diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix
index 87b9bdc80bc..cec270af6c3 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ let
     # stdenv-linux's dependencies, rather than building new ones with
     # dietlibc.
     bootStdenv = removeAttrs (pkgs.useDietLibC pkgs.stdenv)
-      [ "binutils" "gcc" "coreutils" "findutils" "gnused" "gnugrep"
+      [ "binutils" "gcc" "coreutils" "findutils" "diffutils" "gnused" "gnugrep"
         "gawk" "gnutar" "gzip" "bzip2" "gnumake" "bash" "patch" "patchelf"
       ];
   };
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ let
     builder = ./make-bootstrap-tools.sh;
     
     inherit (pkgsDiet)
-      coreutils findutils gnugrep gawk
+      coreutils findutils diffutils gnugrep gawk
       gnutar gzip bzip2 gnumake bash patch;
     gnused = pkgsDiet.gnused412; # 4.1.5 gives "Memory exhausted" errors
     binutils = pkgsDiet.binutils;
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh
index d9a7bc6d62f..9fae0d44f44 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ rm tools/bin/printf # idem
 
 cp $findutils/bin/find tools/bin
 cp $findutils/bin/xargs tools/bin
+cp $diffutils/bin/* tools/bin
 cp $gnused/bin/* tools/bin
 cp $gnugrep/bin/* tools/bin
 cp $gawk/bin/gawk tools/bin
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ cp $gnumake/bin/* tools/bin
 cp $patch/bin/* tools/bin
 cp $patchelf/bin/* tools/bin
 
+nukeRefs tools/bin/diff
 nukeRefs tools/bin/sed
 nukeRefs tools/bin/gawk
 nukeRefs tools/bin/tar
@@ -62,7 +64,7 @@ nukeRefs tools/bin/make
 # Create the binutils tarball.
 mkdir binutils
 mkdir binutils/bin
-for i in as ld ar ranlib nm strip; do
+for i in as ld ar ranlib nm strip readelf; do
     cp $binutils/bin/$i binutils/bin
     nukeRefs binutils/bin/$i
 done