diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix
index 1c71f9defaf..5e31b9d07cf 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.nix
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ let
     # stdenv-linux's dependencies, rather than building new ones with
     # dietlibc.
     bootStdenv = removeAttrs (pkgs.useDietLibC pkgs.stdenv)
-      ["coreutils" "gnused" "gnutar" "gnugrep" "bzip2" "bash" "patch" "patchelf"];
+      ["binutils" "coreutils" "gnused" "gnugrep" "gnutar" "gzip" "bzip2" "bash" "patch" "patchelf"];
   };
 
   generator = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
     name = "bootstrap-tools-generator";
     builder = ./make-bootstrap-tools.sh;
-    inherit (pkgsDiet) coreutils gnused gnugrep gnutar bzip2 bash patch;
+    inherit (pkgsDiet) coreutils gnused gnugrep gnutar gzip bzip2 bash patch;
+    binutils = pkgsDiet.binutils;
     curl = pkgsDiet.realCurl;
 
     # The result should not contain any references (store paths) so
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh
index fee37373c92..acbfe8ad19b 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/make-bootstrap-tools.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ nukeRefs() {
 }
 
 
+# Create the tools that need to be in-tree, i.e., the ones that are
+# necessary for the absolute first stage of the bootstrap.
 cp $bash/bin/bash $out/in-nixpkgs
 cp $bzip2/bin/bunzip2 $out/in-nixpkgs
 cp $gnutar/bin/tar $out/in-nixpkgs
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@ nukeRefs $out/in-nixpkgs/bash
 nukeRefs $out/in-nixpkgs/tar
 
 
+# Create the tools tarball.
 mkdir tools
 mkdir tools/bin
 
@@ -37,6 +40,7 @@ rm tools/bin/printf # idem
 cp $gnused/bin/* tools/bin
 cp $gnugrep/bin/* tools/bin
 cp $gnutar/bin/* tools/bin
+cp $gunzip/bin/gunzip tools/bin
 cp $bzip2/bin/bunzip2 tools/bin
 cp $patch/bin/* tools/bin
 
@@ -47,7 +51,17 @@ nukeRefs tools/bin/grep
 #cp $patchelf/bin/* tools/bin
 
 
-for i in $out/in-nixpkgs/* tools/bin/*; do
+# Create the binutils tarball.
+mkdir binutils
+mkdir binutils/bin
+for i in as ld ar ranlib nm strip; do
+    cp $binutils/bin/$i binutils/bin
+    nukeRefs binutils/bin/$i
+done
+
+
+# Strip executables even further.
+for i in $out/in-nixpkgs/* */bin/*; do
     if test -x $i; then
         chmod +w $i
         strip -s $i || true
@@ -55,9 +69,10 @@ for i in $out/in-nixpkgs/* tools/bin/*; do
 done
 
 
-tar cvfj $out/on-server/static-tools.tar.bz2 tools
-
+# Pack, unpack everything.
+tar cfj $out/on-server/static-tools.tar.bz2 tools
+tar cfj $out/on-server/binutils.tar.bz2 binutils
 
 for i in $out/on-server/*.tar.bz2; do
-    (cd $out/check-only && tar xvfj $i)
+    (cd $out/check-only && tar xfj $i)
 done
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index b46d0f4e32e..9594ee934de 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -957,9 +957,8 @@ rec {
     cross = "sparc-linux";
   };
 
-  binutilsDiet = import ../development/tools/misc/binutils/binutils-2.17.nix {
-    inherit fetchurl noSysDirs;
-    stdenv = useDietLibC stdenv;
+  binutils217 = import ../development/tools/misc/binutils/binutils-2.17.nix {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv noSysDirs;
   };
 
   bison = bison1875;