diff --git a/lib/modules.nix b/lib/modules.nix
index d515ee24d16e..04b65d791b58 100644
--- a/lib/modules.nix
+++ b/lib/modules.nix
@@ -515,11 +515,20 @@ rec {
       # yield a value computed from the definitions
       value = if opt ? apply then opt.apply res.mergedValue else res.mergedValue;
 
-      warnDeprecation =
-        warnIf (opt.type.deprecationMessage != null)
-          "The type `types.${opt.type.name}' of option `${showOption loc}' defined in ${showFiles opt.declarations} is deprecated. ${opt.type.deprecationMessage}";
+      # Issue deprecation warnings recursively over all nested types of the
+      # given type. But don't recurse if a type with the same name was already
+      # visited before in order to prevent infinite recursion. So this only
+      # warns once per type name.
+      # Returns the new set of visited type names
+      recursiveWarn = visited: type:
+        let
+          maybeWarn = warnIf (type.deprecationMessage != null)
+            "The type `types.${type.name}' of option `${showOption loc}' defined in ${showFiles opt.declarations} is deprecated. ${type.deprecationMessage}";
+        in
+          if visited ? ${type.name} then visited
+          else lib.foldl' recursiveWarn (maybeWarn visited // { ${type.name} = null; }) (lib.attrValues type.nestedTypes);
 
-    in warnDeprecation opt //
+    in builtins.seq (recursiveWarn {} opt.type) opt //
       { value = builtins.addErrorContext "while evaluating the option `${showOption loc}':" value;
         inherit (res.defsFinal') highestPrio;
         definitions = map (def: def.value) res.defsFinal;
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules.sh b/lib/tests/modules.sh
index 2eddeec07b1a..4259c538bb43 100755
--- a/lib/tests/modules.sh
+++ b/lib/tests/modules.sh
@@ -175,6 +175,9 @@ checkConfigOutput "true" config.submodule.config ./declare-submoduleWith-noshort
 ## submoduleWith should merge all modules in one swoop
 checkConfigOutput "true" config.submodule.inner ./declare-submoduleWith-modules.nix
 checkConfigOutput "true" config.submodule.outer ./declare-submoduleWith-modules.nix
+# Should also be able to evaluate the type name (which evaluates freeformType,
+# which evaluates all the modules defined by the type)
+checkConfigOutput "submodule" options.submodule.type.description ./declare-submoduleWith-modules.nix
 
 ## Paths should be allowed as values and work as expected
 checkConfigOutput "true" config.submodule.enable ./declare-submoduleWith-path.nix
@@ -269,6 +272,12 @@ checkConfigError 'A definition for option .fun.\[function body\]. is not of type
 checkConfigOutput "b a" config.result ./functionTo/list-order.nix
 checkConfigOutput "a c" config.result ./functionTo/merging-attrs.nix
 
+## Type deprecation
+checkConfigError 'The type `types.simple'\'' of option `simple'\'' defined in .* is deprecated. simple shall not be used' config.simple ./type-deprecation.nix
+checkConfigError 'The type `types.infinite'\'' of option `infinite'\'' defined in .* is deprecated. infinite shall not be used' config.infinite ./type-deprecation.nix
+checkConfigError 'The type `types.left'\'' of option `nested'\'' defined in .* is deprecated. left shall not be used' config.nested ./type-deprecation.nix
+checkConfigError 'The type `types.right'\'' of option `nested'\'' defined in .* is deprecated. right shall not be used' config.nested ./type-deprecation.nix
+
 cat <<EOF
 ====== module tests ======
 $pass Pass
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/declare-submoduleWith-modules.nix b/lib/tests/modules/declare-submoduleWith-modules.nix
index 4736ab41751b..a8b82d176881 100644
--- a/lib/tests/modules/declare-submoduleWith-modules.nix
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/declare-submoduleWith-modules.nix
@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@
             default = false;
           };
         }
-        {
-          outer = true;
-        }
       ];
     };
     default = {};
@@ -25,6 +22,7 @@
     })
     {
       inner = true;
+      outer = true;
     }
   ];
 }
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/type-deprecation.nix b/lib/tests/modules/type-deprecation.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2d7a1fc9aca5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/type-deprecation.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+{ lib, ... }: {
+
+  options.simple = lib.mkOption {
+    type = lib.mkOptionType {
+      name = "simple";
+      deprecationMessage = "simple shall not be used";
+    };
+    default = throw "";
+  };
+
+  options.infinite = lib.mkOption {
+    type =
+      let
+        t = lib.mkOptionType {
+          name = "infinite";
+          deprecationMessage = "infinite shall not be used";
+        };
+        r = lib.types.either t (lib.types.attrsOf r);
+      in r;
+    default = throw "";
+  };
+
+  options.nested = lib.mkOption {
+    type =
+      let
+        left = lib.mkOptionType {
+          name = "left";
+          deprecationMessage = "left shall not be used";
+        };
+        right = lib.mkOptionType {
+          name = "right";
+          deprecationMessage = "right shall not be used";
+        };
+      in lib.types.either left right;
+
+    default = throw "";
+  };
+
+}
diff --git a/lib/types.nix b/lib/types.nix
index 31ce440bcb48..d709791d6d0e 100644
--- a/lib/types.nix
+++ b/lib/types.nix
@@ -147,9 +147,13 @@ rec {
     , # The deprecation message to display when this type is used by an option
       # If null, the type isn't deprecated
       deprecationMessage ? null
+    , # The types that occur in the definition of this type. This is used to
+      # issue deprecation warnings recursively. Can also be used to reuse
+      # nested types
+      nestedTypes ? {}
     }:
     { _type = "option-type";
-      inherit name check merge emptyValue getSubOptions getSubModules substSubModules typeMerge functor deprecationMessage;
+      inherit name check merge emptyValue getSubOptions getSubModules substSubModules typeMerge functor deprecationMessage nestedTypes;
       description = if description == null then name else description;
     };
 
