diff --git a/doc/manual/generate-manpage.nix b/doc/manual/generate-manpage.nix
index 5c6a2a48a..4abf7c302 100644
--- a/doc/manual/generate-manpage.nix
+++ b/doc/manual/generate-manpage.nix
@@ -1,26 +1,134 @@
+with builtins;
+
 let
-  inherit (builtins)
-    attrNames
-    attrValues
-    fromJSON
-    listToAttrs
-    mapAttrs
-    concatStringsSep
-    concatMap
-    length
-    lessThan
-    replaceStrings
-    sort
-    ;
-  inherit (import ./utils.nix)
-    concatStrings
-    optionalString
-    filterAttrs
-    trim
-    squash
-    unique
-    showSettings
-    ;
+  splitLines = s: filter (x: !isList x) (split "\n" s);
+
+  concatStrings = concatStringsSep "";
+
+  replaceStringsRec =
+    from: to: string:
+    # recursively replace occurrences of `from` with `to` within `string`
+    # example:
+    #     replaceStringRec "--" "-" "hello-----world"
+    #     => "hello-world"
+    let
+      replaced = replaceStrings [ from ] [ to ] string;
+    in
+    if replaced == string then string else replaceStringsRec from to replaced;
+
+  squash = replaceStringsRec "\n\n\n" "\n\n";
+
+  trim =
+    string:
+    # trim trailing spaces and squash non-leading spaces
+    let
+      trimLine =
+        line:
+        let
+          # separate leading spaces from the rest
+          parts = split "(^ *)" line;
+          spaces = head (elemAt parts 1);
+          rest = elemAt parts 2;
+          # drop trailing spaces
+          body = head (split " *$" rest);
+        in
+        spaces + replaceStringsRec "  " " " body;
+    in
+    concatStringsSep "\n" (map trimLine (splitLines string));
+
+  # FIXME: O(n^2)
+  unique = foldl' (acc: e: if elem e acc then acc else acc ++ [ e ]) [ ];
+
+  nameValuePair = name: value: { inherit name value; };
+
+  filterAttrs =
+    pred: set:
+    listToAttrs (
+      concatMap (
+        name:
+        let
+          v = set.${name};
+        in
+        if pred name v then [ (nameValuePair name v) ] else [ ]
+      ) (attrNames set)
+    );
+
+  optionalString = cond: string: if cond then string else "";
+
+  showSetting =
+    { inlineHTML }:
+    name:
+    {
+      description,
+      documentDefault,
+      defaultValue,
+      aliases,
+      value,
+      experimentalFeature,
+    }:
+    let
+      result = squash ''
+        - ${
+          if inlineHTML then ''<span id="conf-${name}">[`${name}`](#conf-${name})</span>'' else ''`${name}`''
+        }
+
+        ${indent "  " body}
+      '';
+
+      experimentalFeatureNote = optionalString (experimentalFeature != null) ''
+        > **Warning**
+        > This setting is part of an
+        > [experimental feature](@docroot@/contributing/experimental-features.md).
+
+        To change this setting, you need to make sure the corresponding experimental feature,
+        [`${experimentalFeature}`](@docroot@/contributing/experimental-features.md#xp-feature-${experimentalFeature}),
+        is enabled.
+        For example, include the following in [`nix.conf`](#):
+
+        ```
+        extra-experimental-features = ${experimentalFeature}
+        ${name} = ...
+        ```
+      '';
+
+      # separate body to cleanly handle indentation
+      body = ''
+        ${description}
+
+        ${experimentalFeatureNote}
+
+        **Default:** ${showDefault documentDefault defaultValue}
+
+        ${showAliases aliases}
+      '';
+
+      showDefault =
+        documentDefault: defaultValue:
+        if documentDefault then
+          # a StringMap value type is specified as a string, but
+          # this shows the value type. The empty stringmap is `null` in
+          # JSON, but that converts to `{ }` here.
+          if defaultValue == "" || defaultValue == [ ] || isAttrs defaultValue then
+            "*empty*"
+          else if isBool defaultValue then
+            if defaultValue then "`true`" else "`false`"
+          else
+            "`${toString defaultValue}`"
+        else
+          "*machine-specific*";
+
+      showAliases =
+        aliases:
+        optionalString (aliases != [ ])
+          "**Deprecated alias:** ${(concatStringsSep ", " (map (s: "`${s}`") aliases))}";
+    in
+    result;
+
+  indent =
+    prefix: s: concatStringsSep "\n" (map (x: if x == "" then x else "${prefix}${x}") (splitLines s));
+
+  showSettings =
+    args: settingsInfo: concatStrings (attrValues (mapAttrs (showSetting args) settingsInfo));
 in
 
