diff --git a/pkgs/servers/foundationdb/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/foundationdb/default.nix
index d3e72bf5fc66..77b41dee9c73 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/foundationdb/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/foundationdb/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv49
-, lib, fetchurl, fetchFromGitHub
+, lib, fetchurl, fetchpatch, fetchFromGitHub
 
 , which, findutils, m4, gawk
 , python, openjdk, mono58, libressl
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ let
           inherit rev sha256;
         };
 
-        nativeBuildInputs = [ gawk which m4 findutils mono58 ];
-        buildInputs = [ python openjdk libressl boost ];
+        nativeBuildInputs = [ python openjdk gawk which m4 findutils mono58 ];
+        buildInputs = [ libressl boost ];
 
         patches =
           [ # For 5.2+, we need a slightly adjusted patch to fix all the ldflags
@@ -57,10 +57,24 @@ let
                    then ./ldflags-6.0.patch
                    else ./ldflags-5.2.patch)
              else ./ldflags-5.1.patch)
-          ] ++
+          ]
           # for 6.0+, we do NOT need to apply this version fix, since we can specify
           # it ourselves. see configurePhase
-          (lib.optional (!lib.versionAtLeast version "6.0") ./fix-scm-version.patch);
+          ++ (lib.optional (!lib.versionAtLeast version "6.0") ./fix-scm-version.patch)
+          # Versions less than 6.0 have a busted Python 3 build due to an outdated
+          # use of 'print'. Also apply an update to the six module with many bugfixes,
+          # which is in 6.0+ as well
+          ++ (lib.optional (!lib.versionAtLeast version "6.0") (fetchpatch {
+            name   = "update-python-six.patch";
+            url    = "https://github.com/apple/foundationdb/commit/4bd9efc4fc74917bc04b07a84eb065070ea7edb2.patch";
+            sha256 = "030679lmc86f1wzqqyvxnwjyfrhh54pdql20ab3iifqpp9i5mi85";
+          }))
+          ++ (lib.optional (!lib.versionAtLeast version "6.0") (fetchpatch {
+            name   = "import-for-python-print.patch";
+            url    = "https://github.com/apple/foundationdb/commit/ded17c6cd667f39699cf663c0e87fe01e996c153.patch";
+            sha256 = "11y434w68cpk7shs2r22hyrpcrqi8vx02cw7v5x79qxvnmdxv2an";
+          }))
+          ;
 
         postPatch = ''
           # note: this does not do anything for 6.0+
@@ -106,7 +120,6 @@ let
 
         installPhase = ''
           mkdir -vp $out/{bin,libexec/plugins} $lib/{lib,share/java} $dev/include/foundationdb
-          mkdir -vp $python/lib/${python.libPrefix}/site-packages
 
         '' + lib.optionalString (!lib.versionAtLeast version "6.0") ''
           # we only copy the TLS library on < 6.0, since it's compiled-in otherwise
@@ -123,10 +136,15 @@ let
           cp -v ./bindings/java/foundationdb-client.jar     $lib/share/java/fdb-java.jar
 
           # python
+          cp LICENSE ./bindings/python
+          substitute ./bindings/python/setup.py.in ./bindings/python/setup.py \
+            --replace 'VERSION' "${version}"
+          rm -f ./bindings/python/setup.py.in
           rm -f ./bindings/python/fdb/*.pth # remove useless files
-          cp -R ./bindings/python/fdb                       $python/lib/${python.libPrefix}/site-packages/fdb
-          # symlink a copy of the shared object into place, so that impl.py can load it
-          ln -sv $lib/lib/libfdb_c.so                       $python/lib/${python.libPrefix}/site-packages/fdb/libfdb_c.so
+          rm -f ./bindings/python/*.rst ./bindings/python/*.mk
+
+          cp -R ./bindings/python/                          tmp-pythonsrc/
+          tar -zcf $pythonsrc --transform s/tmp-pythonsrc/python-foundationdb/ ./tmp-pythonsrc/
 
           # binaries
           for x in fdbbackup fdbcli fdbserver fdbmonitor; do
@@ -140,7 +158,7 @@ let
           ln -sfv $out/bin/fdbbackup $out/libexec/backup_agent
         '';
 
-        outputs = [ "out" "lib" "dev" "python" ];
+        outputs = [ "out" "lib" "dev" "pythonsrc" ];
 
         meta = with stdenv.lib; {
           description = "Open source, distributed, transactional key-value store";
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/foundationdb/python.nix b/pkgs/servers/foundationdb/python.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..55b834c54369
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/servers/foundationdb/python.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{ buildPythonPackage, lib, foundationdb }:
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  pname = "foundationdb";
+  version = foundationdb.version;
+
+  src = foundationdb.pythonsrc;
+  unpackCmd = "tar xf $curSrc";
+
+  patchPhase = ''
+    substituteInPlace ./fdb/impl.py \
+      --replace libfdb_c.so "${foundationdb.lib}/lib/libfdb_c.so"
+  '';
+
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  meta = with lib; {
+    description = "Python bindings for FoundationDB";
+    homepage    = https://www.foundationdb.org;
+    license     = with licenses; [ asl20 ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ thoughtpolice ];
+  };
+}
+
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index c413ae1b47e5..27f398649a89 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -11052,17 +11052,9 @@ EOF
 
   rfc7464 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/rfc7464 { };
 
-  foundationdb51 = (toPythonModule (pkgs.fdbPackages.override {
-    inherit python;
-  }).foundationdb51).python;
-
-  foundationdb52 = (toPythonModule (pkgs.fdbPackages.override {
-    inherit python;
-  }).foundationdb52).python;
-
-  foundationdb60 = (toPythonModule (pkgs.fdbPackages.override {
-    inherit python;
-  }).foundationdb60).python;
+  foundationdb51 = callPackage ../servers/foundationdb/python.nix { foundationdb = pkgs.foundationdb51; };
+  foundationdb52 = callPackage ../servers/foundationdb/python.nix { foundationdb = pkgs.foundationdb52; };
+  foundationdb60 = callPackage ../servers/foundationdb/python.nix { foundationdb = pkgs.foundationdb60; };
 
   libtorrentRasterbar = (toPythonModule (pkgs.libtorrentRasterbar.override {
     inherit python;