diff --git a/pkgs/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/all-packages.nix
index 56a8f8c..e73ce45 100644
--- a/pkgs/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/all-packages.nix
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 #
 self: super: pkgs: with pkgs; {
 
+  blast = callPackage ./blast {
+    stdenv = overrideCC stdenv gcc5;
+  };
+
   cryptominisat = callPackage ./cryptominisat.nix { };
 
   #firedrake = callPackage ./firedrake { };
diff --git a/pkgs/blast/default.nix b/pkgs/blast/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5fea7bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/blast/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, gcc5, cpio, curl
+, python, perl, zlib, bzip2, boost }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  version = "2.6.0";
+  name = "ncbi-blast-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/blast+/${version}/ncbi-blast-${version}+-src.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "15n937pw5aqmyfjb6l387d18grqbb96l63d5xj4l7yyh0zbf2405";
+  };
+
+  # The install target is broken as it tries to install a subdirectory using install
+  patches = [ ./install.patch ];
+
+  # Contains a lot of hardcoded paths for standard utils and some scripts the just reset PATH for the fun of it.
+  #
+  #  - for every $cmd on the path, replace all occurances of /usr/bin/$cmd and /bin/$cmd with it
+  #  - delete every line that has PATH=/bin:/usr/bin in it
+  #
+  # A bit of prefix/suffix matching and escaping is required for the first to avoid replacing things like $(foo)/bin/...
+  # and keeping the sed regexps valid in the face of commands like [.
+  #
+  postPatch = ''
+    patchShebangs .
+    echo 'replacing hardcoded /bin and /usr/bin commands with any nix equivalents on the PATH'
+    find -L ''${PATH//:/ } -maxdepth 1 -type f -perm -u=x -print0 |
+      while read -d ''' -r cmd; do
+        cmd=''${cmd//\/\\\\}
+        cmd=''${cmd//{/\\{}
+        cmd=''${cmd//[/\\[}
+        cmd=''${cmd//(/\\(}
+        cmd=''${cmd//)/\\)}
+        cmd=''${cmd//+/\\+}
+        cmd=''${cmd//\*/\\*}
+        cmd=''${cmd//\?/\\?}
+        cmd=''${cmd//!/\\!}
+        echo 's!(^|[[:space:]({>`'\'''";|,=@\!]|&&|\|\|)(/usr)?/bin/'"''${cmd##*/}"'($|[[:space:])}<`'\'''";|,]|&&|\|\|)!\1'"$cmd"'\3!g'
+      done >> commands.sed
+    find c++ -type f -print0 | xargs -0 -n 16 -P $NIX_BUILD_CORES \
+      sed -i -E \
+        -e '/ *PATH=['\'''"]?\/bin:\/usr\/bin/d' \
+        -e 's!/bin/(\$base_action|\$LN_S)!\1!g' \
+        -f commands.sed
+  '';
+  
+  # AR command variable is abused to include parameters, but these don't get figured out if $AR is already set
+  preConfigure = ''
+    cd c++
+    test -n "$AR" && AR="$AR cr" || true
+  '';
+
+  configureFlags = "--with-dll --without-debug --with-bin-release --with-strip --with-mt --without-opengl --without-connext";
+
+  buildInputs = [
+    boost
+    zlib
+    bzip2
+    cpio
+    curl
+    python
+#    python3 -- some scripts like ./c++/scripts/projects/magicblast/post_build/blast_utils.py
+    perl
+  ];
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    homepage = https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/;
+    description = "BLAST finds regions of similarity between biological sequences. The program compares nucleotide or protein   sequences to sequence databases and calculates the statistical significance.";
+    platforms = platforms.all;
+    license = licenses.publicDomain;
+  };
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/blast/install.patch b/pkgs/blast/install.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fbd6c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/blast/install.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+--- ncbi-blast-2.6.0+-src/c++/src/build-system/Makefile.in.top_	2018-04-23 16:13:57.759988900 -0400
++++ ncbi-blast-2.6.0+-src/c++/src/build-system/Makefile.in.top	2018-04-23 16:14:38.270252707 -0400
+@@ -49,9 +49,10 @@
+ 	    for x in *.a; do \
+ 	        $(LN_S) "$$x" "`$(BASENAME) \"$$x\" .a`-static.a"; \
+ 	    done
+-	cd $(includedir0) && find * -name CVS -prune -o -print |\
+-            cpio -pd $(pincludedir)
+-	$(INSTALL) -m 644 $(incdir)/* $(pincludedir)
++	cd $(includedir0) && find * -type f \( -name '*.inl' -o -name '*.h' -o -name '*.hpp' -o -name '*.c' \) \
++	    -exec $(INSTALL) -m 644 -D \{\} $(pincludedir)/\{\} \;
++	cd $(incdir) && find * -type f \( -name '*.inl' -o -name '*.h' -o -name '*.hpp' -o -name '*.c' \) \
++	    -exec $(INSTALL) -m 644 -D \{\} $(pincludedir)/\{\} \;
+ ## set up appropriate build and status directories somewhere under $(libdir)?
+ 
+ install-gbench: