diff --git a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/default.nix b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/default.nix
index d5b6308dea60..318ee0143320 100644
--- a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/default.nix
@@ -35,26 +35,8 @@ in
     # In the case that you need this functionality,
     # you will have to disable pyhocon validation.
     , doCheck ? true
-  }: {
-    type = let
-      type' = with lib.types; let
-        atomType = nullOr (oneOf [
-          bool
-          float
-          int
-          path
-          str
-        ]);
-      in (oneOf [
-        atomType
-        (listOf atomType)
-        (attrsOf type')
-      ]) // {
-        description = "HOCON value";
-      };
-    in type';
-
-    lib = {
+  }: let
+    hoconLib = {
       mkInclude = value: let
         includeStatement = if lib.isAttrs value && !(lib.isDerivation value) then {
           required = false;
@@ -101,7 +83,65 @@ in
           };
     };
 
+  in {
+    type = let
+      type' = with lib.types; let
+        atomType = nullOr (oneOf [
+          bool
+          float
+          int
+          path
+          str
+        ]);
+      in (oneOf [
+        atomType
+        (listOf atomType)
+        (attrsOf type')
+      ]) // {
+        description = "HOCON value";
+      };
+    in type';
+
+    lib = hoconLib;
+
     generate = name: value:
+      let
+        # TODO: remove in 24.11
+        # Backwards compatability for generators in the following locations:
+        #  - nixos/modules/services/networking/jibri/default.nix (__hocon_envvar)
+        #  - nixos/modules/services/networking/jicofo.nix (__hocon_envvar, __hocon_unquoted_string)
+        #  - nixos/modules/services/networking/jitsi-videobridge.nix (__hocon_envvar)
+        replaceOldIndicators = value:
+          if lib.isAttrs value then
+            (if value ? "__hocon_envvar"
+              then
+              lib.warn ''
+                Use of `__hocon_envvar` has been deprecated, and will
+                be removed in the future.
+
+                Please use `(pkgs.formats.hocon {}).lib.mkSubstitution` instead.
+              ''
+              (hoconLib.mkSubstitution value.__hocon_envvar)
+            else if value ? "__hocon_unquoted_string"
+              then
+              lib.warn ''
+                Use of `__hocon_unquoted_string` has been deprecated, and will
+                be removed in the future.
+
+                Please make use of the freeform options of
+                `(pkgs.formats.hocon {}).format` instead.
+              ''
+              {
+                value = value.__hocon_unquoted_string;
+                _type = "unquoted_string";
+              }
+            else lib.mapAttrs (_: replaceOldIndicators) value)
+          else if lib.isList value
+            then map replaceOldIndicators value
+          else value;
+
+        finalValue = replaceOldIndicators value;
+      in
       callPackage
         ({
           stdenvNoCC
@@ -114,7 +154,7 @@ in
 
           dontUnpack = true;
 
-          json = builtins.toJSON value;
+          json = builtins.toJSON finalValue;
           passAsFile = [ "json" ];
 
           strictDeps = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/src/src/main.rs b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/src/src/main.rs
index a564fc7dccdb..2e53f3fd5659 100644
--- a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/src/src/main.rs
+++ b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/src/src/main.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ enum HOCONValue {
     List(Vec<HOCONValue>),
     Substitution(String, bool),
     Object(Vec<HOCONInclude>, Vec<(String, HOCONValue)>),
+    Literal(String),
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug)]
@@ -92,6 +93,15 @@ fn parse_special_types(o: &Map<String, Value>) -> Option<HOCONValue> {
 
                 HOCONValue::Append(Box::new(json_to_hocon(value)))
             }
+            "unquoted_string" => {
+                let value = o
+                    .get("value")
+                    .expect("Missing value for unquoted_string")
+                    .as_str()
+                    .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("Unquoted string value is not a string: {:?}", o));
+
+                HOCONValue::Literal(value.to_string())
+            }
             _ => panic!(
                 "\
           Attribute set contained special element '_type',\
@@ -210,6 +220,7 @@ impl ToString for HOCONValue {
                 format!("{{\n{}\n}}", content)
             }
             HOCONValue::Append(_) => panic!("Append should not be present at this point"),
+            Self::Literal(s) => s.to_string(),
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/backwards-compatibility/default.nix b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/backwards-compatibility/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5f0b3d12a2d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/backwards-compatibility/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+{ lib, formats, stdenvNoCC, writeText, ... }:
+let
+  hocon = formats.hocon { };
+
+  expression = {
+    substitution = { __hocon_envvar = "PATH"; };
+    literal = {
+      __hocon_unquoted_string = ''
+        [
+          1,
+          "a",
+        ]'';
+    };
+
+    nested = {
+      substitution = { __hocon_envvar = "PATH"; };
+      literal = {
+        __hocon_unquoted_string = ''
+          [
+            1,
+            "a",
+          ]'';
+      };
+    };
+
+    nested_in_array = [
+      { __hocon_envvar = "PATH"; }
+      {
+        __hocon_unquoted_string = ''
+          [
+            1,
+            "a",
+          ]'';
+      }
+    ];
+  };
+
+  hocon-test-conf = hocon.generate "hocon-test.conf" expression;
+in
+  stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation {
+    name = "pkgs.formats.hocon-test-backwards-compatibility";
+
+    dontUnpack = true;
+    dontBuild = true;
+
+    doCheck = true;
+    checkPhase = ''
+      runHook preCheck
+
+      diff -U3 ${./expected.txt} ${hocon-test-conf}
+
+      runHook postCheck
+    '';
+
+    installPhase = ''
+      runHook preInstall
+
+      mkdir $out
+      cp ${./expected.txt} $out/expected.txt
+      cp ${hocon-test-conf} $out/hocon-test.conf
+      cp ${hocon-test-conf.passthru.json} $out/hocon-test.json
+
+      runHook postInstall
+    '';
+  }
diff --git a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/backwards-compatibility/expected.txt b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/backwards-compatibility/expected.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2835a3c6ca39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/backwards-compatibility/expected.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  "literal" = [
+    1,
+    "a",
+  ]
+  "nested" = {
+    "literal" = [
+      1,
+      "a",
+    ]
+    "substitution" = ${?PATH}
+  }
+  "nested_in_array" = [
+    ${?PATH},
+    [
+      1,
+      "a",
+    ]
+  ]
+  "substitution" = ${?PATH}
+}
+
diff --git a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/default.nix b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/default.nix
index 6cd03fe4854f..19928703b95e 100644
--- a/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon/test/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,15 @@
 { pkgs, ... }:
 {
   comprehensive = pkgs.callPackage ./comprehensive { };
+  backwards-compatibility =
+    let
+      pkgsNoWarn = pkgs.extend (final: prev: {
+        lib = prev.lib.extend (libFinal: libPrev: {
+          warn = msg: v: v;
+          trivial = libPrev.trivial // {
+            warn = msg: v: v;
+          };
+        });
+      });
+    in pkgsNoWarn.callPackage ./backwards-compatibility { };
 }