diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
index bd2664ed1dd..3ba1a1cabad 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/generic-builder.nix
@@ -2,42 +2,43 @@
 , jailbreak-cabal, hscolour
 }:
 
-{ pname, version, sha256 ? null
+{ pname
+, version
+, sha256 ? null
 , src ? fetchurl { url = "mirror://hackage/${pname}-${version}.tar.gz"; inherit sha256; }
 , buildDepends ? []
-, extraLibraries ? []
-, configureFlags ? []
-, configureFlagsArray ? []
-, pkgconfigDepends ? []
-, noHaddock ? false
 , buildTools ? []
-, patches ? [], patchPhase ? "", prePatch ? "", postPatch ? ""
-, preConfigure ? "", postConfigure ? ""
-, preBuild ? "", postBuild ? ""
-, installPhase ? "", preInstall ? "", postInstall ? ""
-, checkPhase ? "", preCheck ? "", postCheck ? ""
-, preFixup ? "", postFixup ? ""
-, isExecutable ? false, isLibrary ? !isExecutable
-, propagatedUserEnvPkgs ? []
-, testDepends ? []
-, doCheck ? stdenv.lib.versionOlder "7.4" ghc.version, testTarget ? ""
+, configureFlags ? []
+, description ? ""
+, doCheck ? stdenv.lib.versionOlder "7.4" ghc.version
 , doHoogle ? true
-, jailbreak ? false
-, hyperlinkSource ? true
+, editedCabalFile ? null
 , enableLibraryProfiling ? false
 , enableSharedExecutables ? stdenv.lib.versionOlder "7.7" ghc.version
 , enableSharedLibraries ? stdenv.lib.versionOlder "7.7" ghc.version
 , enableSplitObjs ? !stdenv.isDarwin # http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/4013
 , enableStaticLibraries ? true
+, extraLibraries ? []
 , homepage ? "http://hackage.haskell.org/package/${pname}"
-, description ? "no description available"
-, license
-, editedCabalFile ? null
-, platforms ? ghc.meta.platforms
 , hydraPlatforms ? ghc.meta.hydraPlatforms or ghc.meta.platforms
-, broken ? false
+, hyperlinkSource ? true
+, isExecutable ? false, isLibrary ? !isExecutable
+, jailbreak ? false
+, license
 , maintainers ? []
+, noHaddock ? false
 , passthru ? {}
+, pkgconfigDepends ? []
+, platforms ? ghc.meta.platforms
+, testDepends ? []
+, testTarget ? ""
+, broken ? false
+, patches ? [], patchPhase ? "", prePatch ? "", postPatch ? ""
+, preConfigure ? "", postConfigure ? ""
+, preBuild ? "", postBuild ? ""
+, preInstall ? "", postInstall ? ""
+, checkPhase ? "", preCheck ? "", postCheck ? ""
+, preFixup ? "", postFixup ? ""
 }:
 
 assert pkgconfigDepends != [] -> pkgconfig != null;
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ assert pkgconfigDepends != [] -> pkgconfig != null;
 let
 
   inherit (stdenv.lib) optional optionals optionalString versionOlder
-                       concatStringsSep enableFeature;
+                       concatStringsSep enableFeature optionalAttrs;
 
   defaultSetupHs = builtins.toFile "Setup.hs" ''
                      import Distribution.Simple
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ let
   };
 
 in
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
+stdenv.mkDerivation ({
   name = "${optionalString hasActiveLibrary "haskell-"}${pname}-${version}";
 
   inherit src;
@@ -79,14 +80,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     optionals doCheck testDepends;
   propagatedNativeBuildInputs = buildDepends;
 
-  inherit propagatedUserEnvPkgs;
-  inherit patches patchPhase prePatch postPatch;
-  inherit preConfigure postConfigure configureFlags configureFlagsArray;
-  inherit preBuild postBuild;
-  inherit preInstall postInstall;
-  inherit doCheck preCheck postCheck;
-  inherit preFixup postFixup;
-
   # GHC needs the locale configured during the Haddock phase.
   LANG = "en_US.UTF-8";
   LOCALE_ARCHIVE = optionalString stdenv.isLinux "${glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive";
@@ -111,11 +104,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
       setupCompileFlags="-j$NIX_BUILD_CORES"
     ''}
 
