diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/build-neovim-plugin.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/build-neovim-plugin.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cb69b5ecacdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/build-neovim-plugin.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+{ lib
+, stdenv
+, buildVimPluginFrom2Nix
+, buildLuarocksPackage
+, lua51Packages
+, toVimPlugin
+}:
+let
+  # sanitizeDerivationName
+  normalizeName = lib.replaceStrings [ "." ] [ "-" ];
+in
+
+  # function to create vim plugin from lua packages that are already packaged in
+  # luaPackages
+  {
+    # the lua attribute name that matches this vim plugin. Both should be equal
+    # in the majority of cases but we make it possible to have different attribute names
+    luaAttr ? (normalizeName attrs.pname)
+    , ...
+  }@attrs:
+    let
+      originalLuaDrv = lua51Packages.${luaAttr};
+      luaDrv = lua51Packages.lib.overrideLuarocks originalLuaDrv (drv: {
+        extraConfig = ''
+          -- to create a flat hierarchy
+          lua_modules_path = "lua"
+        '';
+      });
+      finalDrv = toVimPlugin (luaDrv.overrideAttrs(oa: {
+          nativeBuildInputs = oa.nativeBuildInputs or [] ++ [
+            lua51Packages.luarocksMoveDataFolder
+          ];
+        }));
+    in
+      finalDrv
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/utils.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/utils.nix
index ee0abb582891..16b19f63d2d3 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/utils.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/utils.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 { lib
+, buildLuarocksPackage
+, callPackage
 , vimUtils
 , nodejs
 , neovim-unwrapped
@@ -184,4 +186,9 @@ in
 {
   inherit makeNeovimConfig;
   inherit legacyWrapper;
+
+  buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix = callPackage ./build-neovim-plugin.nix {
+    inherit (vimUtils) buildVimPluginFrom2Nix toVimPlugin;
+    inherit buildLuarocksPackage;
+  };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/build-vim-plugin.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/build-vim-plugin.nix
index 6b4cf674ac5a..9e7bb1be2d5c 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/build-vim-plugin.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/build-vim-plugin.nix
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 , vimCommandCheckHook
 , vimGenDocHook
 , neovimRequireCheckHook
+, toVimPlugin
 }:
 
 rec {
@@ -23,11 +24,6 @@ rec {
     let drv = stdenv.mkDerivation (attrs // {
       name = namePrefix + name;
 
-      # dont move the doc folder since vim expects it
-      forceShare= [ "man" "info" ];
-
-      nativeBuildInputs = attrs.nativeBuildInputs or []
-      ++ lib.optionals (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform) [ vimCommandCheckHook vimGenDocHook ];
       inherit unpackPhase configurePhase buildPhase addonInfo preInstall postInstall;
 
       installPhase = ''
@@ -40,9 +36,9 @@ rec {
         runHook postInstall
       '';
     });
-    in  drv.overrideAttrs(oa: {
+    in toVimPlugin(drv.overrideAttrs(oa: {
       rtp = "${drv}";
-    });
+    }));
 
   buildVimPluginFrom2Nix = attrs: buildVimPlugin ({
     # vim plugins may override this
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/default.nix
index c6ef409d637b..17e03b7dd76d 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # TODO check that no license information gets lost
-{ callPackage, config, lib, vimUtils, vim, darwin, llvmPackages, luaPackages }:
+{ callPackage, config, lib, vimUtils, vim, darwin, llvmPackages
+, neovimUtils
+, luaPackages
+}:
 
 let
 
@@ -8,24 +11,11 @@ let
 
   inherit (lib) extends;
 
-  initialPackages = self: {
-    # Convert derivation to a vim plugin.
-    toVimPlugin = drv:
-      drv.overrideAttrs(oldAttrs: {
-
-        nativeBuildInputs = oldAttrs.nativeBuildInputs or [] ++ [
-          vimGenDocHook
-          vimCommandCheckHook
-        ];
-        passthru = (oldAttrs.passthru or {}) // {
-          vimPlugin = true;
-        };
-      });
-  };
+  initialPackages = self: { };
 
   plugins = callPackage ./generated.nix {
     inherit buildVimPluginFrom2Nix;
-    inherit (vimUtils) buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix;
+    inherit (neovimUtils) buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix;
   };
 
