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-rw-r--r--.gitignore13
-rw-r--r--Makefile.config.in1
-rw-r--r--configure.ac7
-rw-r--r--corepkgs/fetchurl.nix3
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml27
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml4
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/local.mk9
-rwxr-xr-xmaintainers/upload-release.pl31
-rw-r--r--misc/docker/Dockerfile4
-rw-r--r--misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in2
-rw-r--r--release.nix3
-rw-r--r--scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh4
-rw-r--r--scripts/nix-profile.sh.in14
-rw-r--r--src/download-via-ssh/download-via-ssh.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/libexpr/common-opts.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/libexpr/names.cc4
-rw-r--r--src/libexpr/names.hh4
-rw-r--r--src/libexpr/parser.y6
-rw-r--r--src/libexpr/primops.cc40
-rw-r--r--src/libmain/shared.cc22
-rw-r--r--src/libmain/stack.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/binary-cache-store.cc178
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/binary-cache-store.hh36
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/build.cc144
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/builtins.cc10
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/derivations.cc47
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/download.cc590
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/download.hh39
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/export-import.cc10
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/gc.cc36
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/globals.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc51
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/local-binary-cache-store.cc24
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/local-store.cc124
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/local-store.hh15
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/misc.cc104
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/optimise-store.cc22
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/pathlocks.cc4
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/profiles.cc4
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/remote-store.cc110
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/remote-store.hh9
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc60
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.hh2
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/sqlite.cc4
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/store-api.cc170
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/store-api.hh25
-rw-r--r--src/libstore/worker-protocol.hh2
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/affinity.cc6
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/archive.cc6
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/args.hh2
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/finally.hh2
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/json.cc10
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/json.hh2
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/logging.cc14
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/logging.hh11
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/regex.cc50
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/regex.hh29
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/serialise.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/sync.hh8
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/thread-pool.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/types.hh69
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/util.cc125
-rw-r--r--src/libutil/util.hh75
-rwxr-xr-xsrc/nix-build/nix-build.cc194
-rwxr-xr-xsrc/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc8
-rw-r--r--src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/nix-daemon/nix-daemon.cc14
-rw-r--r--src/nix-env/nix-env.cc22
-rw-r--r--src/nix-env/user-env.cc2
-rw-r--r--src/nix-prefetch-url/nix-prefetch-url.cc8
-rw-r--r--src/nix-store/nix-store.cc6
-rw-r--r--src/nix/path-info.cc10
-rw-r--r--src/nix/sigs.cc4
-rw-r--r--src/nix/verify.cc10
-rw-r--r--src/resolve-system-dependencies/resolve-system-dependencies.cc4
-rw-r--r--tests/common.sh.in2
-rw-r--r--tests/gc-runtime.sh2
-rw-r--r--tests/simple.sh2
-rw-r--r--tests/tarball.sh6
79 files changed, 1802 insertions, 933 deletions
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 04dd791964f2..9b4ae6e151cd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -34,14 +34,7 @@ Makefile.config
 
 # /scripts/
 /scripts/nix-profile.sh
-/scripts/nix-switch
-/scripts/nix-collect-garbage
-/scripts/nix-prefetch-url
 /scripts/nix-copy-closure
-/scripts/NixConfig.pm
-/scripts/NixManifest.pm
-/scripts/download-from-binary-cache.pl
-/scripts/find-runtime-roots.pl
 /scripts/build-remote.pl
 /scripts/nix-reduce-build
 /scripts/nix-http-export.cgi
@@ -58,6 +51,8 @@ Makefile.config
 /src/libstore/schema.sql.hh
 /src/libstore/sandbox-defaults.sb
 
+/src/nix/nix
+
 # /src/nix-env/
 /src/nix-env/nix-env
 
@@ -67,9 +62,13 @@ Makefile.config
 # /src/nix-store/
 /src/nix-store/nix-store
 
+/src/nix-prefetch-url/nix-prefetch-url
+
 # /src/nix-daemon/
 /src/nix-daemon/nix-daemon
 
+/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage
+
 # /src/nix-channel/
 /src/nix-channel/nix-channel
 
diff --git a/Makefile.config.in b/Makefile.config.in
index 3e7847e365c7..2db7172b15c9 100644
--- a/Makefile.config.in
+++ b/Makefile.config.in
@@ -33,5 +33,6 @@ pkglibdir = $(libdir)/$(PACKAGE_NAME)
 prefix = @prefix@
 storedir = @storedir@
 sysconfdir = @sysconfdir@
+doc_generate = @doc_generate@
 xmllint = @xmllint@
 xsltproc = @xsltproc@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1ae0e782d3b5..91ed9947abdd 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -265,6 +265,13 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(init-state, AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-init-state],
 #AM_CONDITIONAL(INIT_STATE, test "$init_state" = "yes")
 
 
+# documentation generation switch
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(doc-gen, AC_HELP_STRING([--disable-doc-gen],
+  [disable documentation generation]),
+  doc_generate=$enableval, doc_generate=yes)
+AC_SUBST(doc_generate)
+
+
 # Setuid installations.
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([setresuid setreuid lchown])
 
diff --git a/corepkgs/fetchurl.nix b/corepkgs/fetchurl.nix
index 613c25364cc3..042705b1abb0 100644
--- a/corepkgs/fetchurl.nix
+++ b/corepkgs/fetchurl.nix
@@ -33,4 +33,7 @@ derivation {
     # by definition pure.
     "http_proxy" "https_proxy" "ftp_proxy" "all_proxy" "no_proxy"
   ];
+
+  # To make "nix-prefetch-url" work.
+  urls = [ url ];
 }
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
index fb7bdf573397..d2c9145e0505 100644
--- a/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
@@ -268,7 +268,12 @@ flag, e.g. <literal>--option gc-keep-outputs false</literal>.</para>
     to mount a path in a different location in the sandbox; for
     instance, <literal>/bin=/nix-bin</literal> will mount the path
     <literal>/nix-bin</literal> as <literal>/bin</literal> inside the
-    sandbox.</para>
+    sandbox. If <replaceable>source</replaceable> is followed by
+    <literal>?</literal>, then it is not an error if
+    <replaceable>source</replaceable> does not exist; for example,
+    <literal>/dev/nvidiactl?</literal> specifies that
+    <filename>/dev/nvidiactl</filename> will only be mounted in the
+    sandbox if it exists in the host filesystem.</para>
 
     <para>Depending on how Nix was built, the default value for this option
     may be empty or provide <filename>/bin/sh</filename> as a
@@ -408,10 +413,9 @@ flag, e.g. <literal>--option gc-keep-outputs false</literal>.</para>
 
   <varlistentry><term><literal>binary-caches-parallel-connections</literal></term>
 
-    <listitem><para>The maximum number of parallel HTTP connections
-    used by the binary cache substituter to get NAR info files.  This
-    number should be high to minimise latency.  It defaults to
-    25.</para></listitem>
+    <listitem><para>The maximum number of parallel TCP connections
+    used to fetch files from binary caches and by other downloads. It
+    defaults to 25. 0 means no limit.</para></listitem>
 
   </varlistentry>
 
@@ -603,6 +607,19 @@ flag, e.g. <literal>--option gc-keep-outputs false</literal>.</para>
   </varlistentry>
 
 
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-sandbox-dev-shm-size"><term><literal>sandbox-dev-shm-size</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This option determines the maximum size of the
+    <literal>tmpfs</literal> filesystem mounted on
+    <filename>/dev/shm</filename> in Linux sandboxes. For the format,
+    see the description of the <option>size</option> option of
+    <literal>tmpfs</literal> in
+    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>. The
+    default is <literal>50%</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
 </variablelist>
 
 </para>
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml
index 6ac802343236..9517f20106ef 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml
@@ -995,9 +995,9 @@ in foo</programlisting>
     <listitem><para>Convert the expression
     <replaceable>e</replaceable> to a string.
     <replaceable>e</replaceable> can be a string (in which case
-    <function>toString</function> is a no-op) or a path (e.g.,
+    <function>toString</function> is a no-op), a path (e.g.,
     <literal>toString /foo/bar</literal> yields
-    <literal>"/foo/bar"</literal>.</para></listitem>
+    <literal>"/foo/bar"</literal> or a set containing <literal>{ __toString = self: ...; }</literal>.</para></listitem>
 
   </varlistentry>
 
diff --git a/doc/manual/local.mk b/doc/manual/local.mk
index d89555899a70..4376c3644d38 100644
--- a/doc/manual/local.mk
+++ b/doc/manual/local.mk
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+
+ifeq ($(doc_generate),yes)
+
 XSLTPROC = $(xsltproc) --nonet $(xmlflags) \
   --param section.autolabel 1 \
   --param section.label.includes.component.label 1 \
@@ -71,8 +74,14 @@ $(foreach file, $(wildcard $(d)/images/callouts/*.gif), $(eval $(call install-da
 
 $(eval $(call install-symlink, manual.html, $(docdir)/manual/index.html))
 
