diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/custom-builder.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/custom-builder.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index c26deac40..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/custom-builder.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-
-
-Customizing the Generic Builder
-
-The operation of the generic builder can be modified in many
-places by setting certain variables. These hook
-variables are typically set to the name of some shell
-function defined by you. For instance, to perform some additional
-steps after make install you would set the
-postInstall variable:
-
-
-postInstall=myPostInstall
-
-myPostInstall() {
- mkdir $out/share/extra
- cp extrafiles/* $out/share/extra
-}
-
-
-
-
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/debug-build.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/debug-build.xml
index 508cb2c19..0c1f4e671 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/debug-build.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/debug-build.xml
@@ -6,13 +6,14 @@
Debugging Build Failures
-At the beginning of each phase, the set of all shell variables
-is written to the file env-vars at the top-level
-build directory. This is useful for debugging: it allows you to
-recreate the environment in which a build was performed. For
-instance, if a build fails, then assuming you used the
- flag, you can go to the output directory and
-switch to the environment of the builder:
+At the beginning of each phase of the build (such as unpacking,
+building or installing), the set of all shell variables is written to
+the file env-vars at the top-level build
+directory. This is useful for debugging: it allows you to recreate
+the environment in which a build was performed. For instance, if a
+build fails, then assuming you used the flag, you
+can go to the output directory and switch to the
+environment of the builder:
$ nix-build -K ./foo.nix
@@ -30,4 +31,4 @@ $ make
-
\ No newline at end of file
+
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
index b57c33f4e..90e2786fa 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
@@ -110,12 +110,12 @@ buildInputs = [ pkg pkg.headers ];
-The function mkDerivation in the standard
-environment is a wrapper around derivation that
-adds a default value for system and always uses
-Bash as the builder, to which the supplied builder is passed as a
-command-line argument. See .
+The function mkDerivation in the Nixpkgs
+standard environment is a wrapper around
+derivation that adds a default value for
+system and always uses Bash as the builder, to
+which the supplied builder is passed as a command-line argument. See
+the Nixpkgs manual for details.The builder is executed as follows:
@@ -208,4 +208,4 @@ command-line argument. See
-
\ No newline at end of file
+
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
index f8567a042..db7ff405d 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ genericBuild
generic builder is smart enough to figure out whether to unpack
the sources using gzip,
bzip2, etc. It can be customised in many ways;
- see .
+ see the Nixpkgs manual for details.
@@ -95,4 +95,4 @@ In fact, mkDerivation provides a default builder
that looks exactly like that, so it is actually possible to omit the
builder for Hello entirely.
-
\ No newline at end of file
+
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/simple-building-testing.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-building-testing.xml
index cc90409b5..e0dd98b7e 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/simple-building-testing.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-building-testing.xml
@@ -83,4 +83,6 @@ Just pass the option