diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/xnu/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/xnu/default.nix
index 0ce9c54e48c..2c7da5be6e4 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/xnu/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/xnu/default.nix
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-{ stdenv, appleDerivation, fetchzip, bootstrap_cmds, bison, flex, gnum4, unifdef, perl }:
+{ stdenv, appleDerivation, fetchzip, bootstrap_cmds, bison, flex, gnum4, unifdef, perl, python }:
 
 appleDerivation {
   phases = [ "unpackPhase" "patchPhase" "installPhase" ];
 
-  buildInputs = [ bootstrap_cmds bison flex gnum4 unifdef perl ];
+  buildInputs = [ bootstrap_cmds bison flex gnum4 unifdef perl python ];
 
   patchPhase = ''
     substituteInPlace Makefile \
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/default.nix
index 36fa474b431..ea1848492cd 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/default.nix
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ assert crossSystem == null;
 let
   inherit (localSystem) system platform;
 
-  libSystemProfile = ''
-    (import "${./standard-sandbox.sb}")
-  '';
+  commonImpureHostDeps = [
+    "/bin/sh"
+    "/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib"
+    "/usr/lib/system/libunc.dylib" # This ependency is "hidden", so our scanning code doesn't pick it up
+  ];
 in rec {
   commonPreHook = ''
     export NIX_ENFORCE_PURITY="''${NIX_ENFORCE_PURITY-1}"
@@ -37,11 +39,6 @@ in rec {
     export gl_cv_func_getcwd_abort_bug=no
   '';
 
-  # The one dependency of /bin/sh :(
-  binShClosure = ''
-    (allow file-read* (literal "/usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib"))
-  '';
-
   bootstrapTools = derivation rec {
     inherit system;
 
@@ -53,7 +50,7 @@ in rec {
     reexportedLibrariesFile =
       ../../os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/Libsystem/reexported_libraries;
 
-    __sandboxProfile = binShClosure + libSystemProfile;
+    __impureHostDeps = commonImpureHostDeps;
   };
 
   stageFun = step: last: {shell             ? "${bootstrapTools}/bin/bash",
@@ -108,8 +105,8 @@ in rec {
         };
 
         # The stdenvs themselves don't use mkDerivation, so I need to specify this here
-        stdenvSandboxProfile = binShClosure + libSystemProfile;
-        extraSandboxProfile  = binShClosure + libSystemProfile;
+        __stdenvImpureHostDeps = commonImpureHostDeps;
+        __extraImpureHostDeps = commonImpureHostDeps;
 
         extraAttrs = {
           inherit platform;
@@ -167,7 +164,7 @@ in rec {
   };
 
   stage1 = prevStage: let
-    persistent = _: _: {};
+    persistent = _: super: { python = super.python.override { configd = null; }; };
   in with prevStage; stageFun 1 prevStage {
     extraPreHook = "export NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE+=\" -F${bootstrapTools}/Library/Frameworks\"";
     extraNativeBuildInputs = [];
@@ -317,8 +314,8 @@ in rec {
       export PATH_LOCALE=${pkgs.darwin.locale}/share/locale
     '';
 
-    stdenvSandboxProfile = binShClosure + libSystemProfile;
-    extraSandboxProfile  = binShClosure + libSystemProfile;
+    __stdenvImpureHostDeps = commonImpureHostDeps;
+    __extraImpureHostDeps = commonImpureHostDeps;
 
     initialPath = import ../common-path.nix { inherit pkgs; };
     shell       = "${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash";
@@ -364,6 +361,10 @@ in rec {
         clang = cc;
         llvmPackages = persistent'.llvmPackages // { clang = cc; };
         inherit cc;
+
+        darwin = super.darwin // {
+          xnu = super.darwin.xnu.override { python = super.python.override { configd = null; }; };
+        };
       };
   };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/standard-sandbox.sb b/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/standard-sandbox.sb
deleted file mode 100644
index b87be89f35f..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/standard-sandbox.sb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-(define TMPDIR (param "_GLOBAL_TMP_DIR"))
-
-; obvious
-(allow process-fork)
-
-; allow reading system information like #CPUs, etc.
-(allow sysctl-read)
-
-; IPC
-(allow ipc-posix*)
-
-; Unix sockets
-(allow system-socket)
-
-; all runtime dependencies of libSystem.dylib
-(allow file-read*
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libSystem.dylib")
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib")
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib")
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libobjc.dylib")
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libauto.dylib")
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libc++abi.dylib")
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libc++.1.dylib")
-       (literal "/usr/lib/libDiagnosticMessagesClient.dylib")
-       (subpath "/usr/lib/system"))
-
-; tmp
-(allow file* process-exec (literal "/tmp") (subpath TMPDIR))
-
-; clang likes to read the system version
-(allow file-read* (literal "/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist"))
-
-; used for bootstrap builders
-(allow process-exec* (literal "/bin/sh"))
-
-; without this line clang cannot write to /dev/null, breaking some configure tests
-(allow file-read-metadata (literal "/dev"))
-
-; standard devices
-(allow file*
-       (literal "/dev/null")
-       (literal "/dev/random")
-       (literal "/dev/stdin")
-       (literal "/dev/stdout")
-       (literal "/dev/tty")
-       (literal "/dev/urandom")
-       (literal "/dev/zero")
-       (subpath "/dev/fd"))
-
-; does nothing, but reduces build noise
-(allow file* (literal "/dev/dtracehelper"))
-
-; ICU data and zoneinfo data are hardcoded
-; both are in libicucore and zoneinfo is in libsystem_c as well
-(allow file-read* (subpath "/usr/share/icu") (subpath "/usr/share/zoneinfo"))
-
-; no idea what this is
-(allow file-read-data (literal "/dev/autofs_nowait"))
-
-; lots of autoconf projects want to list this directory
-(allow file-read-metadata (literal "/var") (literal "/private/var/tmp"))
-
-; send signals
-(allow signal (target same-sandbox))
-
-; allow getpwuid (for git and other packages)
-(allow mach-lookup
-       (global-name "com.apple.system.notification_center")
-       (global-name "com.apple.system.opendirectoryd.libinfo"))
-
-; allow networking on localhost
-(allow network* (local ip) (remote unix-socket))