+
 all: $(d)/manual.html
 
+
+
 clean-files += $(d)/manual.html
 
 dist-files += $(d)/manual.html
+
+
+endif
diff --git a/maintainers/upload-release.pl b/maintainers/upload-release.pl
index 5c6bb5685fcc..6c9a724dd6a8 100755
--- a/maintainers/upload-release.pl
+++ b/maintainers/upload-release.pl
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use LWP::UserAgent;
 my $evalId = $ARGV[0] or die "Usage: $0 EVAL-ID\n";
 
 my $releasesDir = "/home/eelco/mnt/releases";
+my $nixpkgsDir = "/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-pristine";
 
 # FIXME: cut&paste from nixos-channel-scripts.
 sub fetch {
@@ -84,6 +85,36 @@ my ($tarball_i686_linux, $tarball_i686_linux_hash) = downloadFile("binaryTarball
 my ($tarball_x86_64_linux, $tarball_x86_64_linux_hash) = downloadFile("binaryTarball.x86_64-linux", "1");
 my ($tarball_x86_64_darwin, $tarball_x86_64_darwin_hash) = downloadFile("binaryTarball.x86_64-darwin", "1");
 
+# Update Nixpkgs in a very hacky way.
+my $oldName = `nix-instantiate --eval $nixpkgsDir -A nix.name`; chomp $oldName;
+my $oldHash = `nix-instantiate --eval $nixpkgsDir -A nix.src.outputHash`; chomp $oldHash;
+print STDERR "old stable version in Nixpkgs = $oldName / $oldHash\n";
+
+my $fn = "$nixpkgsDir/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/default.nix";
+my $oldFile = read_file($fn);
+$oldFile =~ s/$oldName/"$releaseName"/g;
+$oldFile =~ s/$oldHash/"$tarballHash"/g;
+write_file($fn, $oldFile);
+
+$oldName =~ s/nix-//g;
+$oldName =~ s/"//g;
+
+sub getStorePath {
+    my ($jobName) = @_;
+    my $buildInfo = decode_json(fetch("$evalUrl/job/$jobName", 'application/json'));
+    die unless $buildInfo->{buildproducts}->{1}->{type} eq "nix-build";
+    return $buildInfo->{buildproducts}->{1}->{path};
+}
+
+write_file("$nixpkgsDir/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nix-fallback-paths.nix",
+           "{\n" .
+           "  x86_64-linux = \"" . getStorePath("build.x86_64-linux") . "\";\n" .
+           "  i686-linux = \"" . getStorePath("build.i686-linux") . "\";\n" .
+           "  x86_64-darwin = \"" . getStorePath("build.x86_64-darwin") . "\";\n" .
+           "}\n");
+
+system("cd $nixpkgsDir && git commit -a -m 'nix: $oldName -> $version'") == 0 or die;
+
 # Extract the HTML manual.
 File::Path::make_path("$releaseDir/manual");
 
diff --git a/misc/docker/Dockerfile b/misc/docker/Dockerfile
index 20171d250207..7b2865c946d3 100644
--- a/misc/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/misc/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ ONBUILD ENV \
     ENV=/etc/profile \
     PATH=/root/.nix-profile/bin:/root/.nix-profile/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin \
     GIT_SSL_CAINFO=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
-    SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
+    NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
 
 ENV \
     ENV=/etc/profile \
     PATH=/root/.nix-profile/bin:/root/.nix-profile/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin \
     GIT_SSL_CAINFO=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
-    SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
+    NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/root/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt \
     NIX_PATH=/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/
diff --git a/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in b/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
index 0dd665db635f..c5ef97ee9a3f 100644
--- a/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
+++ b/misc/launchd/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist.in
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     <string>/dev/null</string>
     <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
     <dict>
-      <key>SSL_CERT_FILE</key>
+      <key>NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE</key>
       <string>/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt</string>
     </dict>
   </dict>
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index d236cdae9bf0..6b16bc718a31 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ let
 
         buildInputs =
           [ curl bison flex perl libxml2 libxslt bzip2 xz
-            pkgconfig sqlite libsodium
+            pkgconfig sqlite libsodium boehmgc
             docbook5 docbook5_xsl
             autoconf-archive
           ] ++ lib.optional (!lib.inNixShell) git;
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ let
           --with-dbi=${perlPackages.DBI}/${perl.libPrefix}
           --with-dbd-sqlite=${perlPackages.DBDSQLite}/${perl.libPrefix}
           --with-www-curl=${perlPackages.WWWCurl}/${perl.libPrefix}
+          --enable-gc
         '';
 
         postUnpack = ''
diff --git a/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh b/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
index a6b764bcb3b2..3b8c97ed26a1 100644
--- a/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
@@ -76,9 +76,9 @@ if ! $nix/bin/nix-env -i "$nix"; then
 fi
 
 # Install an SSL certificate bundle.
-if [ -z "$SSL_CERT_FILE" -o ! -f "$SSL_CERT_FILE" ]; then
+if [ -z "$NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE" -o ! -f "$NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE" ]; then
     $nix/bin/nix-env -i "$cacert"
-    export SSL_CERT_FILE="$HOME/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
+    export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$HOME/.nix-profile/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
 fi
 
 # Subscribe the user to the Nixpkgs channel and fetch it.
diff --git a/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in b/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in
index 41111848b2f3..3cdf431041cb 100644
--- a/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in
+++ b/scripts/nix-profile.sh.in
@@ -66,19 +66,19 @@ if [ -n "$HOME" ] && [ -n "$USER" ]; then
         fi
     done
 
-    # Set $SSL_CERT_FILE so that Nixpkgs applications like curl work.
+    # Set $NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE so that Nixpkgs applications like curl work.
     if [ -e /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt ]; then # NixOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Arch
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
     elif [ -e /etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem ]; then # openSUSE Tumbleweed
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem
     elif [ -e /etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt ]; then # Old NixOS
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
     elif [ -e /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt ]; then # Fedora, CentOS
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
     elif [ -e "$NIX_LINK/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt" ]; then # fall back to cacert in Nix profile
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
     elif [ -e "$NIX_LINK/etc/ca-bundle.crt" ]; then # old cacert in Nix profile
-        export SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ca-bundle.crt"
+        export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_LINK/etc/ca-bundle.crt"
     fi
 
     if [ -n ${MANPATH} ]; then
diff --git a/src/download-via-ssh/download-via-ssh.cc b/src/download-via-ssh/download-via-ssh.cc
index ed551ac461fb..ff28a60ff4b0 100644
--- a/src/download-via-ssh/download-via-ssh.cc
+++ b/src/download-via-ssh/download-via-ssh.cc
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ int main(int argc, char * * argv)
                 throw UsageError("download-via-ssh: --substitute takes exactly two arguments");
             Path storePath = argv[2];
             Path destPath = argv[3];
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("downloading ‘%1%’ via SSH from ‘%2%’...") % storePath % host);
+            printError(format("downloading ‘%1%’ via SSH from ‘%2%’...") % storePath % host);
             substitute(pipes, storePath, destPath);
         }
         else
diff --git a/src/libexpr/common-opts.cc b/src/libexpr/common-opts.cc
index 8a7989aac663..06d6ed87df94 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/common-opts.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/common-opts.cc
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ bool parseSearchPathArg(Strings::iterator & i,
 Path lookupFileArg(EvalState & state, string s)
 {
     if (isUri(s))
-        return makeDownloader()->downloadCached(state.store, s, true);
+        return getDownloader()->downloadCached(state.store, s, true);
     else if (s.size() > 2 && s.at(0) == '<' && s.at(s.size() - 1) == '>') {
         Path p = s.substr(1, s.size() - 2);
         return state.findFile(p);
diff --git a/src/libexpr/names.cc b/src/libexpr/names.cc
index 7bca9b6550be..6d78d2116121 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/names.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/names.cc
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ DrvName::DrvName(const string & s) : hits(0)
 bool DrvName::matches(DrvName & n)
 {
     if (name != "*") {
-        if (!regex) regex = std::shared_ptr<Regex>(new Regex(name));
-        if (!regex->matches(n.name)) return false;
+        if (!regex) regex = std::unique_ptr<std::regex>(new std::regex(name, std::regex::extended));
+        if (!std::regex_match(n.name, *regex)) return false;
     }
     if (version != "" && version != n.version) return false;
     return true;
diff --git a/src/libexpr/names.hh b/src/libexpr/names.hh
index 4b3dcddf70d7..9667fc96fd0f 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/names.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/names.hh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #include <memory>
 
