diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/cpio-clean.pl b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/cpio-clean.pl
deleted file mode 100644
index ddc6435a5a8..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/cpio-clean.pl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-use strict;
-
-# Make inode number, link info and mtime consistent in order to get a consistent hash.
-#
-# Author: Alexander Kjeldaas <ak@formalprivacy.com>
-
-use Archive::Cpio;
-
-my $cpio = Archive::Cpio->new;
-my $IN = \*STDIN;
-my $ino = 1;
-$cpio->read_with_handler($IN, sub {
-        my ($e) = @_;
-        $e->{mtime} = 1;
-	$cpio->write_one(\*STDOUT, $e);
-    });
-$cpio->write_trailer(\*STDOUT);
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
index 895160616b7..092ab4586b3 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@
 # `contents = {object = ...; symlink = /init;}' is a typical
 # argument.
 
-{ stdenv, perl, perlArchiveCpio, cpio, contents, ubootChooser, compressor, prepend }:
+{ stdenv, perl, cpio, contents, ubootChooser, compressor, prepend }:
 
 let
-  inputsFun = ubootName : [perl cpio perlArchiveCpio ]
+  inputsFun = ubootName : [ perl cpio ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional (ubootName != null) [ (ubootChooser ubootName) ];
   makeUInitrdFun = ubootName : (ubootName != null);
 in
@@ -30,12 +30,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   objects = map (x: x.object) contents;
   symlinks = map (x: x.symlink) contents;
   suffices = map (x: if x ? suffix then x.suffix else "none") contents;
-  
+
   # For obtaining the closure of `contents'.
   exportReferencesGraph =
     map (x: [("closure-" + baseNameOf x.symlink) x.object]) contents;
   pathsFromGraph = ./paths-from-graph.pl;
-  cpioClean = ./cpio-clean.pl;
 
   crossAttrs = {
     nativeBuildInputs = inputsFun stdenv.cross.platform.uboot;
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.sh b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.sh
index 89021caa583..0aeaedeb372 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ mkdir -p $out
 for PREP in $prepend; do
   cat $PREP >> $out/initrd
 done
-(cd root && find * -print0 | cpio -o -H newc -R 0:0 --null | perl $cpioClean | $compressor >> $out/initrd)
+(cd root && find * -print0 | xargs -0r touch -h -d '@1')
+(cd root && find * -print0 | sort -z | cpio -o -H newc -R +0:+0 --reproducible --null | $compressor >> $out/initrd)
 
 if [ -n "$makeUInitrd" ]; then
     mv $out/initrd $out/initrd.gz