diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/gcc-wrapper/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/gcc-wrapper/default.nix
index a87e39b5637..5d15796d4be 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/gcc-wrapper/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/gcc-wrapper/default.nix
@@ -34,9 +34,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   langFortran = if nativeTools then false else gcc ? langFortran;
   shell = if shell == "" then stdenv.shell else shell;
   
-  meta = if gcc != null && (gcc ? meta) then removeAttrs gcc.meta ["priority"] else
-    { description = "System C compiler wrapper";
-    };
+  meta =
+    if gcc != null && (gcc ? meta) then
+      removeAttrs gcc.meta ["priority"] //
+      { description = gcc.meta.description + " (wrapper script)";
+      }
+    else
+      { description = "System C compiler (wrapper script)";
+      };
 
   # The dynamic linker has different names on different Linux platforms.
   dynamicLinker =
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
index 77e1c20430b..cf3bbe7e5f6 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ let {
       }
 
       // {
+
+        meta = {
+          description = "The default build environment for Unix packages in Nixpkgs";
+        };
     
         # Add a utility function to produce derivations that use this
         # stdenv and its shell.