 #include "types.hh"
-#include "regex.hh"
+#include <regex>
 
 namespace nix {
 
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ struct DrvName
     bool matches(DrvName & n);
 
 private:
-    std::shared_ptr<Regex> regex;
+    std::unique_ptr<std::regex> regex;
 };
 
 typedef list<DrvName> DrvNames;
diff --git a/src/libexpr/parser.y b/src/libexpr/parser.y
index 776e5cb39b81..d07eedddaf6b 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/parser.y
+++ b/src/libexpr/parser.y
@@ -662,9 +662,9 @@ std::pair<bool, std::string> EvalState::resolveSearchPathElem(const SearchPathEl
                 // FIXME: support specifying revision/branch
                 res = { true, exportGit(store, elem.second, "master") };
             else
-                res = { true, makeDownloader()->downloadCached(store, elem.second, true) };
+                res = { true, getDownloader()->downloadCached(store, elem.second, true) };
         } catch (DownloadError & e) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: Nix search path entry ‘%1%’ cannot be downloaded, ignoring") % elem.second);
+            printError(format("warning: Nix search path entry ‘%1%’ cannot be downloaded, ignoring") % elem.second);
             res = { false, "" };
         }
     } else {
@@ -672,7 +672,7 @@ std::pair<bool, std::string> EvalState::resolveSearchPathElem(const SearchPathEl
         if (pathExists(path))
             res = { true, path };
         else {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: Nix search path entry ‘%1%’ does not exist, ignoring") % elem.second);
+            printError(format("warning: Nix search path entry ‘%1%’ does not exist, ignoring") % elem.second);
             res = { false, "" };
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.cc b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
index 3b965f209bb2..4398cc951da2 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <cstring>
+#include <regex>
 #include <dlfcn.h>
 
 
@@ -427,9 +428,9 @@ static void prim_trace(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
 {
     state.forceValue(*args[0]);
     if (args[0]->type == tString)
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("trace: %1%") % args[0]->string.s);
+        printError(format("trace: %1%") % args[0]->string.s);
     else
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("trace: %1%") % *args[0]);
+        printError(format("trace: %1%") % *args[0]);
     state.forceValue(*args[1]);
     v = *args[1];
 }
@@ -1515,10 +1516,16 @@ static void prim_div(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value &
     NixFloat f2 = state.forceFloat(*args[1], pos);
     if (f2 == 0) throw EvalError(format("division by zero, at %1%") % pos);
 
-    if (args[0]->type == tFloat || args[1]->type == tFloat)
+    if (args[0]->type == tFloat || args[1]->type == tFloat) {
         mkFloat(v, state.forceFloat(*args[0], pos) / state.forceFloat(*args[1], pos));
-    else
-        mkInt(v, state.forceInt(*args[0], pos) / state.forceInt(*args[1], pos));
+    } else {
+        NixInt i1 = state.forceInt(*args[0], pos);
+        NixInt i2 = state.forceInt(*args[1], pos);
+        /* Avoid division overflow as it might raise SIGFPE. */
+        if (i1 == std::numeric_limits<NixInt>::min() && i2 == -1)
+            throw EvalError(format("overflow in integer division, at %1%") % pos);
+        mkInt(v, i1 / i2);
+    }
 }
 
 
@@ -1618,25 +1625,26 @@ static void prim_hashString(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args,
    ‘null’ or a list containing substring matches. */
 static void prim_match(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    Regex regex(state.forceStringNoCtx(*args[0], pos), true);
+    std::regex regex(state.forceStringNoCtx(*args[0], pos), std::regex::extended);
 
     PathSet context;
-    string s = state.forceString(*args[1], context, pos);
+    const std::string str = state.forceString(*args[1], context, pos);
+
 
-    Regex::Subs subs;
-    if (!regex.matches(s, subs)) {
+    std::smatch match;
+    if (!std::regex_match(str, match, regex)) {
         mkNull(v);
         return;
     }
 
-    unsigned int len = subs.empty() ? 0 : subs.rbegin()->first + 1;
+    // the first match is the whole string
+    const size_t len = match.size() - 1;
     state.mkList(v, len);
-    for (unsigned int n = 0; n < len; ++n) {
-        auto i = subs.find(n);
-        if (i == subs.end())
-            mkNull(*(v.listElems()[n] = state.allocValue()));
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < len; ++i) {
+        if (!match[i+1].matched)
+            mkNull(*(v.listElems()[i] = state.allocValue()));
         else
-            mkString(*(v.listElems()[n] = state.allocValue()), i->second);
+            mkString(*(v.listElems()[i] = state.allocValue()), match[i + 1].str().c_str());
     }
 }
 
@@ -1769,7 +1777,7 @@ void fetch(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v,
     if (state.restricted && !expectedHash)
         throw Error(format("‘%1%’ is not allowed in restricted mode") % who);
 
-    Path res = makeDownloader()->downloadCached(state.store, url, unpack, name, expectedHash);
+    Path res = getDownloader()->downloadCached(state.store, url, unpack, name, expectedHash);
     mkString(v, res, PathSet({res}));
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libmain/shared.cc b/src/libmain/shared.cc
index 5af7c46e86da..0c6e3fb76d64 100644
--- a/src/libmain/shared.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/shared.cc
@@ -56,26 +56,26 @@ void printMissing(ref<Store> store, const PathSet & willBuild,
     unsigned long long downloadSize, unsigned long long narSize)
 {
     if (!willBuild.empty()) {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("these derivations will be built:"));
+        printInfo(format("these derivations will be built:"));
         Paths sorted = store->topoSortPaths(willBuild);
         reverse(sorted.begin(), sorted.end());
         for (auto & i : sorted)
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format("  %1%") % i);
+            printInfo(format("  %1%") % i);
     }
 
     if (!willSubstitute.empty()) {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("these paths will be fetched (%.2f MiB download, %.2f MiB unpacked):")
+        printInfo(format("these paths will be fetched (%.2f MiB download, %.2f MiB unpacked):")
             % (downloadSize / (1024.0 * 1024.0))
             % (narSize / (1024.0 * 1024.0)));
         for (auto & i : willSubstitute)
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format("  %1%") % i);
+            printInfo(format("  %1%") % i);
     }
 
     if (!unknown.empty()) {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("don't know how to build these paths%1%:")
+        printInfo(format("don't know how to build these paths%1%:")
             % (settings.readOnlyMode ? " (may be caused by read-only store access)" : ""));
         for (auto & i : unknown)
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format("  %1%") % i);
+            printInfo(format("  %1%") % i);
     }
 }
 
@@ -282,20 +282,20 @@ int handleExceptions(const string & programName, std::function<void()> fun)
     } catch (Exit & e) {
         return e.status;
     } catch (UsageError & e) {
-        printMsg(lvlError,
+        printError(
             format(error + "%1%\nTry ‘%2% --help’ for more information.")
             % e.what() % programName);
         return 1;
     } catch (BaseError & e) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format(error + "%1%%2%") % (settings.showTrace ? e.prefix() : "") % e.msg());
+        printError(format(error + "%1%%2%") % (settings.showTrace ? e.prefix() : "") % e.msg());
         if (e.prefix() != "" && !settings.showTrace)
-            printMsg(lvlError, "(use ‘--show-trace’ to show detailed location information)");
+            printError("(use ‘--show-trace’ to show detailed location information)");
         return e.status;
     } catch (std::bad_alloc & e) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, error + "out of memory");
+        printError(error + "out of memory");
         return 1;
     } catch (std::exception & e) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, error + e.what());
+        printError(error + e.what());
         return 1;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/libmain/stack.cc b/src/libmain/stack.cc
index 41b617d98be2..abf59dc4baa6 100644
--- a/src/libmain/stack.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/stack.cc
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ static void sigsegvHandler(int signo, siginfo_t * info, void * ctx)
         if (diff < 0) diff = -diff;
         if (diff < 4096) {
             char msg[] = "error: stack overflow (possible infinite recursion)\n";
-            (void) write(2, msg, strlen(msg));
+            [[gnu::unused]] int res = write(2, msg, strlen(msg));
             _exit(1); // maybe abort instead?
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.cc b/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.cc
index ab80e4032f04..3e07a2aa2b60 100644
--- a/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.cc
@@ -8,14 +8,79 @@
 #include "sync.hh"
 #include "remote-fs-accessor.hh"
 #include "nar-info-disk-cache.hh"
+#include "nar-accessor.hh"
+#include "json.hh"
 
