diff --git a/nix/avro-c++/default.nix b/nix/avro-c++/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2cd03253e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/avro-c++/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, cmake, boost155, pythonPackages
+}:
+
+let version = "1.7.5"; in
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "avro-c++-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://apache/avro/avro-${version}/cpp/avro-cpp-${version}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "064ssbbgrc3hyalzj8rn119bsrnyk1vlpkhl8gghv96jgqbpdyb3";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [
+    cmake
+    boost155
+    pythonPackages.python
+  ];
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "A C++ library which implements parts of the Avro Specification";
+    homepage = https://avro.apache.org/;
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.asl20;
+    maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ rasendubi ];
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/nix/default.nix b/nix/default.nix
index 0e81f228f4..3e4c41b6e3 100644
--- a/nix/default.nix
+++ b/nix/default.nix
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ let
   callPackage = pkgs.lib.callPackageWith (pkgs // self);
 
   self = rec {
+    avro-cpp = callPackage ./avro-c++ { };
+
     gcc-xtensa-lx106 = callPackage ./gcc-xtensa-lx106 { };
 
     esp8266-rtos-sdk = callPackage ./esp8266-rtos-sdk { };
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index e57b9262c8..1cb0686352 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -592,8 +592,12 @@ Copyright 2014-2016 CyberVision, Inc.
                         <exclude>**/security.policy</exclude>
                         <exclude>doc/</exclude>
 
-                        <exclude>nix/astyle/max_indent.patch</exclude>
                         <exclude>gh-pages-stub/</exclude>
+
+                        <exclude>nix/astyle/max_indent.patch</exclude>
+                        <!-- backported from nixpkgs -->
+                        <exclude>nix/avro-c++/</exclude>
+
                         <!-- Auto-generated -->
                         <exclude>nix/kaa-docs/Gemfile.lock</exclude>
                         <exclude>nix/kaa-docs/gemset.nix</exclude>