   # TL;DR
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/generated.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/generated.nix
index dac92940b6de..b11d09063f8a 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/generated.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/generated.nix
@@ -2527,7 +2527,7 @@ final: prev:
     meta.homepage = "https://github.com/nvim-lua/diagnostic-nvim/";
   };
 
-  diffview-nvim = buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix {
+  diffview-nvim = buildVimPluginFrom2Nix {
     pname = "diffview.nvim";
     version = "2022-06-09";
     src = fetchFromGitHub {
@@ -3154,7 +3154,7 @@ final: prev:
     meta.homepage = "https://github.com/ruifm/gitlinker.nvim/";
   };
 
-  gitsigns-nvim = buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix {
+  gitsigns-nvim = buildVimPluginFrom2Nix {
     pname = "gitsigns.nvim";
     version = "2022-05-26";
     src = fetchFromGitHub {
@@ -4282,7 +4282,7 @@ final: prev:
     meta.homepage = "https://github.com/iamcco/markdown-preview.nvim/";
   };
 
-  marks-nvim = buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix {
+  marks-nvim = buildVimPluginFrom2Nix {
     pname = "marks.nvim";
     version = "2022-05-13";
     src = fetchFromGitHub {
@@ -5110,7 +5110,7 @@ final: prev:
     meta.homepage = "https://github.com/RRethy/nvim-base16/";
   };
 
-  nvim-biscuits = buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix {
+  nvim-biscuits = buildVimPluginFrom2Nix {
     pname = "nvim-biscuits";
     version = "2022-05-31";
     src = fetchFromGitHub {
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
index 1170771c62a1..4c6bb5d0da0f 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
@@ -205,9 +205,6 @@ let
       ln -sf ${plugin}/${rtpPath} $out/pack/${packageName}/${dir}/${lib.getName plugin}
     '';
 
-    link = pluginPath: if hasLuaModule pluginPath
-      then linkLuaPlugin pluginPath
-      else linkVimlPlugin pluginPath;
 
     packageLinks = packageName: {start ? [], opt ? []}:
     let
@@ -225,9 +222,9 @@ let
       [ "mkdir -p $out/pack/${packageName}/start" ]
       # To avoid confusion, even dependencies of optional plugins are added
       # to `start` (except if they are explicitly listed as optional plugins).
-      ++ (builtins.map (x: link x packageName "start") allPlugins)
+      ++ (builtins.map (x: linkVimlPlugin x packageName "start") allPlugins)
       ++ ["mkdir -p $out/pack/${packageName}/opt"]
-      ++ (builtins.map (x: link x packageName "opt") opt)
+      ++ (builtins.map (x: linkVimlPlugin x packageName "opt") opt)
       # Assemble all python3 dependencies into a single `site-packages` to avoid doing recursive dependency collection
       # for each plugin.
       # This directory is only for python import search path, and will not slow down the startup time.
@@ -290,14 +287,14 @@ let
       /* vim-plug is an extremely popular vim plugin manager.
       */
       plugImpl =
-      (''
+      ''
         source ${vimPlugins.vim-plug.rtp}/plug.vim
         silent! call plug#begin('/dev/null')
 
         '' + (lib.concatMapStringsSep "\n" (pkg: "Plug '${pkg.rtp}'") plug.plugins) + ''
 
         call plug#end()
-      '');
+      '';
 
       /*
        vim-addon-manager = VAM
@@ -533,16 +530,11 @@ rec {
     } ./neovim-require-check-hook.sh) {};
 
   inherit (import ./build-vim-plugin.nix {
-    inherit lib stdenv rtpPath vim vimGenDocHook vimCommandCheckHook neovimRequireCheckHook;
+    inherit lib stdenv rtpPath vim vimGenDocHook
+      toVimPlugin vimCommandCheckHook neovimRequireCheckHook;
   }) buildVimPlugin buildVimPluginFrom2Nix;
 