 inlineHTML: commandDump:
diff --git a/doc/manual/utils.nix b/doc/manual/utils.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 17e6378eb..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/utils.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,139 +0,0 @@
-with builtins;
-
-rec {
-  splitLines = s: filter (x: !isList x) (split "\n" s);
-
-  concatStrings = concatStringsSep "";
-
-  attrsToList =
-    a:
-    map (name: {
-      inherit name;
-      value = a.${name};
-    }) (builtins.attrNames a);
-
-  replaceStringsRec =
-    from: to: string:
-    # recursively replace occurrences of `from` with `to` within `string`
-    # example:
-    #     replaceStringRec "--" "-" "hello-----world"
-    #     => "hello-world"
-    let
-      replaced = replaceStrings [ from ] [ to ] string;
-    in
-    if replaced == string then string else replaceStringsRec from to replaced;
-
-  squash = replaceStringsRec "\n\n\n" "\n\n";
-
-  trim =
-    string:
-    # trim trailing spaces and squash non-leading spaces
-    let
-      trimLine =
-        line:
-        let
-          # separate leading spaces from the rest
-          parts = split "(^ *)" line;
-          spaces = head (elemAt parts 1);
-          rest = elemAt parts 2;
-          # drop trailing spaces
-          body = head (split " *$" rest);
-        in
-        spaces + replaceStringsRec "  " " " body;
-    in
-    concatStringsSep "\n" (map trimLine (splitLines string));
-
-  # FIXME: O(n^2)
-  unique = foldl' (acc: e: if elem e acc then acc else acc ++ [ e ]) [ ];
-
-  nameValuePair = name: value: { inherit name value; };
-
-  filterAttrs =
-    pred: set:
-    listToAttrs (
-      concatMap (
-        name:
-        let
-          v = set.${name};
-        in
-        if pred name v then [ (nameValuePair name v) ] else [ ]
-      ) (attrNames set)
-    );
-
-  optionalString = cond: string: if cond then string else "";
-
-  showSetting =
-    { inlineHTML }:
-    name:
-    {
-      description,
-      documentDefault,
-      defaultValue,
-      aliases,
-      value,
-      experimentalFeature,
-    }:
-    let
-      result = squash ''
-        - ${
-          if inlineHTML then ''<span id="conf-${name}">[`${name}`](#conf-${name})</span>'' else ''`${name}`''
-        }
-
-        ${indent "  " body}
-      '';
-
-      experimentalFeatureNote = optionalString (experimentalFeature != null) ''
-        > **Warning**
-        > This setting is part of an
-        > [experimental feature](@docroot@/contributing/experimental-features.md).
-
-        To change this setting, you need to make sure the corresponding experimental feature,
-        [`${experimentalFeature}`](@docroot@/contributing/experimental-features.md#xp-feature-${experimentalFeature}),
-        is enabled.
-        For example, include the following in [`nix.conf`](#):
-
-        ```
-        extra-experimental-features = ${experimentalFeature}
-        ${name} = ...
-        ```
-      '';
-
-      # separate body to cleanly handle indentation
-      body = ''
-        ${description}
-
-        ${experimentalFeatureNote}
-
-        **Default:** ${showDefault documentDefault defaultValue}
-
-        ${showAliases aliases}
-      '';
-
-      showDefault =
-        documentDefault: defaultValue:
-        if documentDefault then
-          # a StringMap value type is specified as a string, but
-          # this shows the value type. The empty stringmap is `null` in
-          # JSON, but that converts to `{ }` here.
-          if defaultValue == "" || defaultValue == [ ] || isAttrs defaultValue then
-            "*empty*"
-          else if isBool defaultValue then
-            if defaultValue then "`true`" else "`false`"
-          else
-            "`${toString defaultValue}`"
-        else
-          "*machine-specific*";
-
-      showAliases =
-        aliases:
-        optionalString (aliases != [ ])
-          "**Deprecated alias:** ${(concatStringsSep ", " (map (s: "`${s}`") aliases))}";
-    in
-    result;
-
-  indent =
-    prefix: s: concatStringsSep "\n" (map (x: if x == "" then x else "${prefix}${x}") (splitLines s));
-
-  showSettings =
-    args: settingsInfo: concatStrings (attrValues (mapAttrs (showSetting args) settingsInfo));
-}
diff --git a/lix/nix/main.cc b/lix/nix/main.cc
index 6047a8e17..b94e8151c 100644
--- a/lix/nix/main.cc
+++ b/lix/nix/main.cc
@@ -261,14 +261,6 @@ static void showHelp(std::vector<std::string> subcommand, NixArgs & toplevel)
         #include "generate-manpage.nix.gen.hh"
         , CanonPath::root), *vGenerateManpage);
 
-    auto vUtils = state.mem.allocValue();
-    state.cacheFile(
-        CanonPath("/utils.nix"), CanonPath("/utils.nix"),
-        &state.parseExprFromString(
-            #include "utils.nix.gen.hh"
-            , CanonPath::root),
-        *vUtils);
-
     auto vDump = state.mem.allocValue();
     vDump->mkString(toplevel.dumpCli());
 
diff --git a/lix/nix/meson.build b/lix/nix/meson.build
index 37d411cac..3172b2d4c 100644
--- a/lix/nix/meson.build
+++ b/lix/nix/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 nix_generated_headers = [
   gen_header.process(meson.project_source_root() / 'doc/manual/generate-manpage.nix'),
-  gen_header.process(meson.project_source_root() / 'doc/manual/utils.nix'),
   gen_header.process('get-env.sh'),
 ]