diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/7.6.1.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/7.6.1.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..203a354c13c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/7.6.1.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, ghc, perl, gmp, ncurses }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  version = "7.6.0.20120810";
+
+  name = "ghc-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "http://haskell.org/ghc/dist/7.6.1-rc1/${name}-src.tar.bz2";
+    sha256 = "04m8ms3a58590s4p8x6qma25rdanz0iai8rcla78ka798612pvjd";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [ ghc perl gmp ncurses ];
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  buildMK = ''
+    libraries/integer-gmp_CONFIGURE_OPTS += --configure-option=--with-gmp-libraries="${gmp}/lib"
+    libraries/integer-gmp_CONFIGURE_OPTS += --configure-option=--with-gmp-includes="${gmp}/include"
+  '';
+
+  preConfigure = ''
+    echo "${buildMK}" > mk/build.mk
+    sed -i -e 's|-isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.5.sdk||' configure
+  '';
+
+  configureFlags=[
+    "--with-gcc=${stdenv.gcc}/bin/gcc"
+  ];
+
+  # required, because otherwise all symbols from HSffi.o are stripped, and
+  # that in turn causes GHCi to abort
+  stripDebugFlags=["-S" "--keep-file-symbols"];
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = "http://haskell.org/ghc";
+    description = "The Glasgow Haskell Compiler";
+    maintainers = [
+      stdenv.lib.maintainers.marcweber
+      stdenv.lib.maintainers.andres
+      stdenv.lib.maintainers.simons
+    ];
+    platforms = ghc.meta.platforms;
+  };
+
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 466be2abbacc..812abb706447 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2295,6 +2295,8 @@ let
   haskellPackages_ghc741              = recurseIntoAttrs (haskell.packages_ghc741.highPrio);
   # Stable branch snapshot.
   haskellPackages_ghc742              = recurseIntoAttrs (haskell.packages_ghc742);
+  # Release candidate.
+  haskellPackages_ghc761              =                   haskell.packages_ghc761;
   # Reasonably current HEAD snapshot.
   haskellPackages_ghcHEAD             =                   haskell.packages_ghcHEAD;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/haskell-defaults.nix b/pkgs/top-level/haskell-defaults.nix
index 579b20fcc230..e076a92350d4 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/haskell-defaults.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/haskell-defaults.nix
@@ -256,6 +256,12 @@
                prefFun = ghc741Prefs;
              };
 
+  packages_ghc761 =
+    packages { ghcPath = ../development/compilers/ghc/7.6.1.nix;
+               ghcBinary = ghc704Binary;
+               prefFun = ghcHEADPrefs;
+             };
+
   # Reasonably current HEAD snapshot. Should *always* be lowPrio.
   packages_ghcHEAD =
     packages { ghcPath = ../development/compilers/ghc/head.nix;