diff --git a/corepkgs/local.mk b/corepkgs/local.mk
index 2c72d3a31..57f6d53a7 100644
--- a/corepkgs/local.mk
+++ b/corepkgs/local.mk
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 corepkgs_FILES = \
   unpack-channel.nix \
-  derivation.nix \
   fetchurl.nix
 
 $(foreach file,config.nix $(corepkgs_FILES),$(eval $(call install-data-in,$(d)/$(file),$(datadir)/nix/corepkgs)))
diff --git a/src/libexpr/local.mk b/src/libexpr/local.mk
index d84b150e0..687a8ccda 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/local.mk
+++ b/src/libexpr/local.mk
@@ -42,6 +42,6 @@ $(eval $(call install-file-in, $(d)/nix-expr.pc, $(prefix)/lib/pkgconfig, 0644))
 $(foreach i, $(wildcard src/libexpr/flake/*.hh), \
   $(eval $(call install-file-in, $(i), $(includedir)/nix/flake, 0644)))
 
-$(d)/primops.cc: $(d)/imported-drv-to-derivation.nix.gen.hh
+$(d)/primops.cc: $(d)/imported-drv-to-derivation.nix.gen.hh $(d)/primops/derivation.nix.gen.hh
 
 $(d)/flake/flake.cc: $(d)/flake/call-flake.nix.gen.hh
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.cc b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
index d0b0c57b2..7e8526ea1 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
@@ -3565,13 +3565,11 @@ void EvalState::createBaseEnv()
 
     /* Add a wrapper around the derivation primop that computes the
        `drvPath' and `outPath' attributes lazily. */
-    try {
-        string path = canonPath(settings.nixDataDir + "/nix/corepkgs/derivation.nix", true);
-        sDerivationNix = symbols.create(path);
-        evalFile(path, v);
-        addConstant("derivation", v);
-    } catch (SysError &) {
-    }
+    sDerivationNix = symbols.create("//builtin/derivation.nix");
+    eval(parse(
+        #include "primops/derivation.nix.gen.hh"
+        , foFile, sDerivationNix, "/", staticBaseEnv), v);
+    addConstant("derivation", v);
 
     /* Now that we've added all primops, sort the `builtins' set,
        because attribute lookups expect it to be sorted. */
diff --git a/corepkgs/derivation.nix b/src/libexpr/primops/derivation.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from corepkgs/derivation.nix
rename to src/libexpr/primops/derivation.nix