diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nix/fix-doc-build.patch b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nix/fix-doc-build.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..ca10211d976869
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nix/fix-doc-build.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+diff -ru nix-2.0.4-orig/doc/manual/local.mk nix-2.0.4/doc/manual/local.mk
+--- nix-2.0.4-orig/doc/manual/local.mk	2018-07-20 11:12:18.121540267 +0200
++++ nix-2.0.4/doc/manual/local.mk	2018-07-20 11:43:58.514090409 +0200
+@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
+ 
+ ifeq ($(doc_generate),yes)
+ 
+-XSLTPROC = $(xsltproc) --nonet $(xmlflags) \
++XSLTPROC = $(xsltproc) $(xmlflags) \
+   --param section.autolabel 1 \
+   --param section.label.includes.component.label 1 \
+   --param html.stylesheet \'style.css\' \
+@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
+ 
+ # Do XInclude processing / RelaxNG validation
+ $(d)/manual.xmli: $(d)/manual.xml $(MANUAL_SRCS) $(d)/version.txt
+-	$(trace-gen) $(xmllint) --nonet --xinclude $< -o $@.tmp
++	$(trace-gen) $(xmllint) --xinclude $< -o $@.tmp
+ 	@mv $@.tmp $@
+ 
+ $(d)/version.txt:
+@@ -29,9 +29,6 @@
+ 
+ # Note: RelaxNG validation requires xmllint >= 2.7.4.
+ $(d)/manual.is-valid: $(d)/manual.xmli
+-	$(trace-gen) $(XSLTPROC) --novalid --stringparam profile.condition manual \
+-	  $(docbookxsl)/profiling/profile.xsl $< 2> /dev/null | \
+-	  $(xmllint) --nonet --noout --relaxng $(docbookrng) -
+ 	@touch $@
+ 
+ clean-files += $(d)/manual.xmli $(d)/version.txt $(d)/manual.is-valid
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nix/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nix/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..b6496a4f90b34a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nix/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013-2017, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Created by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://github.com/spack/spack
+# Please also see the NOTICE and LICENSE files for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1, February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+import os.path as osp
+from spack import *
+
+
+class Nix(AutotoolsPackage):
+    """Nix, the purely functional package manager"""
+
+    homepage = "http://nixos.org/nix"
+    url      = "https://github.com/NixOS/nix/archive/2.0.4.zip"
+
+    version('2.0.4', '045adeb4714f559386e391cc3c411710')
+
+    patch('fix-doc-build.patch')
+
+    variant('storedir', values=str, default=None,
+            description='path of the Nix store (defaults to /nix)')
+    variant('statedir', values=str, default=None,
+            description='path to the locale state (defaults to /nix/var)')
+    variant('doc', values=bool, default=True,
+            description="Build and install documentation")
+    variant('sandboxing', values=bool, default=True,
+            description='Enable build isolation')
+
+    depends_on('autoconf', type='build')
+    depends_on('automake', type='build')
+    depends_on('bison', type='build')
+    depends_on('flex', type='build')
+    depends_on('libtool', type='build')
+    depends_on('libxslt', when="+doc", type='build')
+    depends_on('m4', type='build')
+
+    depends_on('curl')
+    depends_on('libseccomp', when="+sandboxing")
+    depends_on('sqlite')
+    depends_on('xz')
+
+    # gcc 4.9+ and higher supported with c++14
+    conflicts("%gcc@:4.8.99")
+
+    def configure_args(self):
+        args = []
+        if '+sandboxing' not in self.spec:
+            args.append('--disable-seccomp-sandboxing')
+        if '+doc' not in self.spec:
+            args.append('--disable-doc-gen')
+        storedir = self.spec.variants['storedir'].value
+        if storedir:
+            args.append('--with-store-dir=' + storedir)
+        statedir = self.spec.variants['statedir'].value
+        if statedir:
+            args.append('--localstatedir=' + statedir)
+        return args