diff --git a/nixos/modules/module-list.nix b/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
index ed93c1dd570..2cbda50ba29 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
@@ -297,6 +297,7 @@
   ./services/x11/xserver.nix
   ./system/activation/activation-script.nix
   ./system/activation/top-level.nix
+  ./system/boot/emergency-mode.nix
   ./system/boot/kernel.nix
   ./system/boot/kexec.nix
   ./system/boot/loader/efi.nix
@@ -312,6 +313,7 @@
   ./system/boot/stage-1.nix
   ./system/boot/stage-2.nix
   ./system/boot/systemd.nix
+  ./system/boot/tmp.nix
   ./system/etc/etc.nix
   ./system/upstart/upstart.nix
   ./tasks/cpu-freq.nix
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/emergency-mode.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/emergency-mode.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9cdab841619
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/emergency-mode.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+{ config, lib, ... }:
+
+with lib;
+
+{
+
+  ###### interface
+
+  options = {
+
+    systemd.enableEmergencyMode = mkOption {
+      default = true;
+      type = types.bool;
+      description = ''
+        Whether to enable emergency mode, which is an
+        <command>sulogin</command> shell started on the console if
+        mounting a filesystem fails.  Since some machines (like EC2
+        instances) have no console of any kind, emergency mode doesn't
+        make sense, and it's better to continue with the boot insofar
+        as possible.
+      '';
+    };
+
+  };
+
+  ###### implementation
+
+  config = {
+
+    systemd.additionalUpstreamSystemUnits = optionals
+      config.systemd.enableEmergencyMode [
+        "emergency.target" "emergency.service"
+      ];
+
+  };
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
index 66b8243fbd2..bfc3c9b5da3 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
@@ -98,12 +98,6 @@ mkdir -m 0755 -p /etc/nixos
 rm -rf /var/run /var/lock
 rm -f /etc/{group,passwd,shadow}.lock
 
-if test -n "@cleanTmpDir@"; then
-    echo -n "cleaning \`/tmp'..."
-    find /tmp -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -print0 | xargs -0r rm -rf --one-file-system
-    echo " done"
-fi
-
 
 # Also get rid of temporary GC roots.
 rm -rf /nix/var/nix/gcroots/tmp /nix/var/nix/temproots
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2.nix
index f53c3b8b8e7..6155bb37cc5 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-2.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ let
     src = ./stage-2-init.sh;
     shellDebug = "${pkgs.bashInteractive}/bin/bash";
     isExecutable = true;
-    inherit (config.boot) devShmSize runSize cleanTmpDir;
+    inherit (config.boot) devShmSize runSize;
     inherit (config.nix) readOnlyStore;
     inherit (config.networking) useHostResolvConf;
     ttyGid = config.ids.gids.tty;
@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ let
         pkgs.utillinux
         pkgs.sysvtools
         pkgs.openresolv
-      ] ++ (optional config.boot.cleanTmpDir pkgs.findutils)
-      ++ optional config.nix.readOnlyStore readonlyMountpoint;
+      ] ++ optional config.nix.readOnlyStore readonlyMountpoint;
     postBootCommands = pkgs.writeText "local-cmds"
       ''
         ${config.boot.postBootCommands}
@@ -81,15 +80,6 @@ in
         '';
       };
 
-      # FIXME: should replace this with something that uses systemd-tmpfiles.
-      cleanTmpDir = mkOption {
-        type = types.bool;
-        default = false;
-        description = ''
-          Whether to delete all files in <filename>/tmp</filename> during boot.
-        '';
-      };
-
     };
 
   };
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix
index 777c1ea74d8..455c40693b0 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix
@@ -162,10 +162,7 @@ let
       "systemd-sysctl.service"
     ]
 
-    ++ optionals cfg.enableEmergencyMode [
-      "emergency.target"
-      "emergency.service"
-    ];
+    ++ cfg.additionalUpstreamSystemUnits;
 
   upstreamSystemWants =
     [ #"basic.target.wants"
@@ -637,19 +634,6 @@ in
       '';
     };
 
-    systemd.enableEmergencyMode = mkOption {
-      default = true;
-      type = types.bool;
-      description = ''
-        Whether to enable emergency mode, which is an
-        <command>sulogin</command> shell started on the console if
-        mounting a filesystem fails.  Since some machines (like EC2
-        instances) have no console of any kind, emergency mode doesn't
-        make sense, and it's better to continue with the boot insofar
-        as possible.
-      '';
-    };
-
     systemd.tmpfiles.rules = mkOption {
       type = types.listOf types.str;
       default = [];
@@ -692,6 +676,15 @@ in
       description = "Definition of systemd per-user socket units.";
     };
 
+    systemd.additionalUpstreamSystemUnits = mkOption {
+      default = [ ];
+      type = types.listOf types.str;
+      example = [ "debug-shell.service" "systemd-quotacheck.service" ];
+      description = ''
+        Additional units shipped with systemd that shall be enabled.
+      '';
+    };
+
   };
 
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/tmp.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/tmp.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5bf5e2eb2ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/tmp.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+{ config, lib, ... }:
+
+with lib;
+
+{
+
+  ###### interface
+
+  options = {
+
+    boot.cleanTmpDir = mkOption {
+      type = types.bool;
+      default = false;
+      description = ''
+        Whether to delete all files in <filename>/tmp</filename> during boot.
+      '';
+    };
+
+    boot.tmpOnTmpfs = mkOption {
+      type = types.bool;
+      default = false;
+      description = ''
+         Whether to mount a tmpfs on <filename>/tmp</filename> during boot.
+      '';
+    };
+
+  };
+
+  ###### implementation
+
+  config = {
+
+    systemd.additionalUpstreamSystemUnits = optional config.boot.tmpOnTmpfs "tmp.mount";
+
+    systemd.tmpfiles.rules = optional config.boot.cleanTmpDir "D! /tmp 1777 root root";
+
+  };
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file