diff --git a/etc/default.nix b/etc/default.nix
index c03b7819a76..731558b67f2 100644
--- a/etc/default.nix
+++ b/etc/default.nix
@@ -173,15 +173,6 @@ let
     '';
     target = "ssmtp/ssmtp.conf";
   }
-    
-  # Configuration file for fontconfig used to locate
-  # (X11) client-rendered fonts.
-  ++ optional config.fonts.enableFontConfig {
-    source = pkgs.makeFontsConf {
-      fontDirectories = import ../system/fonts.nix {inherit pkgs config;};
-    };
-    target = "fonts/fonts.conf";
-  }
 
   # LDAP configuration.
   ++ optional config.users.ldap.enable {
diff --git a/system/fontdir.nix b/system/fontdir.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 85227930988..00000000000
--- a/system/fontdir.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-args : with args; with builderDefs;
-  let localDefs = builderDefs.passthru.function rec {
-    src = "";/* put a fetchurl here */
-
-    buildInputs = [mkfontdir mkfontscale ttmkfdir];
-    configureFlags = [];
-    fontDirs = import ./fonts.nix {inherit pkgs config;};
-    installPhase = FullDepEntry ("
-    list='';
-    for i in ${toString fontDirs} ; do
-      if [ -d \$i/ ]; then
-        list=\"\$list \$i\";
-      fi;
-    done
-    list=\$(find \$list -name fonts.dir);
-    fontDirs='';
-    for i in \$list ; do
-      fontDirs=\"\$fontDirs \$(dirname \$i)\";
-    done;
-    mkdir -p \$out/share/X11-fonts/; 
-    for i in \$(find \$fontDirs -type f -o -type l); do
-      j=\${i##*/}
-      if ! test -e \$out/share/X11-fonts/\${j}; then
-        ln -s \$i \$out/share/X11-fonts/\${j};
-      fi;
-    done;
-    cd \$out/share/X11-fonts/
-    rm fonts.dir
-    rm fonts.scale
-    rm fonts.alias
-    mkfontdir
-    mkfontscale
-    mv fonts.scale fonts.scale.old
-    mv fonts.dir fonts.dir.old
-    ttmkfdir
-    cat fonts.scale.old >> fonts.scale
-    cat fonts.dir.old >> fonts.dir
-    rm fonts.dir.old
-    rm fonts.scale.old
-    cat \$( find ${fontalias}/ -name fonts.alias) >fonts.alias
-  ") ["minInit" "addInputs"];
-  };
-  in with localDefs;
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "X11-fonts";
-  builder = writeScript (name + "-builder")
-    (textClosure localDefs 
-      [installPhase doForceShare doPropagate]);
-  meta = {
-    description = "
-    Directory to contain all X11 fonts requested.
-";
-  };
-}
diff --git a/system/fonts.nix b/system/fonts.nix
index f0be6dd1de0..6afe44fe99a 100644
--- a/system/fonts.nix
+++ b/system/fonts.nix
@@ -1,27 +1,178 @@
-{pkgs, config}:
+{pkgs, config, ...}:
 
-[
-  # - the user's .fonts directory
-  "~/.fonts"
-  # - the user's current profile
-  "~/.nix-profile/lib/X11/fonts"
-  "~/.nix-profile/share/fonts"
-  # - the default profile
-  "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/lib/X11/fonts"
-  "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/share/fonts"
-  # - a few statically built locations
-  pkgs.xorg.fontbhttf
-  pkgs.xorg.fontbhlucidatypewriter100dpi
-  pkgs.xorg.fontbhlucidatypewriter75dpi
-  pkgs.ttf_bitstream_vera
-  pkgs.freefont_ttf
-  pkgs.xorg.fontbh100dpi
-  pkgs.xorg.fontmiscmisc
-  pkgs.xorg.fontcursormisc
-]
+###### interface
+let
+  inherit (pkgs.lib) mkOption;
 
-++ pkgs.lib.optional config.fonts.enableCoreFonts pkgs.corefonts
+  options = {
 
-++ pkgs.lib.optional config.fonts.enableGhostscriptFonts "${pkgs.ghostscript}/share/ghostscript/fonts"
+    fonts = {
 
