treewide: NIX_*_FLAGS -> string

47 files changed, 63 insertions, 94 deletions

diff --git a/pkgs/applications/audio/jack-rack/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/audio/jack-rack/default.nix
index 26a717dbd6e..41b40223b87 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/audio/jack-rack/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/audio/jack-rack/default.nix
@@ -7,11 +7,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
   buildInputs = [ libjack2 ladspaH gtk2 alsaLib libxml2 librdf ];
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-ldl"
-    "-lm"
-    "-lpthread"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-ldl -lm -lpthread";
 
   meta = {
     description = ''An effects "rack" for the JACK low latency audio API'';
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix
index 3511a08682c..818630585cf 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/audio/jamin/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   buildInputs = [ fftwFloat gtk2 ladspaPlugins libjack2 liblo libxml2 makeWrapper ]
     ++ (with perlPackages; [ perl XMLParser ]);
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-ldl" ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-ldl";
 
   postInstall = ''
     wrapProgram $out/bin/jamin --set LADSPA_PATH ${ladspaPlugins}/lib/ladspa
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/audio/lash/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/audio/lash/default.nix
index e96972b0d1b..0dbe60b6a61 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/audio/lash/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/audio/lash/default.nix
@@ -18,11 +18,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation  rec {
   buildInputs = [ alsaLib gtk2 libjack2 libxml2 makeWrapper
     pkgconfig readline ];
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ libuuid ];
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lm"
-    "-lpthread"
-    "-luuid"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lm -lpthread -luuid";
 
   postInstall = ''
     for i in lash_control lash_panel
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/gtk-greeter.nix b/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/gtk-greeter.nix
index 91fe3e5b22f..be586bdac9b 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/gtk-greeter.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/gtk-greeter.nix
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     configureFlagsArray+=( --enable-at-spi-command="${at-spi2-core}/libexec/at-spi-bus-launcher --launch-immediately" )
   '';
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-Wno-error=deprecated-declarations" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error=deprecated-declarations";
 
   installFlags = [
     "localstatedir=\${TMPDIR}"
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/gis/grass/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/gis/grass/default.nix
index 4000c834602..8734fabfdcf 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/gis/grass/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/gis/grass/default.nix
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     done
   '';
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DACCEPT_USE_OF_DEPRECATED_PROJ_API_H=1" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DACCEPT_USE_OF_DEPRECATED_PROJ_API_H=1";
 
   postInstall = ''
     wrapProgram $out/bin/grass76 \
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/gnuclad/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/gnuclad/default.nix
index 2535f7514f1..5b6dd42e09e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/gnuclad/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/gnuclad/default.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0ka2kscpjff7gflsargv3r9fdaxhkf3nym9mfaln3pnq6q7fwdki";
   };
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-Wno-error=catch-value" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error=catch-value";
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/goxel/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/goxel/default.nix
index e4ab5639ba6..e870df4bc6e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/goxel/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/goxel/default.nix
@@ -16,9 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ scons pkgconfig wrapGAppsHook ];
   buildInputs = [ glfw3 gtk3 libpng12 ];
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lpthread"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lpthread";
 
   buildPhase = ''
     make release
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/gqview/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/gqview/default.nix
index 205376b1257..d82238f925b 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/gqview/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/gqview/default.nix
@@ -18,9 +18,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   hardeningDisable = [ "format" ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lm"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lm";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "A fast image viewer";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/graphics/k3d/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/graphics/k3d/default.nix
index d3bc8deb05e..31085cd8023 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/graphics/k3d/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/graphics/k3d/default.nix
@@ -39,9 +39,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   #doCheck = false;
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [
-    "-Wno-deprecated-declarations"
-  ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-deprecated-declarations";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "A 3D editor with support for procedural editing";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/golden-cheetah/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/golden-cheetah/default.nix
index dde1c32e805..3dffc5c77c2 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/golden-cheetah/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/golden-cheetah/default.nix
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ in mkDerivation rec {
   ];
   nativeBuildInputs = [ flex makeWrapper qmake yacc ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lz" ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lz";
 
   qtWrapperArgs = [ "--set LD_LIBRARY_PATH ${zlib.out}/lib" ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/grip/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/grip/default.nix
index 36ca31707c8..4416e1e62c2 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/grip/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/grip/default.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   hardeningDisable = [ "format" ];
 
   # glib-2.62 deprecations
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS";
 
   meta = {
     description = "GTK-based audio CD player/ripper";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/gxneur/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/gxneur/default.nix
index 6e6145e7908..c44523a8b75 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/gxneur/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/gxneur/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   };
 
