diff --git a/boot/boot-stage-1.nix b/boot/boot-stage-1.nix
index f8b84eb6fdb..63c562a13b9 100644
--- a/boot/boot-stage-1.nix
+++ b/boot/boot-stage-1.nix
@@ -21,14 +21,13 @@
   stage2Init ? "/init"
 }:
 
-assert !autoDetectRootDevice -> rootDevice != "";
-assert autoDetectRootDevice -> rootLabel != "";
-
 substituteAll {
   src = ./boot-stage-1-init.sh;
   isExecutable = true;
   inherit staticShell modules;
-  inherit autoDetectRootDevice rootDevice rootLabel;
+  inherit autoDetectRootDevice;
+  rootDevice = if !autoDetectRootDevice then rootDevice else "";
+  rootLabel = if autoDetectRootDevice then rootLabel else "";
   path = [
     staticTools
     module_init_tools
diff --git a/configuration/boot-environment.nix b/configuration/boot-environment.nix
index 31af084695c..762e2042401 100644
--- a/configuration/boot-environment.nix
+++ b/configuration/boot-environment.nix
@@ -1,17 +1,13 @@
 { system ? __currentSystem
-, autoDetectRootDevice ? false
-, rootDevice ? ""
-, rootLabel ? ""
 , stage2Init
-, readOnlyRoot
-, configData ? {}
+, configuration
 }:
 
 rec {
 
   # Make a configuration object from which we can retrieve option
   # values.
-  config = import ./config.nix pkgs.library configData;
+  config = import ./config.nix pkgs.library configuration;
   
 
   pkgs = import ../pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix {inherit system;};
@@ -71,7 +67,9 @@ rec {
     inherit (pkgs) substituteAll;
     inherit (pkgsDiet) module_init_tools;
     inherit extraUtils;
-    inherit autoDetectRootDevice rootDevice rootLabel;
+    autoDetectRootDevice = config.get ["boot" "autoDetectRootDevice"];
+    rootDevice = config.get ["boot" "rootDevice"];
+    rootLabel = config.get ["boot" "rootLabel"];
     inherit stage2Init;
     modules = modulesClosure;
     staticShell = stdenvLinuxStuff.bootstrapTools.bash;
@@ -172,8 +170,8 @@ rec {
     isExecutable = true;
 
     inherit etc;
-    inherit readOnlyRoot;
     inherit (pkgs) kernel;
+    readOnlyRoot = config.get ["boot" "readOnlyRoot"];
     hostName = config.get ["networking" "hostname"];
     wrapperDir = setuidWrapper.wrapperDir;
     accounts = ../helpers/accounts.sh;
@@ -198,8 +196,8 @@ rec {
   bootStage2 = import ../boot/boot-stage-2.nix {
     inherit (pkgs) substituteAll coreutils 
       utillinux kernel udev upstart;
-    inherit readOnlyRoot;
     inherit activateConfiguration;
+    readOnlyRoot = config.get ["boot" "readOnlyRoot"];
     upstartPath = [
       pkgs.coreutils
       pkgs.findutils
diff --git a/configuration/options.nix b/configuration/options.nix
index 4cd2f3a7343..31842627bb5 100644
--- a/configuration/options.nix
+++ b/configuration/options.nix
@@ -1,11 +1,67 @@
-[        
+[
 
-  {
+
+  { 
     name = ["networking" "hostname"];
     default = "nixos";
     description = "The name of the machine.";
   }
 
