diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index fd62dfb38..3f9758b9d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ perl/Makefile.config
 /precompiled-headers.h.pch
 /config.*
 /configure
-/nix.spec
 /stamp-h1
 /svn-revision
 /libtool
diff --git a/local.mk b/local.mk
index 4b380176f..921ea91cd 100644
--- a/local.mk
+++ b/local.mk
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ ifeq ($(MAKECMDGOALS), dist)
   dist-files += $(shell cat .dist-files)
 endif
 
-dist-files += configure config.h.in nix.spec perl/configure
+dist-files += configure config.h.in perl/configure
 
 clean-files += Makefile.config
 
diff --git a/nix.spec.in b/nix.spec.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 6b9e37637..000000000
--- a/nix.spec.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,173 +0,0 @@
-%undefine _hardened_build
-
-%global nixbld_user "nix-builder-"
-%global nixbld_group "nixbld"
-
-# NOTE: BUILD on EL7 requires
-# - Centos / RHEL7 software collection repository 
-#   yum install centos-release-scl
-#
-# - Recent boost backport
-#   curl https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/whosthere/boost/repo/epel-7/whosthere-boost-epel-7.repo -o /etc/yum.repos.d/whosthere-boost-epel-7.repo
-#
-
-# Disable documentation generation
-# necessary on some platforms
-%bcond_without docgen
-
-Summary: The Nix software deployment system
-Name: nix
-Version: @PACKAGE_VERSION@
-Release: 2%{?dist}
-License: LGPLv2+
-Group: Applications/System
-URL: http://nixos.org/
-Source0: %{name}-%{version}.tar.bz2
-
-Requires: curl
-Requires: bzip2
-Requires: gzip
-Requires: xz
-BuildRequires: bison
-BuildRequires: boost-devel >= 1.60
-BuildRequires: bzip2-devel
-
-# for RHEL <= 7, we need software collections for a C++14 compatible compatible compiler
-%if 0%{?rhel}
-BuildRequires: devtoolset-7-gcc
-BuildRequires: devtoolset-7-gcc-c++
-%endif
-
-BuildRequires: flex
-BuildRequires: libcurl-devel
-BuildRequires: libseccomp-devel
-BuildRequires: openssl-devel
-BuildRequires: sqlite-devel
-BuildRequires: xz-devel
-
-%description
-Nix is a purely functional package manager. It allows multiple
-versions of a package to be installed side-by-side, ensures that
-dependency specifications are complete, supports atomic upgrades and
-rollbacks, allows non-root users to install software, and has many
-other features. It is the basis of the NixOS Linux distribution, but
-it can be used equally well under other Unix systems.
-
-%package        devel
-Summary:        Development files for %{name}
-Requires:       %{name}%{?_isa} = %{version}-%{release}
-
-%description   devel
-The %{name}-devel package contains libraries and header files for
-developing applications that use %{name}.
-
-
-%package doc
-Summary:        Documentation files for %{name}
-BuildArch:      noarch
-Requires:       %{name} = %{version}-%{release}
-
-%description   doc
-The %{name}-doc package contains documentation files for %{name}.
-
-%prep
-%setup -q
-
-
-%build
-%if 0%{?rhel}
-source /opt/rh/devtoolset-7/enable 
-%endif
-extraFlags=
-# - override docdir so large documentation files are owned by the
-#   -doc subpackage
-# - set localstatedir by hand to the preferred nix value
-%configure --localstatedir=/nix/var \
-	   %{!?without_docgen:--disable-doc-gen} \
-           --docdir=%{_defaultdocdir}/%{name}-doc-%{version} \
-           $extraFlags
-make V=1 %{?_smp_mflags}
-
-
-%install
-%if 0%{?rhel}
-source /opt/rh/devtoolset-7/enable 
-%endif
-
-make DESTDIR=$RPM_BUILD_ROOT install
-
-find $RPM_BUILD_ROOT -name '*.la' -exec rm -f {} ';'
-
-# make the store
-mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/nix/store
-chmod 1775 $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/nix/store
-
-# make per-user directories
-for d in profiles gcroots;
-do
-  mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/nix/var/nix/$d/per-user
-  chmod 755 $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/nix/var/nix/$d/per-user
-done
-
-# fix permission of nix profile
-# (until this is fixed in the relevant Makefile)
-chmod -x $RPM_BUILD_ROOT%{_sysconfdir}/profile.d/nix.sh
-
-# we ship this file in the base package
-rm -f $RPM_BUILD_ROOT%{_defaultdocdir}/%{name}-doc-%{version}/README
-
-# Get rid of Upstart job.
-rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT%{_sysconfdir}/init
-
-
-%clean
-rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
-
-
-%pre
-getent group %{nixbld_group} >/dev/null || groupadd -r %{nixbld_group}
-for i in $(seq 10);
-do
-  getent passwd %{nixbld_user}$i >/dev/null || \
-    useradd -r -g %{nixbld_group} -G %{nixbld_group} -d /var/empty \
-      -s %{_sbindir}/nologin \
-      -c "Nix build user $i" %{nixbld_user}$i
-done
-
-%post
-chgrp %{nixbld_group} /nix/store
-%if ! 0%{?rhel} || 0%{?rhel} >= 7
-# Enable and start Nix worker
-systemctl enable nix-daemon.socket nix-daemon.service
-systemctl start  nix-daemon.socket
-%endif
-
-%files
-%license COPYING
-%{_bindir}/nix*
-%{_libdir}/*.so
-%{_prefix}/libexec/*
-%if ! 0%{?rhel} || 0%{?rhel} >= 7
-%{_prefix}/lib/systemd/system/nix-daemon.socket
-%{_prefix}/lib/systemd/system/nix-daemon.service
-%endif
-%{_datadir}/nix
-#%if ! %{without docgen}
-#%{_mandir}/man1/*.1*
-#%{_mandir}/man5/*.5*
-#%{_mandir}/man8/*.8*
-#%endif
-%config(noreplace) %{_sysconfdir}/profile.d/nix.sh
-%config(noreplace) %{_sysconfdir}/profile.d/nix-daemon.sh
-/nix
-
-%files devel
-%{_includedir}/nix
-%{_prefix}/lib/pkgconfig/*.pc
-
-
-#%if ! %{without docgen}
-#%files doc
-#%docdir %{_defaultdocdir}/%{name}-doc-%{version}
-#%{_defaultdocdir}/%{name}-doc-%{version}
-#%endif