-++ config.fonts.extraFonts
+      enableFontConfig = mkOption { # !!! should be enableFontconfig
+        default = true;
+        description = "
+          If enabled, a Fontconfig configuration file will be built
+          pointing to a set of default fonts.  If you don't care about
+          running X11 applications or any other program that uses
+          Fontconfig, you can turn this option off and prevent a
+          dependency on all those fonts.
+        ";
+      };
+
+      # should be move elsewhere.
+      enableGhostscriptFonts = mkOption {
+        default = false;
+        description = "
+          Whether to add the fonts provided by Ghostscript (such as
+          various URW fonts and the ``Base-14'' Postscript fonts) to the
+          list of system fonts, making them available to X11
+          applications.
+        ";
+      };
+
+      enableFontDir = mkOption {
+        default = false;
+        description = "
+          Whether to create a directory with links to all fonts in share - 
+          so user can configure vncserver script one time (I mean per-user 
+          vncserver, so global service is not a good solution).
+        ";
+      };
+
+      # TODO: find another name for it.
+      fonts = mkOption {
+        default = [
+          # - the user's .fonts directory
+          "~/.fonts"
+          # - the user's current profile
+          "~/.nix-profile/lib/X11/fonts"
+          "~/.nix-profile/share/fonts"
+          # - the default profile
+          "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/lib/X11/fonts"
+          "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/share/fonts"
+        ];
+        description = "
+          List of primary font paths.
+        ";
+        apply = list: list ++ [
+          # - a few statically built locations
+          pkgs.xorg.fontbhttf
+          pkgs.xorg.fontbhlucidatypewriter100dpi
+          pkgs.xorg.fontbhlucidatypewriter75dpi
+          pkgs.ttf_bitstream_vera
+          pkgs.freefont_ttf
+          pkgs.xorg.fontbh100dpi
+          pkgs.xorg.fontmiscmisc
+          pkgs.xorg.fontcursormisc
+        ]
+        ++ pkgs.lib.optional config.fonts.enableCoreFonts pkgs.corefonts
+        ++ pkgs.lib.optional config.fonts.enableGhostscriptFonts "${pkgs.ghostscript}/share/ghostscript/fonts"
+        ++ config.fonts.extraFonts;
+      };
+
+      extraFonts = mkOption {
+        default = [];
+        description = "
+          List of additional fonts.
+        ";
+      };
+
+      enableCoreFonts = mkOption {
+        default = true;
+        description = "
+          Whether to include MS Core Fonts (redistributable, but only verbatim).
+        ";
+      };
+
+    };
+
+  };
+in
+
+###### implementation
+let
+  inherit (pkgs) builderDefs ttmkfdir;
+  inherit (pkgs.xorg) mkfontdir mkfontscale fontalias;
+
+  fontDirs = config.fonts.fonts;
+
+
+  localDefs = with builderDefs; builderDefs.passthru.function rec {
+    src = "";/* put a fetchurl here */
+
+    buildInputs = [mkfontdir mkfontscale ttmkfdir];
+    configureFlags = [];
+    inherit fontDirs;
+    installPhase = FullDepEntry ("
+    list='';
+    for i in ${toString fontDirs} ; do
+      if [ -d \$i/ ]; then
+        list=\"\$list \$i\";
+      fi;
+    done
+    list=\$(find \$list -name fonts.dir);
+    fontDirs='';
+    for i in \$list ; do
+      fontDirs=\"\$fontDirs \$(dirname \$i)\";
+    done;
+    mkdir -p \$out/share/X11-fonts/; 
+    for i in \$(find \$fontDirs -type f -o -type l); do
+      j=\${i##*/}
+      if ! test -e \$out/share/X11-fonts/\${j}; then
+        ln -s \$i \$out/share/X11-fonts/\${j};
+      fi;
+    done;
+    cd \$out/share/X11-fonts/
+    rm fonts.dir
+    rm fonts.scale
+    rm fonts.alias
+    mkfontdir
+    mkfontscale
+    mv fonts.scale fonts.scale.old
+    mv fonts.dir fonts.dir.old
+    ttmkfdir
+    cat fonts.scale.old >> fonts.scale
+    cat fonts.dir.old >> fonts.dir
+    rm fonts.dir.old
+    rm fonts.scale.old
+    cat \$( find ${fontalias}/ -name fonts.alias) >fonts.alias
+  ") ["minInit" "addInputs"];
+  };
+
+  x11Fonts = with localDefs; stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+    name = "X11-fonts";
+    builder = writeScript (name + "-builder")
+      (textClosure localDefs 
+        [installPhase doForceShare doPropagate]);
+    meta = {
+      description = "
+        Directory to contain all X11 fonts requested.
+      ";
+    };
+  };
+
+  inherit (pkgs.lib) mkIf;
+in
+
+{
+  require = [
+    options
+  ];
+
+  system = {
+    build = {
+      inherit x11Fonts;
+    };
+  };
+
+  environment = {
+    # Configuration file for fontconfig used to locate
+    # (X11) client-rendered fonts.
+    etc = mkIf config.fonts.enableFontConfig [{
+      source = pkgs.makeFontsConf {
+        fontDirectories = config.fonts.fonts;
+      };
+      target = "fonts/fonts.conf";
+    }];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/system/options.nix b/system/options.nix
index f9be98fdcc1..ad97565bb97 100644
--- a/system/options.nix
+++ b/system/options.nix
@@ -2271,56 +2271,6 @@ in
   };
 
