diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index 361f24264d8..5d20e182e0e 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ let
           cp -prd . ../$releaseName/nixos
           cp -prd ${nixpkgs} ../$releaseName/nixpkgs
           echo "$expr" > ../$releaseName/default.nix
+          echo nixos > ../$releaseName/channel-name
           NIX_STATE_DIR=$TMPDIR nix-env -f ../$releaseName/default.nix -qaP --meta --xml \* > /dev/null
           cd ..
           chmod -R u+w $releaseName