   # glib-2.62 deprecations
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS";
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig intltool ];
   buildInputs = [
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/k2pdfopt/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/k2pdfopt/default.nix
index aedfff40d70..69d78575e2a 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/k2pdfopt/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/k2pdfopt/default.nix
@@ -65,9 +65,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   cmakeFlags = [ "-DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-I${src}/include_mod" ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lpthread"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lpthread";
 
   installPhase = ''
     install -D -m 755 k2pdfopt $out/bin/k2pdfopt
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/office/gnucash/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/office/gnucash/default.nix
index d8fbd4392bd..4373278adab 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/office/gnucash/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/office/gnucash/default.nix
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   propagatedUserEnvPkgs = [ dconf ];
 
   # glib-2.62 deprecations
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS";
 
   patches = [ ./cmake_check_symbol_exists.patch ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/video/handbrake/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/video/handbrake/default.nix
index 4341055d084..59a8c2377ce 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/video/handbrake/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/video/handbrake/default.nix
@@ -100,9 +100,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ];
 
   # NOTE: 2018-12-27: Check NixOS HandBrake test if changing
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = toString [
     "-lx265"
-    # NOTE: The -ldl flag was fixed upstream for a release after 1.3.0    
+    # NOTE: The -ldl flag was fixed upstream for a release after 1.3.0
     "-ldl"
   ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix
index 1b9f0d0997a..2a0af3ed59e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix
@@ -71,10 +71,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   hardeningDisable = [ "format" ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lavcodec"
-    "-lavutil"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lavcodec -lavutil";
 
   patches = [ ./kino-1.3.4-v4l1.patch ./kino-1.3.4-libav-0.7.patch ./kino-1.3.4-libav-0.8.patch ]; #./kino-1.3.4-libavcodec-pkg-config.patch ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix
index 03121daf961..b2d511173c4 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/default.nix
@@ -69,13 +69,13 @@ let
 
     separateDebugInfo = true;
 
-    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-Wno-error" ];
+    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error";
 
-    NIX_LDFLAGS = lib.optionals (!headless) [
+    NIX_LDFLAGS = toString (lib.optionals (!headless) [
       "-lfontconfig" "-lcups" "-lXinerama" "-lXrandr" "-lmagic"
     ] ++ lib.optionals (!headless && enableGnome2) [
       "-lgtk-3" "-lgio-2.0" "-lgnomevfs-2" "-lgconf-2"
-    ];
+    ]);
 
     buildFlags = [ "all" ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/openjfx/12.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/openjfx/12.nix
index 356ac4800d9..30c8d36fdfc 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/openjfx/12.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/openjdk/openjfx/12.nix
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ in makePackage {
   '';
 
   # glib-2.62 deprecations
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS";
 
   stripDebugList = [ "." ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-nix.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-nix.nix
index 6886a35c0a8..9eedb0fed85 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-nix.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-nix.nix
@@ -115,18 +115,18 @@ self: super: builtins.intersectAttrs super {
 
   hzk = overrideCabal super.hzk (drv: {
     preConfigure = "sed -i -e /include-dirs/d hzk.cabal";
-    configureFlags =  "--extra-include-dirs=${pkgs.zookeeper_mt}/include/zookeeper";
+    configureFlags = [ "--extra-include-dirs=${pkgs.zookeeper_mt}/include/zookeeper" ];
   });
 
   haskakafka = overrideCabal super.haskakafka (drv: {
     preConfigure = "sed -i -e /extra-lib-dirs/d -e /include-dirs/d haskakafka.cabal";
-    configureFlags =  "--extra-include-dirs=${pkgs.rdkafka}/include/librdkafka";
+    configureFlags = [ "--extra-include-dirs=${pkgs.rdkafka}/include/librdkafka" ];
   });
 
   # library has hard coded directories that need to be removed. Reported upstream here https://github.com/haskell-works/hw-kafka-client/issues/32
   hw-kafka-client = dontCheck (overrideCabal super.hw-kafka-client (drv: {
     preConfigure = "sed -i -e /extra-lib-dirs/d -e /include-dirs/d -e /librdkafka/d hw-kafka-client.cabal";
-    configureFlags =  "--extra-include-dirs=${pkgs.rdkafka}/include/librdkafka";
+    configureFlags = [ "--extra-include-dirs=${pkgs.rdkafka}/include/librdkafka" ];
   }));
 
