diff --git a/lib/systems/default.nix b/lib/systems/default.nix
index e02890b11386..74f84914faab 100644
--- a/lib/systems/default.nix
+++ b/lib/systems/default.nix
@@ -34,8 +34,10 @@ rec {
       # Either of these can be losslessly-extracted from `parsed` iff parsing succeeds.
       system = parse.doubleFromSystem final.parsed;
       config = parse.tripleFromSystem final.parsed;
-      # Determine whether we are compatible with the provided CPU
-      isCompatible = platform: parse.isCompatible final.parsed.cpu platform.parsed.cpu;
+      # Determine whether we can execute binaries built for the provided platform.
+      canExecute = platform:
+        parse.isCompatible final.parsed.cpu platform.parsed.cpu
+        && final.parsed.kernel == platform.parsed.kernel;
       # Derived meta-data
       libc =
         /**/ if final.isDarwin              then "libSystem"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/capnproto/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/capnproto/default.nix
index 75b5f14d67ce..aeb9728af826 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/capnproto/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/capnproto/default.nix
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ]
-    ++ lib.optional (!(stdenv.hostPlatform.isCompatible stdenv.buildPlatform)) capnproto;
+    ++ lib.optional (!(stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform)) capnproto;
 
-  cmakeFlags = lib.optional (!(stdenv.hostPlatform.isCompatible stdenv.buildPlatform)) "-DEXTERNAL_CAPNP";
+  cmakeFlags = lib.optional (!(stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform)) "-DEXTERNAL_CAPNP";
 
   # Upstream 77ac9154440bcc216fda1092fd5bb51da62ae09c, modified to apply to v0.9.1.  Drop on update.
   patches = lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isMusl ./musl-no-fibers.patch;
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
index 5c5ca64b1e95..ace0d704b721 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
   # compatible with or current architecture.
   getCompatibleTools = lib.foldl (v: system:
     if v != null then v
-    else if localSystem.isCompatible (lib.systems.elaborate { inherit system; }) then archLookupTable.${system}
+    else if localSystem.canExecute (lib.systems.elaborate { inherit system; }) then archLookupTable.${system}
     else null) null (lib.attrNames archLookupTable);
 
   archLookupTable = table.${localSystem.libc}