diff --git a/pkgs/tools/virtualization/euca2ools/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/virtualization/euca2ools/default.nix
index c846371f1089..b82f7de1b2a9 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/virtualization/euca2ools/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/virtualization/euca2ools/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ which pythonPackages.python pythonPackages.wrapPython ];
 
-  pythonPath = [ pythonPackages.setuptools pythonPackages.boto pythonPackages.m2crypto pythonPackages.ssl ];
+  # We need boto 1.9 for now.  See https://bugs.launchpad.net/euca2ools/devel/+bug/623888
+  pythonPath = [ pythonPackages.setuptools pythonPackages.boto_1_9 pythonPackages.m2crypto pythonPackages.ssl ];
 
   preBuild =
     ''
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 3600dd752e8c..0f78b2be2aec 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -111,6 +111,32 @@ python.modules // rec {
     };
   });
 
+
+  # euca2ools (and maybe Nova) needs boto 1.9, 2.0 doesn't work.
+  boto_1_9 = buildPythonPackage (rec {
+    name = "boto-1.9b";
+
+    src = fetchurl {
+      url = "http://boto.googlecode.com/files/${name}.tar.gz";
+      sha1 = "00a033b0a593c3ca82927867950f73d88b831155";
+    };
+
+    meta = {
+      homepage = http://code.google.com/p/boto/;
+
+      license = "bsd";
+
+      description = "Python interface to Amazon Web Services";
+
+      longDescription = ''
+        The boto module is an integrated interface to current and
+        future infrastructural services offered by Amazon Web
+        Services.  This includes S3, SQS, EC2, among others.
+      '';
+    };
+  });
+
+
   boto = buildPythonPackage (rec {
     name = "boto-2.0b4";