@@ -365,6 +369,7 @@ rec {
       getSubModules = elemType.getSubModules;
       substSubModules = m: listOf (elemType.substSubModules m);
       functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = elemType; };
+      nestedTypes.elemType = elemType;
     };
 
     nonEmptyListOf = elemType:
@@ -389,6 +394,7 @@ rec {
       getSubModules = elemType.getSubModules;
       substSubModules = m: attrsOf (elemType.substSubModules m);
       functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = elemType; };
+      nestedTypes.elemType = elemType;
     };
 
     # A version of attrsOf that's lazy in its values at the expense of
@@ -413,6 +419,7 @@ rec {
       getSubModules = elemType.getSubModules;
       substSubModules = m: lazyAttrsOf (elemType.substSubModules m);
       functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = elemType; };
+      nestedTypes.elemType = elemType;
     };
 
     # TODO: drop this in the future:
@@ -421,6 +428,7 @@ rec {
       deprecationMessage = "Mixing lists with attribute values is no longer"
         + " possible; please use `types.attrsOf` instead. See"
         + " https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/1800 for the motivation.";
+      nestedTypes.elemType = elemType;
     };
 
     # Value of given type but with no merging (i.e. `uniq list`s are not concatenated).
@@ -433,6 +441,7 @@ rec {
       getSubModules = elemType.getSubModules;
       substSubModules = m: uniq (elemType.substSubModules m);
       functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = elemType; };
+      nestedTypes.elemType = elemType;
     };
 
     # Null or value of ...
@@ -451,6 +460,7 @@ rec {
       getSubModules = elemType.getSubModules;
       substSubModules = m: nullOr (elemType.substSubModules m);
       functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = elemType; };
+      nestedTypes.elemType = elemType;
     };
 
     functionTo = elemType: mkOptionType {
@@ -535,6 +545,9 @@ rec {
         substSubModules = m: submoduleWith (attrs // {
           modules = m;
         });
+        nestedTypes = lib.optionalAttrs (freeformType != null) {
+          freeformType = freeformType;
+        };
         functor = defaultFunctor name // {
           type = types.submoduleWith;
           payload = {
@@ -596,6 +609,8 @@ rec {
            then functor.type mt1 mt2
            else null;
       functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = [ t1 t2 ]; };
+      nestedTypes.left = t1;
+      nestedTypes.right = t2;
     };
 
     # Any of the types in the given list
@@ -627,6 +642,8 @@ rec {
         substSubModules = m: coercedTo coercedType coerceFunc (finalType.substSubModules m);
         typeMerge = t1: t2: null;
         functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = finalType; };
+        nestedTypes.coercedType = coercedType;
+        nestedTypes.finalType = finalType;
       };
 
     # Obsolete alternative to configOf.  It takes its option
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix
index 41483d80a2dd..aea49511327d 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ in
       enableProfilePath = mkEnableOption "exposing the Disnix profiles in the system's PATH";
 
       profiles = mkOption {
-        type = types.listOf types.string;
+        type = types.listOf types.str;
         default = [ "default" ];
         example = [ "default" ];
         description = "Names of the Disnix profiles to expose in the system's PATH";
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/prometheus/default.nix b/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/prometheus/default.nix
index bd74e1a9cdb5..1d483627e9e2 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/prometheus/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/prometheus/default.nix
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ let
           http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4366#section-3.1
         '';
       };
-      name = mkOpt types.string ''
+      name = mkOpt types.str ''
         Name of the remote read config, which if specified must be unique among remote read configs.
         The name will be used in metrics and logging in place of a generated value to help users distinguish between
         remote read configs.
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ let
       write_relabel_configs = mkOpt (types.listOf promTypes.relabel_config) ''
         List of remote write relabel configurations.
       '';
-      name = mkOpt types.string ''
+      name = mkOpt types.str ''
         Name of the remote write config, which if specified must be unique among remote write configs.
         The name will be used in metrics and logging in place of a generated value to help users distinguish between
         remote write configs.