diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/default.nix
index aeb56d88eabe..3e35b704120c 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/default.nix
@@ -69,14 +69,17 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
   buildCommand = let
     browserBinary = "${chromium.browser}/libexec/chromium/chromium";
     sandboxBinary = "${chromium.sandbox}/bin/chromium-sandbox";
-  in ''
+    mkEnvVar = key: val: "--set '${key}' '${val}'";
+    envVars = chromium.plugins.settings.envVars or {};
+    flags = chromium.plugins.settings.flags or [];
+  in with stdenv.lib; ''
     mkdir -p "$out/bin" "$out/share/applications"
 
     ln -s "${chromium.browser}/share" "$out/share"
     makeWrapper "${browserBinary}" "$out/bin/chromium" \
       --set CHROMIUM_SANDBOX_BINARY_PATH "${sandboxBinary}" \
-      --run "export ${chromium.plugins.envVarsEnabled}" \
-      --add-flags "${chromium.plugins.flagsEnabled}"
+      ${concatStrings (mapAttrsToList mkEnvVar envVars)} \
+      --add-flags "${concatStringsSep " " flags}"
 
     ln -s "$out/bin/chromium" "$out/bin/chromium-browser"
     ln -s "${chromium.browser}/share/icons" "$out/share/icons"
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/plugins.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/plugins.nix
index 8098ec747227..55e0cc4caa21 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/plugins.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/chromium/plugins.nix
@@ -62,29 +62,38 @@ let
       install -vD PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so \
         "$flash/lib/libpepflashplayer.so"
       mkdir -p "$flash/nix-support"
-      echo "--ppapi-flash-path='$flash/lib/libpepflashplayer.so'" \
-           "--ppapi-flash-version=$flashVersion" \
-           > "$flash/nix-support/chromium-flags"
+      cat > "$flash/nix-support/chromium-plugin.nix" <<NIXOUT
+        { flags = [
+            "--ppapi-flash-path='$flash/lib/libpepflashplayer.so'"
+            "--ppapi-flash-version=$flashVersion"
+          ];
+        }
+      NIXOUT
 
       install -vD libwidevinecdm.so \
         "$widevine/lib/libwidevinecdm.so"
       install -vD libwidevinecdmadapter.so \
         "$widevine/lib/libwidevinecdmadapter.so"
       mkdir -p "$widevine/nix-support"
-      echo "--register-pepper-plugins='${wvModule}${wvInfo}'" \
-        > "$widevine/nix-support/chromium-flags"
-      echo "NIX_CHROMIUM_PLUGIN_PATH_WIDEVINE=$widevine/lib" \
-        > "$widevine/nix-support/chromium-env-vars"
+      cat > "$widevine/nix-support/chromium-plugin.nix" <<NIXOUT
+        { flags = [ "--register-pepper-plugins='${wvModule}${wvInfo}'" ];
+          envVars.NIX_CHROMIUM_PLUGIN_PATH_WIDEVINE = "$widevine/lib";
+        }
+      NIXOUT
     '';
 
     passthru = let
       enabledPlugins = optional enablePepperFlash plugins.flash
                     ++ optional enableWideVine    plugins.widevine;
-      getFlags = plugin: "$(< ${plugin}/nix-support/chromium-flags)";
-      getEnvVars = plugin: "$(< ${plugin}/nix-support/chromium-env-vars)";
+      getNix = plugin: import "${plugin}/nix-support/chromium-plugin.nix";
+      mergeAttrsets = let
+        f = v: if all isAttrs v then mergeAttrsets v
+          else if all isList  v then concatLists   v
+          else if tail v == []  then head          v
+          else head (tail v);
+      in fold (l: r: zipAttrsWith (_: f) [ l r ]) {};
     in {
-      flagsEnabled = concatStringsSep " " (map getFlags enabledPlugins);
-      envVarsEnabled = concatStringsSep " " (map getEnvVars enabledPlugins);
+      settings = mergeAttrsets (map getNix enabledPlugins);
     };
   };
 in plugins