diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/firefox/sync-server.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/firefox/sync-server.nix
index 97d223a56cab..2ae3226e924f 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/firefox/sync-server.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/firefox/sync-server.nix
@@ -127,14 +127,16 @@ in
   config = mkIf cfg.enable {
 
     systemd.services.syncserver = let
-      syncServerEnv = pkgs.python.withPackages(ps: with ps; [ syncserver pasteScript requests ]);
       user = "syncserver";
       group = "syncserver";
     in {
       after = [ "network.target" ];
       description = "Firefox Sync Server";
       wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
-      path = [ pkgs.coreutils syncServerEnv ];
+      path = [
+        pkgs.coreutils
+        (pkgs.python.withPackages (ps: [ pkgs.syncserver ps.pasteScript ps.requests ]))
+      ];
 
       serviceConfig = {
         User = user;
@@ -166,7 +168,9 @@ in
           chown ${user}:${group} ${defaultDbLocation}
         fi
       '';
-      serviceConfig.ExecStart = "${syncServerEnv}/bin/paster serve ${syncServerIni}";
+      script = ''
+        paster serve ${syncServerIni}
+      '';
     };
 
     users.users.syncserver = {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/syncserver/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/syncserver/default.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 7320a00a5575..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/syncserver/default.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-{ stdenv
-, buildPythonPackage
-, fetchFromGitHub
-, isPy27
-, unittest2
-, cornice
-, gunicorn
-, pyramid
-, requests
-, simplejson
-, sqlalchemy
-, mozsvc
-, tokenserver
-, serversyncstorage
-, configparser
-}:
-
-buildPythonPackage rec {
-  pname = "syncserver";
-  version = "1.8.0";
-  disabled = ! isPy27;
-
-  src = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "mozilla-services";
-    repo = "syncserver";
-    rev = version;
-    sha256 = "0hxjns9hz7a8r87iqr1yfvny4vwj1rlhwcf8bh7j6lsf92mkmgy8";
-  };
-
-  buildInputs = [ unittest2 ];
-  propagatedBuildInputs = [
-    cornice gunicorn pyramid requests simplejson sqlalchemy mozsvc tokenserver
-    serversyncstorage configparser
-  ];
-
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "Run-Your-Own Firefox Sync Server";
-    homepage = "https://github.com/mozilla-services/syncserver";
-    platforms = platforms.unix;
-    license = licenses.mpl20;
-  };
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/syncserver/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/syncserver/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d41923758017
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/servers/syncserver/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{ lib
+, python2
+, fetchFromGitHub
+}:
+
+let
+  python = python2.override {
+    packageOverrides = self: super: {
+      # Older version, used by syncserver, tokenserver and serversyncstorage
+      cornice = super.cornice.overridePythonAttrs (oldAttrs: rec {
+        version = "0.17";
+        src = oldAttrs.src.override {
+          inherit version;
+          sha256 = "1vvymhf6ydc885ygqiqpa39xr9v302i1l6nzirjnczqy9llyqvpj";
+        };
+      });
+    };
+  };
+
+# buildPythonPackage is necessary for syncserver to work with gunicorn or paster scripts
+in python.pkgs.buildPythonPackage rec {
+  pname = "syncserver";
+  version = "1.8.0";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "mozilla-services";
+    repo = "syncserver";
+    rev = version;
+    sha256 = "0hxjns9hz7a8r87iqr1yfvny4vwj1rlhwcf8bh7j6lsf92mkmgy8";
+  };
+
+  # There are no tests
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = with python.pkgs; [
+    cornice gunicorn pyramid requests simplejson sqlalchemy mozsvc tokenserver
+    serversyncstorage configparser
+  ];
+
+  meta = with lib; {
+    description = "Run-Your-Own Firefox Sync Server";
+    homepage = https://github.com/mozilla-services/syncserver;
+    platforms = platforms.unix;
+    license = licenses.mpl20;
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ nadrieril ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 556dfcf0c040..d9b3b4c46096 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -14138,6 +14138,8 @@ in
 
   systemd-journal2gelf = callPackage ../tools/system/systemd-journal2gelf { };
 
+  syncserver = callPackage ../servers/syncserver { };
+
   inherit (callPackages ../servers/http/tomcat { })
     tomcat7
     tomcat8
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index d0e571686ea5..02db7bfc1954 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -774,8 +774,6 @@ in {
 
   supervise_api = callPackage ../development/python-modules/supervise_api { };
 
-  syncserver = callPackage ../development/python-modules/syncserver {};
-
   tables = callPackage ../development/python-modules/tables {
     hdf5 = pkgs.hdf5.override { zlib = pkgs.zlib; };
   };