diff --git a/doc/manual/nix-copy-closure.xml b/doc/manual/nix-copy-closure.xml
index 30b3aaee3..3f8fd8017 100644
--- a/doc/manual/nix-copy-closure.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/nix-copy-closure.xml
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
     </group>
     <arg><option>--sign</option></arg>
     <arg><option>--gzip</option></arg>
-    <arg><option>--bzip2</option></arg>
-    <arg><option>--xz</option></arg>
-    <arg><option>--show-progress</option></arg>
+    <!--
+    <arg><option>- -show-progress</option></arg>
+    -->
     <arg><option>--include-outputs</option></arg>
     <arg><option>--use-substitutes</option></arg>
     <arg><option>-s</option></arg>
@@ -103,22 +103,21 @@ those paths.  If this bothers you, use
 
   </varlistentry>
 
-  <varlistentry><term><option>--gzip</option> / <option>--bzip2</option> / <option>--xz</option></term>
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--gzip</option></term>
 
-    <listitem><para>Compress the dump of each path with respectively
-    <command>gzip</command>, <command>bzip2</command> or
-    <command>xz</command> before sending it.  The corresponding
-    decompression program must be installed on the target
-    machine.</para></listitem>
+    <listitem><para>Enable compression of the SSH
+    connection.</para></listitem>
 
   </varlistentry>
 
-  <varlistentry><term><option>--show-progress</option></term>
+  <!--
+  <varlistentry><term><option>- -show-progress</option></term>
 
     <listitem><para>Show the progress of each path's transfer as it's made.
     This requires the <command>pv</command> utility to be in <envar>PATH</envar>.</para></listitem>
 
   </varlistentry>
+  -->
 
   <varlistentry><term><option>--include-outputs</option></term>
 
diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm b/perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm
index e12fef6bb..d707158b5 100644
--- a/perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm
+++ b/perl/lib/Nix/CopyClosure.pm
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ use IPC::Open2;
 
 
 sub copyToOpen {
-    my ($from, $to, $sshHost, $storePaths, $compressor, $decompressor,
-        $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $progressViewer, $useSubstitutes) = @_;
+    my ($from, $to, $sshHost, $storePaths, $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $useSubstitutes) = @_;
 
     $useSubstitutes = 0 if $dryRun || !defined $useSubstitutes;
 
@@ -41,34 +40,13 @@ sub copyToOpen {
 
     # Send the "import paths" command.
     syswrite($to, pack("L<x4", 4)) or die;
-    writeString($compressor, $to);
-
-    if ($compressor || $progressViewer) {
-
-        # Compute the size of the closure for the progress viewer.
-        $progressViewer = "$progressViewer -s $missingSize" if $progressViewer;
-
-        # Start the compressor and/or progress viewer in between us
-        # and the remote host.
-        my $to_;
-        my $pid2 = open2(">&" . fileno($to), $to_,
-            $progressViewer && $compressor ? "$progressViewer | $compressor" : $progressViewer || $compressor);
-        close $to;
-        exportPaths(fileno($to_), $sign, @missing);
-        close $to_;
-        waitpid $pid2, 0;
-
-    } else {
-        exportPaths(fileno($to), $sign, @missing);
-    }
-
+    exportPaths(fileno($to), $sign, @missing);
     readInt($from) == 1 or die "remote machine \`$sshHost' failed to import closure\n";
 }
 
 
 sub copyTo {
-    my ($sshHost, $sshOpts, $storePaths, $compressor, $decompressor,
-        $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $progressViewer, $useSubstitutes) = @_;
+    my ($sshHost, $sshOpts, $storePaths, $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $useSubstitutes) = @_;
 
     # Connect to the remote host.
     my ($from, $to);
@@ -81,8 +59,7 @@ sub copyTo {
         return oldCopyTo(@_);
     }
 
-    copyToOpen($from, $to, $sshHost, $storePaths, $compressor, $decompressor,
-               $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $progressViewer, $useSubstitutes);
+    copyToOpen($from, $to, $sshHost, $storePaths, $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $useSubstitutes);
 
     close $to;
 }
@@ -91,8 +68,7 @@ sub copyTo {
 # For backwards compatibility with Nix <= 1.7. Will be removed
 # eventually.
 sub oldCopyTo {
-    my ($sshHost, $sshOpts, $storePaths, $compressor, $decompressor,
-        $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $progressViewer, $useSubstitutes) = @_;
+    my ($sshHost, $sshOpts, $storePaths, $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $useSubstitutes) = @_;
 
     # Get the closure of this path.
     my @closure = reverse(topoSortPaths(computeFSClosure(0, $includeOutputs,
@@ -122,15 +98,12 @@ sub oldCopyTo {
         close READ or die;
     }
 
