn1r8jv8yyy4gk0gsknmk7ya6wq2v1farw";
+    };
+    p1_tls = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "tls";
+      rev = "e56321afd974e9da33da913cd31beebc8e73e75f";
+      sha256 = "0k8dx8mww2ilr4y5m2llhqh673l0z7r73f0lh7klyf57wfqy7hzk";
+    };
+    p1_stringprep = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "stringprep";
+      rev = "3c640237a3a7831dc39de6a6d329d3a9af25c579";
+      sha256 = "0mwlkivkfj16bdv80jr8kqa0vcqglxkq90m9qn0m6zp4bjc3jm3n";
+    };
+    p1_xml = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "xml";
+      rev = "1c8b016b0ac7986efb823baf1682a43565449e65";
+      sha256 = "192jhj0cwwypbiass3rm2449410pqyk3mgrdg7yyvqwmjzzkmh87";
+    };
+    esip = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "p1_sip";
+      rev = "d662d3fe7f6288b444ea321d854de0bd6d40e022";
+      sha256 = "1mwzkkv01vr9n13h6h3100jrrlgb683ncq9jymnbxqxk6rn7xjd1";
+    };
+    p1_stun = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "stun";
+      rev = "061bdae484268cbf0457ad4797e74b8516df3ad1";
+      sha256 = "0zaw8yq4sk7x4ybibcq93k9b6rb7fn03i0k8gb2dnlipmbcdd8cf";
+    };
+    p1_yaml = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "p1_yaml";
+      rev = "79f756ba73a235c4d3836ec07b5f7f2b55f49638";
+      sha256 = "05jjw02ay8v34izwgi5zizqp1mj68ypjilxn59c262xj7c169pzh";
+    };
+    p1_utils = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "p1_utils";
+      rev = "d7800881e6702723ce58b7646b60c9e4cd25d563";
+      sha256 = "07p47ccrdjymjmn6rn9jlcyg515bs9l0iwfbc75qsk10ddnmbvdi";
+    };
+    jiffy = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "davisp";
+      repo = "jiffy";
+      rev = "cfc61a2e952dc3182e0f9b1473467563699992e2";
+      sha256 = "1c2x71x90jlx4585znxz8fg46q3jxm80nk7v184lf4pqa1snk8kk";
+    };
+    oauth2 = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "prefiks";
+      repo = "oauth2";
+      rev = "e6da9912e5d8f658e7e868f41a102d085bdbef59";
+      sha256 = "0di33bkj8xc7h17z1fs4birp8a88c1ds72jc4xz2qmz8kh7q9m3k";
+    };
+    xmlrpc = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "rds13";
+      repo = "xmlrpc";
+      rev = "42e6e96a0fe7106830274feed915125feb1056f3";
+      sha256 = "10dk480s6z653lr5sap4rcx3zsfmg68hgapvc4jvcyf7vgg12d3s";
+    };
+
+    p1_mysql = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "mysql";
+      rev = "dfa87da95f8fdb92e270741c2a53f796b682f918";
+      sha256 = "1nw7n1xvid4yqp57s94drdjf6ffap8zpy8hkrz9yffzkhk9biz5y";
+    };
+    p1_pgsql = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "pgsql";
+      rev = "e72c03c60bfcb56bbb5d259342021d9cb3581dac";
+      sha256 = "0y89995h7g8bi12qi1m4cdzcswsljbv7y8zb43rjg5ss2bcq7kb6";
+    };
+    sqlite3 = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "alexeyr";
+      repo = "erlang-sqlite3";
+      rev = "8350dc603804c503f99c92bfd2eab1dd6885758e";
+      sha256 = "0d0pbqmi3hsvzjp4vjp7a6bq3pjvkfv0spszh6485x9cmxsbwfpc";
+    };
+    p1_pam = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "epam";
+      rev = "d3ce290b7da75d780a03e86e7a8198a80e9826a6";
+      sha256 = "0s0czrgjvc1nw7j66x8b9rlajcap0yfnv6zqd4gs76ky6096qpb0";
+    };
