diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/db/db-5.3.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/db/db-5.3.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a59d28ba9630
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/db/db-5.3.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl
+, cxxSupport ? true
+}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "db-5.3.28";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "http://download.oracle.com/berkeley-db/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "0a1n5hbl7027fbz5lm0vp0zzfp1hmxnz14wx3zl9563h83br5ag0";
+  };
+
+  configureFlags = [
+    (if cxxSupport then "--enable-cxx" else "--disable-cxx")
+  ];
+
+  preConfigure = ''
+    cd build_unix
+    configureScript=../dist/configure
+  '';
+
+  postInstall = ''
+    rm -rf $out/docs
+  '';
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    homepage = "http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-technologies/berkeleydb/index.html";
+    description = "Berkeley DB";
+    license = "Berkeley Database License";
+    platforms = platforms.unix;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index b9dd8bd4b8d9..7738465d10fd 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -3940,6 +3940,10 @@ let
 
   db48 = callPackage ../development/libraries/db4/db4-4.8.nix { };
 
+  db5 = db53;
+
+  db53 = callPackage ../development/libraries/db/db-5.3.nix { };
+
   dbus = callPackage ../development/libraries/dbus { };
   dbus_cplusplus  = callPackage ../development/libraries/dbus-cplusplus { };
   dbus_glib       = callPackage ../development/libraries/dbus-glib { };