diff --git a/nixos/modules/misc/locate.nix b/nixos/modules/misc/locate.nix
index e7fc25fc2078..a9c84f6db243 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/misc/locate.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/misc/locate.nix
@@ -113,8 +113,14 @@ in {
         }
       ];
 
+    nixpkgs.config = { locate.dbfile = cfg.output; };
+
     environment.systemPackages = [ cfg.locate ];
 
+    environment.variables = mkIf (!isMLocate)
+      { LOCATE_PATH = cfg.output;
+      };
+
     warnings = optional (isMLocate && cfg.localuser != null) "mlocate does not support searching as user other than root"
             ++ optional (isFindutils && cfg.pruneNames != []) "findutils locate does not support pruning by directory component"
             ++ optional (isFindutils && cfg.pruneBindMounts) "findutils locate does not support skipping bind mounts";
diff --git a/nixos/modules/programs/environment.nix b/nixos/modules/programs/environment.nix
index a35b5cc9513e..a1615c920c02 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/programs/environment.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/programs/environment.nix
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ in
   config = {
 
     environment.variables =
-      { LOCATE_PATH = "/var/cache/locatedb";
-        NIXPKGS_CONFIG = "/etc/nix/nixpkgs-config.nix";
+      { NIXPKGS_CONFIG = "/etc/nix/nixpkgs-config.nix";
         PAGER = mkDefault "less -R";
         EDITOR = mkDefault "nano";
       };
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/mlocate/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/mlocate/default.nix
index 6dbd0bcc439a..4aef6114c57c 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/mlocate/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/mlocate/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, config }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+let
+  dbfile = stdenv.lib.attrByPath [ "locate" "dbfile" ] "/var/cache/locatedb" config;
+in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "mlocate-${version}";
   version = "0.26";
 
@@ -10,6 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   buildInputs = [ ];
+  makeFlags = [ "dbfile=${dbfile}" ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Merging locate is an utility to index and quickly search for files";