diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/amqp/rabbitmq.nix b/nixos/modules/services/amqp/rabbitmq.nix
index 697732426cc..35fb49f709a 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/amqp/rabbitmq.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/amqp/rabbitmq.nix
@@ -165,7 +165,10 @@ in {
       after = [ "network.target" "epmd.socket" ];
       wants = [ "network.target" "epmd.socket" ];
 
-      path = [ cfg.package pkgs.procps ];
+      path = [
+        cfg.package
+        pkgs.coreutils # mkdir/chown/chmod for preStart
+      ];
 
       environment = {
         RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE = "${cfg.dataDir}/mnesia";
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/amqp/rabbitmq-server/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/amqp/rabbitmq-server/default.nix
index f1838f2a2cb..868fd3a6d56 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/amqp/rabbitmq-server/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/amqp/rabbitmq-server/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, erlang, elixir, python, libxml2, libxslt, xmlto
 , docbook_xml_dtd_45, docbook_xsl, zip, unzip, rsync, getconf, socat
+, procps, coreutils, gnused, systemd, glibcLocales
 , AppKit, Carbon, Cocoa
 }:
 
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   buildInputs =
-    [ erlang elixir python libxml2 libxslt xmlto docbook_xml_dtd_45 docbook_xsl zip unzip rsync ]
+    [ erlang elixir python libxml2 libxslt xmlto docbook_xml_dtd_45 docbook_xsl zip unzip rsync glibcLocales ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ AppKit Carbon Cocoa ];
 
   outputs = [ "out" "man" "doc" ];
@@ -23,15 +24,31 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   installFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" "RMQ_ERLAPP_DIR=$(out)" ];
   installTargets = [ "install" "install-man" ];
 
-  runtimePath = stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [getconf erlang socat];
-  postInstall = ''
-    echo 'PATH=${runtimePath}:''${PATH:+:}$PATH' >> $out/sbin/rabbitmq-env
+  preBuild = ''
+    export LANG=C.UTF-8 # fix elixir locale warning
+  '';
 
-    # we know exactly where rabbitmq is gonna be,
-    # so we patch that into the env-script
-    substituteInPlace $out/sbin/rabbitmq-env \
-      --replace 'RABBITMQ_SCRIPTS_DIR=`dirname $SCRIPT_PATH`' \
-                "RABBITMQ_SCRIPTS_DIR=$out/sbin"
+  runtimePath = stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [
+    erlang
+    getconf # for getting memory limits
+    socat systemd procps # for systemd unit activation check
+    gnused coreutils # used by helper scripts
+  ];
+  postInstall = ''
+    # rabbitmq-env calls to sed/coreutils, so provide everything early
+    sed -i $out/sbin/rabbitmq-env -e '2s|^|PATH=${runtimePath}\''${PATH:+:}\$PATH/\n|'
+
+    # rabbitmq-server script uses `dirname` to get hold of a
+    # rabbitmq-env, so let's provide this file directly. After that
+    # point everything is OK - the PATH above will kick in
+    substituteInPlace $out/sbin/rabbitmq-server \
+      --replace '`dirname $0`/rabbitmq-env' \
+                "$out/sbin/rabbitmq-env"
+
+    # We know exactly where rabbitmq is gonna be, so we patch that into the env-script.
+    # By doing it early we make sure that auto-detection for this will
+    # never be executed (somewhere below in the script).
+    sed -i $out/sbin/rabbitmq-env -e "2s|^|RABBITMQ_SCRIPTS_DIR=$out/sbin\n|"
 
     # there’s a few stray files that belong into share
     mkdir -p $doc/share/doc/rabbitmq-server