   # Foreign dependency name clashes with another Haskell package.
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/gnu-apl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/gnu-apl/default.nix
index 94ec0244382..c2a3556cfea 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/gnu-apl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/gnu-apl/default.nix
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ readline gettext ncurses ];
 
   # Needed with GCC 8
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = with stdenv.lib; (optionals stdenv.cc.isGNU [
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = with stdenv.lib; toString ((optionals stdenv.cc.isGNU [
     "-Wno-error=int-in-bool-context"
     "-Wno-error=class-memaccess"
     "-Wno-error=restrict"
     "-Wno-error=format-truncation"
-   ]) ++ optional stdenv.cc.isClang "-Wno-error=null-dereference";
+   ]) ++ optional stdenv.cc.isClang "-Wno-error=null-dereference");
 
   patchPhase = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
     substituteInPlace src/LApack.cc --replace "malloc.h" "malloc/malloc.h"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix
index 09d7fa622fc..d803fe43fd7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/jimtcl/default.nix
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "--ipv6"
   ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = makeSDLFlags [ SDL SDL_gfx ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString (makeSDLFlags [ SDL SDL_gfx ]);
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/0.8.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/0.8.nix
index 57c1a6ce564..3a6c385ee5f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/0.8.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/0.8.nix
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     } || true
   '';
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString [
     "-I${SDL.dev}/include/SDL"
     "-I${freetype.dev}include/freetype2"
     "-DGL_GLEXT_PROTOTYPES" # https://community.khronos.org/t/glgenbuffers-was-not-declared-in-this-scope/59283/2
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/11.1.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/11.1.nix
index 0a60a4cacfe..3629345baf6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/11.1.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/love/11.1.nix
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     "--with-lua=luajit"
   ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DluaL_reg=luaL_Reg" ]; # needed since luajit-2.1.0-beta3
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DluaL_reg=luaL_Reg"; # needed since luajit-2.1.0-beta3
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://love2d.org;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libcbor/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libcbor/default.nix
index 4d56c0f1403..4949d657669 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libcbor/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libcbor/default.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   doCheck = false; # needs "-DWITH_TESTS=ON", but fails w/compilation error
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-fno-lto" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-fno-lto";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "CBOR protocol implementation for C and others";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libdynd/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libdynd/default.nix
index bc492815339..c02a6f9a502 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libdynd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libdynd/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   ];
 
   # added to fix build with gcc7+
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = builtins.toString [
     "-Wno-error=implicit-fallthrough"
     "-Wno-error=nonnull"
     "-Wno-error=tautological-compare"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libfakekey/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libfakekey/default.nix
index 196f0e50bef..3c243191543 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libfakekey/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libfakekey/default.nix
@@ -11,9 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
   buildInputs = [ libX11 libXi libXtst xorgproto ];
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lX11"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lX11";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "X virtual keyboard library";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libfpx/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libfpx/default.nix
index f4863eb33f2..97df5107409 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libfpx/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libfpx/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   # Darwin gets misdetected as Windows without this
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = if stdenv.isDarwin then "-D__unix" else null;
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-D__unix";
 
   patches = [
     (fetchpatch {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libmatchbox/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libmatchbox/default.nix
index 3786c5e77d3..98875e48f57 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libmatchbox/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libmatchbox/default.nix
@@ -6,9 +6,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ libXft libICE pango libjpeg ];
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ libX11 libXext libpng ];
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lX11"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lX11";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "https://downloads.yoctoproject.org/releases/matchbox/libmatchbox/${version}/libmatchbox-${version}.tar.bz2";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libwps/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libwps/default.nix
index e8f39754885..61b777a5243 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libwps/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libwps/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
   buildInputs = [ boost librevenge zlib ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-Wno-error=implicit-fallthrough" ]; # newly detected by gcc-7
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error=implicit-fallthrough";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     homepage = http://libwps.sourceforge.net/;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/mediastreamer/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/mediastreamer/default.nix
index ca62391e781..0204223d127 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/mediastreamer/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/mediastreamer/default.nix
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ortp libv4l libpcap srtp bctoolbox libXext libmatroska
   ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString [
     "-DGIT_VERSION=\"v${version}\""
     "-Wno-error=deprecated-declarations"
     "-Wno-error=cast-function-type"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/mlt/qt-5.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/mlt/qt-5.nix
index f017e4452a6..0e3750df415 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/mlt/qt-5.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/mlt/qt-5.nix
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   # mlt is unable to cope with our multi-prefix Qt build
   # because it does not use CMake or qmake.
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-I${getDev qtsvg}/include/QtSvg" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-I${getDev qtsvg}/include/QtSvg";
 
