diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
index 89b8aac78..ec96f750e 100644
--- a/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
@@ -562,6 +562,40 @@ flag, e.g. <literal>--option gc-keep-outputs false</literal>.</para>
   </varlistentry>
 
 
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-pre-build-hook"><term><literal>pre-build-hook</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+
+      <para>If set, the path to a program that can set extra
+      derivation-specific settings for this system. This is used for settings
+      that can't be captured by the derivation model itself and are too variable
+      between different versions of the same system to be hard-coded into nix.
+      </para>
+
+      <para>The hook is passed the derivation path and, if chroots are enabled,
+      the chroot directory. It can then modify the chroot and send a series of
+      commands to modify various settings to stdout. The currently recognized
+      commands are:</para>
+
+      <variablelist>
+        <varlistentry xml:id="extra-chroot-dirs"><term><literal>extra-chroot-dirs</literal></term>
+
+          <listitem>
+
+            <para>Pass a list of files and directories to be included in the
+            chroot for this build. One entry per line, terminated by an empty
+            line. Entries have the same format as build-chroot-dirs.</para>
+
+          </listitem>
+
+        </varlistentry>
+      </variablelist>
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
 </variablelist>
 
 </para>
diff --git a/src/libstore/build.cc b/src/libstore/build.cc
index 1fc5d4181..08b647cd6 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build.cc
@@ -1969,6 +1969,42 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
                 }
     }
 
+    if (settings.preBuildHook != "") {
+        printMsg(lvlChatty, format("executing pre-build hook ‘%1%’")
+            % settings.preBuildHook);
+        auto args = useChroot ? Strings({drvPath, chrootRootDir}) :
+            Strings({ drvPath });
+        enum BuildHookState {
+            stBegin,
+            stExtraChrootDirs
+        };
+        auto state = stBegin;
+        auto lines = runProgram(settings.preBuildHook, false, args);
+        auto lastPos = std::string::size_type{0};
+        for (auto nlPos = lines.find('\n'); nlPos != string::npos;
+                nlPos = lines.find('\n', lastPos)) {
+            auto line = std::string{lines, lastPos, nlPos};
+            lastPos = nlPos + 1;
+            if (state == stBegin) {
+                if (line == "extra-chroot-dirs") {
+                    state = stExtraChrootDirs;
+                } else {
+                    throw Error(format("unknown pre-build hook command ‘%1%’")
+                        % line);
+                }
+            } else if (state == stExtraChrootDirs) {
+                if (line == "") {
+                    state = stBegin;
+                } else {
+                    auto p = line.find('=');
+                    if (p == string::npos)
+                        dirsInChroot[line] = line;
+                    else
+                        dirsInChroot[string(line, 0, p)] = string(line, p + 1);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
 
     /* Run the builder. */
     printMsg(lvlChatty, format("executing builder ‘%1%’") % drv.builder);
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.cc b/src/libstore/globals.cc
index 052ca45cc..d5615d93c 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.cc
@@ -182,6 +182,7 @@ void Settings::update()
     _get(logServers, "log-servers");
     _get(enableImportNative, "allow-unsafe-native-code-during-evaluation");
     _get(useCaseHack, "use-case-hack");
+    _get(preBuildHook, "pre-build-hook");
 
     string subs = getEnv("NIX_SUBSTITUTERS", "default");
     if (subs == "default") {
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.hh b/src/libstore/globals.hh
index 195558dd3..60b11afe6 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.hh
@@ -206,6 +206,10 @@ struct Settings {
     /* Whether the importNative primop should be enabled */
     bool enableImportNative;
 
+    /* The hook to run just before a build to set derivation-specific
+       build settings */
+    Path preBuildHook;
+
 private:
     SettingsMap settings, overrides;