diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6aeeacdba..cc354f6f3 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -229,12 +229,6 @@ if test "$gc" = yes; then
 fi
 
 
-AC_ARG_ENABLE(init-state, AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-init-state],
-  [do not initialise DB etc. in `make install']),
-  init_state=$enableval, init_state=yes)
-#AM_CONDITIONAL(INIT_STATE, test "$init_state" = "yes")
-
-
 # documentation generation switch
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(doc-gen, AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-doc-gen],
   [disable documentation generation]),
diff --git a/release-common.nix b/release-common.nix
index e23967bdb..ace2a4f9b 100644
--- a/release-common.nix
+++ b/release-common.nix
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ rec {
   });
 
   configureFlags =
-    [ "--disable-init-state"
+    [
       "--enable-gc"
     ] ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isLinux [
       "--with-sandbox-shell=${sh}/bin/busybox"
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index 7ce84e445..beb8b5aa9 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -74,8 +74,6 @@ let
 
         makeFlags = "profiledir=$(out)/etc/profile.d";
 
-        preBuild = "unset NIX_INDENT_MAKE";
-
         installFlags = "sysconfdir=$(out)/etc";
 
         doInstallCheck = true;
@@ -103,8 +101,6 @@ let
         enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
         postUnpack = "sourceRoot=$sourceRoot/perl";
-
-        preBuild = "unset NIX_INDENT_MAKE";
       });
 
 
@@ -189,10 +185,6 @@ let
 
         buildInputs = buildDeps;
 
-        configureFlags = ''
-          --disable-init-state
-        '';
-
         dontInstall = false;
 
         doInstallCheck = true;
diff --git a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
index 34f1cba9d..21a0756a2 100755
--- a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
+++ b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
@@ -419,7 +419,6 @@ void mainWrapped(int argc, char * * argv)
                 R"s([ -n "$PS1" ] && PS1='\n\[\033[1;32m\][nix-shell:\w]\$\[\033[0m\] '; )s"
                 "if [ \"$(type -t runHook)\" = function ]; then runHook shellHook; fi; "
                 "unset NIX_ENFORCE_PURITY; "
-                "unset NIX_INDENT_MAKE; "
                 "shopt -u nullglob; "
                 "unset TZ; %4%"
                 "%5%",