   CXXFLAGS = "-std=c++11";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/xmlsec/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/xmlsec/default.nix
index 25c5bf45888..a8c751330b7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/xmlsec/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/xmlsec/default.nix
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   configureFlags = [ "--enable-soap" ];
 
   # otherwise libxmlsec1-gnutls.so won't find libgcrypt.so, after #909
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [ "-lgcrypt" ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lgcrypt";
 
   postInstall = ''
     moveToOutput "bin/xmlsec1-config" "$dev"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix
index e0ebba4c051..3e5c12e183a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/hydra/default.nix
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   configureFlags = [ "--with-docbook-xsl=${docbook_xsl}/xml/xsl/docbook" ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-pthread" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-pthread";
 
   shellHook = ''
     PATH=$(pwd)/src/script:$(pwd)/src/hydra-eval-jobs:$(pwd)/src/hydra-queue-runner:$(pwd)/src/hydra-evaluator:$PATH
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/ragel/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/ragel/default.nix
index 2f4db7982b7..12c9b9d57f8 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/ragel/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/ragel/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ let
 
       configureFlags = [ "--with-colm=${colm}" ];
 
-      NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.cc.isGNU "-std=gnu++98";
+      NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.cc.isGNU "-std=gnu++98";
 
       doCheck = true;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/games/gnujump/default.nix b/pkgs/games/gnujump/default.nix
index 4bf460836d9..af2e924960a 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/gnujump/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/gnujump/default.nix
@@ -9,9 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
   buildInputs = [ SDL SDL_image SDL_mixer ];
 
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = [
-    "-lm"
-  ];
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lm";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     homepage = https://jump.gnu.sinusoid.es/index.php?title=Main_Page;
diff --git a/pkgs/games/gzdoom/default.nix b/pkgs/games/gzdoom/default.nix
index 288d3369dfb..5cafe045fa6 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/gzdoom/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/gzdoom/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_LINK = [ "-lopenal" "-lfluidsynth" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_LINK = "-lopenal -lfluidsynth";
 
   preConfigure = ''
     sed -i \
diff --git a/pkgs/misc/emulators/wine/base.nix b/pkgs/misc/emulators/wine/base.nix
index 057615a79a1..0b6eab70263 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/emulators/wine/base.nix
+++ b/pkgs/misc/emulators/wine/base.nix
@@ -71,12 +71,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ((lib.optionalAttrs (buildScript != null) {
   # Wine locates a lot of libraries dynamically through dlopen().  Add
   # them to the RPATH so that the user doesn't have to set them in
   # LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = map (path: "-rpath " + path) (
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = toString (map (path: "-rpath " + path) (
       map (x: "${lib.getLib x}/lib") ([ stdenv.cc.cc ] ++ buildInputs)
       # libpulsecommon.so is linked but not found otherwise
       ++ lib.optionals supportFlags.pulseaudioSupport (map (x: "${lib.getLib x}/lib/pulseaudio")
           (toBuildInputs pkgArches (pkgs: [ pkgs.libpulseaudio ])))
-    );
+    ));
 
   # Don't shrink the ELF RPATHs in order to keep the extra RPATH
   # elements specified above.
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/perf.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/perf.nix
index faf6dabc227..9f32e3e37dd 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/perf.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/perf.nix
@@ -46,13 +46,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   # Note: we don't add elfutils to buildInputs, since it provides a
   # bad `ld' and other stuff.
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE =
-    [ "-Wno-error=cpp"
-      "-Wno-error=bool-compare"
-      "-Wno-error=deprecated-declarations"
-      "-DOBJDUMP_PATH=\"${binutils}/bin/objdump\""
-      "-Wno-error=stringop-truncation"
-    ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString [
+    "-Wno-error=cpp"
+    "-Wno-error=bool-compare"
+    "-Wno-error=deprecated-declarations"
+    "-DOBJDUMP_PATH=\"${binutils}/bin/objdump\""
+    "-Wno-error=stringop-truncation"
+  ];
 
   doCheck = false; # requires "sparse"
   doInstallCheck = false; # same
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/lttng-modules/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/lttng-modules/default.nix
index d4b3f374c5b..46c8dec8889 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/lttng-modules/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/lttng-modules/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   hardeningDisable = [ "pic" ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration";
 
   preConfigure = ''
     export KERNELDIR="${kernel.dev}/lib/modules/${kernel.modDirVersion}/build"
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/pktgen/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/pktgen/default.nix
index fd57fa6e37c..aec347ff375 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/pktgen/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/pktgen/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   RTE_TARGET = "x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc";
   GUI = stdenv.lib.optionalString withGtk "true";
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-msse3" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-msse3";
 
   postPatch = let dpdkMajor = lib.versions.major dpdk.version; in ''
     substituteInPlace lib/common/lscpu.h --replace /usr/bin/lscpu ${utillinux}/bin/lscpu
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/sysdig/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/sysdig/default.nix
index 0d85e6e3a57..4008045938e 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/sysdig/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/sysdig/default.nix
@@ -28,10 +28,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ] ++ optional (kernel == null) "-DBUILD_DRIVER=OFF";
 