-    local confDir=$out/nix-support/ghc-${ghc.version}-package.conf.d
-    mkdir -p $confDir
-    for p in $propagatedNativeBuildInputs $nativeBuildInputs; do
-      if [ -d "$p/nix-support/ghc-${ghc.version}-package.conf.d" ]; then
-        cp -f "$p/nix-support/ghc-${ghc.version}-package.conf.d/"*.conf $confDir/
+    packageConfDir="$TMP/package.conf.d"
+    mkdir -p $packageConfDir
+
+    local inputClosure=""
+    for i in $propagatedNativeBuildInputs $nativeBuildInputs; do
+      findInputs $i inputClosure propagated-native-build-inputs
+    done
+    for p in $inputClosure; do
+      if [ -d "$p/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d" ]; then
+        cp -f "$p/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d/"*.conf $packageConfDir/
         continue
       fi
       if [ -d "$p/include" ]; then
@@ -127,8 +125,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
         fi
       done
     done
-    ghc-pkg --package-db=$confDir recache
-    configureFlags+=" --package-db=$confDir"
+    ghc-pkg --package-db="$packageConfDir" recache
+    configureFlags+=" --package-db=$packageConfDir"
 
     ${optionalString (editedCabalFile != null) ''
       echo "Replacing Cabal file with edited version ${newCabalFile}."
@@ -143,17 +141,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     for i in Setup.hs Setup.lhs ${defaultSetupHs}; do
       test -f $i && break
     done
-    ghc -package-db=$confDir $setupCompileFlags --make -o Setup -odir $TMPDIR -hidir $TMPDIR $i
+    ghc -package-db=$packageConfDir $setupCompileFlags --make -o Setup -odir $TMPDIR -hidir $TMPDIR $i
 
     echo configureFlags: $configureFlags
-    unset GHC_PACKAGE_PATH      # Cabal complains about this variable if it's set.
+    unset GHC_PACKAGE_PATH      # Cabal complains if this variable is set during configure.
     ./Setup configure $configureFlags 2>&1 | ${coreutils}/bin/tee "$NIX_BUILD_TOP/cabal-configure.log"
     if ${gnugrep}/bin/egrep -q '^Warning:.*depends on multiple versions' "$NIX_BUILD_TOP/cabal-configure.log"; then
       echo >&2 "*** abort because of serious configure-time warning from Cabal"
       exit 1
     fi
 
-    export GHC_PACKAGE_PATH="$confDir:"
+    export GHC_PACKAGE_PATH="$packageConfDir:"
 
     runHook postConfigure
   '';
@@ -162,29 +160,30 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     runHook preBuild
     ./Setup build
     ${optionalString (!noHaddock && hasActiveLibrary) ''
-      ./Setup haddock --html ${optionalString doHoogle "--hoogle"} ${optionalString (hasActiveLibrary && hyperlinkSource) "--hyperlink-source"}
+      ./Setup haddock --html \
+        ${optionalString doHoogle "--hoogle"} \
+        ${optionalString (hasActiveLibrary && hyperlinkSource) "--hyperlink-source"}
     ''}
     runHook postBuild
   '';
 
-  checkPhase = if installPhase != "" then installPhase else ''
+  checkPhase = ''
     runHook preCheck
     ./Setup test ${testTarget}
     runHook postCheck
   '';
 
-  installPhase = if installPhase != "" then installPhase else ''
+  installPhase = ''
     runHook preInstall
 
