diff --git a/pkgs/misc/cups/drivers/foomatic-db-engine/default.nix b/pkgs/misc/cups/drivers/foomatic-db-engine/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b5e107ebf37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/misc/cups/drivers/foomatic-db-engine/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+{ lib
+, perlPackages
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, withCupsAccess ? false  # needed to access local cups server
+, cups
+, cups-filters
+, curl
+, withSocketAccess ? false  # needed to access network printers
+, netcat-gnu
+, withSMBAccess ? false  # needed to access SMB-connected printers
+, samba
+, autoconf
+, automake
+, file
+, makeWrapper
+}:
+
+perlPackages.buildPerlPackage {
+  pname = "foomatic-db-engine";
+  version = "unstable-2022-05-03";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    # there is also a daily snapshot at the `downloadPage`,
+    # but it gets deleted quickly and would provoke 404 errors
+    owner = "OpenPrinting";
+    repo = "foomatic-db-engine";
+    rev = "2e6f14b54748fa121a4d2e3d480010e10b070c5a";
+    hash = "sha256-m7FQTxWmawbtm24h8UqznGKXgX41JhOtyyFMRwEhm5k=";
+  };
+
+  outputs = [ "out" ];
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [
+    perlPackages.Clone
+    perlPackages.DBI
+    perlPackages.XMLLibXML
+  ];
+
+  buildInputs =
+       # provide some "cups-*" commands to `foomatic-{configure,printjob}`
+       # so that they can manage a local cups server (add queues, add jobs...)
+       lib.optionals withCupsAccess [ cups cups-filters curl ]
+       # the commands `foomatic-{configure,getpjloptions}` need
+       # netcat if they are used to query or alter a network
+       # printer via AppSocket/HP JetDirect protocol
+    ++ lib.optional withSocketAccess netcat-gnu
+       # `foomatic-configure` can be used to access printers that are
+       # shared via the SMB protocol, but it needs the `smbclient` binary
+    ++ lib.optional withSMBAccess samba
+  ;
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoconf automake file makeWrapper ];
+
+  # sed-substitute indirection is more robust against
+  # characters in paths that might need escaping
+  prePatch = ''
+    sed -Ei 's|^(S?BINSEARCHPATH=).+$|\1"@PATH@"|g' configure.ac
+    substituteInPlace configure.ac --subst-var PATH
+    touch Makefile.PL  # `buildPerlPackage` fails unless this exists
+  '';
+
+  preConfigure = ''
+    ./make_configure
+  '';
+
+  configureFlags = [
+    "--sysconfdir=${placeholder "out"}/etc"
+    "LIBDIR=${placeholder "out"}/share/foomatic"
+    "PERLPREFIX=${placeholder "out"}"
+  ];
+
+  postFixup = ''
+    for bin in "${placeholder "out"}/bin"/*; do
+      test '!' -L "$bin" || continue  # skip symlink
+      wrapProgram "$bin" --set PERL5LIB "$PERL5LIB"
+    done
+  '';
+
+  doCheck = false;  # no tests, would fail
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "OpenPrinting printer support database engine";
+    downloadPage = "https://www.openprinting.org/download/foomatic/";
+    homepage = "https://openprinting.github.io/projects/02-foomatic/";
+    license = lib.licenses.gpl2Only;
+    maintainers = [ lib.maintainers.yarny ];
+    longDescription = ''
+      Foomatic's database engine generates PPD files
+      from the data in Foomatic's XML database.
+      It also contains scripts to directly
+      generate print queues and handle jobs.
+    '';
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 5b1faf8d586..088bea97441 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -36319,6 +36319,8 @@ with pkgs;
 
   epson-workforce-635-nx625-series = callPackage ../misc/drivers/epson-workforce-635-nx625-series { };
 
+  foomatic-db-engine = callPackage ../misc/cups/drivers/foomatic-db-engine {};
+
   gutenprint = callPackage ../misc/drivers/gutenprint { };
 
   gutenprintBin = callPackage ../misc/drivers/gutenprint/bin.nix { };