diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/p4est/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/p4est/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..99c4b0be3f30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/p4est/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub
+, autoreconfHook, pkg-config
+, p4est-withMetis ? true, metis
+, p4est-sc
+}:
+
+let
+  inherit (p4est-sc) debugEnable mpiSupport;
+  dbg = if debugEnable then "-dbg" else "";
+  withMetis = p4est-withMetis;
+in
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  pname = "p4est${dbg}";
+  version = "unstable-2021-06-22";
+
+  # fetch an untagged snapshot of the prev3-develop branch
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "cburstedde";
+    repo = "p4est";
+    rev = "7423ac5f2b2b64490a7a92e5ddcbd251053c4dee";
+    sha256 = "0vffnf48rzw6d0as4c3x1f31b4kapmdzr1hfj5rz5ngah72gqrph";
+  };
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook pkg-config ];
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ p4est-sc ];
+  buildInputs = lib.optional withMetis metis;
+  inherit debugEnable mpiSupport withMetis;
+
+  patches = [ ./p4est-metis.patch ];
+  postPatch = ''
+    sed -i -e "s:\(^\s*ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS.*\)\s@P4EST_SC_AMFLAGS@\s*$:\1 -I ${p4est-sc}/share/aclocal:" Makefile.am
+  '';
+  preConfigure = ''
+    echo "2.8.0" > .tarball-version
+    ${if mpiSupport then "unset CC" else ""}
+  '';
+
+  configureFlags = [ "--with-sc=${p4est-sc}" ]
+    ++ lib.optional withMetis "--with-metis"
+    ++ lib.optional debugEnable "--enable-debug"
+    ++ lib.optional mpiSupport "--enable-mpi"
+  ;
+
+  inherit (p4est-sc) makeFlags dontDisableStatic enableParallelBuilding doCheck;
+
+  meta = {
+    branch = "prev3-develop";
+    description = "Parallel AMR on Forests of Octrees";
+    longDescription = ''
+      The p4est software library provides algorithms for parallel AMR.
+      AMR refers to Adaptive Mesh Refinement, a technique in scientific
+      computing to cover the domain of a simulation with an adaptive mesh.
+    '';
+    homepage = "https://www.p4est.org/";
+    downloadPage = "https://github.com/cburstedde/p4est.git";
+    license = lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
+    maintainers = [ lib.maintainers.cburstedde ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/p4est/p4est-metis.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/p4est/p4est-metis.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..46b8dc8af08c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/p4est/p4est-metis.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+diff --git a/src/p4est_connectivity.c b/src/p4est_connectivity.c
+index 95339136..c93528f2 100644
+--- a/src/p4est_connectivity.c
++++ b/src/p4est_connectivity.c
+@@ -3715,6 +3715,7 @@ p4est_connectivity_reorder_newid (sc_MPI_Comm comm, int k,
+                                   sc_array_t * newid)
+ {
+   const int           n = (int) conn->num_trees;
++  int                 metis_n;
+   int                *xadj;
+   int                *adjncy;
+   int                *part;
+@@ -3862,10 +3863,12 @@ p4est_connectivity_reorder_newid (sc_MPI_Comm comm, int k,
+ 
+     P4EST_GLOBAL_INFO ("Entering metis\n");
+     /* now call metis */
++    metis_n = n;
+     P4EST_EXECUTE_ASSERT_INT
+-      (METIS_PartGraphRecursive (&n, &ncon, xadj, adjncy, NULL, NULL,
++      (METIS_PartGraphRecursive (&metis_n, &ncon, xadj, adjncy, NULL, NULL,
+                                  NULL, &k, NULL, NULL, NULL, &volume, part),
+        METIS_OK);
++    P4EST_ASSERT (metis_n == n);
+     P4EST_GLOBAL_INFO ("Done metis\n");
+ 
+     P4EST_GLOBAL_STATISTICSF ("metis volume %d\n", volume);
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index dbd639e4252b..11f93427d2e1 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -29871,6 +29871,12 @@ in
 
   p4est-sc-dbg = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/p4est-sc { };
 
+  p4est = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/p4est { };
+
+  p4est-dbg = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/p4est {
+    p4est-sc = p4est-sc-dbg;
+  };
+
   petsc = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/petsc { };
 
   parmetis = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/math/parmetis { };