-    $compressor = "$compressor |" if $compressor ne "";
-    $decompressor = "$decompressor |" if $decompressor ne "";
-    $progressViewer = "$progressViewer -s $missingSize |" if $progressViewer ne "";
-
     # Export the store paths and import them on the remote machine.
     if (scalar @missing > 0) {
         print STDERR "copying ", scalar @missing, " missing paths to ‘$sshHost’...\n";
+        print STDERR "@missing\n";
         unless ($dryRun) {
-            open SSH, "| $progressViewer $compressor ssh $sshHost @{$sshOpts} @globalSshOpts '$decompressor nix-store --import' > /dev/null" or die;
+            open SSH, "| ssh $sshHost @{$sshOpts} @globalSshOpts 'nix-store --import' > /dev/null" or die;
             exportPaths(fileno(SSH), $sign, @missing);
             close SSH or die "copying store paths to remote machine `$sshHost' failed: $?";
         }
diff --git a/scripts/build-remote.pl.in b/scripts/build-remote.pl.in
index 73d7abe37..ab9392bb0 100755
--- a/scripts/build-remote.pl.in
+++ b/scripts/build-remote.pl.in
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ if ($@) {
     print STDERR "somebody is hogging $uploadLock, continuing...\n";
     unlink $uploadLock;
 }
-Nix::CopyClosure::copyToOpen($from, $to, $hostName, [ $drvPath, @inputs ], "", "", 0, 0, $maybeSign ne "", "");
+Nix::CopyClosure::copyToOpen($from, $to, $hostName, [ $drvPath, @inputs ], 0, 0, $maybeSign ne "");
 close UPLOADLOCK;
 
 
diff --git a/scripts/nix-copy-closure.in b/scripts/nix-copy-closure.in
index 6964f2d47..bd20148b8 100755
--- a/scripts/nix-copy-closure.in
+++ b/scripts/nix-copy-closure.in
@@ -19,9 +19,6 @@ EOF
 # Get the target host.
 my $sshHost;
 my $sign = 0;
-my $compressor = "";
-my $decompressor = "";
-my $progressViewer = "";
 my $toMode = 1;
 my $includeOutputs = 0;
 my $dryRun = 0;
@@ -40,17 +37,10 @@ while (@ARGV) {
     elsif ($arg eq "--sign") {
         $sign = 1;
     }
-    elsif ($arg eq "--gzip") {
+    elsif ($arg eq "--gzip" || $arg eq "--bzip2" || $arg eq "--xz") {
+        warn "$0: `$arg' is not implemented\n" if $arg ne "--gzip";
         push @globalSshOpts, "-C";
     }
-    elsif ($arg eq "--bzip2") {
-        $compressor = "bzip2";
-        $decompressor = "bzip2 -d";
-    }
-    elsif ($arg eq "--xz") {
-        $compressor = "xz";
-        $decompressor = "xz -d";
-    }
     elsif ($arg eq "--from") {
         $toMode = 0;
     }
@@ -61,7 +51,7 @@ while (@ARGV) {
         $includeOutputs = 1;
     }
     elsif ($arg eq "--show-progress") {
-        $progressViewer = "@pv@";
+        warn "$0: `$arg' is not implemented\n";
     }
     elsif ($arg eq "--dry-run") {
         $dryRun = 1;
@@ -82,8 +72,8 @@ die "$0: you did not specify a host name\n" unless defined $sshHost;
 
 if ($toMode) { # Copy TO the remote machine.
     Nix::CopyClosure::copyTo(
-        $sshHost, [ @sshOpts ], [ @storePaths ], $compressor, $decompressor,
-        $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $progressViewer, $useSubstitutes);
+        $sshHost, [ @sshOpts ], [ @storePaths ],
+        $includeOutputs, $dryRun, $sign, $useSubstitutes);
 }
 
 else { # Copy FROM the remote machine.
diff --git a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
index f2621a995..932789f2c 100644
--- a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
+++ b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
@@ -956,39 +956,8 @@ static void opServe(Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
 
             case cmdImportPaths: {
                 if (!writeAllowed) throw Error("importing paths is not allowed");
-                string compression = readString(in);
-
-                if (compression != "") {
-                    if (compression != "gzip" && compression != "bzip2" && compression != "xz")
-                        throw Error(format("unsupported compression method `%1%'") % compression);
-
-                    Pipe fromDecompressor;
-                    fromDecompressor.create();
-
-                    Pid pid = startProcess([&]() {
-                        fromDecompressor.readSide.close();
-                        if (dup2(fromDecompressor.writeSide, STDOUT_FILENO) == -1)
-                            throw SysError("dupping stdout");
-                        // FIXME: use absolute path.
-                        execlp(compression.c_str(), compression.c_str(), "-d", NULL);
-                        throw SysError(format("executing `%1%'") % compression);
-                    });
-
-                    fromDecompressor.writeSide.close();
-
-                    FdSource fromDecompressor_(fromDecompressor.readSide);
-                    store->importPaths(false, fromDecompressor_);
-
-                    pid.wait(true);
-                } else
-                    store->importPaths(false, in);
-
+                store->importPaths(false, in);
                 writeInt(1, out); // indicate success
-
-                /* The decompressor will have left stdin in an
-                   undefined state, so we can't continue. */
-                if (compression != "") return;
-
                 break;
             }