     ${if !hasActiveLibrary then "./Setup install" else ''
       ./Setup copy
-      local confDir=$out/nix-support/ghc-${ghc.version}-package.conf.d
-      local pkgConf=$confDir/${pname}-${version}.conf
-      mkdir -p $confDir
-      ./Setup register --gen-pkg-config=$pkgConf
-      local pkgId=$( ${gnused}/bin/sed -n -e 's|^id: ||p' $pkgConf )
-      mv $pkgConf $confDir/$pkgId.conf
-      ghc-pkg --package-db=$confDir recache
+      local packageConfDir="$out/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d"
+      local packageConfFile="$packageConfDir/${pname}-${version}.conf"
+      mkdir -p "$packageConfDir"
+      ./Setup register --gen-pkg-config=$packageConfFile
+      local pkgId=$( ${gnused}/bin/sed -n -e 's|^id: ||p' $packageConfFile )
+      mv $packageConfFile $packageConfDir/$pkgId.conf
     ''}
 
     ${optionalString (enableSharedExecutables && isExecutable && stdenv.isDarwin) ''
@@ -198,7 +197,27 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   passthru = passthru // { inherit pname version; };
 
-  meta = {
-    inherit homepage license description platforms hydraPlatforms maintainers broken;
-  };
+  meta = { inherit homepage license platforms hydraPlatforms; }
+         // optionalAttrs broken               { inherit broken; }
+         // optionalAttrs (description != "")  { inherit description; }
+         // optionalAttrs (maintainers != [])  { inherit maintainers; }
+         ;
+
 }
+// optionalAttrs (configureFlags != []) { inherit configureFlags; }
+// optionalAttrs (patches != [])        { inherit patches; }
+// optionalAttrs (patchPhase != "")     { inherit patchPhase; }
+// optionalAttrs (prePatch != "")       { inherit prePatch; }
+// optionalAttrs (postPatch != "")      { inherit postPatch; }
+// optionalAttrs (preConfigure != "")   { inherit preConfigure; }
+// optionalAttrs (postConfigure != "")  { inherit postConfigure; }
+// optionalAttrs (preBuild != "")       { inherit preBuild; }
+// optionalAttrs (postBuild != "")      { inherit postBuild; }
+// optionalAttrs (preInstall != "")     { inherit preInstall; }
+// optionalAttrs (postInstall != "")    { inherit postInstall; }
+// optionalAttrs (checkPhase != "")     { inherit checkPhase; }
+// optionalAttrs (preCheck != "")       { inherit preCheck; }
+// optionalAttrs (postCheck != "")      { inherit postCheck; }
+// optionalAttrs (preFixup != "")       { inherit preFixup; }
+// optionalAttrs (postFixup != "")      { inherit postFixup; }
+)
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix
index dbe6871d38b..4648050dd73 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/with-packages-wrapper.nix
@@ -31,11 +31,12 @@ let
   docDir        = "$out/share/doc/ghc/html";
   packageCfgDir = "${libDir}/package.conf.d";
   isHaskellPkg  = x: (x ? pname) && (x ? version);
+  paths         = stdenv.lib.filter isHaskellPkg (stdenv.lib.closePropagation packages);
 in
-if packages == [] then ghc else
-stdenv.lib.addPassthru (buildEnv {
+if paths == [] then ghc else
+buildEnv {
   inherit (ghc) name;
-  paths = stdenv.lib.filter isHaskellPkg (stdenv.lib.closePropagation packages) ++ [ghc];
+  paths = paths ++ [ghc];
   inherit ignoreCollisions;
   postBuild = ''
     . ${makeWrapper}/nix-support/setup-hook
@@ -72,15 +73,10 @@ stdenv.lib.addPassthru (buildEnv {
       makeWrapper ${ghc}/bin/$prg $out/bin/$prg --add-flags "${packageDBFlag}=${packageCfgDir}"
     done
 
-    rm $out/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d
-    mkdir $out/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d
-    for pkg in $paths; do
-      for file in "$pkg/nix-support/${ghc.name}-package.conf.d/"*.conf "$pkg/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d/"*.conf; do
-        ln -sf $file $out/lib/${ghc.name}/package.conf.d/
-      done
-    done
-
     $out/bin/ghc-pkg recache
     $out/bin/ghc-pkg check
   '';
-}) { inherit (ghc) version; }
+} // {
+  preferLocalBuild = true;
+  inherit (ghc) version meta;
+}