diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix
index a5fbac680f90..1945fc007c41 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix
@@ -185,6 +185,10 @@ composableDerivation.composableDerivation {} ( fixed : let inherit (fixed.fixed)
         buildInputs = [freetds];
       };
 
+      zts = {
+        configureFlags = ["--enable-maintainer-zts"];
+      };
+
       /*
          php is build within this derivation in order to add the xdebug lines to the php.ini.
          So both Apache and command line php both use xdebug without having to configure anything.
@@ -224,6 +228,7 @@ composableDerivation.composableDerivation {} ( fixed : let inherit (fixed.fixed)
     ftpSupport = config.php.ftp or true;
     fpmSupport = config.php.fpm or true;
     mssqlSupport = config.php.mssql or (!stdenv.isDarwin);
+    ztsSupport = config.php.zts or false;
   };
 
   configurePhase = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix
index ab5057010a3f..6ed73b75156a 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix
@@ -78,4 +78,12 @@ let self = with self; {
 
     buildInputs = [ pkgs.m4 ];
   };
+
+  pthreads = assert pkgs.config.php.zts or false; buildPecl {
+    #pthreads requires a build of PHP with ZTS (Zend Thread Safety) enabled
+    #--enable-maintainer-zts or --enable-zts on Windows
+    name = "pthreads-2.0.10";
+    sha256 = "1xlcb1b1g10jd0xhm3c01a06yqpb5qln47pd1k522138324qvpwb";
+  };
+
 }; in self