 
-  # TODO placeholder to ease working on automatic plugin detection
-  # this should be a luarocks "flat" install with appropriate vim hooks
-  buildNeovimPluginFrom2Nix = attrs: let drv = (buildVimPluginFrom2Nix attrs); in drv.overrideAttrs(oa: {
-    nativeBuildInputs = oa.nativeBuildInputs ++ [ neovimRequireCheckHook ];
-  });
-
   # used to figure out which python dependencies etc. neovim needs
   requiredPlugins = {
     packages ? {},
@@ -566,4 +558,21 @@ rec {
       nativePlugins = lib.concatMap ({start?[], opt?[], knownPlugins?vimPlugins}: start++opt) nativePluginsConfigs;
     in
       nativePlugins ++ nonNativePlugins;
+
+  toVimPlugin = drv:
+    drv.overrideAttrs(oldAttrs: {
+      # dont move the "doc" folder since vim expects it
+      forceShare = [ "man" "info" ];
+
+      nativeBuildInputs = oldAttrs.nativeBuildInputs or []
+      ++ lib.optionals (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform) [
+        vimCommandCheckHook vimGenDocHook
+        # many neovim plugins keep using buildVimPlugin
+        neovimRequireCheckHook
+      ];
+
+      passthru = (oldAttrs.passthru or {}) // {
+        vimPlugin = true;
+      };
+    });
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks/default.nix
index 61261ca3d046..fc92c59bb910 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks/default.nix
@@ -29,4 +29,12 @@ in {
       name = "luarocks-check-hook";
       deps = [ luarocks ];
     } ./luarocks-check-hook.sh) {};
+
+  # luarocks installs data in a non-overridable location. Until a proper luarocks patch,
+  # we move the files around ourselves
+  luarocksMoveDataFolder = callPackage ({ }:
+    makeSetupHook {
+      name = "luarocks-move-rock";
+      deps = [ ];
+    } ./luarocks-move-data.sh) {};
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks/luarocks-move-data.sh b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks/luarocks-move-data.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f0b56178f01e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks/luarocks-move-data.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# luarocks installs data in a non-overridable location. Until a proper luarocks patch,
+# we move the files around ourselves
+echo "Sourcing luarocks-move-data-hook.sh"
+
+luarocksMoveDataHook () {
+    echo "Executing luarocksMoveDataHook"
+    if [ -d "$out/$rocksSubdir" ]; then
+        cp -rfv "$out/$rocksSubdir/$pname/$version/." "$out"
+    fi
+
+    echo "Finished executing luarocksMoveDataHook"
+}
+
+echo "Using luarocksMoveDataHook"
+preDistPhases+=" luarocksMoveDataHook"
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 943f7f9025cf..1089bee58a97 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -30449,7 +30449,9 @@ with pkgs;
     lua = luajit;
   };
 
-  neovimUtils = callPackage ../applications/editors/neovim/utils.nix { };
+  neovimUtils = callPackage ../applications/editors/neovim/utils.nix {
+    inherit (lua51Packages) buildLuarocksPackage;
+  };
   neovim = wrapNeovim neovim-unwrapped { };
 
   neovim-qt-unwrapped = libsForQt5.callPackage ../applications/editors/neovim/neovim-qt.nix { };
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix
index 385aef164c2d..cb963bb1b177 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ in
   getLuaCPath = drv: getPath drv luaLib.luaCPathList;
 
   inherit (callPackage ../development/interpreters/lua-5/hooks { inherit (args) lib;})
-    luarocksCheckHook lua-setup-hook;
+    luarocksMoveDataFolder luarocksCheckHook lua-setup-hook;
 
   inherit lua callPackage;
   inherit buildLuaPackage buildLuarocksPackage buildLuaApplication;