diff --git a/pkgs/applications/audio/id3v2/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/audio/id3v2/default.nix
index 94c2cd810026..71dc88b9231e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/audio/id3v2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/audio/id3v2/default.nix
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   nativeBuildInputs = [ groff ];
   buildInputs = [ id3lib zlib ];
 
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
-  buildFlags = "clean all";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
+  buildFlags = [ "clean" "all" ];
 
   preInstall = ''
     mkdir -p $out/{bin,share/man/man1}
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/audio/keyfinder-cli/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/audio/keyfinder-cli/default.nix
index dc90aeda47df..701bf6f82f44 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/audio/keyfinder-cli/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/audio/keyfinder-cli/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ libav libkeyfinder ];
 
-  makeFlagsArray = "PREFIX=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/feedreaders/rsstail/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/feedreaders/rsstail/default.nix
index 62054ef0613d..40c165c2540c 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/feedreaders/rsstail/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/feedreaders/rsstail/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     substituteInPlace Makefile --replace -liconv_hook ""
   '';
 
-  makeFlags = "prefix=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "prefix=$(out)" ];
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   doCheck = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git-hub/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git-hub/default.nix
index e657215f2cd5..271e1244820f 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git-hub/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/version-management/git-and-tools/git-hub/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  installFlags = "prefix=$(out)";
+  installFlags = [ "prefix=$(out)" ];
 
   postInstall = ''
     # Remove inert ftdetect vim plugin and a README that's a man page subset:
diff --git a/pkgs/data/documentation/man-pages/default.nix b/pkgs/data/documentation/man-pages/default.nix
index db1c16e46331..923b95040fb8 100644
--- a/pkgs/data/documentation/man-pages/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/data/documentation/man-pages/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1lqdzw6n3rqhd097lk5w16jcjhwfqs5zvi42hsbk3p92smswpaj8";
   };
 
-  makeFlags = "MANDIR=$(out)/share/man";
+  makeFlags = [ "MANDIR=$(out)/share/man" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     inherit version;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libcli/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libcli/default.nix
index 0b3f46ab1958..7798eb5f8fc7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libcli/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libcli/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Emulate a Cisco-style telnet command-line interface";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libpsl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libpsl/default.nix
index caec3c172259..95370b921116 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libpsl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libpsl/default.nix
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
     # The libpsl check phase requires the list's test scripts (tests/) as well
     cp -Rv "${listSources}"/* list
   '';
-  configureFlags = "--disable-static --enable-gtk-doc --enable-man";
+  configureFlags = [ "--disable-static" "--enable-gtk-doc" "--enable-man" ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/include-what-you-use/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/include-what-you-use/default.nix
index 577d058beb13..57d5cadf98c2 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/include-what-you-use/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/include-what-you-use/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,15 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     url = "${meta.homepage}/downloads/${name}.src.tar.gz";
   };
 
+  buildInputs = with llvmPackages; [ clang llvm ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
+
+  cmakeFlags = [ "-DIWYU_LLVM_ROOT_PATH=${llvmPackages.clang-unwrapped}" ];
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    inherit version;
     description = "Analyze #includes in C/C++ source files with clang";
     longDescription = ''
       For every symbol (type, function variable, or macro) that you use in
@@ -26,11 +34,4 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     platforms = platforms.linux;
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ nckx ];
   };
-
-  buildInputs = with llvmPackages; [ clang llvm ];
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
-
-  cmakeFlags = "-DIWYU_LLVM_ROOT_PATH=${llvmPackages.clang-unwrapped}";
-
-  enableParallelBuilding = true;
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/games/2048-in-terminal/default.nix b/pkgs/games/2048-in-terminal/default.nix
index b37cd4990de8..cbf6a19b319d 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/2048-in-terminal/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/2048-in-terminal/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   preInstall = ''
     mkdir -p $out/bin
   '';
-  installFlags = "DESTDIR=$(out)";
+  installFlags = [ "DESTDIR=$(out)" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     inherit version;
diff --git a/pkgs/games/eduke32/default.nix b/pkgs/games/eduke32/default.nix
index e0c5798d48d6..048688fe033c 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/eduke32/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/eduke32/default.nix
@@ -26,7 +26,11 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-I${SDL2}/include/SDL";
   NIX_LDFLAGS = "-L${SDL2}/lib";
 
