diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval.cc b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
index a3aeeb55c..59c42d0b0 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
@@ -639,7 +639,7 @@ void ExprSelect::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
         state.forceValue(*vAttrs);
 
     } catch (Error & e) {
-        if (pos)
+        if (pos && pos->file != state.sDerivationNix)
             addErrorPrefix(e, "while evaluating the attribute `%1%' at %2%:\n",
                 showAttrPath(attrPath), *pos);
         throw;
diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval.hh b/src/libexpr/eval.hh
index 2f87b9c77..8707182ed 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval.hh
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ public:
 
     const Symbol sWith, sOutPath, sDrvPath, sType, sMeta, sName,
         sSystem, sOverrides, sOutputs, sOutputName, sIgnoreNulls;
+    Symbol sDerivationNix;
 
     /* If set, force copying files to the Nix store even if they
        already exist there. */
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.cc b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
index a216fa7ab..0585f5bbe 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
@@ -1262,7 +1262,9 @@ void EvalState::createBaseEnv()
 
     /* Add a wrapper around the derivation primop that computes the
        `drvPath' and `outPath' attributes lazily. */
-    evalFile(findFile("nix/derivation.nix"), v);
+    string path = findFile("nix/derivation.nix");
+    sDerivationNix = symbols.create(path);
+    evalFile(path, v);
     addConstant("derivation", v);
 
     /* Now that we've added all primops, sort the `builtins' attribute