diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/builder-custom.sh b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/builder-custom.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index b4592e74c48e..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/builder-custom.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,127 +0,0 @@
-source $stdenv/setup
-
-configurePhase=configurePhase
-configurePhase() {
-    export INSTALL_PATH=$out
-    export INSTALL_MOD_PATH=$out
-	
-    eval "$preConfigure"
-
-    # Get rid of any "localversion" files installed by patches.
-    if test -z "$allowLocalVersion"; then
-        rm -f localversion*
-    fi
-
-    # Set our own localversion, if specified.
-    if test -n "$localVersion"; then
-        echo "$localVersion" > localversion-nix
-    fi
-
-
-    # Create the config file.
-    cp $config .config
-    chmod u+w .config
-
-    echo --extraConfig--;
-    echo "${extraConfig}";
-
-    echo "$extraConfig" | while read; do
-	optionName=$( echo "$REPLY" | sed -e 's/[^A-Z_]//g' );
-	echo --optionName--;
-	echo "$REPLY";
-	echo ${optionName};
-	if [ -n "${optionName}" ]; then 
-	    sed -e s/.'*'${optionName}.'*'/"$REPLY/" -i .config
-	fi;
-    done;
-
-    echo "$extraConfig" >> .config
-
-    #substituteInPlace scripts/kconfig/lxdialog/check-lxdialog.sh \
-    #    --replace /usr /no-such-path
-
-    # Necessary until NIXPKGS-38 is fixed:
-    echo "#! $SHELL" > scripts/kconfig/lxdialog/check-lxdialog.sh
-    chmod +x scripts/kconfig/lxdialog/check-lxdialog.sh
-    
-    make oldconfig \
-        $makeFlags "${makeFlagsArray[@]}"
-
-    echo --finalConfig--
-    cat .config
-}
-
-
-installPhase=installPhase
-installPhase() {
-
-    ensureDir $out
-
-    # Copy the bzImage and System.map.
-    cp System.map $out
-    if test "$arch" = um; then
-        ensureDir $out/bin
-        cp linux $out/bin
-    else
-        cp arch/$arch/boot/bzImage $out/vmlinuz
-    fi
-
-    # Install the modules in $out/lib/modules with matching paths
-    # in modules.dep (i.e., refererring to $out/lib/modules, not
-    # /lib/modules).  The depmod_opts= is to prevent the kernel
-    # from passing `-b PATH' to depmod.
-    export MODULE_DIR=$out/lib/modules/
-    make modules_install \
-        DEPMOD=$module_init_tools/sbin/depmod depmod_opts= \
-        $makeFlags "${makeFlagsArray[@]}" \
-        $installFlags "${installFlagsArray[@]}"
-
-    # Strip the kernel modules.
-    echo "Stripping kernel modules..."
-    find $out -name "*.ko" -print0 | xargs -0 strip -S
-
-    # move this to install later on
-    # largely copied from early FC3 kernel spec files
-    version=$(cd $out/lib/modules && ls -d *)
-
-    # remove symlinks and create directories
-    rm -f $out/lib/modules/$version/build
-    rm -f $out/lib/modules/$version/source
-    mkdir $out/lib/modules/$version/build
-
-    # copy config
-    cp .config $out/lib/modules/$version/build/.config
-
-    if test "$arch" != um; then
-        # copy all Makefiles and Kconfig files
-        ln -s $out/lib/modules/$version/build $out/lib/modules/$version/source
-        cp --parents `find  -type f -name "Makefile*" -o -name "Kconfig*"` $out/lib/modules/$version/build
-        cp Module.symvers $out/lib/modules/$version/build
-
-        # weed out unneeded stuff
-        rm -rf $out/lib/modules/$version/build/Documentation
-        rm -rf $out/lib/modules/$version/build/scripts
-        rm -rf $out/lib/modules/$version/build/include
-
-        # copy architecture dependent files
-        cp -a arch/$arch/scripts $out/lib/modules/$version/build || true
-        cp -a arch/$arch/*lds $out/lib/modules/$version/build || true
-        cp -a "arch/$arch/Makefile*.cpu" $out/lib/modules/$version/build/arch/$arch || true
-        cp -a --parents arch/$arch/kernel/asm-offsets.s $out/lib/modules/$version/build/arch/$arch/kernel || true
-
-        # copy scripts
-        rm -f scripts/*.o
-        rm -f scripts/*/*.o
-        cp -a scripts $out/lib/modules/$version/build
-
-        # copy include files
-        mkdir -p $out/lib/modules/$version/build/include
-        cd include
-        cp -a acpi config linux math-emu media net pcmcia rxrpc scsi sound video asm asm-generic $out/lib/modules/$version/build/include
-        cp -a `readlink asm` $out/lib/modules/$version/build/include
-        cd ..
-    fi
-}
-
-
-genericBuild
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/linux.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
similarity index 66%
rename from pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/linux.nix
rename to pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
index 788d54583426..11bac64ced7c 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/linux.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
@@ -1,17 +1,25 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl, mktemp, module_init_tools, lib
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl, mktemp, module_init_tools
 
