diff --git a/configuration/boot-environment.nix b/configuration/boot-environment.nix
index f68901087747..c9e01d1773f2 100644
--- a/configuration/boot-environment.nix
+++ b/configuration/boot-environment.nix
@@ -44,21 +44,19 @@ rec {
   # Some additional utilities needed in stage 1, notably mount.  We
   # don't want to bring in all of util-linux, so we just copy what we
   # need.
-  extraUtils = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "extra-utils";
-    builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
-      source $stdenv/setup
+  extraUtils = pkgs.runCommand "extra-utils"
+    { buildInputs = [pkgs.nukeReferences];
+      inherit (pkgsStatic) utillinux;
+      inherit (pkgs) splashutils;
+      e2fsprogs = pkgs.e2fsprogsDiet;
+    }
+    "
       ensureDir $out/bin
       cp $utillinux/bin/mount $utillinux/bin/umount $utillinux/sbin/pivot_root $out/bin
       cp -p $e2fsprogs/sbin/fsck* $e2fsprogs/sbin/e2fsck $out/bin
       cp $splashutils/bin/splash_helper $out/bin
       nuke-refs $out/bin/*
     ";
-    buildInputs = [pkgs.nukeReferences];
-    inherit (pkgsStatic) utillinux;
-    inherit (pkgs) splashutils;
-    e2fsprogs = pkgs.e2fsprogsDiet;
-  };
   
 
   # The init script of boot stage 1 (loading kernel modules for
@@ -99,14 +97,14 @@ rec {
 
   # The installer.
   nixosInstaller = import ../installer/nixos-installer.nix {
-    inherit (pkgs) stdenv substituteAll;
+    inherit (pkgs) stdenv runCommand substituteAll;
     inherit nix;
   };
 
 
   # The services (Upstart) configuration for the system.
   upstartJobs = import ../upstart-jobs/gather.nix {
-    inherit (pkgs) stdenv;
+    inherit (pkgs) runCommand;
 
     jobs = map makeJob [
       # Syslogd.
@@ -241,7 +239,7 @@ rec {
 
   
   makeJob = import ../upstart-jobs/make-job.nix {
-    inherit (pkgs) stdenv;
+    inherit (pkgs) runCommand;
   };
 
 
diff --git a/installer/nixos-installer.nix b/installer/nixos-installer.nix
index 783a48f40a99..651efeabeb52 100644
--- a/installer/nixos-installer.nix
+++ b/installer/nixos-installer.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{stdenv, substituteAll, nix}:
+{stdenv, runCommand, substituteAll, nix}:
 
 substituteAll {
   src = ./nixos-installer.sh;
@@ -8,9 +8,7 @@ substituteAll {
 
   pathsFromGraph = ../helpers/paths-from-graph.sh;
 
-  nixClosure = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "closure";
-    exportReferencesGraph = ["refs" nix];
-    builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "source $stdenv/setup; cp refs $out";
-  };
+  nixClosure = runCommand "closure"
+    {exportReferencesGraph = ["refs" nix];}
+    "cp refs $out";
 }
diff --git a/instances/rescue-cd.nix b/instances/rescue-cd.nix
index a8a888369119..bfe4dca3fd11 100644
--- a/instances/rescue-cd.nix
+++ b/instances/rescue-cd.nix
@@ -20,32 +20,23 @@ rec {
 
 
   # Since the CD is read-only, the mount points must be on disk.
-  cdMountPoints = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "mount-points";
-    builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
-      source $stdenv/setup
-      ensureDir $out
-      cd $out
-      mkdir proc sys tmp etc dev var mnt nix nix/var
-      touch $out/${cdromLabel}
-    ";
-  };
+  cdMountPoints = pkgs.runCommand "mount-points" {} "
+    ensureDir $out
+    cd $out
+    mkdir proc sys tmp etc dev var mnt nix nix/var
+    touch $out/${cdromLabel}
+  ";
 
 
   # We need a copy of the Nix expressions for Nixpkgs and NixOS on the
   # CD.  We put them in a tarball because accessing that many small
   # files from a slow device like a CD-ROM takes too long.
-  makeTarball = tarName: input: pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {  
-    name = "tarball";
-    inherit tarName input;
-    builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
-      source $stdenv/setup
-      ensureDir $out
-      (cd $input && tar cvfj $out/$tarName . \\
-        --exclude '*~' --exclude '.svn' \\
-        --exclude 'pkgs' --exclude 'result')
-    ";
-  };
+  makeTarball = tarName: input: pkgs.runCommand "tarball" "
+    ensureDir $out
+    (cd ${input} && tar cvfj $out/${tarName} . \\
+      --exclude '*~' --exclude '.svn' \\
+      --exclude 'pkgs' --exclude 'result')
+  ";
 
   
   # Put the current directory in the tarball.  !!! This gives us a lot
diff --git a/upstart-jobs/gather.nix b/upstart-jobs/gather.nix
index 914c78e7a89d..471931673602 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/gather.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/gather.nix
@@ -1,19 +1,13 @@
 # Create an etc/event.d directory containing symlinks to the
 # specified list of Upstart job files.
-{stdenv, jobs}:
+{runCommand, jobs}:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "upstart-jobs";
-
-  inherit jobs;
-
-  builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
-    source $stdenv/setup
+runCommand "upstart-jobs" {inherit jobs;}
+  "
     ensureDir $out/etc/event.d
     for i in $jobs; do
       if test -d $i; then
         ln -s $i/etc/event.d/* $out/etc/event.d/
       fi
     done
-  ";
-}
+  "
diff --git a/upstart-jobs/make-job.nix b/upstart-jobs/make-job.nix
index 3995a8f21aa0..630ae1d83e16 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/make-job.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/make-job.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-{stdenv}: job:
+{runCommand}: job:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  inherit (job) name job;
-  builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh"
-    "source $stdenv/setup; ensureDir $out/etc/event.d; echo \"$job\" > $out/etc/event.d/$name";
-}
+runCommand job.name {inherit (job) job;}
+  "ensureDir $out/etc/event.d; echo \"$job\" > $out/etc/event.d/$name"