 #include <chrono>
 
+#include <future>
+
 namespace nix {
 
+/* Given requests for a path /nix/store/<x>/<y>, this accessor will
+   first download the NAR for /nix/store/<x> from the binary cache,
+   build a NAR accessor for that NAR, and use that to access <y>. */
+struct BinaryCacheStoreAccessor : public FSAccessor
+{
+    ref<BinaryCacheStore> store;
+
+    std::map<Path, ref<FSAccessor>> nars;
+
+    BinaryCacheStoreAccessor(ref<BinaryCacheStore> store)
+        : store(store)
+    {
+    }
+
+    std::pair<ref<FSAccessor>, Path> fetch(const Path & path_)
+    {
+        auto path = canonPath(path_);
+
+        auto storePath = store->toStorePath(path);
+        std::string restPath = std::string(path, storePath.size());
+
+        if (!store->isValidPath(storePath))
+            throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%1%’ is not a valid store path") % storePath);
+
+        auto i = nars.find(storePath);
+        if (i != nars.end()) return {i->second, restPath};
+
+        StringSink sink;
+        store->narFromPath(storePath, sink);
+
+        auto accessor = makeNarAccessor(sink.s);
+        nars.emplace(storePath, accessor);
+        return {accessor, restPath};
+    }
+
+    Stat stat(const Path & path) override
+    {
+        auto res = fetch(path);
+        return res.first->stat(res.second);
+    }
+
+    StringSet readDirectory(const Path & path) override
+    {
+        auto res = fetch(path);
+        return res.first->readDirectory(res.second);
+    }
+
+    std::string readFile(const Path & path) override
+    {
+        auto res = fetch(path);
+        return res.first->readFile(res.second);
+    }
+
+    std::string readLink(const Path & path) override
+    {
+        auto res = fetch(path);
+        return res.first->readLink(res.second);
+    }
+};
+
 BinaryCacheStore::BinaryCacheStore(const Params & params)
     : Store(params)
     , compression(get(params, "compression", "xz"))
+    , writeNARListing(get(params, "write-nar-listing", "0") == "1")
 {
     auto secretKeyFile = get(params, "secret-key", "");
     if (secretKeyFile != "")
@@ -57,14 +122,27 @@ void BinaryCacheStore::notImpl()
     throw Error("operation not implemented for binary cache stores");
 }
 
+std::shared_ptr<std::string> BinaryCacheStore::getFile(const std::string & path)
+{
+    std::promise<std::shared_ptr<std::string>> promise;
+    getFile(path,
+        [&](std::shared_ptr<std::string> result) {
+            promise.set_value(result);
+        },
+        [&](std::exception_ptr exc) {
+            promise.set_exception(exc);
+        });
+    return promise.get_future().get();
+}
+
 Path BinaryCacheStore::narInfoFileFor(const Path & storePath)
 {
     assertStorePath(storePath);
     return storePathToHash(storePath) + ".narinfo";
 }
 
-void BinaryCacheStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
-    bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs)
+void BinaryCacheStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> & nar,
+    bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs, std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor)
 {
     if (!repair && isValidPath(info.path)) return;
 
@@ -81,20 +159,83 @@ void BinaryCacheStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string
 
     auto narInfoFile = narInfoFileFor(info.path);
 
-    assert(nar.compare(0, narMagic.size(), narMagic) == 0);
+    assert(nar->compare(0, narMagic.size(), narMagic) == 0);
 
     auto narInfo = make_ref<NarInfo>(info);
 
-    narInfo->narSize = nar.size();
-    narInfo->narHash = hashString(htSHA256, nar);
+    narInfo->narSize = nar->size();
+    narInfo->narHash = hashString(htSHA256, *nar);
 
     if (info.narHash && info.narHash != narInfo->narHash)
         throw Error(format("refusing to copy corrupted path ‘%1%’ to binary cache") % info.path);
 
+    auto accessor_ = std::dynamic_pointer_cast<BinaryCacheStoreAccessor>(accessor);
+
+    /* Optionally write a JSON file containing a listing of the
+       contents of the NAR. */
+    if (writeNARListing) {
+        std::ostringstream jsonOut;
+
+        {
+            JSONObject jsonRoot(jsonOut);
+            jsonRoot.attr("version", 1);
+
+            auto narAccessor = makeNarAccessor(nar);
+
+            if (accessor_)
+                accessor_->nars.emplace(info.path, narAccessor);
+
+            std::function<void(const Path &, JSONPlaceholder &)> recurse;
+
+            recurse = [&](const Path & path, JSONPlaceholder & res) {
+                auto st = narAccessor->stat(path);
+
+                auto obj = res.object();
+
+                switch (st.type) {
+                case FSAccessor::Type::tRegular:
+                    obj.attr("type", "regular");
+                    obj.attr("size", st.fileSize);
+                    if (st.isExecutable)
+                        obj.attr("executable", true);
+                    break;
+                case FSAccessor::Type::tDirectory:
+                    obj.attr("type", "directory");
+                    {
+                        auto res2 = obj.object("entries");
+                        for (auto & name : narAccessor->readDirectory(path)) {
+                            auto res3 = res2.placeholder(name);
+                            recurse(path + "/" + name, res3);
+                        }
+                    }
+                    break;
+                case FSAccessor::Type::tSymlink:
+                    obj.attr("type", "symlink");
+                    obj.attr("target", narAccessor->readLink(path));
+                    break;
+                default:
+                    abort();
+                }
+            };
+
+            {
+                auto res = jsonRoot.placeholder("root");
+                recurse("", res);
+            }
+        }
+
+        upsertFile(storePathToHash(info.path) + ".ls.xz", *compress("xz", jsonOut.str()));
+    }
+
+    else {
+        if (accessor_)
+            accessor_->nars.emplace(info.path, makeNarAccessor(nar));
+    }
+
     /* Compress the NAR. */
     narInfo->compression = compression;
     auto now1 = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
-    auto narCompressed = compress(compression, nar);
+    auto narCompressed = compress(compression, *nar);
     auto now2 = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
     narInfo->fileHash = hashString(htSHA256, *narCompressed);
     narInfo->fileSize = narCompressed->size();
@@ -102,7 +243,7 @@ void BinaryCacheStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string
     auto duration = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(now2 - now1).count();
     printMsg(lvlTalkative, format("copying path ‘%1%’ (%2% bytes, compressed %3$.1f%% in %4% ms) to binary cache")
         % narInfo->path % narInfo->narSize
-        % ((1.0 - (double) narCompressed->size() / nar.size()) * 100.0)
+        % ((1.0 - (double) narCompressed->size() / nar->size()) * 100.0)
         % duration);
 
     /* Atomically write the NAR file. */
@@ -116,7 +257,7 @@ void BinaryCacheStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string
     } else
         stats.narWriteAverted++;
 
-    stats.narWriteBytes += nar.size();
+    stats.narWriteBytes += nar->size();
     stats.narWriteCompressedBytes += narCompressed->size();
     stats.narWriteCompressionTimeMs += duration;
 
@@ -175,17 +316,22 @@ void BinaryCacheStore::narFromPath(const Path & storePath, Sink & sink)
     sink((unsigned char *) nar->c_str(), nar->size());
 }
 
-std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> BinaryCacheStore::queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & storePath)
+void BinaryCacheStore::queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & storePath,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure)
 {
     auto narInfoFile = narInfoFileFor(storePath);
-    auto data = getFile(narInfoFile);
-    if (!data) return 0;
 
-    auto narInfo = make_ref<NarInfo>(*this, *data, narInfoFile);
+    getFile(narInfoFile,
+        [=](std::shared_ptr<std::string> data) {
+            if (!data) return success(0);
 
-    stats.narInfoRead++;
+            stats.narInfoRead++;
 
-    return std::shared_ptr<NarInfo>(narInfo);
+            callSuccess(success, failure, (std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)
+                std::make_shared<NarInfo>(*this, *data, narInfoFile));
+        },
+        failure);
 }
 
 Path BinaryCacheStore::addToStore(const string & name, const Path & srcPath,
@@ -210,7 +356,7 @@ Path BinaryCacheStore::addToStore(const string & name, const Path & srcPath,
     ValidPathInfo info;
     info.path = makeFixedOutputPath(recursive, h, name);
 
-    addToStore(info, *sink.s, repair);
+    addToStore(info, sink.s, repair, false, 0);
 
     return info.path;
 }
@@ -225,7 +371,7 @@ Path BinaryCacheStore::addTextToStore(const string & name, const string & s,
     if (repair || !isValidPath(info.path)) {
         StringSink sink;
         dumpString(s, sink);
-        addToStore(info, *sink.s, repair);
+        addToStore(info, sink.s, repair, false, 0);
     }
 
     return info.path;
diff --git a/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.hh b/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.hh
index 2d10179f32ab..31878bbb2476 100644
--- a/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/binary-cache-store.hh
@@ -19,19 +19,29 @@ private:
 
     std::string compression;
 
+    bool writeNARListing;
+
 protected:
 
     BinaryCacheStore(const Params & params);
 
     [[noreturn]] void notImpl();
 
+public:
+
     virtual bool fileExists(const std::string & path) = 0;
 
     virtual void upsertFile(const std::string & path, const std::string & data) = 0;
 
     /* Return the contents of the specified file, or null if it
        doesn't exist. */
-    virtual std::shared_ptr<std::string> getFile(const std::string & path) = 0;
+    virtual void getFile(const std::string & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<std::string>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) = 0;
+
+    std::shared_ptr<std::string> getFile(const std::string & path);
+
+protected:
 
     bool wantMassQuery_ = false;
     int priority = 50;
@@ -50,13 +60,12 @@ public:
 
     bool isValidPathUncached(const Path & path) override;
 
-    PathSet queryValidPaths(const PathSet & paths) override
-    { notImpl(); }
-
     PathSet queryAllValidPaths() override
     { notImpl(); }
 
