diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/Gemfile b/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/Gemfile
deleted file mode 100644
index d32951f1c054..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/Gemfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-source "https://rubygems.org"
-gem 'vagrant'
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/Gemfile.lock b/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/Gemfile.lock
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a1515fd1438..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/Gemfile.lock
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,149 +0,0 @@
-GIT
-  remote: https://github.com/hashicorp/vagrant-spec.git
-  revision: 9413ab298407114528766efefd1fb1ff24589636
-  specs:
-    vagrant-spec (0.0.1)
-      childprocess (~> 0.6.0)
-      log4r (~> 1.1.9)
-      rspec (~> 3.5.0)
-      thor (~> 0.18.1)
-
-PATH
-  remote: .
-  specs:
-    vagrant (2.1.2)
-      childprocess (~> 0.6.0)
-      erubis (~> 2.7.0)
-      hashicorp-checkpoint (~> 0.1.5)
-      i18n (>= 0.6.0, <= 0.8.0)
-      listen (~> 3.1.5)
-      log4r (~> 1.1.9, < 1.1.11)
-      net-scp (~> 1.2.0)
-      net-sftp (~> 2.1)
-      net-ssh (~> 4.2.0)
-      rb-kqueue (~> 0.2.0)
-      rest-client (>= 1.6.0, < 3.0)
-      ruby_dep (<= 1.3.1)
-      wdm (~> 0.1.0)
-      winrm (~> 2.1)
-      winrm-elevated (~> 1.1)
-      winrm-fs (~> 1.0)
-
-GEM
-  remote: https://rubygems.org/
-  specs:
-    addressable (2.5.2)
-      public_suffix (>= 2.0.2, < 4.0)
-    builder (3.2.3)
-    childprocess (0.6.3)
-      ffi (~> 1.0, >= 1.0.11)
-    crack (0.4.3)
-      safe_yaml (~> 1.0.0)
-    diff-lcs (1.3)
-    domain_name (0.5.20180417)
-      unf (>= 0.0.5, < 1.0.0)
-    erubis (2.7.0)
-    fake_ftp (0.1.1)
-    ffi (1.9.23)
-    gssapi (1.2.0)
-      ffi (>= 1.0.1)
-    gyoku (1.3.1)
-      builder (>= 2.1.2)
-    hashdiff (0.3.7)
-    hashicorp-checkpoint (0.1.5)
-    http-cookie (1.0.3)
-      domain_name (~> 0.5)
-    httpclient (2.8.3)
-    i18n (0.8.0)
-    listen (3.1.5)
-      rb-fsevent (~> 0.9, >= 0.9.4)
-      rb-inotify (~> 0.9, >= 0.9.7)
-      ruby_dep (~> 1.2)
-    little-plugger (1.1.4)
-    log4r (1.1.10)
-    logging (2.2.2)
-      little-plugger (~> 1.1)
-      multi_json (~> 1.10)
-    mime-types (3.1)
-      mime-types-data (~> 3.2015)
-    mime-types-data (3.2016.0521)
-    multi_json (1.13.1)
-    net-scp (1.2.1)
-      net-ssh (>= 2.6.5)
-    net-sftp (2.1.2)
-      net-ssh (>= 2.6.5)
-    net-ssh (4.2.0)
-    netrc (0.11.0)
-    nori (2.6.0)
-    public_suffix (3.0.1)
-    rake (12.0.0)
-    rb-fsevent (0.10.3)
-    rb-inotify (0.9.10)
-      ffi (>= 0.5.0, < 2)
-    rb-kqueue (0.2.5)
-      ffi (>= 0.5.0)
-    rest-client (2.0.2)
-      http-cookie (>= 1.0.2, < 2.0)
-      mime-types (>= 1.16, < 4.0)
-      netrc (~> 0.8)
-    rspec (3.5.0)
-      rspec-core (~> 3.5.0)
-      rspec-expectations (~> 3.5.0)
-      rspec-mocks (~> 3.5.0)
-    rspec-core (3.5.4)
-      rspec-support (~> 3.5.0)
-    rspec-expectations (3.5.0)
-      diff-lcs (>= 1.2.0, < 2.0)
-      rspec-support (~> 3.5.0)
-    rspec-its (1.2.0)
-      rspec-core (>= 3.0.0)
-      rspec-expectations (>= 3.0.0)
-    rspec-mocks (3.5.0)
-      diff-lcs (>= 1.2.0, < 2.0)
-      rspec-support (~> 3.5.0)
-    rspec-support (3.5.0)
-    ruby_dep (1.3.1)
-    rubyntlm (0.6.2)
-    rubyzip (1.2.1)
-    safe_yaml (1.0.4)
-    thor (0.18.1)
-    unf (0.1.4)
-      unf_ext
-    unf_ext (0.0.7.5)
-    wdm (0.1.1)
-    webmock (2.3.2)
-      addressable (>= 2.3.6)
-      crack (>= 0.3.2)
-      hashdiff
-    winrm (2.2.3)
-      builder (>= 2.1.2)
-      erubis (~> 2.7)
-      gssapi (~> 1.2)
-      gyoku (~> 1.0)
-      httpclient (~> 2.2, >= 2.2.0.2)
-      logging (>= 1.6.1, < 3.0)
-      nori (~> 2.0)
-      rubyntlm (~> 0.6.0, >= 0.6.1)
-    winrm-elevated (1.1.0)
-      winrm (~> 2.0)
-      winrm-fs (~> 1.0)
-    winrm-fs (1.2.0)
-      erubis (~> 2.7)
-      logging (>= 1.6.1, < 3.0)
-      rubyzip (~> 1.1)
-      winrm (~> 2.0)
-
-PLATFORMS
-  ruby
-
-DEPENDENCIES
-  fake_ftp (~> 0.1.1)
-  rake (~> 12.0.0)
-  rspec (~> 3.5.0)
-  rspec-its (~> 1.2.0)
-  vagrant!
-  vagrant-spec!
-  webmock (~> 2.3.1)
-
-BUNDLED WITH
-   1.16.2
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/default.nix
index f247a20b1b27..ecc1a2d00946 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/vagrant/default.nix
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
-{ lib, fetchurl, buildRubyGem, bundlerEnv, ruby, libarchive }:
+{ lib, fetchurl, buildRubyGem, bundlerEnv, ruby, libarchive, writeText }:
 
 let
   # NOTE: bumping the version and updating the hash is insufficient;
-  # you must copy a fresh Gemfile.lock from the vagrant source,
-  # and use bundix to generate a new gemset.nix.
-  # Do not change the existing Gemfile.
+  # you must use bundix to generate a new gemset.nix in the Vagrant source.
   version = "2.1.2";
   url = "https://github.com/hashicorp/vagrant/archive/v${version}.tar.gz";
   sha256 = "0fb90v43d30whhyjlgb9mmy93ccbpr01pz97kp5hrg3wfd7703b1";
@@ -15,7 +13,8 @@ let
     inherit version;
 
     inherit ruby;
-    gemdir = ./.;
+    gemfile = writeText "Gemfile" "";
+    lockfile = writeText "Gemfile.lock" "";
     gemset = lib.recursiveUpdate (import ./gemset.nix) {
       vagrant = {
         source = {