diff --git a/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix b/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
index 7053166d582..b120f7361dc 100644
--- a/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
+++ b/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
@@ -58,11 +58,14 @@ let
     ];
 
     modprobe = fullDepEntry ''
-      # Allow the kernel to find our wrapped modprobe (which searches in the
-      # right location in the Nix store for kernel modules).  We need this
-      # when the kernel (or some module) auto-loads a module.
-      # this should only happen at boot time, since we shouldn't
-      # use modules that don't match the running kernel.
+      # Allow the kernel to find our wrapped modprobe (which searches
+      # in the right location in the Nix store for kernel modules).
+      # We need this when the kernel (or some module) auto-loads a
+      # module.  This is only done at boot time to make sure that we
+      # don't use modules that don't match the running kernel.
+      # !!! We should check whether the new kernel modules are
+      # compatible with the running kernel so that we can upgrade
+      # kernel modules (e.g. the NVIDIA driver) in a running system.
       if [ "$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe)" = "/sbin/modprobe" ]; then
         echo ${config.system.sbin.modprobe}/sbin/modprobe > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe
       fi
diff --git a/modules/system/etc/etc.nix b/modules/system/etc/etc.nix
index 83da614bf74..0f0b23ed3fd 100644
--- a/modules/system/etc/etc.nix
+++ b/modules/system/etc/etc.nix
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ in
     activationScripts = {
       etc = pkgs.lib.fullDepEntry ''
         # Set up the statically computed bits of /etc.
-	echo -n "Setting up /etc files .. "
+	echo "setting up /etc..."
         staticEtc=/etc/static
         rm -f $staticEtc
         ln -s ${makeEtc}/etc $staticEtc
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@ in
                 ln -s $staticEtc/$i /etc/$i
             fi
         done
-	echo ".. done"
 
         # Remove dangling symlinks that point to /etc/static.  These are
         # configuration files that existed in a previous configuration but not