diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs-23/builder.sh b/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs-23/builder.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index d04e7a4fdd3f..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs-23/builder.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-source $stdenv/setup
-
-# This hook is supposed to be run on Linux. It patches the proper locations of
-# the crt{1,i,n}.o files into the build to ensure that Emacs is linked with
-# *our* versions, not the ones found in the system, as it would do by default.
-# On other platforms, this appears to be unnecessary.
-preConfigure() {
-    case "${system}" in
-	x86_64-linux)	glibclibdir=lib64 ;;
-	i686-linux)	glibclibdir=lib ;;
-        *)              return;
-    esac
-
-    libc=$(cat ${NIX_GCC}/nix-support/orig-libc)
-    echo "libc: $libc"
-
-    for i in src/s/*.h src/m/*.h; do
-        substituteInPlace $i \
-            --replace /usr/${glibclibdir}/crt1.o $libc/${glibclibdir}/crt1.o \
-            --replace /usr/${glibclibdir}/crti.o $libc/${glibclibdir}/crti.o \
-            --replace /usr/${glibclibdir}/crtn.o $libc/${glibclibdir}/crtn.o \
-            --replace /usr/lib/crt1.o $libc/${glibclibdir}/crt1.o \
-            --replace /usr/lib/crti.o $libc/${glibclibdir}/crti.o \
-            --replace /usr/lib/crtn.o $libc/${glibclibdir}/crtn.o
-    done
-
-    for i in Makefile.in ./src/Makefile.in ./lib-src/Makefile.in ./leim/Makefile.in; do
-        substituteInPlace $i --replace /bin/pwd pwd
-    done
-}
-
-preBuild="make bootstrap"
-
-genericBuild
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs-23/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs-23/default.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index ab5c8e49e7f1..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs-23/default.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses, x11, libXaw, libXpm, Xaw3d
-, pkgconfig, gtk, libXft, dbus, libpng, libjpeg, libungif
-, libtiff, librsvg, texinfo, gconf
-}:
-
-assert (gtk != null) -> (pkgconfig != null);
-assert (libXft != null) -> libpng != null;	# probably a bug
-assert stdenv.isDarwin -> libXaw != null;	# fails to link otherwise
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "emacs-23.4";
-
-  builder = ./builder.sh;
-
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "mirror://gnu/emacs/${name}.tar.bz2";
-    sha256 = "1fc8x5p38qihg7l6z2b1hjc534lnjb8gqpwgywlwg5s3csg6ymr6";
-  };
-
-  buildInputs =
-    [ ncurses x11 texinfo libXaw Xaw3d libXpm libpng libjpeg libungif
-      libtiff librsvg libXft gconf
-    ]
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optionals (gtk != null) [ gtk pkgconfig ]
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isLinux dbus;
-
-  configureFlags =
-    stdenv.lib.optionals (gtk != null) [ "--with-x-toolkit=gtk" "--with-xft"]
-
-    # On NixOS, help Emacs find `crt*.o'.
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optional (stdenv ? glibc)
-         [ "--with-crt-dir=${stdenv.glibc}/lib" ];
-
-  postInstall = ''
-    cat >$out/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.el <<EOF
-;; nixos specific load-path
-(when (getenv "NIX_PROFILES") (setq load-path
-                      (append (reverse (mapcar (lambda (x) (concat x "/share/emacs/site-lisp/"))
-                                               (split-string (getenv "NIX_PROFILES"))))
-                       load-path)))
-EOF
-  '';
-
-  doCheck = true;
-
-  meta = {
-    description = "GNU Emacs 23.x, the extensible, customizable text editor";
-
-    longDescription = ''
-      GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more.  At its
-      core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp
-      programming language with extensions to support text editing.
-
-      The features of GNU Emacs include: content-sensitive editing modes,
-      including syntax coloring, for a wide variety of file types including
-      plain text, source code, and HTML; complete built-in documentation,
-      including a tutorial for new users; full Unicode support for nearly all
-      human languages and their scripts; highly customizable, using Emacs
-      Lisp code or a graphical interface; a large number of extensions that
-      add other functionality, including a project planner, mail and news
-      reader, debugger interface, calendar, and more.  Many of these
-      extensions are distributed with GNU Emacs; others are available
-      separately.
-    '';
-
-    homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/;
-    license = "GPLv3+";
-
-    maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ simons chaoflow ];
-    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
-  };
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index ad0f0ba2b0b6..510c6c97f0bd 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -8369,24 +8369,6 @@ let
 
   emacs = emacs24;
 
-  emacs23 = callPackage ../applications/editors/emacs-23 {
-    stdenv =
-      if stdenv.isDarwin
-      /* On Darwin, use Apple-GCC, otherwise:
-           configure: error: C preprocessor "cc -E -no-cpp-precomp" fails sanity check */
-      then overrideGCC stdenv gccApple
-      else stdenv;
-
-    # use override to select the appropriate gui toolkit
-    libXaw = if stdenv.isDarwin then xlibs.libXaw else null;
-    Xaw3d = null;
-    gtk = if stdenv.isDarwin then null else gtk;
-    # TODO: these packages don't build on Darwin.
-    gconf = null /* if stdenv.isDarwin then null else gnome.GConf */;
-    librsvg = null /* if stdenv.isDarwin then null else librsvg */;
-    texinfo = texinfo4;
-  };
-
   emacs24 = callPackage ../applications/editors/emacs-24 {
     # use override to enable additional features
     libXaw = xlibs.libXaw;
@@ -8542,7 +8524,6 @@ let
     xmlRpc = callPackage ../applications/editors/emacs-modes/xml-rpc { };
   };
 
-  emacs23Packages = emacsPackages emacs23 pkgs.emacs23Packages;
   emacs24Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (emacsPackages emacs24 pkgs.emacs24Packages);
 
   inherit (gnome3) empathy;
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
index 56cc49abac63..c65d559c71f0 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
@@ -98,7 +98,6 @@ let
       drgeo = linux;
       ejabberd = linux;
       elinks = linux;
-      emacs23 = gtkSupported;
       enscript = all;
       eprover = linux;
       evince = linux;
@@ -342,14 +341,6 @@ let
       zsh = linux;
       zsnes = ["i686-linux"];
 
-      emacs23Packages = {
-        bbdb = linux;
-        cedet = linux;
-        emacsw3m = linux;
-        emms = linux;
-        jdee = linux;
-      };
-
       firefox36Pkgs.firefox = linux;
       firefoxPkgs.firefox = linux;