-    std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path) override;
+    void queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) override;
 
     void queryReferrers(const Path & path,
         PathSet & referrers) override
@@ -83,23 +92,24 @@ public:
 
     bool wantMassQuery() override { return wantMassQuery_; }
 
-    void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
-        bool repair = false, bool dontCheckSigs = false) override;
+    void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> & nar,
+        bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs,
+        std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor) override;
 
     Path addToStore(const string & name, const Path & srcPath,
-        bool recursive = true, HashType hashAlgo = htSHA256,
-        PathFilter & filter = defaultPathFilter, bool repair = false) override;
+        bool recursive, HashType hashAlgo,
+        PathFilter & filter, bool repair) override;
 
     Path addTextToStore(const string & name, const string & s,
-        const PathSet & references, bool repair = false) override;
+        const PathSet & references, bool repair) override;
 
     void narFromPath(const Path & path, Sink & sink) override;
 
-    void buildPaths(const PathSet & paths, BuildMode buildMode = bmNormal) override
+    void buildPaths(const PathSet & paths, BuildMode buildMode) override
     { notImpl(); }
 
     BuildResult buildDerivation(const Path & drvPath, const BasicDerivation & drv,
-        BuildMode buildMode = bmNormal) override
+        BuildMode buildMode) override
     { notImpl(); }
 
     void ensurePath(const Path & path) override
@@ -128,6 +138,8 @@ public:
 
     ref<FSAccessor> getFSAccessor() override;
 
+public:
+
     void addSignatures(const Path & storePath, const StringSet & sigs) override
     { notImpl(); }
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/build.cc b/src/libstore/build.cc
index e0eb702a4f82..b61ea5298e1e 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build.cc
@@ -768,7 +768,14 @@ private:
     GoalState state;
 
     /* Stuff we need to pass to initChild(). */
-    typedef map<Path, Path> DirsInChroot; // maps target path to source path
+    struct ChrootPath {
+        Path source;
+        bool optional;
+        ChrootPath(Path source = "", bool optional = false)
+            : source(source), optional(optional)
+        { }
+    };
+    typedef map<Path, ChrootPath> DirsInChroot; // maps target path to source path
     DirsInChroot dirsInChroot;
     typedef map<string, string> Environment;
     Environment env;
@@ -804,6 +811,9 @@ private:
        result. */
     ValidPathInfos prevInfos;
 
+    const uid_t sandboxUid = 1000;
+    const gid_t sandboxGid = 100;
+
 public:
     DerivationGoal(const Path & drvPath, const StringSet & wantedOutputs,
         Worker & worker, BuildMode buildMode = bmNormal);
@@ -1011,7 +1021,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::loadDerivation()
     trace("loading derivation");
 
     if (nrFailed != 0) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("cannot build missing derivation ‘%1%’") % drvPath);
+        printError(format("cannot build missing derivation ‘%1%’") % drvPath);
         done(BuildResult::MiscFailure);
         return;
     }
@@ -1165,7 +1175,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::repairClosure()
     PathSet broken;
     for (auto & i : outputClosure) {
         if (worker.pathContentsGood(i)) continue;
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("found corrupted or missing path ‘%1%’ in the output closure of ‘%2%’") % i % drvPath);
+        printError(format("found corrupted or missing path ‘%1%’ in the output closure of ‘%2%’") % i % drvPath);
         Path drvPath2 = outputsToDrv[i];
         if (drvPath2 == "")
             addWaitee(worker.makeSubstitutionGoal(i, true));
@@ -1198,7 +1208,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::inputsRealised()
     if (nrFailed != 0) {
         if (!useDerivation)
             throw Error(format("some dependencies of ‘%1%’ are missing") % drvPath);
-        printMsg(lvlError,
+        printError(
             format("cannot build derivation ‘%1%’: %2% dependencies couldn't be built")
             % drvPath % nrFailed);
         done(BuildResult::DependencyFailed);
@@ -1363,7 +1373,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::tryToBuild()
         startBuilder();
 
     } catch (BuildError & e) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, e.msg());
+        printError(e.msg());
         outputLocks.unlock();
         buildUser.release();
         worker.permanentFailure = true;
@@ -1512,7 +1522,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::buildDone()
 
     } catch (BuildError & e) {
         if (!hook)
-            printMsg(lvlError, e.msg());
+            printError(e.msg());
         outputLocks.unlock();
         buildUser.release();
 
@@ -1641,7 +1651,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
         nrRounds > 1 ? "building path(s) %1% (round %2%/%3%)" :
         "building path(s) %1%");
     f.exceptions(boost::io::all_error_bits ^ boost::io::too_many_args_bit);
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, f % showPaths(missingPaths) % curRound % nrRounds);
+    printInfo(f % showPaths(missingPaths) % curRound % nrRounds);
 
     /* Right platform? */
     if (!drv->canBuildLocally()) {
@@ -1862,20 +1872,30 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
 
         dirsInChroot.clear();
 
-        for (auto & i : dirs) {
+        for (auto i : dirs) {
+            if (i.empty()) continue;
+            bool optional = false;
+            if (i[i.size() - 1] == '?') {
+                optional = true;
+                i.pop_back();
+            }
             size_t p = i.find('=');
             if (p == string::npos)
-                dirsInChroot[i] = i;
+                dirsInChroot[i] = {i, optional};
             else
-                dirsInChroot[string(i, 0, p)] = string(i, p + 1);
+                dirsInChroot[string(i, 0, p)] = {string(i, p + 1), optional};
         }
         dirsInChroot[tmpDirInSandbox] = tmpDir;
 
         /* Add the closure of store paths to the chroot. */
         PathSet closure;
         for (auto & i : dirsInChroot)
-            if (worker.store.isInStore(i.second))
-                worker.store.computeFSClosure(worker.store.toStorePath(i.second), closure);
+            try {
+                if (worker.store.isInStore(i.second.source))
+                    worker.store.computeFSClosure(worker.store.toStorePath(i.second.source), closure);
+            } catch (Error & e) {
+                throw Error(format("while processing ‘build-sandbox-paths’: %s") % e.what());
+            }
         for (auto & i : closure)
             dirsInChroot[i] = i;
 
@@ -1937,14 +1957,18 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
         createDirs(chrootRootDir + "/etc");
 
         writeFile(chrootRootDir + "/etc/passwd",
-            "root:x:0:0:Nix build user:/:/noshell\n"
-            "nobody:x:65534:65534:Nobody:/:/noshell\n");
+            (format(
+                "root:x:0:0:Nix build user:/:/noshell\n"
+                "nixbld:x:%1%:%2%:Nix build user:/:/noshell\n"
+                "nobody:x:65534:65534:Nobody:/:/noshell\n") % sandboxUid % sandboxGid).str());
 
         /* Declare the build user's group so that programs get a consistent
            view of the system (e.g., "id -gn"). */
         writeFile(chrootRootDir + "/etc/group",
-            "root:x:0:\n"
-            "nobody:x:65534:\n");
+            (format(
+                "root:x:0:\n"
+                "nixbld:!:%1%:\n"
+                "nogroup:x:65534:\n") % sandboxGid).str());
 
         /* Create /etc/hosts with localhost entry. */
         if (!fixedOutput)
@@ -2126,7 +2150,12 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
         Pid helper = startProcess([&]() {
 
             /* Drop additional groups here because we can't do it
-               after we've created the new user namespace. */
+               after we've created the new user namespace.  FIXME:
+               this means that if we're not root in the parent
+               namespace, we can't drop additional groups; they will
+               be mapped to nogroup in the child namespace. There does
+               not seem to be a workaround for this. (But who can tell
+               from reading user_namespaces(7)?)*/
             if (getuid() == 0 && setgroups(0, 0) == -1)
                 throw SysError("setgroups failed");
 
@@ -2159,19 +2188,19 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
         if (!string2Int<pid_t>(readLine(builderOut.readSide.get()), tmp)) abort();
         pid = tmp;
 
-        /* Set the UID/GID mapping of the builder's user
-           namespace such that root maps to the build user, or to the
-           calling user (if build users are disabled). */
-        uid_t targetUid = buildUser.enabled() ? buildUser.getUID() : getuid();
-        uid_t targetGid = buildUser.enabled() ? buildUser.getGID() : getgid();
+        /* Set the UID/GID mapping of the builder's user namespace
+           such that the sandbox user maps to the build user, or to
+           the calling user (if build users are disabled). */
+        uid_t hostUid = buildUser.enabled() ? buildUser.getUID() : getuid();
+        uid_t hostGid = buildUser.enabled() ? buildUser.getGID() : getgid();
 
         writeFile("/proc/" + std::to_string(pid) + "/uid_map",
-            (format("0 %d 1") % targetUid).str());
+            (format("%d %d 1") % sandboxUid % hostUid).str());
 
         writeFile("/proc/" + std::to_string(pid) + "/setgroups", "deny");
 
         writeFile("/proc/" + std::to_string(pid) + "/gid_map",
-            (format("0 %d 1") % targetGid).str());
+            (format("%d %d 1") % sandboxGid % hostGid).str());
 