 
-  fonts = {
-
-    enableFontConfig = mkOption { # !!! should be enableFontconfig
-      default = true;
-      description = "
-        If enabled, a Fontconfig configuration file will be built
-        pointing to a set of default fonts.  If you don't care about
-        running X11 applications or any other program that uses
-        Fontconfig, you can turn this option off and prevent a
-        dependency on all those fonts.
-      ";
-    };
-
-    enableGhostscriptFonts = mkOption {
-      default = false;
-      description = "
-        Whether to add the fonts provided by Ghostscript (such as
-        various URW fonts and the ``Base-14'' Postscript fonts) to the
-        list of system fonts, making them available to X11
-        applications.
-      ";
-    };
-
-    enableFontDir = mkOption {
-      default = false;
-      description = "
-        Whether to create a directory with links to all fonts in share - 
-        so user can configure vncserver script one time (I mean per-user 
-        vncserver, so global service is not a good solution).
-      ";
-    };
-
-    extraFonts = mkOption {
-      default = [];
-      merge = backwardPkgsFunListMerge;
-      description = "
-        Function, returning list of additional fonts.
-      ";
-    };
-
-    enableCoreFonts = mkOption {
-      default = true;
-      description = "
-        Whether to include MS Core Fonts (redistributable, but only verbatim).
-      ";
-    };
-
-  };
-
-
   i18n = {
 
     defaultLocale = mkOption {
@@ -2475,6 +2425,9 @@ in
     (import ../upstart-jobs/cron.nix)
     (import ../upstart-jobs/cron/locate.nix)
 
+    # fonts
+    (import ../system/fonts.nix)
+
     # sound
     (import ../upstart-jobs/alsa.nix)
   ];
diff --git a/system/system.nix b/system/system.nix
index 0ef870b8806..0eb86cc857d 100644
--- a/system/system.nix
+++ b/system/system.nix
@@ -73,11 +73,7 @@ rec {
 
   
   # Font aggregation
-  fontDir = import ./fontdir.nix {
-    inherit config pkgs;
-    inherit (pkgs) builderDefs ttmkfdir;
-    inherit (pkgs.xorg) mkfontdir mkfontscale fontalias;
-  };
+  fontDir = config.system.build.x11Fonts;
 
   
   # The wrapper setuid programs (since we can't have setuid programs
diff --git a/upstart-jobs/xserver.nix b/upstart-jobs/xserver.nix
index dd8d6bed479..231bcd943ad 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/xserver.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/xserver.nix
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 let
   kernelPackages = config.boot.kernelPackages;
   # List of font directories.
-  fontDirectories = import ../system/fonts.nix {inherit pkgs config;};
+  fontDirectories = config.fonts.fonts;
 
   inherit (pkgs.lib) mkOption;
 
@@ -759,6 +759,9 @@ mkIf cfg.enable {
     # environment.etc
     (import ../etc/default.nix)
 
+    # fonts.fonts
+    (import ../system/fonts.nix)
+
     # boot.extraModulePackages
     # security.extraSetuidPrograms
     # environment.extraPackages