diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix b/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix
index 13668dfd8ebc..40d49f1541b3 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix
@@ -94,14 +94,11 @@ let
     "--stringparam chunk.toc ${toc}"
   ];
 
-  olinkDB = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "manual-olinkdb";
-
-    inherit sources;
-
-    buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt ];
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  olinkDB = runCommand "manual-olinkdb"
+    { inherit sources;
+      buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt ];
+    }
+    ''
       ${copySources}
 
       xsltproc \
@@ -133,15 +130,14 @@ let
       </targetset>
       EOF
     '';
-  };
 
 in rec {
 
   # The NixOS options in JSON format.
-  optionsJSON = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "options-json";
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  optionsJSON = runCommand "options-json"
+    { meta.description = "List of NixOS options in JSON format";
+    }
+    ''
       # Export list of options in different format.
       dst=$out/share/doc/nixos
       mkdir -p $dst
@@ -154,18 +150,14 @@ in rec {
       echo "file json $dst/options.json" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
     ''; # */
 
-    meta.description = "List of NixOS options in JSON format";
-  };
-
   # Generate the NixOS manual.
-  manual = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "nixos-manual";
-
-    inherit sources;
-
-    buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt ];
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  manual = runCommand "nixos-manual"
+    { inherit sources;
+      buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt ];
+      meta.description = "The NixOS manual in HTML format";
+      allowedReferences = ["out"];
+    }
+    ''
       ${copySources}
 
       # Check the validity of the manual sources.
@@ -192,20 +184,12 @@ in rec {
       echo "doc manual $dst" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
     ''; # */
 
-    meta.description = "The NixOS manual in HTML format";
 
-    allowedReferences = ["out"];
-  };
-
-
-  manualEpub = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "nixos-manual-epub";
-
-    inherit sources;
-
-    buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt zip ];
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  manualEpub = runCommand "nixos-manual-epub"
+    { inherit sources;
+      buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt zip ];
+    }
+    ''
       ${copySources}
 
       # Check the validity of the manual sources.
@@ -234,17 +218,15 @@ in rec {
       mkdir -p $out/nix-support
       echo "doc-epub manual $manual" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
     '';
-  };
+
 
   # Generate the NixOS manpages.
-  manpages = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "nixos-manpages";
-
-    inherit sources;
-
-    buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt ];
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  manpages = runCommand "nixos-manpages"
+    { inherit sources;
+      buildInputs = [ libxml2 libxslt ];
+      allowedReferences = ["out"];
+    }
+    ''
       ${copySources}
 
       # Check the validity of the man pages sources.
@@ -264,7 +246,4 @@ in rec {
         ./man-pages.xml
     '';
 
-    allowedReferences = ["out"];
-  };
-
 }
diff --git a/nixos/modules/i18n/input-method/default.nix b/nixos/modules/i18n/input-method/default.nix
index 693e1df66c6c..7ed4a584d646 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/i18n/input-method/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/i18n/input-method/default.nix
@@ -3,26 +3,27 @@
 with lib;
 let
   cfg = config.i18n.inputMethod;
-  gtk2_cache = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    preferLocalBuild = true; 
-    allowSubstitutes = false;
-    name = "gtk2-immodule.cache";
-    buildInputs = [ pkgs.gtk2 cfg.package ];
-    buildCommand = ''
+
+  gtk2_cache = pkgs.runCommand "gtk2-immodule.cache"
+    { preferLocalBuild = true;
+      allowSubstitutes = false;
+      buildInputs = [ pkgs.gtk2 cfg.package ];
+    }
+    ''
       mkdir -p $out/etc/gtk-2.0/
       GTK_PATH=${cfg.package}/lib/gtk-2.0/ gtk-query-immodules-2.0 > $out/etc/gtk-2.0/immodules.cache
     '';
-  };
-  gtk3_cache = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    preferLocalBuild = true; 
-    allowSubstitutes = false;
-    name = "gtk3-immodule.cache";
-    buildInputs = [ pkgs.gtk3 cfg.package ];
-    buildCommand = ''
+
+  gtk3_cache = pkgs.runCommand "gtk3-immodule.cache"
+    { preferLocalBuild = true;
+      allowSubstitutes = false;
+      buildInputs = [ pkgs.gtk3 cfg.package ];
+    }
+    ''
       mkdir -p $out/etc/gtk-3.0/
       GTK_PATH=${cfg.package}/lib/gtk-3.0/ gtk-query-immodules-3.0 > $out/etc/gtk-3.0/immodules.cache
     '';
-  };
+
 in
 {
   options.i18n = {
diff --git a/nixos/modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-kde.nix b/nixos/modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-kde.nix
index d14768bc1079..dc8d76c63e10 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-kde.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-kde.nix
@@ -96,15 +96,13 @@ with lib;
     '';
 
   in
-    pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-      inherit (pkg) name meta;
-
-      buildCommand = ''
+    pkgs.runCommand pkg.name
+      { inherit (pkg) meta; }
+      ''
         mkdir -p $out
         cp -prf ${pkg}/* $out/
         chmod a+w $out/share/apps/plasma-desktop/init
         cp -f ${plasmaInit} $out/share/apps/plasma-desktop/init/00-defaultLayout.js
       '';
-    };
 