         /* Signal the builder that we've updated its user
            namespace. */
@@ -2200,7 +2229,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
             if (msg.size() == 1) break;
             throw Error(string(msg, 1));
         }
-        printMsg(lvlDebug, msg);
+        debug(msg);
     }
 }
 
@@ -2284,6 +2313,8 @@ void DerivationGoal::runChild()
                 ss.push_back("/dev/tty");
                 ss.push_back("/dev/urandom");
                 ss.push_back("/dev/zero");
+                ss.push_back("/dev/ptmx");
+                ss.push_back("/dev/pts");
                 createSymlink("/proc/self/fd", chrootRootDir + "/dev/fd");
                 createSymlink("/proc/self/fd/0", chrootRootDir + "/dev/stdin");
                 createSymlink("/proc/self/fd/1", chrootRootDir + "/dev/stdout");
@@ -2307,12 +2338,16 @@ void DerivationGoal::runChild()
                environment. */
             for (auto & i : dirsInChroot) {
                 struct stat st;
-                Path source = i.second;
+                Path source = i.second.source;
                 Path target = chrootRootDir + i.first;
                 if (source == "/proc") continue; // backwards compatibility
                 debug(format("bind mounting ‘%1%’ to ‘%2%’") % source % target);
-                if (stat(source.c_str(), &st) == -1)
-                    throw SysError(format("getting attributes of path ‘%1%’") % source);
+                if (stat(source.c_str(), &st) == -1) {
+                    if (i.second.optional && errno == ENOENT)
+                        continue;
+                    else
+                        throw SysError(format("getting attributes of path ‘%1%’") % source);
+                }
                 if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode))
                     createDirs(target);
                 else {
@@ -2330,9 +2365,14 @@ void DerivationGoal::runChild()
 
             /* Mount a new tmpfs on /dev/shm to ensure that whatever
                the builder puts in /dev/shm is cleaned up automatically. */
-            if (pathExists("/dev/shm") && mount("none", (chrootRootDir + "/dev/shm").c_str(), "tmpfs", 0, 0) == -1)
+            if (pathExists("/dev/shm") && mount("none", (chrootRootDir + "/dev/shm").c_str(), "tmpfs", 0,
+                    fmt("size=%s", settings.get("sandbox-dev-shm-size", std::string("50%"))).c_str()) == -1)
                 throw SysError("mounting /dev/shm");
 
+#if 0
+            // FIXME: can't figure out how to do this in a user
+            // namespace.
+
             /* Mount a new devpts on /dev/pts.  Note that this
                requires the kernel to be compiled with
                CONFIG_DEVPTS_MULTIPLE_INSTANCES=y (which is the case
@@ -2349,6 +2389,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::runChild()
                    Linux versions, it is created with permissions 0.  */
                 chmod_(chrootRootDir + "/dev/pts/ptmx", 0666);
             }
+#endif
 
             /* Do the chroot(). */
             if (chdir(chrootRootDir.c_str()) == -1)
@@ -2369,11 +2410,12 @@ void DerivationGoal::runChild()
             if (rmdir("real-root") == -1)
                 throw SysError("cannot remove real-root directory");
 
-            /* Become root in the user namespace, which corresponds to
-               the build user or calling user in the parent namespace. */
-            if (setgid(0) == -1)
+            /* Switch to the sandbox uid/gid in the user namespace,
+               which corresponds to the build user or calling user in
+               the parent namespace. */
+            if (setgid(sandboxGid) == -1)
                 throw SysError("setgid failed");
-            if (setuid(0) == -1)
+            if (setuid(sandboxUid) == -1)
                 throw SysError("setuid failed");
 
             setUser = false;
@@ -2685,7 +2727,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::registerOutputs()
         /* Apply hash rewriting if necessary. */
         bool rewritten = false;
         if (!outputRewrites.empty()) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: rewriting hashes in ‘%1%’; cross fingers") % path);
+            printError(format("warning: rewriting hashes in ‘%1%’; cross fingers") % path);
 
             /* Canonicalise first.  This ensures that the path we're
                rewriting doesn't contain a hard link to /etc/shadow or
@@ -2724,7 +2766,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::registerOutputs()
             Hash h2 = recursive ? hashPath(h.type, actualPath).first : hashFile(h.type, actualPath);
             if (buildMode == bmHash) {
                 Path dest = worker.store.makeFixedOutputPath(recursive, h2, drv->env["name"]);
-                printMsg(lvlError, format("build produced path ‘%1%’ with %2% hash ‘%3%’")
+                printError(format("build produced path ‘%1%’ with %2% hash ‘%3%’")
                     % dest % printHashType(h.type) % printHash16or32(h2));
                 if (worker.store.isValidPath(dest))
                     return;
@@ -2948,7 +2990,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::deleteTmpDir(bool force)
 {
     if (tmpDir != "") {
         if (settings.keepFailed && !force) {
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 format("note: keeping build directory ‘%2%’")
                 % drvPath % tmpDir);
             chmod(tmpDir.c_str(), 0755);
@@ -2967,7 +3009,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::handleChildOutput(int fd, const string & data)
     {
         logSize += data.size();
         if (settings.maxLogSize && logSize > settings.maxLogSize) {
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 format("%1% killed after writing more than %2% bytes of log output")
                 % getName() % settings.maxLogSize);
             killChild();
@@ -2990,7 +3032,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::handleChildOutput(int fd, const string & data)
     }
 
     if (hook && fd == hook->fromHook.readSide.get())
-        printMsg(lvlError, data); // FIXME?
+        printError(data); // FIXME?
 }
 
 
@@ -3004,7 +3046,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::handleEOF(int fd)
 void DerivationGoal::flushLine()
 {
     if (settings.verboseBuild)
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, filterANSIEscapes(currentLogLine, true));
+        printError(filterANSIEscapes(currentLogLine, true));
     else {
         logTail.push_back(currentLogLine);
         if (logTail.size() > settings.logLines) logTail.pop_front();
@@ -3217,7 +3259,7 @@ void SubstitutionGoal::tryNext()
        signature. LocalStore::addToStore() also checks for this, but
        only after we've downloaded the path. */
     if (worker.store.requireSigs && !info->checkSignatures(worker.store, worker.store.publicKeys)) {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("warning: substituter ‘%s’ does not have a valid signature for path ‘%s’")
+        printInfo(format("warning: substituter ‘%s’ does not have a valid signature for path ‘%s’")
             % sub->getUri() % storePath);
         tryNext();
         return;
@@ -3268,7 +3310,7 @@ void SubstitutionGoal::tryToRun()
         return;
     }
 
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("fetching path ‘%1%’...") % storePath);
+    printInfo(format("fetching path ‘%1%’...") % storePath);
 
     outPipe.create();
 
@@ -3304,7 +3346,7 @@ void SubstitutionGoal::finished()
     try {
         promise.get_future().get();
     } catch (Error & e) {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, e.msg());
+        printInfo(e.msg());
 
         /* Try the next substitute. */
         state = &SubstitutionGoal::tryNext;
@@ -3466,7 +3508,7 @@ void Worker::childTerminated(Goal * goal, bool wakeSleepers)
 {
     auto i = std::find_if(children.begin(), children.end(),
         [&](const Child & child) { return child.goal2 == goal; });
-    assert(i != children.end());
+    if (i == children.end()) return;
 
     if (i->inBuildSlot) {
         assert(nrLocalBuilds > 0);
@@ -3598,7 +3640,7 @@ void Worker::waitForInput()
     if (!waitingForAWhile.empty()) {
         useTimeout = true;
         if (lastWokenUp == 0)
-            printMsg(lvlError, "waiting for locks or build slots...");
+            printError("waiting for locks or build slots...");
         if (lastWokenUp == 0 || lastWokenUp > before) lastWokenUp = before;
         timeout.tv_sec = std::max((time_t) 1, (time_t) (lastWokenUp + settings.pollInterval - before));
     } else lastWokenUp = 0;
@@ -3661,7 +3703,7 @@ void Worker::waitForInput()
             j->respectTimeouts &&
             after - j->lastOutput >= (time_t) settings.maxSilentTime)
         {
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 format("%1% timed out after %2% seconds of silence")
                 % goal->getName() % settings.maxSilentTime);
             goal->timedOut();
@@ -3672,7 +3714,7 @@ void Worker::waitForInput()
             j->respectTimeouts &&
             after - j->timeStarted >= (time_t) settings.buildTimeout)
         {
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 format("%1% timed out after %2% seconds")
                 % goal->getName() % settings.buildTimeout);
             goal->timedOut();
@@ -3700,7 +3742,7 @@ bool Worker::pathContentsGood(const Path & path)
 {
     std::map<Path, bool>::iterator i = pathContentsGoodCache.find(path);
     if (i != pathContentsGoodCache.end()) return i->second;
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("checking path ‘%1%’...") % path);
+    printInfo(format("checking path ‘%1%’...") % path);
     auto info = store.queryPathInfo(path);
     bool res;
     if (!pathExists(path))
@@ -3711,7 +3753,7 @@ bool Worker::pathContentsGood(const Path & path)
         res = info->narHash == nullHash || info->narHash == current.first;
     }
     pathContentsGoodCache[path] = res;
-    if (!res) printMsg(lvlError, format("path ‘%1%’ is corrupted or missing!") % path);
+    if (!res) printError(format("path ‘%1%’ is corrupted or missing!") % path);
     return res;
 }
 
