diff --git a/lib/systems/platforms.nix b/lib/systems/platforms.nix
index 9ce697a1f7a..9dcd59066d0 100644
--- a/lib/systems/platforms.nix
+++ b/lib/systems/platforms.nix
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 rec {
   pcBase = {
     name = "pc";
-    uboot = null;
     kernelHeadersBaseConfig = "defconfig";
     kernelBaseConfig = "defconfig";
     # Build whatever possible as a module, if not stated in the extra config.
@@ -50,9 +49,6 @@ rec {
     kernelTarget = "uImage";
     # TODO reenable once manual-config's config actually builds a .dtb and this is checked to be working
     #kernelDTB = true;
-
-    # XXX can be anything non-null, pkgs actually only cares if it is set or not
-    uboot = "pogoplug4";
   };
 
   sheevaplug = {
@@ -162,9 +158,6 @@ rec {
     '';
     kernelMakeFlags = [ "LOADADDR=0x0200000" ];
     kernelTarget = "uImage";
-    uboot = "sheevaplug";
-    # Only for uboot = uboot :
-    ubootConfig = "sheevaplug_config";
     kernelDTB = true; # Beyond 3.10
     gcc = {
       arch = "armv5te";
@@ -251,7 +244,6 @@ rec {
       LATENCYTOP y
     '';
     kernelTarget = "zImage";
-    uboot = null;
     gcc = {
       arch = "armv6";
       fpu = "vfp";
@@ -342,7 +334,6 @@ rec {
       XEN? n
     '';
     kernelTarget = "zImage";
-    uboot = null;
   };
 
   scaleway-c1 = armv7l-hf-multiplatform // {
@@ -374,7 +365,6 @@ rec {
     kernelMakeFlags = [ "LOADADDR=0x10800000" ];
     kernelTarget = "uImage";
     kernelDTB = true;
-    uboot = true; #XXX: any non-null value here is needed so that mkimage is present to build kernelTarget uImage
     gcc = {
       cpu = "cortex-a9";
       fpu = "neon";
@@ -464,7 +454,6 @@ rec {
       FTRACE n
     '';
     kernelTarget = "vmlinux";
-    uboot = null;
     gcc = {
       arch = "loongson2f";
       abi = "n32";
@@ -477,7 +466,6 @@ rec {
     kernelAutoModules = false;
     kernelExtraConfig = ""; # TBD kernel config
     kernelTarget = "zImage";
-    uboot = null;
   };
 
   armv7l-hf-multiplatform = {
@@ -489,7 +477,6 @@ rec {
     kernelDTB = true;
     kernelAutoModules = true;
     kernelPreferBuiltin = true;
-    uboot = null;
     kernelTarget = "zImage";
     kernelExtraConfig = ''
       # Fix broken sunxi-sid nvmem driver.
@@ -552,7 +539,6 @@ rec {
       # which our initrd builder can't currently do easily.
       USB_XHCI_TEGRA m
     '';
-    uboot = null;
     kernelTarget = "Image";
     gcc = {
       arch = "armv8-a";
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
index 6fcdc93b104..5353ae82841 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
@@ -16,17 +16,14 @@
 , hostPlatform
 }:
 
-let
-  inputsFun = ubootName : [ perl cpio ]
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optional (ubootName != null) ubootTools;
-  makeUInitrdFun = ubootName : (ubootName != null);
-in
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "initrd";
   builder = ./make-initrd.sh;
-  nativeBuildInputs = inputsFun hostPlatform.platform.uboot;
 
-  makeUInitrd = makeUInitrdFun hostPlatform.platform.uboot;
+  makeUInitrd = hostPlatform.platform.kernelTarget == "uImage";
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ perl cpio ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional makeUInitrd ubootTools;
 
   # !!! should use XML.
   objects = map (x: x.object) contents;
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
index 3912d9d10f5..c2f4e6843f5 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 , ...
 }:
 
-assert stdenv.platform.name == "sheevaplug" -> stdenv.platform.uboot != null;
 assert stdenv.isLinux;
 
 let
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/manual-config.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/manual-config.nix
index 61349175c78..28ad5aeca35 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/manual-config.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/manual-config.nix
@@ -224,8 +224,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ((drvAttrs config stdenv.platform (kernelPatches ++ nativeKe
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ perl bc nettools openssl gmp libmpc mpfr ] ++ optional (stdenv.platform.uboot != null)
-    ubootTools;
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ perl bc nettools openssl gmp libmpc mpfr ]
+    ++ optional (stdenv.platform.kernelTarget == "uImage") ubootTools;
 
   hardeningDisable = [ "bindnow" "format" "fortify" "stackprotector" "pic" ];
 
@@ -244,10 +244,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ((drvAttrs config stdenv.platform (kernelPatches ++ nativeKe
 
       karch = cp.kernelArch;
 
-      # !!! uboot has messed up cross-compiling, nativeDrv builds arm tools on x86,
-      # crossDrv builds x86 tools on x86 (but arm uboot). If this is fixed, uboot
-      # can just go into buildInputs (but not nativeBuildInputs since cp.uboot
-      # may be different from stdenv.platform.uboot)
-      buildInputs = optional (cp.uboot != null) ubootTools.crossDrv;
+      nativeBuildInputs = optional (cp.kernelTarget == "uImage") ubootTools;
   };
 })