 }
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/hardware/udev.nix b/nixos/modules/services/hardware/udev.nix
index 7c4c93d0fcb3..14d65978c320 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/hardware/udev.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/hardware/udev.nix
@@ -32,13 +32,11 @@ let
   '';
 
   # Perform substitutions in all udev rules files.
-  udevRules = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "udev-rules";
-
-    preferLocalBuild = true;
-    allowSubstitutes = false;
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  udevRules = pkgs.runCommand "udev-rules"
+    { preferLocalBuild = true;
+      allowSubstitutes = false;
+    }
+    ''
       mkdir -p $out
       shopt -s nullglob
       set +o pipefail
@@ -130,15 +128,12 @@ let
         ln -s /dev/null $out/80-drivers.rules
       ''}
     ''; # */
-  };
 
-  hwdbBin = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "hwdb.bin";
-
-    preferLocalBuild = true;
-    allowSubstitutes = false;
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  hwdbBin = pkgs.runCommand "hwdb.bin"
+    { preferLocalBuild = true;
+      allowSubstitutes = false;
+    }
+    ''
       mkdir -p etc/udev/hwdb.d
       for i in ${toString ([udev] ++ cfg.packages)}; do
         echo "Adding hwdb files for package $i"
@@ -151,7 +146,6 @@ let
       ${udev}/bin/udevadm hwdb --update --root=$(pwd)
       mv etc/udev/hwdb.bin $out
     '';
-  };
 
   # Udev has a 512-character limit for ENV{PATH}, so create a symlink
   # tree to work around this.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/system/dbus.nix b/nixos/modules/services/system/dbus.nix
index 6c4833afbe8b..0f20725a9e4a 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/system/dbus.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/system/dbus.nix
@@ -20,13 +20,11 @@ let
     "<includedir>${d}/etc/dbus-1/session.d</includedir>"
   ]));
 
-  configDir = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "dbus-conf";
-
-    preferLocalBuild = true;
-    allowSubstitutes = false;
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  configDir = pkgs.runCommand "dbus-conf"
+    { preferLocalBuild = true;
+      allowSubstitutes = false;
+    }
+    ''
       mkdir -p $out
 
       sed '${./dbus-system-local.conf.in}' \
@@ -38,7 +36,6 @@ let
         -e 's,@extra@,${sessionExtraxml},' \
         > "$out/session-local.conf"
     '';
-  };
 
 in
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
index b3da25448029..dc71531759b8 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
@@ -25,9 +25,8 @@ let
     '';
   };
 
-  nixos-gsettings-desktop-schemas = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "nixos-gsettings-desktop-schemas";
-    buildCommand = ''
+  nixos-gsettings-desktop-schemas = pkgs.runCommand "nixos-gsettings-desktop-schemas" {}
+    ''
      mkdir -p $out/share/gsettings-schemas/nixos-gsettings-overrides/glib-2.0/schemas
      cp -rf ${gnome3.gsettings_desktop_schemas}/share/gsettings-schemas/gsettings-desktop-schemas*/glib-2.0/schemas/*.xml $out/share/gsettings-schemas/nixos-gsettings-overrides/glib-2.0/schemas
 
@@ -46,7 +45,6 @@ let
 
      ${pkgs.glib.dev}/bin/glib-compile-schemas $out/share/gsettings-schemas/nixos-gsettings-overrides/glib-2.0/schemas/
     '';
-  };
 
 in {
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix
index d9f7f8f0dfc4..8b51c621e112 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix
@@ -54,19 +54,17 @@ let
       ''}
     '';
 
-  kdmrc = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "kdmrc";
-    config = defaultConfig + cfg.extraConfig;
-    preferLocalBuild = true;
-    buildCommand =
-      ''
-        echo "$config" > $out
+  kdmrc = pkgs.runCommand "kdmrc"
+    { config = defaultConfig + cfg.extraConfig;
+      preferLocalBuild = true;
+    }
+    ''
+      echo "$config" > $out
 