+  
+  {
+    name = ["boot" "autoDetectRootDevice"];
+    default = false;
+    description = "
+      Whether to find the root device automatically by searching for a
+      device with the right label.  If this option is off, then
+      <option>boot.rootDevice</option> must be set.
+    ";
+  }
+
+
+  {
+    name = ["boot" "rootDevice"];
+    example = "/dev/hda1";
+    description = "
+      The device to be mounted on / at system startup.
+    ";
+  }
+
+
+  {
+    name = ["boot" "readOnlyRoot"];
+    default = false;
+    description = "
+      Whether the root device should be mounted writable.  This should
+      be set when booting from CD-ROM.
+    ";
+  }
+
+
+  {
+    name = ["boot" "rootLabel"];
+    description = "
+      When auto-detecting the root device (see
+      <option>boot.autoDetectRootDevice</option>), this option
+      specifies the label of the root device.  Right now, this is
+      merely a file name that should exist in the root directory of
+      the file system.  It is used to find the boot CD-ROM.
+    ";
+  }
+
+
+  {
+    name = ["boot" "grubDevice"];
+    default = "";
+    example = "/dev/hda";
+    description = "
+      The device on which the boot loader, Grub, will be installed.
+      If empty, Grub won't be installed and it's your responsibility
+      to make the system bootable.
+    ";
+  }
+
+
   {
     name = ["networking" "useDHCP"];
     default = true;
@@ -16,6 +72,7 @@
     ";
   }
 
+  
   {
     name = ["networking" "interfaces"];
     default = [];
@@ -33,6 +90,7 @@
     ";
   }
 
+  
   {
     name = ["filesystems" "mountPoints"];
     example = [
@@ -48,6 +106,7 @@
     ";
   }
 
+  
   {
     name = ["services" "syslogd" "tty"];
     default = 10;
@@ -56,7 +115,8 @@
       messages.
     ";
   }
-    
+
+      
   {
     name = ["services" "mingetty" "ttys"];
     default = [1 2 3 4 5 6];
@@ -65,7 +125,8 @@
       login prompt.
     ";
   }
-    
+
+      
   {
     name = ["services" "mingetty" "waitOnMounts"];
     default = false;
@@ -77,6 +138,7 @@
     ";
   }
 
+  
   {
     name = ["services" "sshd" "enable"];
     default = false;
@@ -86,6 +148,7 @@
     ";
   }
 
+  
   {
     name = ["services" "sshd" "forwardX11"];
     default = false;
@@ -94,4 +157,5 @@
     ";
   }
 
+  
 ]
diff --git a/configuration/system-configuration.nix b/configuration/system-configuration.nix
index 39b4f961f16..6e6b6bc6e0f 100644
--- a/configuration/system-configuration.nix
+++ b/configuration/system-configuration.nix
@@ -1,18 +1,18 @@
 let
 
-  # The root device.
-  rootDevice = "/dev/hda1";
-
-  # The device on which GRUB should be installed (leave empty if you
-  # don't want GRUB to be installed).
-  grubDevice = "/dev/hda";
+  configuration = {
+    boot = {
+      autoDetectRootDevice = false;
+      rootDevice = "/dev/hda1";
+      readOnlyRoot = false;
+      grubDevice = "/dev/hda";
+    };
+  };
 
   # Build boot scripts.
   bootEnv = import ./boot-environment.nix {
-    autoDetectRootDevice = false;
-    inherit rootDevice;
     stage2Init = ""; # Passed on the command line via Grub.
-    readOnlyRoot = false;
+    inherit configuration;
   };
 
   # Extra kernel command line arguments.
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ rec {
   inherit upstartJobs;
 
 
-  systemConfiguration = pkgs.stdenvNew.mkDerivation {
+  system = pkgs.stdenvNew.mkDerivation {
     name = "system-configuration";
     builder = ./system-configuration.sh;
     switchToConfiguration = ./switch-to-configuration.sh;
     inherit (pkgs) grub coreutils gnused gnugrep diffutils findutils;
-    inherit grubDevice;
+    grubDevice = "/dev/hda"; # !!!
     inherit bootStage2;
     inherit activateConfiguration;
     inherit grubMenuBuilder;
diff --git a/test.sh b/test.sh
index 6bb66bf742e..c50ebe907d1 100755
--- a/test.sh
+++ b/test.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 set -e
-nix-build configuration/system-configuration.nix -A systemConfiguration -K -k
+nix-build configuration/system-configuration.nix -A system -K -k
 ./result/bin/switch-to-configuration test