diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index 9b591229a..65b035957 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -12,52 +12,64 @@ let
     builtins.readFile ./.version
     + (if officialRelease then "" else "pre${toString nix.revCount}_${nix.shortRev}");
 
+  # Create a "vendor" directory that contains the crates listed in
+  # Cargo.lock. This allows Nix to be built without network access.
+  vendoredCrates' =
+    let
+      lockFile = builtins.fromTOML (builtins.readFile nix-rust/Cargo.lock);
+
+      files = map (pkg: import <nix/fetchurl.nix> {
+        url = "https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/${pkg.name}/${pkg.version}/download";
+        sha256 = lockFile.metadata."checksum ${pkg.name} ${pkg.version} (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)";
+      }) (builtins.filter (pkg: pkg.source or "" == "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index") lockFile.package);
+
+    in pkgs.runCommand "cargo-vendor-dir" {}
+      ''
+        mkdir -p $out/vendor
+
+        cat > $out/vendor/config <<EOF
+        [source.crates-io]
+        replace-with = "vendored-sources"
+
+        [source.vendored-sources]
+        directory = "vendor"
+        EOF
+
+        ${toString (builtins.map (file: ''
+          mkdir $out/vendor/tmp
+          tar xvf ${file} -C $out/vendor/tmp
+          dir=$(echo $out/vendor/tmp/*)
+
+          # Add just enough metadata to keep Cargo happy.
+          printf '{"files":{},"package":"${file.outputHash}"}' > "$dir/.cargo-checksum.json"
+
+          # Clean up some cruft from the winapi crates. FIXME: find
+          # a way to remove winapi* from our dependencies.
+          if [[ $dir =~ /winapi ]]; then
+            find $dir -name "*.a" -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f --
+          fi
+
+          mv "$dir" $out/vendor/
+
+          rm -rf $out/vendor/tmp
+        '') files)}
+      '';
+
   jobs = rec {
 
-    # Create a "vendor" directory that contains the crates listed in
-    # Cargo.lock. This allows Nix to be built without network access.
     vendoredCrates =
-      let
-        lockFile = builtins.fromTOML (builtins.readFile nix-rust/Cargo.lock);
-
-        files = map (pkg: import <nix/fetchurl.nix> {
-          url = "https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/${pkg.name}/${pkg.version}/download";
-          sha256 = lockFile.metadata."checksum ${pkg.name} ${pkg.version} (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)";
-        }) (builtins.filter (pkg: pkg.source or "" == "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index") lockFile.package);
-
-      in pkgs.runCommand "cargo-vendor-dir" {}
+      with pkgs;
+      runCommand "vendored-crates" {}
         ''
-          mkdir -p $out/vendor
-
-          cat > $out/vendor/config <<EOF
-          [source.crates-io]
-          replace-with = "vendored-sources"
-
-          [source.vendored-sources]
-          directory = "vendor"
-          EOF
-
-          ${toString (builtins.map (file: ''
-            mkdir $out/vendor/tmp
-            tar xvf ${file} -C $out/vendor/tmp
-            dir=$(echo $out/vendor/tmp/*)
-
-            # Add just enough metadata to keep Cargo happy.
-            printf '{"files":{},"package":"${file.outputHash}"}' > "$dir/.cargo-checksum.json"
-
-            # Clean up some cruft from the winapi crates. FIXME: find
-            # a way to remove winapi* from our dependencies.
-            if [[ $dir =~ /winapi ]]; then
-              find $dir -name "*.a" -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f --
-            fi
-
-            mv "$dir" $out/vendor/
-
-            rm -rf $out/vendor/tmp
-          '') files)}
+          mkdir -p $out/nix-support
+          name=nix-vendored-crates-${version}
+          fn=$out/$name.tar.xz
+            tar cvfJ $fn -C ${vendoredCrates'} vendor \
+              --owner=0 --group=0 --mode=u+rw,uga+r \
+              --transform "s,vendor,$name,"
+            echo "file crates-tarball $fn" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
         '';
 
-
     build = pkgs.lib.genAttrs systems (system:
 
       let pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; }; in
@@ -89,7 +101,7 @@ let
               patchelf --set-rpath $out/lib:${stdenv.cc.cc.lib}/lib $out/lib/libboost_thread.so.*
             ''}
 
-            ln -sfn ${vendoredCrates}/vendor/ nix-rust/vendor
+            ln -sfn ${vendoredCrates'}/vendor/ nix-rust/vendor
 
             (cd perl; autoreconf --install --force --verbose)
           '';