-        # The default kdmrc would add "-nolisten tcp", and we already
-        # have that managed by nixos. Hence the grep.
-        cat ${kdebase_workspace}/share/config/kdm/kdmrc | grep -v nolisten >> $out
-      '';
-  };
+      # The default kdmrc would add "-nolisten tcp", and we already
+      # have that managed by nixos. Hence the grep.
+      cat ${kdebase_workspace}/share/config/kdm/kdmrc | grep -v nolisten >> $out
+    '';
 
 in
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/lightdm-greeters/gtk.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/lightdm-greeters/gtk.nix
index 543dd628ce66..dfda90978b1e 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/lightdm-greeters/gtk.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/lightdm-greeters/gtk.nix
@@ -16,11 +16,9 @@ let
   # The default greeter provided with this expression is the GTK greeter.
   # Again, we need a few things in the environment for the greeter to run with
   # fonts/icons.
-  wrappedGtkGreeter = stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "lightdm-gtk-greeter";
-    buildInputs = [ pkgs.makeWrapper ];
-
-    buildCommand = ''
+  wrappedGtkGreeter = pkgs.runCommand "lightdm-gtk-greeter"
+    { buildInputs = [ pkgs.makeWrapper ]; }
+    ''
       # This wrapper ensures that we actually get themes
       makeWrapper ${pkgs.lightdm_gtk_greeter}/sbin/lightdm-gtk-greeter \
         $out/greeter \
@@ -40,7 +38,6 @@ let
       Type=Application
       EOF
     '';
-  };
 
   gtkGreeterConf = writeText "lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf"
     ''
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/slim.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/slim.nix
index ce44c9f54a31..ca2ae1a47726 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/slim.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/slim.nix
@@ -26,15 +26,13 @@ let
   # Unpack the SLiM theme, or use the default.
   slimThemesDir =
     let
-      unpackedTheme = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-        name = "slim-theme";
-        buildCommand = ''
+      unpackedTheme = pkgs.runCommand "slim-theme" {}
+        ''
           mkdir -p $out
           cd $out
           unpackFile ${cfg.theme}
           ln -s * default
         '';
-      };
     in if cfg.theme == null then "${pkgs.slim}/share/slim/themes" else unpackedTheme;
 
 in
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/xserver.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/xserver.nix
index 6c6a1e79ed0e..1bd578424ee4 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/xserver.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/xserver.nix
@@ -71,15 +71,11 @@ let
     monitors = reverseList (foldl mkMonitor [] xrandrHeads);
   in concatMapStrings (getAttr "value") monitors;
 
-  configFile = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "xserver.conf";
-
-    xfs = optionalString (cfg.useXFS != false)
-      ''FontPath "${toString cfg.useXFS}"'';
-
-    inherit (cfg) config;
-
-    buildCommand =
+  configFile = pkgs.runCommand "xserver.conf"
+    { xfs = optionalString (cfg.useXFS != false)
+        ''FontPath "${toString cfg.useXFS}"'';
+      inherit (cfg) config;
+    }
       ''
         echo 'Section "Files"' >> $out
         echo $xfs >> $out
@@ -102,7 +98,6 @@ let
 
         echo "$config" >> $out
       ''; # */
-  };
 
 in
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
index 40e67fa5f8d2..8d02cd81e0e1 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
@@ -134,10 +134,9 @@ let
     ''; # */
 
 
-  udevRules = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "udev-rules";
-    allowedReferences = [ extraUtils ];
-    buildCommand = ''
+  udevRules = pkgs.runCommand "udev-rules"
+    { allowedReferences = [ extraUtils ]; }
+    ''
       mkdir -p $out
 
       echo 'ENV{LD_LIBRARY_PATH}="${extraUtils}/lib"' > $out/00-env.rules
@@ -176,7 +175,6 @@ let
       substituteInPlace $out/60-persistent-storage.rules \
         --replace ID_CDROM_MEDIA_TRACK_COUNT_DATA ID_CDROM_MEDIA
     ''; # */
-  };
 
 
   # The init script of boot stage 1 (loading kernel modules for
@@ -230,16 +228,12 @@ let
         { object = pkgs.writeText "mdadm.conf" config.boot.initrd.mdadmConf;
           symlink = "/etc/mdadm.conf";
         }
-        { object = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-            name = "initrd-kmod-blacklist-ubuntu";
-            builder = pkgs.writeText "builder.sh" ''
-              source $stdenv/setup
+        { object = pkgs.runCommand "initrd-kmod-blacklist-ubuntu"
+            { src = "${pkgs.kmod-blacklist-ubuntu}/modprobe.conf"; }
+            ''
               target=$out
-
               ${pkgs.perl}/bin/perl -0pe 's/## file: iwlwifi.conf(.+?)##/##/s;' $src > $out
             '';
-            src = "${pkgs.kmod-blacklist-ubuntu}/modprobe.conf";
-          };
           symlink = "/etc/modprobe.d/ubuntu.conf";
         }
         { object = pkgs.kmod-debian-aliases;