+    p1_zlib = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "zlib";
+      rev = "e3d4222b7aae616d7ef2e7e2fa0bbf451516c602";
+      sha256 = "0z960nwva8x4lw1k91i53kpn2bjbf1v1amslkyp8sx2gc5zf0gbn";
+    };
+    riakc = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "basho";
+      repo = "riak-erlang-client";
+      rev = "1.4.2";
+      sha256 = "128jz83n1990m9c2fzwsif6hyapmq46720nzfyyb4z2j75vn85zz";
+    };
+    # dependency of riakc
+    riak_pb = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "basho";
+      repo = "riak_pb";
+      rev = "1.4.4.0";
+      sha256 = "054fg9gaxk4n0id0qs6k8i919qvxsvmh76m6fgfbmixyfxh5jp3w";
+    };
+    # dependency of riak_pb
+    protobuffs = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "basho";
+      repo = "erlang_protobuffs";
+      rev = "0.8.1p1";
+      sha256 = "1x75a26y1gx6pzr829i4sx2mxm5w40kb6hfd5y511him56jcczna";
+    };
+    rebar_elixir_plugin = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "yrashk";
+      repo = "rebar_elixir_plugin";
+      rev = "7058379b7c7e017555647f6b9cecfd87cd50f884";
+      sha256 = "1s5bvbrhal866gbp72lgp0jzphs2cmgmafmka0pylwj30im41c71";
+    };
+    elixir = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "elixir-lang";
+      repo = "elixir";
+      rev = "1d9548fd285d243721b7eba71912bde2ffd1f6c3";
+      sha256 = "1lxn9ly73rm797p6slfx7grsq32nn6bz15qhkbra834rj01fqzh8";
+    };
+    p1_iconv = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "eiconv";
+      rev = "8b7542b1aaf0a851f335e464956956985af6d9a2";
+      sha256 = "1w3k41fpynqylc2vnirz0fymlidpz0nnym0070f1f1s3pd6g5906";
+    };
+    lager = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "basho";
+      repo = "lager";
+      rev = "4d2ec8c701e1fa2d386f92f2b83b23faf8608ac3";
+      sha256 = "03aav3cid0qpl1n8dn83hk0p70rw05nqvhq1abdh219nrlk9gfmx";
+    };
+    # dependency of lager
+    goldrush = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "DeadZen";
+      repo = "goldrush";
+      rev = "0.1.7";
+      sha256 = "1104j8v86hdavxf08yjyjkpi5vf95rfvsywdx29c69x3z33i4z3m";
+    };
+    p1_logger = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "processone";
+      repo = "p1_logger";
+      rev = "3e19507fd5606a73694917158767ecb3f5704e3f";
+      sha256 = "0mq86gh8x3bgqcpwdjkdn7m3bj2006gbarnj7cn5dfs21m2h2mdn";
+    };
+    meck = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "eproxus";
+      repo = "meck";
+      rev = "fc362e037f424250130bca32d6bf701f2f49dc75";
+      sha256 = "056yca394f8mbg8vwxxlq47dbjx48ykdrg4lvnbi5gfijl786i3s";
+    };
+    eredis = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "wooga";
+      repo = "eredis";
+      rev = "770f828918db710d0c0958c6df63e90a4d341ed7";
+      sha256 = "0qv8hldn5972328pa1qz2lbblw1p2283js5y98dc8papldkicvmm";
+    };
+
+  };
+
+in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  version = "15.11";
   name = "ejabberd-${version}";
+
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "http://www.process-one.net/downloads/ejabberd/${version}/${name}.tgz";
-    sha256 = "0vf8mfrx7vr3c5h3nfp3qcgwf2kmzq20rjv1h9sk3nimwir1q3d8";
+    sha256 = "0sll1si9pd4v7yibzr8hp18hfrbxsa5nj9h7qsldvy7r4md4n101";