@@ -3749,7 +3791,7 @@ void LocalStore::buildPaths(const PathSet & drvPaths, BuildMode buildMode)
         }
 
     if (!failed.empty())
-        throw Error(format("build of %1% failed") % showPaths(failed), worker.exitStatus());
+        throw Error(worker.exitStatus(), "build of %s failed", showPaths(failed));
 }
 
 
@@ -3785,7 +3827,7 @@ void LocalStore::ensurePath(const Path & path)
     worker.run(goals);
 
     if (goal->getExitCode() != Goal::ecSuccess)
-        throw Error(format("path ‘%1%’ does not exist and cannot be created") % path, worker.exitStatus());
+        throw Error(worker.exitStatus(), "path ‘%s’ does not exist and cannot be created", path);
 }
 
 
@@ -3806,7 +3848,7 @@ void LocalStore::repairPath(const Path & path)
             goals.insert(worker.makeDerivationGoal(deriver, StringSet(), bmRepair));
             worker.run(goals);
         } else
-            throw Error(format("cannot repair path ‘%1%’") % path, worker.exitStatus());
+            throw Error(worker.exitStatus(), "cannot repair path ‘%s’", path);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/builtins.cc b/src/libstore/builtins.cc
index d3194a905733..a30f30906f01 100644
--- a/src/libstore/builtins.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/builtins.cc
@@ -17,13 +17,15 @@ void builtinFetchurl(const BasicDerivation & drv)
     auto fetch = [&](const string & url) {
         /* No need to do TLS verification, because we check the hash of
            the result anyway. */
-        DownloadOptions options;
-        options.verifyTLS = false;
+        DownloadRequest request(url);
+        request.verifyTLS = false;
 
         /* Show a progress indicator, even though stderr is not a tty. */
-        options.showProgress = DownloadOptions::yes;
+        request.showProgress = DownloadRequest::yes;
 
-        auto data = makeDownloader()->download(url, options);
+        /* Note: have to use a fresh downloader here because we're in
+           a forked process. */
+        auto data = makeDownloader()->download(request);
         assert(data.data);
 
         return data.data;
diff --git a/src/libstore/derivations.cc b/src/libstore/derivations.cc
index f051f10bd018..d934bda38225 100644
--- a/src/libstore/derivations.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/derivations.cc
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ bool BasicDerivation::canBuildLocally() const
 #if __linux__
         || (platform == "i686-linux" && settings.thisSystem == "x86_64-linux")
         || (platform == "armv6l-linux" && settings.thisSystem == "armv7l-linux")
+        || (platform == "armv5tel-linux" && (settings.thisSystem == "armv7l-linux" || settings.thisSystem == "armv6l-linux"))
 #elif __FreeBSD__
         || (platform == "i686-linux" && settings.thisSystem == "x86_64-freebsd")
         || (platform == "i686-linux" && settings.thisSystem == "i686-freebsd")
@@ -87,6 +88,38 @@ Path writeDerivation(ref<Store> store,
 }
 
 
+MakeError(FormatError, Error)
+
+
+/* Read string `s' from stream `str'. */
+static void expect(std::istream & str, const string & s)
+{
+    char s2[s.size()];
+    str.read(s2, s.size());
+    if (string(s2, s.size()) != s)
+        throw FormatError(format("expected string ‘%1%’") % s);
+}
+
+
+/* Read a C-style string from stream `str'. */
+static string parseString(std::istream & str)
+{
+    string res;
+    expect(str, "\"");
+    int c;
+    while ((c = str.get()) != '"')
+        if (c == '\\') {
+            c = str.get();
+            if (c == 'n') res += '\n';
+            else if (c == 'r') res += '\r';
+            else if (c == 't') res += '\t';
+            else res += c;
+        }
+        else res += c;
+    return res;
+}
+
+
 static Path parsePath(std::istream & str)
 {
     string s = parseString(str);
@@ -96,6 +129,20 @@ static Path parsePath(std::istream & str)
 }
 
 
+static bool endOfList(std::istream & str)
+{
+    if (str.peek() == ',') {
+        str.get();
+        return false;
+    }
+    if (str.peek() == ']') {
+        str.get();
+        return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+
 static StringSet parseStrings(std::istream & str, bool arePaths)
 {
     StringSet res;
diff --git a/src/libstore/download.cc b/src/libstore/download.cc
index ed7e124d25f4..954044c2344f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/download.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/download.cc
@@ -5,11 +5,16 @@
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "archive.hh"
 
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+
 #include <curl/curl.h>
 
+#include <queue>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <thread>
-
+#include <cmath>
+#include <random>
 
 namespace nix {
 
@@ -30,225 +35,462 @@ std::string resolveUri(const std::string & uri)
 
 struct CurlDownloader : public Downloader
 {
-    CURL * curl;
-    ref<std::string> data;
-    string etag, status, expectedETag, effectiveUrl;
+    CURLM * curlm = 0;
 
-    struct curl_slist * requestHeaders;
+    std::random_device rd;
+    std::mt19937 mt19937;
 
-    bool showProgress;
-    double prevProgressTime{0}, startTime{0};
-    unsigned int moveBack{1};
+    bool enableHttp2;
 
-    size_t writeCallback(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb)
+    struct DownloadItem : public std::enable_shared_from_this<DownloadItem>
     {
-        size_t realSize = size * nmemb;
-        data->append((char *) contents, realSize);
-        return realSize;
-    }
+        CurlDownloader & downloader;
+        DownloadRequest request;
+        DownloadResult result;
+        bool done = false; // whether either the success or failure function has been called
+        std::function<void(const DownloadResult &)> success;
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure;
+        CURL * req = 0;
+        bool active = false; // whether the handle has been added to the multi object
+        std::string status;
+
+        bool showProgress = false;
+        double prevProgressTime{0}, startTime{0};
+        unsigned int moveBack{1};
+
+        unsigned int attempt = 0;
+
+        /* Don't start this download until the specified time point
+           has been reached. */
+        std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point embargo;
+
+        struct curl_slist * requestHeaders = 0;
+
+        DownloadItem(CurlDownloader & downloader, const DownloadRequest & request)
+            : downloader(downloader), request(request)
+        {
+            showProgress =
+                request.showProgress == DownloadRequest::yes ||
+                (request.showProgress == DownloadRequest::automatic && isatty(STDERR_FILENO));
+
+            if (!request.expectedETag.empty())
+                requestHeaders = curl_slist_append(requestHeaders, ("If-None-Match: " + request.expectedETag).c_str());
+        }
 
-    static size_t writeCallbackWrapper(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void * userp)
-    {
-        return ((CurlDownloader *) userp)->writeCallback(contents, size, nmemb);
-    }
+        ~DownloadItem()
+        {
+            if (req) {
+                if (active)
+                    curl_multi_remove_handle(downloader.curlm, req);
+                curl_easy_cleanup(req);
+            }
+            if (requestHeaders) curl_slist_free_all(requestHeaders);
+            try {
+                if (!done)
+                    fail(DownloadError(Interrupted, format("download of ‘%s’ was interrupted") % request.uri));
+            } catch (...) {
+                ignoreException();
+            }
+        }
 
