diff --git a/lib/tests/modules.sh b/lib/tests/modules.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..58231a35636
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# This script is used to test that the module system is working as expected.
+# By default it test the version of nixpkgs which is defined in the NIX_PATH.
+
+cd ./modules
+
+pass=0
+fail=0
+
+evalConfig() {
+    local attr=$1
+    shift;
+    local script="import ./default.nix { modules = [ $@ ];}"
+    nix-instantiate --timeout 1 -E "$script" -A "$attr" --eval-only
+}
+
+reportFailure() {
+    local attr=$1
+    shift;
+    local script="import ./default.nix { modules = [ $@ ];}"
+    echo 2>&1 "$ nix-instantiate -E '$script' -A '$attr' --eval-only"
+    evalConfig "$attr" "$@"
+    fail=$((fail + 1))
+}
+
+checkConfigOutput() {
+    local outputContains=$1
+    shift;
+    if evalConfig "$@" 2>/dev/null | grep --silent "$outputContains" ; then
+        pass=$((pass + 1))
+        return 0;
+    else
+        echo 2>&1 "error: Expected result matching '$outputContains', while evaluating"
+        reportFailure "$@"
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
+checkConfigError() {
+    local errorContains=$1
+    local err=""
+    shift;
+    if err==$(evalConfig "$@" 2>&1 >/dev/null); then
+        echo 2>&1 "error: Expected error code, got exit code 0, while evaluating"
+        reportFailure "$@"
+        return 1
+    else
+        if echo "$err" | grep --silent "$errorContains" ; then
+            pass=$((pass + 1))
+            return 0;
+        else
+            echo 2>&1 "error: Expected error matching '$errorContains', while evaluating"
+            reportFailure "$@"
+            return 1
+        fi
+    fi
+}
+
+checkConfigOutput "false" config.enable ./declare-enable.nix
+checkConfigError 'The option .* defined in .* does not exist.' config.enable ./define-enable.nix
+set -- config.enable ./declare-enable.nix ./define-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput "true" "$@"
+checkConfigOutput "false" "$@" ./define-force-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput "false" "$@" ./define-enable-force.nix
+
+checkConfigError 'attribute .*foo.* .* not found' config.loaOfSub.foo.enable ./declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'false' config.loaOfSub.foo.enable ./declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix ./define-loaOfSub-foo.nix
+set -- config.loaOfSub.foo.enable ./declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix ./define-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'true' "$@"
+checkConfigOutput 'false' "$@" ./define-force-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'false' "$@" ./define-loaOfSub-force-foo-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'false' "$@" ./define-loaOfSub-foo-force-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'false' "$@" ./define-loaOfSub-foo-enable-force.nix
+
+checkConfigError 'attribute .*bar.* .* not found' config.loaOfSub.bar.enable ./declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix ./define-loaOfSub-foo.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'false' config.loaOfSub.bar.enable ./declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix ./define-loaOfSub-foo.nix ./define-loaOfSub-bar.nix
+set -- config.loaOfSub.bar.enable ./declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix ./define-loaOfSub-foo.nix ./define-loaOfSub-bar-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'true' "$@"
+checkConfigError 'attribute .*bar.* .* not found' "$@" ./define-force-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix
+checkConfigError 'attribute .*bar.* .* not found' "$@" ./define-loaOfSub-force-foo-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'true' "$@" ./define-loaOfSub-foo-force-enable.nix
+checkConfigOutput 'true' "$@" ./define-loaOfSub-foo-enable-force.nix
+
+cat <<EOF
+====== module tests ======
+$pass Pass
+$fail Fail
+EOF
+
+if test $fail -ne 0; then
+    exit 1
+fi
+exit 0
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/declare-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/declare-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ebee243c756
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/declare-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+{
+  options = {
+    enable = lib.mkOption {
+      default = false;
+      example = true;
+      type = lib.types.bool;
+      description = ''
+        Some descriptive text
+      '';
+    };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..71dad1c9135
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/declare-loaOfSub-any-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+let
+  submod = { ... }: {
+    options = {
+      enable = lib.mkOption {
+        default = false;
+        example = true;
+        type = lib.types.bool;
+        description = ''
+          Some descriptive text
+        '';
+      };
+    };
+  };
+in
+
+{
+  options = {
+    loaOfSub = lib.mkOption {
+      default = {};
+      example = {};
+      type = lib.types.loaOf (lib.types.submodule [ submod ]);
+      description = ''
+        Some descriptive text
+      '';
+    };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/default.nix b/lib/tests/modules/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5df7d9751ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{ lib ? import <nixpkgs/lib>, modules ? [] }:
+
+{
+  inherit (lib.evalModules {
+    inherit modules;
+  }) config options;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-enable-force.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-enable-force.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f4990a32863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-enable-force.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+{
+  enable = lib.mkForce false;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7dc26010ae5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  enable = true;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-force-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-force-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..978caa2a8c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-force-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+lib.mkForce {
+  enable = false;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-force-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-force-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bfd8e084b59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-force-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+lib.mkForce {
+  loaOfSub.foo.enable = false;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-bar-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-bar-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..422bb0a600b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-bar-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  loaOfSub.bar.enable = true;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-bar.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-bar.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c24315e09b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-bar.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  loaOfSub.bar = {};
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-enable-force.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-enable-force.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c1d7b198be5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-enable-force.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+{
+  loaOfSub.foo.enable = lib.mkForce false;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..822425c71bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  loaOfSub.foo.enable = true;
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-force-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-force-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dce0ef547b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo-force-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+{
+  loaOfSub.foo = lib.mkForce {
+    enable = false;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e9b2e631f2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-foo.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  loaOfSub.foo = {};
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-force-foo-enable.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-force-foo-enable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..df5722274ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-loaOfSub-force-foo-enable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+{
+  loaOfSub = lib.mkForce {
+    foo.enable = false;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/release.nix b/lib/tests/release.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e7fb52f6766
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/release.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{ nixpkgs }:
+
+with import ./../.. { };
+with lib;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "nixpkgs-lib-tests";
+  buildInputs = [ nix ];
+  NIX_PATH="nixpkgs=${nixpkgs}";
+
+  buildCommand = ''
+    datadir="${nix}/share"
+    export TEST_ROOT=$(pwd)/test-tmp
+    export NIX_STORE_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/store
+    export NIX_LOCALSTATE_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/var
+    export NIX_LOG_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/var/log/nix
+    export NIX_STATE_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/var/nix
+    export NIX_DB_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/db
+    export NIX_CONF_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/etc
+    export NIX_MANIFESTS_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/var/nix/manifests
+    export NIX_BUILD_HOOK=
+    export PAGER=cat
+    cacheDir=$TEST_ROOT/binary-cache
+    nix-store --init
+
+    cd ${nixpkgs}/lib/tests
+    ./modules.sh
+
+    touch $out
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
index 47026336403..534080668ec 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/release.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ let
     { tarball = import ./make-tarball.nix { inherit nixpkgs officialRelease; };
 
       manual = import ../../doc;
+      lib.tests = import ../../lib/tests/release.nix { inherit nixpkgs; };
 
       unstable = pkgs.releaseTools.aggregate
         { name = "nixpkgs-${jobs.tarball.version}";
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ let
           constituents =
             [ jobs.tarball
               jobs.manual
+              jobs.lib.tests
               jobs.stdenv.x86_64-linux
               jobs.stdenv.i686-linux
               jobs.stdenv.x86_64-darwin