diff --git a/lib/trivial.nix b/lib/trivial.nix
index 7860b949939..abe5a16c67d 100644
--- a/lib/trivial.nix
+++ b/lib/trivial.nix
@@ -102,25 +102,7 @@ rec {
   min = x: y: if x < y then x else y;
   max = x: y: if x > y then x else y;
 
-  /* Reads a JSON file. It is useful to import pure data into other nix
-     expressions.
-
-     Example:
-
-       mkDerivation {
-         src = fetchgit (importJSON ./repo.json)
-         #...
-       }
-
-       where repo.json contains:
-
-       {
-         "url": "git://some-domain/some/repo",
-         "rev": "265de7283488964f44f0257a8b4a055ad8af984d",
-         "sha256": "0sb3h3067pzf3a7mlxn1hikpcjrsvycjcnj9hl9b1c3ykcgvps7h"
-       }
-
-  */
+  /* Reads a JSON file. */
   importJSON = path:
     builtins.fromJSON (builtins.readFile path);
 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/ao/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/ao/default.nix
index 2a2d280d6b2..2bba73fae1a 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/ao/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/ao/default.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     libpthreadstubs libXau libXdmcp libXrandr libXext libXinerama libXxf86vm
     libXcursor libXfixes
     ];
-  src = fetchgit (stdenv.lib.importJSON ./src.json);
+
+  src = fetchgit {
+    url = https://github.com/mkeeter/ao;
+    rev = "69fadb81543cc9031e4a7ec2036c7f2ab505a620";
+    sha256 = "1717k72vr0i5j7bvxmd6q16fpvkljnqfa1hr3i4yq8cjdsj69my7";
+  };
+
   cmakeFlags = "-G Ninja";
   buildPhase = "ninja";
   installPhase = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/ao/src.json b/pkgs/applications/graphics/ao/src.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 0fa10dc3b0f..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/ao/src.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "url": "https://github.com/mkeeter/ao",
-  "rev": "69fadb81543cc9031e4a7ec2036c7f2ab505a620",
-  "sha256": "1717k72vr0i5j7bvxmd6q16fpvkljnqfa1hr3i4yq8cjdsj69my7"
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/default.nix
index 14a87151e97..d0c98911387 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/default.nix
@@ -18,11 +18,14 @@ let
   python = python2;
   buildType = "release";
 
-  inherit (importJSON ./upstream-info.json) version extpackRev extpack main;
+  extpack = "3982657fd4853bcbc79b9162e618545a479b65aca08e9ced43a904aeeba3ffa5";
+  extpackRev = 112026;
+  main = "98073b1b2adee4e6553df73cb5bb6ea8ed7c3a41a475757716fd9400393bea40";
+  version = "5.1.10";
 
   # See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/672 for details
   extensionPack = requireFile rec {
-    name = "Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-${version}-${extpackRev}.vbox-extpack";
+    name = "Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-${version}-${toString extpackRev}.vbox-extpack";
     sha256 = extpack;
     message = ''
       In order to use the extension pack, you need to comply with the VirtualBox Personal Use
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/guest-additions/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/guest-additions/default.nix
index 5a97d2a8efd..fe362616bc5 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/guest-additions/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/guest-additions/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/${version}/VBoxGuestAdditions_${version}.iso";
-    sha256 = (lib.importJSON ../upstream-info.json).guest;
+    sha256 = "29fa0af66a3dd273b0c383c4adee31a52061d52f57d176b67f444698300b8c41";
   };
 
   KERN_DIR = "${kernel.dev}/lib/modules/*/build";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/upstream-info.json b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/upstream-info.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 1b85d2b8847..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/virtualbox/upstream-info.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "__NOTE": "Generated using update.py from the same directory.",
-  "extpack": "3982657fd4853bcbc79b9162e618545a479b65aca08e9ced43a904aeeba3ffa5",
-  "extpackRev": "112026",
-  "guest": "29fa0af66a3dd273b0c383c4adee31a52061d52f57d176b67f444698300b8c41",
-  "main": "98073b1b2adee4e6553df73cb5bb6ea8ed7c3a41a475757716fd9400393bea40",
-  "version": "5.1.10"
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/torch/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/torch/default.nix
index 1b1a100350c..d4c61890afb 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/torch/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/torch/default.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec{
     libjpeg zeromq3 ncurses openssl libpng readline pkgconfig
     zlib libX11 which
   ];
-  src = fetchgit (stdenv.lib.importJSON ./src.json);
+
+  src = fetchgit {
+    url = "https://github.com/torch/distro";
+    rev = "8b6a834f8c8755f6f5f84ef9d8da9cfc79c5ce1f";
+    sha256 = "120hnz82d7izinsmv5smyqww71dhpix23pm43s522dfcglpql8xy";
+    fetchSubmodules = true;
+  };
+
   buildPhase = ''
     cd ..
     export PREFIX=$out
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/torch/src.json b/pkgs/development/libraries/torch/src.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 37c7a20ce54..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/torch/src.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-{
-        "url": "https://github.com/torch/distro",
-        "rev": "8b6a834f8c8755f6f5f84ef9d8da9cfc79c5ce1f",
-        "sha256": "120hnz82d7izinsmv5smyqww71dhpix23pm43s522dfcglpql8xy",
-        "fetchSubmodules": true
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/tp_smapi/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/tp_smapi/default.nix
index 272b1368dec..cb5c539a94e 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/tp_smapi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/tp_smapi/default.nix
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, kernel, writeScript, coreutils, gnugrep, jq, curl
 }:
 
-let
-  data = stdenv.lib.importJSON ./update.json;
-in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "tp_smapi-${data.version}-${kernel.version}";
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "tp_smapi-${version}-${kernel.version}";
 
-  src = fetchurl  { inherit (data) url sha256; };
+  version = "0.42";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "https://github.com/evgeni/tp_smapi/archive/tp-smapi/${version}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "cd28bf6ee21b2c27b88d947cb0bfcb19648c7daa5d350115403dbcad05849381";
+  };
 
   hardeningDisable = [ "pic" ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/tp_smapi/update.json b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/tp_smapi/update.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 15e9801e7f2..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/tp_smapi/update.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "version": "0.42",
-  "url": "https://github.com/evgeni/tp_smapi/archive/tp-smapi/0.42.tar.gz",
-  "sha256": "cd28bf6ee21b2c27b88d947cb0bfcb19648c7daa5d350115403dbcad05849381"
-}