-  makeFlags = "LINKED_GTK=1 SDLCONFIG=${SDL2}/bin/sdl2-config VC_REV=${rev}";
+  makeFlags = [
+    "LINKED_GTK=1"
+    "SDLCONFIG=${SDL2}/bin/sdl2-config"
+    "VC_REV=${rev}"
+  ];
 
   desktopItem = makeDesktopItem {
     name = "eduke32";
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dstat/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dstat/default.nix
index 6b3b7fac8f37..619e37c2c4bc 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dstat/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dstat/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
            -e "s|/usr/share/dstat|$out/share/dstat|" dstat
   '';
 
-  makeFlags = "prefix=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "prefix=$(out)" ];
 
   postInstall = ''
     wrapPythonProgramsIn $out/bin "$out $pythonPath"
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fatrace/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fatrace/default.nix
index c620a0056c17..3a2be5435823 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fatrace/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fatrace/default.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       --replace "'which'" "'${which}/bin/which'"
   '';
 
-  makeFlagsArray = "PREFIX=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     inherit version;
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/freefall/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/freefall/default.nix
index 53b347b48e3f..80ecbad202e7 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/freefall/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/freefall/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     substituteInPlace freefall.c --replace "alarm(2)" "alarm(7)"
   '';
 
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Free-fall protection for spinning HP/Dell laptop hard drives";
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/ftop/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/ftop/default.nix
index e41a28b256a0..022fc33a2060 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/ftop/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/ftop/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, ncurses }:
 
+let version = "1.0"; in
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "ftop-1.0";
+  name = "ftop-${version}";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "http://ftop.googlecode.com/files/${name}.tar.bz2";
@@ -14,18 +15,19 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ./ftop-fix_buffer_overflow.patch
     ./ftop-fix_printf_format.patch
   ];
-  patchFlags = "-p0";
+  patchFlags = [ "-p0" ];
 
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace configure --replace "curses" "ncurses"
   '';
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    inherit version;
     description = "Show progress of open files and file systems";
     homepage = https://code.google.com/p/ftop/;
     license = licenses.gpl3Plus;
     longDescription = ''
-      Ftop is to files what top is to processes. The progress of all open files
+      ftop is to files what top is to processes. The progress of all open files
       and file systems can be monitored. If run as a regular user, the set of
       open files will be limited to those in that user's processes (which is
       generally all that is of interest to the user).
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/mcelog/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/mcelog/default.nix
index f88e4b2fb753..1c0362b80ae5 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/mcelog/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/mcelog/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  installFlags = "DESTDIR=$(out) prefix= DOCDIR=/share/doc";
+  installFlags = [ "DESTDIR=$(out)" "prefix=" "DOCDIR=/share/doc" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     inherit version;
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/radeontop/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/radeontop/default.nix
index ef192196a406..b86486d4584c 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/radeontop/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/radeontop/default.nix
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     substituteInPlace getver.sh --replace ver=unknown ver=${version}
   '';
 
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    inherit version;
     description = "Top-like tool for viewing AMD Radeon GPU utilization";
     longDescription = ''
       View GPU utilization, both for the total activity percent and individual
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/p910nd/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/p910nd/default.nix
index ea5214c7bb44..150bf196b0dd 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/p910nd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/p910nd/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
     sed -e "s|/usr||g" -i Makefile
   '';
 
-  makeFlags = "DESTDIR=$(out) BINDIR=/bin";
+  makeFlags = [ "DESTDIR=$(out)" "BINDIR=/bin" ];
 
   postInstall = ''
     # Match the man page:
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/compression/lz4/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/compression/lz4/default.nix
index 0ce7e0e33436..e91fae778fdb 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/compression/lz4/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/compression/lz4/default.nix
@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   doCheck = false; # tests take a very long time
   checkTarget = "test";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    inherit version;
     description = "Extremely fast compression algorithm";
     longDescription = ''
       Very fast lossless compression algorithm, providing compression speed
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/filesystems/boxfs/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/filesystems/boxfs/default.nix
index 30bb8d009a06..3c8c1b6e1809 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/filesystems/boxfs/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/filesystems/boxfs/default.nix
@@ -26,18 +26,18 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "boxfs-${version}";
 
   src = srcs.boxfs2;
+
   prePatch = with srcs; ''
     substituteInPlace Makefile --replace "git pull" "true"
     cp -a --no-preserve=mode ${libapp} libapp
     cp -a --no-preserve=mode ${libjson} libjson
   '';
-
   patches = [ ./work-around-API-borkage.patch ];
 
   buildInputs = [ curl fuse libxml2 ];
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
 
