diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/bootstrap.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/bootstrap.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8f603bb2354d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/bootstrap.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+{ runCommand, glibc, fetchurl }:
+
+let
+  # !!! These should be on nixos.org
+  src = if glibc.system == "x86_64-linux" then
+    fetchurl {
+      url = ftp://linode.shealevy.com/openjdk-bootstrap-x86_64-linux-2012-08-24.tar.xz;
+      sha256 = "0gla9dxrfq2w1hvgsnn8jg8a60k27im6z43a6iidi0qmwa0wah32";
+    }
+  else if glibc.system == "i686-linux" then
+    fetchurl {
+      url = ftp://linode.shealevy.com/openjdk-bootstrap-i686-linux-2012-08-24.tar.xz;
+      sha256 = "184wq212bycwbbq4ix8cc6jwjxkrqw9b01zb86q95kqpa8zy5206";
+    }
+  else throw "No bootstrap for system";
+in
+
+runCommand "openjdk-bootstrap" {} ''
+  xz -dc ${src} | sed "s/e*-glibc-[^/]*/$(basename ${glibc})/g" | tar xv
+  mv openjdk-bootstrap $out
+''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix
index cf85c1706a8a..5f5148911ec2 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "UNIXCOMMAND_PATH="
     "BOOTDIR=${jdk}"
     "DROPS_DIR=$(DROPS_PATH)"
+    "SKIP_BOOT_CYCLE=false"
   ];
 
   configurePhase = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/make-bootstrap.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/make-bootstrap.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..aa5b8ad39f56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/make-bootstrap.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+{ runCommand, openjdk, nukeReferences }:
+
+let arch = if openjdk.system == "x86_64-linux" then "amd64" else "i386"; in
+
+runCommand "${openjdk.name}-bootstrap.tar.xz" {} ''
+  mkdir -p openjdk-bootstrap/bin
+  mkdir -p openjdk-bootstrap/lib
+  mkdir -p openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/{security,ext,${arch}/{jli,server,client,headless}}
+  cp ${openjdk}/bin/{idlj,ja{va{,c,p,h},r},rmic} openjdk-bootstrap/bin
+  cp ${openjdk}/lib/tools.jar openjdk-bootstrap/lib
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/{meta-index,{charsets,jce,jsse,rt,resources}.jar,currency.data} openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/security/java.security openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/security
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/ext/{meta-index,sunjce_provider.jar} openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/ext
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/${arch}/{jvm.cfg,lib{awt,java,verify,zip,nio,net}.so} openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/${arch}
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/${arch}/jli/libjli.so openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/${arch}/jli
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/${arch}/server/libjvm.so openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/${arch}/server
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/${arch}/client/libjvm.so openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/${arch}/client ||
+    rmdir openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/${arch}/client
+  cp ${openjdk}/jre/lib/${arch}/headless/libmawt.so openjdk-bootstrap/jre/lib/${arch}/headless
+  cp -a ${openjdk}/include openjdk-bootstrap
+
+  chmod -R +w openjdk-bootstrap
+  find openjdk-bootstrap -print0 | xargs -0 ${nukeReferences}/bin/nuke-refs
+
+  tar cv openjdk-bootstrap | xz > $out
+''
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index a5e69c7ebb0e..0862b7eee27e 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2342,11 +2342,16 @@ let
 
   path64 = callPackage ../development/compilers/path64 { };
 
+  openjdkBootstrap = callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk/bootstrap.nix {};
+
   openjdk =
     if stdenv.isDarwin then
       callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk-darwin { }
     else
-      callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk { };
+      callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk {
+        jdk = pkgs.openjdkBootstrap;
+        ant = pkgs.ant.override { jdk = pkgs.openjdkBootstrap; };
+      };
 
   openjre = callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk {
     jreOnly = true;