diff --git a/boot/boot-stage-1.nix b/boot/boot-stage-1.nix
index ed53a3abdb9e..3d3f5885afa1 100644
--- a/boot/boot-stage-1.nix
+++ b/boot/boot-stage-1.nix
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # calls the init in the root file system to start the second boot
 # stage.
 
-{ pkgs, config, nixpkgsPath, kernelPackages, modulesTree }:
+{ pkgs, config, kernelPackages, modulesTree }:
 
 rec {
 
diff --git a/doc/manual/default.nix b/doc/manual/default.nix
index 4f1e555583d2..fe22e4f6c8bf 100644
--- a/doc/manual/default.nix
+++ b/doc/manual/default.nix
@@ -1,14 +1,12 @@
-{nixpkgsPath ? ../../../nixpkgs, nixpkgs ? null}:
+{nixpkgs ? ../../../nixpkgs}:
 
 let
 
-  pkgs = if nixpkgs == null then 
-    import "${nixpkgsPath}/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix" {}
-  else nixpkgs;
+  pkgs = import nixpkgs {};
 
   options = builtins.toFile "options.xml" (builtins.unsafeDiscardStringContext
     (builtins.toXML (pkgs.lib.optionAttrSetToDocList ""
-      (import ../../system/system.nix {inherit nixpkgsPath; configuration = {};}).optionDeclarations)));
+      (import ../../system/system.nix {inherit nixpkgs; configuration = {};}).optionDeclarations)));
 
   optionsDocBook = pkgs.runCommand "options-db.xml" {} ''
     ${pkgs.libxslt}/bin/xsltproc -o $out ${./options-to-docbook.xsl} ${options} 
diff --git a/helpers/make-iso9660-image.nix b/helpers/make-iso9660-image.nix
index aef5408107f8..ea0cd1b4d223 100644
--- a/helpers/make-iso9660-image.nix
+++ b/helpers/make-iso9660-image.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, perl, cdrkit, nixpkgsPath
+{ stdenv, perl, cdrkit, nixpkgs
 
 , # The file name of the resulting ISO image.
   isoName ? "cd.iso"
@@ -50,5 +50,5 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   # For obtaining the closure of `storeContents'.
   exportReferencesGraph =
     map (x: [("closure-" + baseNameOf x.object) x.object]) storeContents;
-  pathsFromGraph = "${nixpkgsPath}/pkgs/build-support/kernel/paths-from-graph.pl";
+  pathsFromGraph = "${nixpkgs}/pkgs/build-support/kernel/paths-from-graph.pl";
 }
diff --git a/installer/cd-dvd/rescue-cd.nix b/installer/cd-dvd/rescue-cd.nix
index 6c2c0486025b..ffa8fa875d14 100644
--- a/installer/cd-dvd/rescue-cd.nix
+++ b/installer/cd-dvd/rescue-cd.nix
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     then builtins.readFile ../../relname
     else "nixos-${builtins.readFile ../../VERSION}"
 , compressImage ? false
-, nixpkgsPath ? ../../../nixpkgs
+, nixpkgs ? ../../../nixpkgs
 }:
 
 rec {
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ rec {
 
 
   system = import ../../system/system.nix {
-    inherit configuration platform nixpkgsPath;
+    inherit configuration platform nixpkgs;
   };
 
 
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ rec {
   # 0.11 (you won't get the manual).
   manual =
     if builtins ? unsafeDiscardStringContext
-    then "${import ../../doc/manual {inherit nixpkgsPath;}}/manual.html"
+    then "${import ../../doc/manual {inherit nixpkgs;}}/manual.html"
     else pkgs.writeText "dummy-manual" "Manual not included in this build!";
 
 
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ rec {
 
 
   # Put Nixpkgs in a tarball.
-  nixpkgsTarball = makeTarball "nixpkgs.tar.bz2" nixpkgsPath;
+  nixpkgsTarball = makeTarball "nixpkgs.tar.bz2" nixpkgs;
 
 
   # The configuration file for Grub.
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ rec {
   # Create an ISO image containing the Grub boot loader, the kernel,
   # the initrd produced above, and the closure of the stage 2 init.
   rescueCD = import ../../helpers/make-iso9660-image.nix {
-    inherit nixpkgsPath;
+    inherit nixpkgs;
     inherit (pkgs) stdenv perl cdrkit;
     isoName = "${relName}-${platform}.iso";
 
diff --git a/installer/default.nix b/installer/default.nix
index bf6f6ee81b92..dfa2ab38eeba 100644
--- a/installer/default.nix
+++ b/installer/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{pkgs, config, nix, nixpkgsPath}:
+{pkgs, config, nix}:
 
 let
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ in
     inherit nix;
     nixpkgsURL = config.installer.nixpkgsURL;
 
-    pathsFromGraph = "${nixpkgsPath}/pkgs/build-support/kernel/paths-from-graph.pl";
+    pathsFromGraph = "${pkgs.path}/build-support/kernel/paths-from-graph.pl";
 
     nixClosure = pkgs.runCommand "closure"
       {exportReferencesGraph = ["refs" nix];}
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index bf8d5cc1f5eb..a7f92b55dc3e 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ let
       }:
 
       import "${nixosSrc}/doc/manual" {
-        nixpkgsPath = nixpkgs.outPath;
+        inherit nixpkgs;
       };
 
 
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ let
         iso = (import "${nixosSrc}/installer/cd-dvd/rescue-cd.nix" {
           platform = system;
           compressImage = true;
-          nixpkgsPath = nixpkgs.outPath;
           relName = "nixos-${version}";
+          inherit nixpkgs;
         }).rescueCD;
 
       in
diff --git a/system/system.nix b/system/system.nix
index 913913db9afd..fb09d40ae1eb 100644
--- a/system/system.nix
+++ b/system/system.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 { platform ? __currentSystem
 , configuration
-, nixpkgsPath ? ../../nixpkgs
-, nixpkgs ? null
+, nixpkgs ? ../../nixpkgs
 }:
 
 rec {
@@ -27,9 +26,7 @@ rec {
       pkgs configComponents
       config;
 
-  pkgs = if nixpkgs == null then 
-    import "${nixpkgsPath}/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix" {system = platform;}
-  else nixpkgs;
+  pkgs = import nixpkgs {system = platform;};
 
   manifests = config.installer.manifests; # exported here because nixos-rebuild uses it
 
@@ -57,7 +54,7 @@ rec {
 
   # The initial ramdisk.
   initialRamdiskStuff = import ../boot/boot-stage-1.nix {
-    inherit pkgs config nixpkgsPath kernelPackages modulesTree;
+    inherit pkgs config kernelPackages modulesTree;
   };
 
   initialRamdisk = initialRamdiskStuff.initialRamdisk;
@@ -65,7 +62,7 @@ rec {
 
   # NixOS installation/updating tools.
   nixosTools = import ../installer {
-    inherit pkgs config nix nixpkgsPath;
+    inherit pkgs config nix;
   };
 
 
@@ -155,7 +152,7 @@ rec {
   # A patched `mount' command that looks in a directory in the Nix
   # store instead of in /sbin for mount helpers (like mount.ntfs-3g or
   # mount.cifs).
-  mount = import "${nixpkgsPath}/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux" {
+  mount = import "${nixpkgs}/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux" {
     inherit (pkgs) fetchurl stdenv;
     buildMountOnly = true;
     mountHelpers = pkgs.buildEnv {