-  # The base source file
-, src
+, # The kernel source tarball.
+  src
 
-  # A list of patches to apply to the kernel.  Each element of this list
+, # The kernel version.
+  version
+
+, # The kernel configuration.
+  config
+
+, # An attribute set whose attributes express the availability of
+  # certain features in this kernel.  E.g. `{iwlwifi = true;}'
+  # indicates a kernel that provides Intel wireless support.  Used in
+  # NixOS to implement kernel-specific behaviour.
+  features ? {}
+
+, # A list of patches to apply to the kernel.  Each element of this list
   # should be an attribute set {name, patch} where `name' is a
   # symbolic name and `patch' is the actual patch.  The patch may
   # optionally be compressed with gzip or bzip2.
-, kernelPatches ? []
-
-  # A list of commands to run on patched kernel before 
-  # mke oldconfig
-, preConfigure? ""
+  kernelPatches ? []
 
 , # Whether to build a User-Mode Linux kernel.
   userModeLinux ? false
@@ -19,34 +27,25 @@
 , # Whether to build a Xen kernel.
   xen ? false
 
-, # Allows you to set your own kernel version for output
-  version ? "unknown"
-
-  # To change how kernel thinks of itself
-, localVersion ? ""
-
-, # Your own kernel configuration file, if you don't want to use the
-  # default. 
-  kernelConfig ? null
+, # Allows you to set your own kernel version suffix (e.g.,
+  # "-my-kernel").
+  localVersion ? ""
 
 , # A list of additional statements to be appended to the
   # configuration file.
   extraConfig ? []
-
-, features ? []
 }:
 
 assert stdenv.system == "i686-linux" || stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux";
 
 let
 
-  lib = import ../../../lib;
+  lib = stdenv.lib;
 
 in
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = if userModeLinux then "user-mode-linux-${version}" else "linux-${version}";
-  builder = ./builder-custom.sh;
 
   passthru = {
     inherit version;
@@ -54,28 +53,23 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     features = lib.fold (x: y: (if x ? features then x.features else {}) // y) features kernelPatches;
   };
   
-  inherit src;
-  preConfigure = preConfigure;
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
 
+  inherit src config;
+  
   patches = map (p: p.patch) kernelPatches;
+  
   extraConfig =
     let addNewlines = map (s: "\n" + s + "\n");
         configFromPatches =
           map (p: if p ? extraConfig then p.extraConfig else "") kernelPatches;
     in lib.concatStrings (addNewlines (configFromPatches ++ extraConfig));
 
-  config =
-    if kernelConfig != null then kernelConfig else
-    if userModeLinux then ./config-2.6.23-uml else
-    if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then ./config-2.6.23-i686-smp else
-    if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then ./config-2.6.23-x86_64-smp else
-    abort "No kernel configuration for your platform!";
-  
   buildInputs = [perl mktemp];
   
   arch =
-    if userModeLinux then "um" else
     if xen then "xen" else
+    if userModeLinux then "um" else
     if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then "i386" else
     if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then "x86_64" else
     abort "Platform ${stdenv.system} is not supported.";
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/linux-2.6.28.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/linux-2.6.28.nix
index be110bea33e3..bb42312b6333 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/linux-2.6.28.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/linux-2.6.28.nix
@@ -1,95 +1,26 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl, mktemp, module_init_tools
+args @ {stdenv, fetchurl, userModeLinux ? false, ...}:
 
