diff --git a/modules/misc/version.nix b/modules/misc/version.nix
index 32e2e1b1dc0..95030fbd03d 100644
--- a/modules/misc/version.nix
+++ b/modules/misc/version.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,27 @@ with pkgs.lib;
         + (if builtins.pathExists ../../.version-suffix then builtins.readFile ../../.version-suffix else "pre-svn");
       description = "NixOS version.";
     };
-    
+
+  };
+
+  config = {
+
+    # Generate /etc/os-release.  See
+    # http://0pointer.de/public/systemd-man/os-release.html for the
+    # format.
+    environment.etc = singleton
+      { source = pkgs.writeText "os-release"
+          ''
+            NAME=NixOS
+            ID=nixos
+            VERSION="${config.system.nixosVersion}"
+            VERSION_ID="${config.system.nixosVersion}"
+            PRETTY_NAME="NixOS ${config.system.nixosVersion}"
+            HOME_URL="http://nixos.org/"
+          '';
+        target = "os-release";
+      };
+  
   };
 
 }