diff --git a/configuration/system.nix b/configuration/system.nix
index 5015f2d0d23d..2b5c098c8b29 100644
--- a/configuration/system.nix
+++ b/configuration/system.nix
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ rec {
   # kernel, the Upstart services, the init scripts, etc.) as well as a
   # script `switch-to-configuration' that activates the configuration
   # and makes it bootable.
-  system = pkgs.stdenvNew.mkDerivation {
+  system = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
     name = "system";
     builder = ./system.sh;
     switchToConfiguration = ./switch-to-configuration.sh;
diff --git a/instances/examples/basic.nix b/instances/examples/basic.nix
index b72f3f64d485..430ed8de1d52 100644
--- a/instances/examples/basic.nix
+++ b/instances/examples/basic.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 {
   boot = {
-    autoDetectRootDevice = false;
-    readOnlyRoot = false;
     grubDevice = "/dev/hda";
   };
 
diff --git a/upstart-jobs/httpd.nix b/upstart-jobs/httpd.nix
index d89e10efd77c..e9434d7f0e81 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/httpd.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/httpd.nix
@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@ let
 
   
   webServer = import ../services/apache-httpd {
-    inherit (pkgs) apacheHttpd coreutils;
-    stdenv = pkgs.stdenvNew;
+    inherit (pkgs) stdenv apacheHttpd coreutils;
 
     inherit hostName httpPort httpsPort
       user group adminAddr logDir stateDir;