-  # A list of patches to apply to the kernel.  Each element of this list
-  # should be an attribute set {name, patch} where `name' is a
-  # symbolic name and `patch' is the actual patch.  The patch may
-  # optionally be compressed with gzip or bzip2.
-, kernelPatches ? []
+assert !userModeLinux;
 
-, # Whether to build a User-Mode Linux kernel.
-  userModeLinux ? false
+import ./generic.nix (
 
-, # Allows you to set your own kernel version suffix (e.g.,
-  # "-my-kernel").
-  localVersion ? ""
-
-, # Your own kernel configuration file, if you don't want to use the
-  # default. 
-  kernelConfig ? null
-
-, # A list of additional statements to be appended to the
-  # configuration file.
-  extraConfig ? []
-}:
-
-assert stdenv.system == "i686-linux" || stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux";
-
-let
-
-  lib = stdenv.lib;
-
-  version = "2.6.28";
-
-  baseFeatures = {
-    iwlwifi = true;
-  };
-
-in
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = if userModeLinux then "user-mode-linux-${version}" else "linux-${version}";
-
-  passthru = {
-    inherit version;
-    # Combine the `features' attribute sets of all the kernel patches.
-    features = lib.fold (x: y: (if x ? features then x.features else {}) // y) baseFeatures kernelPatches;
-  };
+  rec {
+    version = "2.6.28";
   
-  builder = ./builder.sh;
-  
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "mirror://kernel/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-${version}.tar.bz2";
-    sha256 = "1023nl992s4qmnwzbfz385azzpph58azi5rw4w0wwzzybv2rf3df";
-  };
-  
-  patches = map (p: p.patch) kernelPatches;
-  extraConfig =
-    let addNewlines = map (s: "\n" + s + "\n");
-        configFromPatches =
-          map (p: if p ? extraConfig then p.extraConfig else "") kernelPatches;
-    in lib.concatStrings (addNewlines (configFromPatches ++ extraConfig));
+    src = fetchurl {
+      url = "mirror://kernel/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-${version}.tar.bz2";
+      sha256 = "1023nl992s4qmnwzbfz385azzpph58azi5rw4w0wwzzybv2rf3df";
+    };
 
-  config =
-    if kernelConfig != null then kernelConfig else
-    if userModeLinux then ./config-2.6.28-uml else
-    if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then ./config-2.6.28-i686-smp else
-    if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then ./config-2.6.28-x86_64-smp else
-    abort "No kernel configuration for your platform!";
-  
-  buildInputs = [perl mktemp];
-  
-  arch =
-    if userModeLinux then "um" else
-    if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then "i386" else
-    if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then "x86_64" else
-    abort "Platform ${stdenv.system} is not supported.";
+    features = {
+      iwlwifi = true;
+    };
+ 
+    config =
+      if stdenv.system == "i686-linux" then ./config-2.6.28-i686-smp else
+      if stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux" then ./config-2.6.28-x86_64-smp else
+      abort "No kernel configuration for your platform!";
+  }
 
-  makeFlags = if userModeLinux then "ARCH=um SHELL=bash" else "";
-
-  inherit module_init_tools;
-
-  allowLocalVersion = false; # don't allow patches to set a suffix
-  inherit localVersion; # but do allow the user to set one.
-
-  meta = {
-    description =
-      (if userModeLinux then
-        "User-Mode Linux"
-       else
-        "The Linux kernel") +
-      (if kernelPatches == [] then "" else
-        " (with patches: "
-        + lib.concatStrings (lib.intersperse ", " (map (x: x.name) kernelPatches))
-        + ")");
-  };
-}
+  // args
+)