   # needed since luajit-2.1.0-beta3
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [
-    "-DluaL_reg=luaL_Reg"
-    "-DluaL_getn(L,i)=((int)lua_objlen(L,i))"
-  ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DluaL_reg=luaL_Reg -DluaL_getn(L,i)=((int)lua_objlen(L,i))";
 
   preConfigure = ''
     cmakeFlagsArray+=(-DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-ltbb -lcurl")
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/audio/gvolicon/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/audio/gvolicon/default.nix
index c66c6bc1f7e..9029eb38b06 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/audio/gvolicon/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/audio/gvolicon/default.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   makeFlags = [ "PREFIX=$(out)" ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-D_POSIX_C_SOURCE" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-D_POSIX_C_SOURCE";
 
   meta = {
     description = "A simple and lightweight volume icon that sits in your system tray";
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/filesystems/irods/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/filesystems/irods/default.nix
index 56fc2e40ba2..b6099c099f3 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/filesystems/irods/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/filesystems/irods/default.nix
@@ -30,11 +30,8 @@ in rec {
     #                         but we don't use /usr with nix, so remove only 2 items.
     patches = [ ./irods_root_path.patch ];
 
-    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [
-      # fix build with recent llvm versions
-      "-Wno-deprecated-register"
-      "-Wno-deprecated-declarations"
-    ];
+    # fix build with recent llvm versions
+    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-deprecated-register -Wno-deprecated-declarations";
 
     preConfigure = common.preConfigure + ''
       patchShebangs ./test
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/ldmtool/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/ldmtool/default.nix
index d1d3996bd62..734586fb1ab 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/ldmtool/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/ldmtool/default.nix
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
    '';
 
    # glib-2.62 deprecations
-   NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS" ];
+   NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DGLIB_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS";
 
    configureScript = "sh autogen.sh";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/security/gpgstats/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/security/gpgstats/default.nix
index 34e8c7bd679..c3a14f62c76 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/security/gpgstats/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/security/gpgstats/default.nix
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     cp gpgstats $out/bin
   '';
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = stdenv.lib.optionals (!stdenv.is64bit)
-    [ "-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64" "-DLARGEFILE_SOURCE=1" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = stdenv.lib.optionalString (!stdenv.is64bit)
+    "-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DLARGEFILE_SOURCE=1";
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Calculates statistics on the keys in your gpg key-ring";
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/sgml/jade/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/sgml/jade/default.nix
index b7f8bd6df38..2cc40510121 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/sgml/jade/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/sgml/jade/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ gnum4 ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-Wno-deprecated" ];
+  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-deprecated";
 
   preInstall = ''
     install -d -m755 "$out"/lib
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
index a9571032053..48d368c92ca 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix
@@ -19245,7 +19245,7 @@ let
       sha256 = "0avk50kia78kxryh2whmaj5l18q2wvmkdyqyjsf6kwr4kgy6x3i7";
     };
     # https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=124815
-    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DHAS_VPRINTF" ];
+    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-DHAS_VPRINTF";
   };
 
   TextUnidecode = buildPerlPackage {
@@ -20332,7 +20332,7 @@ let
     AUTOMATED_TESTING = false;
     buildInputs = [ pkgs.xorg.libxcb pkgs.xorg.xcbproto pkgs.xorg.xcbutil pkgs.xorg.xcbutilwm ExtUtilsDepends ExtUtilsPkgConfig TestDeep TestException XSObjectMagic ];
     propagatedBuildInputs = [ DataDump MouseXNativeTraits XMLDescent XMLSimple ];
-    NIX_CFLAGS_LINK = [ "-lxcb" "-lxcb-util" "-lxcb-xinerama" "-lxcb-icccm" ];
+    NIX_CFLAGS_LINK = "-lxcb -lxcb-util -lxcb-xinerama -lxcb-icccm";
     doCheck = false; # requires an X server
     meta = {
       description = "XCB bindings for X";