diff --git a/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md b/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md
index 2a1e55e5b..90a8f1f94 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md
@@ -35,6 +35,25 @@ variables are set up so that those dependencies can be found:
 $ nix-shell
 ```
 
+or if you have a flake-enabled nix:
+
+```console
+$ nix develop
+```
+
+To get a shell with a different compilation environment (e.g. stdenv,
+gccStdenv, clangStdenv, clang11Stdenv):
+
+```console
+$ nix-shell -A devShells.x86_64-linux.clang11StdenvPackages
+```
+
+or if you have a flake-enabled nix:
+
+```console
+$ nix develop .#clang11StdenvPackages
+```
+
 To build Nix itself in this shell:
 
 ```console
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index ff152ebd6..9a5d188ae 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -22,15 +22,36 @@
 
       crossSystems = [ "armv6l-linux" "armv7l-linux" ];
 
+      stdenvs = [ "gccStdenv" "clangStdenv" "clang11Stdenv" "stdenv" ];
+
       forAllSystems = f: nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs systems (system: f system);
+      forAllSystemsAndStdenvs = f: forAllSystems (system:
+        nixpkgs.lib.listToAttrs
+          (map
+            (n:
+            nixpkgs.lib.nameValuePair "${n}Packages" (
+              f system n
+            )) stdenvs
+          )
+      );
+
+      forAllStdenvs = stdenvs: f: nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs stdenvs (stdenv: f stdenv);
 
       # Memoize nixpkgs for different platforms for efficiency.
-      nixpkgsFor = forAllSystems (system:
-        import nixpkgs {
-          inherit system;
-          overlays = [ self.overlay ];
-        }
-      );
+      nixpkgsFor =
+        let stdenvsPackages = forAllSystemsAndStdenvs
+          (system: stdenv:
+            import nixpkgs {
+              inherit system;
+              overlays = [
+                (overlayFor (p: p.${stdenv}))
+              ];
+            }
+          );
+        in
+        # Add the `stdenvPackages` at toplevel, both because these are the ones
+        # we want most of the time and for backwards compatibility
+        forAllSystems (system: stdenvsPackages.${system} // stdenvsPackages.${system}.stdenvPackages);
 
       commonDeps = pkgs: with pkgs; rec {
         # Use "busybox-sandbox-shell" if present,
@@ -255,18 +276,15 @@
             $(cat ${installerClosureInfo}/store-paths)
         '';
 
-    in {
-
-      # A Nixpkgs overlay that overrides the 'nix' and
-      # 'nix.perl-bindings' packages.
-      overlay = final: prev: {
-
+      overlayFor = getStdenv: final: prev:
+      let currentStdenv = getStdenv final; in
+      {
         nixStable = prev.nix;
 
         # Forward from the previous stage as we don’t want it to pick the lowdown override
         nixUnstable = prev.nixUnstable;
 
-        nix = with final; with commonDeps pkgs; stdenv.mkDerivation {
+        nix = with final; with commonDeps pkgs; currentStdenv.mkDerivation {
           name = "nix-${version}";
           inherit version;
 
@@ -288,9 +306,9 @@
               mkdir -p $out/lib
               cp -pd ${boost}/lib/{libboost_context*,libboost_thread*,libboost_system*} $out/lib
               rm -f $out/lib/*.a
-              ${lib.optionalString stdenv.isLinux ''
+              ${lib.optionalString currentStdenv.isLinux ''
                 chmod u+w $out/lib/*.so.*
-                patchelf --set-rpath $out/lib:${stdenv.cc.cc.lib}/lib $out/lib/libboost_thread.so.*
+                patchelf --set-rpath $out/lib:${currentStdenv.cc.cc.lib}/lib $out/lib/libboost_thread.so.*
               ''}
             '';
 
@@ -317,7 +335,7 @@
 
           strictDeps = true;
 
-          passthru.perl-bindings = with final; stdenv.mkDerivation {
+          passthru.perl-bindings = with final; currentStdenv.mkDerivation {
             name = "nix-perl-${version}";
 
             src = self;
@@ -336,8 +354,8 @@
                 pkgs.perl
                 boost
               ]
-              ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isLinux || stdenv.isDarwin) libsodium
-              ++ lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.Security;
+              ++ lib.optional (currentStdenv.isLinux || currentStdenv.isDarwin) libsodium
+              ++ lib.optional currentStdenv.isDarwin darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.Security;
 
             configureFlags = ''
               --with-dbi=${perlPackages.DBI}/${pkgs.perl.libPrefix}
@@ -351,7 +369,7 @@
 
         };
 
-        lowdown-nix = with final; stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+        lowdown-nix = with final; currentStdenv.mkDerivation rec {
           name = "lowdown-0.9.0";
 
           src = lowdown-src;
@@ -361,15 +379,20 @@
           nativeBuildInputs = [ buildPackages.which ];
 
           configurePhase = ''
-              ${if (stdenv.isDarwin && stdenv.isAarch64) then "echo \"HAVE_SANDBOX_INIT=false\" > configure.local" else ""}
+              ${if (currentStdenv.isDarwin && currentStdenv.isAarch64) then "echo \"HAVE_SANDBOX_INIT=false\" > configure.local" else ""}
               ./configure \
                 PREFIX=${placeholder "dev"} \
                 BINDIR=${placeholder "bin"}/bin
-            '';
+          '';
         };
-
       };
 
+    in {
+
+      # A Nixpkgs overlay that overrides the 'nix' and
+      # 'nix.perl-bindings' packages.
+      overlay = overlayFor (p: p.stdenv);
+
       hydraJobs = {
 
         # Binary package for various platforms.
@@ -610,15 +633,22 @@
           doInstallCheck = true;
           installCheckFlags = "sysconfdir=$(out)/etc";
         };
-      }) crossSystems)));
+      }) crossSystems)) // (builtins.listToAttrs (map (stdenvName:
+      nixpkgsFor.${system}.lib.nameValuePair
+        "nix-${stdenvName}"
+        nixpkgsFor.${system}."${stdenvName}Packages".nix
+      ) stdenvs))
+      );
 
       defaultPackage = forAllSystems (system: self.packages.${system}.nix);
 
-      devShell = forAllSystems (system:
+      devShell = forAllSystems (system: self.devShells.${system}.stdenvPackages);
+
+      devShells = forAllSystemsAndStdenvs (system: stdenv:
         with nixpkgsFor.${system};
         with commonDeps pkgs;
 
-        stdenv.mkDerivation {
+        nixpkgsFor.${system}.${stdenv}.mkDerivation {
           name = "nix";
 
           outputs = [ "out" "dev" "doc" ];