   };
-  buildInputs = [ expat erlang zlib openssl pam ];
-  patchPhase = ''
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ fakegit ];
+
+  buildInputs = [ erlang openssl expat libyaml ]
+    ++ lib.optional withSqlite sqlite
+    ++ lib.optional withPam pam
+    ++ lib.optional withZlib zlib
+    ++ lib.optional withElixir elixir
+    ;
+
+  # Apparently needed for Elixir
+  LANG = "en_US.UTF-8";
+
+  depsNames =
+    [ "p1_cache_tab" "p1_tls" "p1_stringprep" "p1_xml" "esip" "p1_stun" "p1_yaml" "p1_utils" "jiffy" "oauth2" "xmlrpc" ]
+    ++ lib.optional withMysql "p1_mysql"
+    ++ lib.optional withPgsql "p1_pgsql"
+    ++ lib.optional withSqlite "sqlite3"
+    ++ lib.optional withPam "p1_pam"
+    ++ lib.optional withZlib "p1_zlib"
+    ++ lib.optionals withRiak [ "riakc" "riak_pb" "protobuffs" ]
+    ++ lib.optionals withElixir [ "rebar_elixir_plugin" "elixir" ]
+    ++ lib.optional withIconv "p1_iconv"
+    ++ lib.optionals withLager [ "lager" "goldrush" ]
+    ++ lib.optional (!withLager) "p1_logger"
+    ++ lib.optional withTools "meck"
+    ++ lib.optional withRedis "eredis"
+  ;
+
+  configureFlags =
+    [ "--enable-nif"
+      (lib.enableFeature withMysql "mysql")
+      (lib.enableFeature withPgsql "pgsql")
+      (lib.enableFeature withSqlite "sqlite")
+      (lib.enableFeature withPam "pam")
+      (lib.enableFeature withZlib "zlib")
+      (lib.enableFeature withRiak "riak")
+      (lib.enableFeature withElixir "elixir")
+      (lib.enableFeature withIconv "iconv")
+      (lib.enableFeature withLager "lager")
+      (lib.enableFeature withTools "tools")
+      (lib.enableFeature withRedis "redis")
+    ] ++ lib.optional withSqlite "--with-sqlite3=${sqlite}";
+
+  depsPaths = map (x: builtins.getAttr x ejdeps) depsNames;
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  preBuild = ''
+    mkdir deps
+    depsPathsA=( $depsPaths )
+    depsNamesA=( $depsNames )
+    for i in {0..${toString (builtins.length depsNames - 1)}}; do
+      cp -R ''${depsPathsA[$i]} deps/''${depsNamesA[$i]}
+    done
+    chmod -R +w deps
+    touch deps/.got
+    patchShebangs .
+  '';
+
+  postInstall = ''
     sed -i \
-      -e "s|erl \\\|${erlang}/bin/erl \\\|" \
-      -e 's|EXEC_CMD=\"sh -c\"|EXEC_CMD=\"${stdenv.shell} -c\"|' \
-      src/ejabberdctl.template
+      -e '2iexport PATH=${ctlpath}:$PATH' \
+      -e 's,\(^ *FLOCK=\).*,\1${utillinux}/bin/flock,' \
+      -e 's,\(^ *JOT=\).*,\1,' \
+      -e 's,\(^ *CONNLOCKDIR=\).*,\1/var/lock/ejabberdctl,' \
+      $out/sbin/ejabberdctl
   '';
-  preConfigure = ''
-    cd src
-  '';
-  configureFlags = ["--enable-pam"];
 
   meta = {
     description = "Open-source XMPP application server written in Erlang";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 149d93722eba..2d95728b365d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9204,9 +9204,7 @@ let
 
   etcd = goPackages.etcd.bin // { outputs = [ "bin" ]; };
 
-  ejabberd = callPackage ../servers/xmpp/ejabberd {
-    erlang = erlangR16;
-  };
+  ejabberd = callPackage ../servers/xmpp/ejabberd { };
 
   prosody = callPackage ../servers/xmpp/prosody {
     lua5 = lua5_1;