-  buildFlags = "static";
+  buildFlags = [ "static" ];
 
   installPhase = ''
     mkdir -p $out/bin
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
   '';
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    inherit version;
     description = "FUSE file system for box.com accounts";
     longDescription = ''
       Store files on box.com (an account is required). The first time you run
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/gparted/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/gparted/default.nix
index 4cefc8a412f8..be5eb0e66214 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/gparted/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/gparted/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     url = "mirror://sourceforge/gparted/${name}.tar.bz2";
   };
 
-  configureFlags = "--disable-doc";
+  configureFlags = [ "--disable-doc" ];
 
   buildInputs = [ parted gtk glib libuuid gtkmm libxml2 hicolor_icon_theme ];
   nativeBuildInputs = [ intltool gettext makeWrapper pkgconfig ];
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/networking/minissdpd/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/networking/minissdpd/default.nix
index 82e26ad85c9d..f99a3de90468 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/networking/minissdpd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/networking/minissdpd/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   buildInputs = [ libnfnetlink ];
 
-  installFlags = "PREFIX=$(out) INSTALLPREFIX=$(out)";
+  installFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" "INSTALLPREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/networking/netsniff-ng/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/networking/netsniff-ng/default.nix
index e39787a4fbb9..535a96c1db7c 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/networking/netsniff-ng/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/networking/netsniff-ng/default.nix
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   # All files installed to /etc are just static data that can go in the store
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out) ETCDIR=$(out)/etc";
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" "ETCDIR=$(out)/etc" ];
 
   postInstall = ''
     ln -sv ${geolite-legacy}/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat		$out/etc/netsniff-ng/country4.dat
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
index 2357ec77f122..680a8ef1bda0 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/dpkg/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
       --replace "stackprotectorstrong => 1" "stackprotectorstrong => 0"
   '';
 
-  configureFlags = "--disable-dselect --with-admindir=/var/lib/dpkg PERL_LIBDIR=$(out)/${perl.libPrefix}";
+  configureFlags = [
+    "--disable-dselect"
+    "--with-admindir=/var/lib/dpkg"
+    "PERL_LIBDIR=$(out)/${perl.libPrefix}"
+  ];
 
   preConfigure = ''
     # Nice: dpkg has a circular dependency on itself. Its configure
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/system/foremost/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/system/foremost/default.nix
index 0e502edc2893..af28565f4661 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/system/foremost/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/system/foremost/default.nix
@@ -9,6 +9,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     url = "http://foremost.sourceforge.net/pkg/${name}.tar.gz";
   };
 
+  patches = [ ./makefile.patch ];
+
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  preInstall = ''
+    mkdir -p $out/{bin,share/man/man8}
+  '';
+
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     inherit version;
     description = "Recover files based on their contents";
@@ -26,14 +36,4 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     platforms = platforms.linux;
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ nckx ];
   };
-
-  patches = [ ./makefile.patch ];
-
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
-
-  enableParallelBuilding = true;
-
-  preInstall = ''
-    mkdir -p $out/{bin,share/man/man8}
-  '';
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/system/stress-ng/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/system/stress-ng/default.nix
index 4e6f3ed11e87..12c250788390 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/system/stress-ng/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/system/stress-ng/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  installFlags = "DESTDIR=$(out)";
+  installFlags = [ "DESTDIR=$(out)" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     inherit version;
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/aha/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/aha/default.nix
index 60114b7b3f3a..152a46cd50c4 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/aha/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/aha/default.nix
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     owner = "theZiz";
   };
 
+  makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     inherit version;
     description = "ANSI HTML Adapter";
@@ -22,8 +26,4 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     platforms = platforms.linux;
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ nckx ];
   };
-
-  makeFlags = "PREFIX=$(out)";
-
-  enableParallelBuilding = true;
 }