-    size_t headerCallback(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb)
-    {
-        size_t realSize = size * nmemb;
-        string line = string((char *) contents, realSize);
-        printMsg(lvlVomit, format("got header: %1%") % trim(line));
-        if (line.compare(0, 5, "HTTP/") == 0) { // new response starts
-            etag = "";
-            auto ss = tokenizeString<vector<string>>(line, " ");
-            status = ss.size() >= 2 ? ss[1] : "";
-        } else {
-            auto i = line.find(':');
-            if (i != string::npos) {
-                string name = trim(string(line, 0, i));
-                if (name == "ETag") { // FIXME: case
-                    etag = trim(string(line, i + 1));
-                    /* Hack to work around a GitHub bug: it sends
-                       ETags, but ignores If-None-Match. So if we get
-                       the expected ETag on a 200 response, then shut
-                       down the connection because we already have the
-                       data. */
-                    printMsg(lvlDebug, format("got ETag: %1%") % etag);
-                    if (etag == expectedETag && status == "200") {
-                        printMsg(lvlDebug, format("shutting down on 200 HTTP response with expected ETag"));
-                        return 0;
+        template<class T>
+        void fail(const T & e)
+        {
+            assert(!done);
+            done = true;
+            callFailure(failure, std::make_exception_ptr(e));
+        }
+
+        size_t writeCallback(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb)
+        {
+            size_t realSize = size * nmemb;
+            result.data->append((char *) contents, realSize);
+            return realSize;
+        }
+
+        static size_t writeCallbackWrapper(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void * userp)
+        {
+            return ((DownloadItem *) userp)->writeCallback(contents, size, nmemb);
+        }
+
+        size_t headerCallback(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb)
+        {
+            size_t realSize = size * nmemb;
+            std::string line((char *) contents, realSize);
+            printMsg(lvlVomit, format("got header for ‘%s’: %s") % request.uri % trim(line));
+            if (line.compare(0, 5, "HTTP/") == 0) { // new response starts
+                result.etag = "";
+                auto ss = tokenizeString<vector<string>>(line, " ");
+                status = ss.size() >= 2 ? ss[1] : "";
+                result.data = std::make_shared<std::string>();
+            } else {
+                auto i = line.find(':');
+                if (i != string::npos) {
+                    string name = toLower(trim(string(line, 0, i)));
+                    if (name == "etag") {
+                        result.etag = trim(string(line, i + 1));
+                        /* Hack to work around a GitHub bug: it sends
+                           ETags, but ignores If-None-Match. So if we get
+                           the expected ETag on a 200 response, then shut
+                           down the connection because we already have the
+                           data. */
+                        if (result.etag == request.expectedETag && status == "200") {
+                            debug(format("shutting down on 200 HTTP response with expected ETag"));
+                            return 0;
+                        }
                     }
                 }
             }
+            return realSize;
         }
-        return realSize;
-    }
 
-    static size_t headerCallbackWrapper(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void * userp)
-    {
-        return ((CurlDownloader *) userp)->headerCallback(contents, size, nmemb);
-    }
+        static size_t headerCallbackWrapper(void * contents, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void * userp)
+        {
+            return ((DownloadItem *) userp)->headerCallback(contents, size, nmemb);
+        }
 
-    int progressCallback(double dltotal, double dlnow)
-    {
-        if (showProgress) {
-            double now = getTime();
-            if (prevProgressTime <= now - 1) {
-                string s = (format(" [%1$.0f/%2$.0f KiB, %3$.1f KiB/s]")
-                    % (dlnow / 1024.0)
-                    % (dltotal / 1024.0)
-                    % (now == startTime ? 0 : dlnow / 1024.0 / (now - startTime))).str();
-                std::cerr << "\e[" << moveBack << "D" << s;
-                moveBack = s.size();
+        int progressCallback(double dltotal, double dlnow)
+        {
+            if (showProgress) {
+                double now = getTime();
+                if (prevProgressTime <= now - 1) {
+                    string s = (format(" [%1$.0f/%2$.0f KiB, %3$.1f KiB/s]")
+                        % (dlnow / 1024.0)
+                        % (dltotal / 1024.0)
+                        % (now == startTime ? 0 : dlnow / 1024.0 / (now - startTime))).str();
+                    std::cerr << "\e[" << moveBack << "D" << s;
+                    moveBack = s.size();
+                    std::cerr.flush();
+                    prevProgressTime = now;
+                }
+            }
+            return _isInterrupted;
+        }
+
+        static int progressCallbackWrapper(void * userp, double dltotal, double dlnow, double ultotal, double ulnow)
+        {
+            return ((DownloadItem *) userp)->progressCallback(dltotal, dlnow);
+        }
+
+        void init()
+        {
+            // FIXME: handle parallel downloads.
+            if (showProgress) {
+                std::cerr << (format("downloading ‘%1%’... ") % request.uri);
                 std::cerr.flush();
-                prevProgressTime = now;
+                startTime = getTime();
             }
+
+            if (!req) req = curl_easy_init();
+
+            curl_easy_reset(req);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_URL, request.uri.c_str());
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1L);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_NOSIGNAL, 1);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, ("Nix/" + nixVersion).c_str());
+            #if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x072b00
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_PIPEWAIT, 1);
+            #endif
+            #if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x072f00
+            if (downloader.enableHttp2)
+                curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION, CURL_HTTP_VERSION_2TLS);
+            #endif
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, DownloadItem::writeCallbackWrapper);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, this);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, DownloadItem::headerCallbackWrapper);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, this);
+
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_PROGRESSFUNCTION, progressCallbackWrapper);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_PROGRESSDATA, this);
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_NOPROGRESS, 0);
+
+            curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, requestHeaders);
+
+            if (request.head)
+                curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_NOBODY, 1);
+
+            if (request.verifyTLS)
+                curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_CAINFO,
+                    getEnv("NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE", getEnv("SSL_CERT_FILE", "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt")).c_str());
+            else {
+                curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
+                curl_easy_setopt(req, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
+            }
+
+            result.data = std::make_shared<std::string>();
         }
-        return _isInterrupted;
-    }
 
-    static int progressCallbackWrapper(void * userp, double dltotal, double dlnow, double ultotal, double ulnow)
-    {
-        return ((CurlDownloader *) userp)->progressCallback(dltotal, dlnow);
-    }
+        void finish(CURLcode code)
+        {
+            if (showProgress)
+                //std::cerr << "\e[" << moveBack << "D\e[K\n";
+                std::cerr << "\n";
 
-    CurlDownloader()
-        : data(make_ref<std::string>())
-    {
-        requestHeaders = 0;
+            long httpStatus = 0;
+            curl_easy_getinfo(req, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE, &httpStatus);
 
-        curl = curl_easy_init();
-        if (!curl) throw nix::Error("unable to initialize curl");
-    }
+            char * effectiveUrlCStr;
+            curl_easy_getinfo(req, CURLINFO_EFFECTIVE_URL, &effectiveUrlCStr);
+            if (effectiveUrlCStr)
+                result.effectiveUrl = effectiveUrlCStr;
 
-    ~CurlDownloader()
-    {
-        if (curl) curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
-        if (requestHeaders) curl_slist_free_all(requestHeaders);
-    }
+            debug(format("finished download of ‘%s’; curl status = %d, HTTP status = %d, body = %d bytes")
+                % request.uri % code % httpStatus % (result.data ? result.data->size() : 0));
+
+            if (code == CURLE_WRITE_ERROR && result.etag == request.expectedETag) {
+                code = CURLE_OK;
+                httpStatus = 304;
+            }
+
+            if (code == CURLE_OK &&
+                (httpStatus == 200 || httpStatus == 304 || httpStatus == 226 /* FTP */ || httpStatus == 0 /* other protocol */))
+            {
+                result.cached = httpStatus == 304;
+                done = true;
+                callSuccess(success, failure, const_cast<const DownloadResult &>(result));
+            } else {
+                Error err =
+                    (httpStatus == 404 || code == CURLE_FILE_COULDNT_READ_FILE) ? NotFound :
+                    httpStatus == 403 ? Forbidden :
+                    (httpStatus == 408 || httpStatus == 500 || httpStatus == 503
+                        || httpStatus == 504  || httpStatus == 522 || httpStatus == 524
+                        || code == CURLE_COULDNT_RESOLVE_HOST) ? Transient :
+                    Misc;
+
+                attempt++;
 
-    bool fetch(const string & url, const DownloadOptions & options)
+                auto exc =
+                    code == CURLE_ABORTED_BY_CALLBACK && _isInterrupted
+                    ? DownloadError(Interrupted, format("download of ‘%s’ was interrupted") % request.uri)
+                    : httpStatus != 0
+                      ? DownloadError(err, format("unable to download ‘%s’: HTTP error %d") % request.uri % httpStatus)
+                      : DownloadError(err, format("unable to download ‘%s’: %s (%d)") % request.uri % curl_easy_strerror(code) % code);
+
+                /* If this is a transient error, then maybe retry the
+                   download after a while. */
+                if (err == Transient && attempt < request.tries) {
+                    int ms = request.baseRetryTimeMs * std::pow(2.0f, attempt - 1 + std::uniform_real_distribution<>(0.0, 0.5)(downloader.mt19937));
+                    printError(format("warning: %s; retrying in %d ms") % exc.what() % ms);
+                    embargo = std::chrono::steady_clock::now() + std::chrono::milliseconds(ms);
+                    downloader.enqueueItem(shared_from_this());
+                }
+                else
+                    fail(exc);
+            }
+        }
+    };
+
+    struct State
     {
-        showProgress =
-            options.showProgress == DownloadOptions::yes ||
-            (options.showProgress == DownloadOptions::automatic && isatty(STDERR_FILENO));
+        struct EmbargoComparator {
+            bool operator() (const std::shared_ptr<DownloadItem> & i1, const std::shared_ptr<DownloadItem> & i2) {
+                return i1->embargo > i2->embargo;
+            }
+        };
+        bool quit = false;
+        std::priority_queue<std::shared_ptr<DownloadItem>, std::vector<std::shared_ptr<DownloadItem>>, EmbargoComparator> incoming;
+    };
 
-        curl_easy_reset(curl);
+    Sync<State> state_;
 
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1L);
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, ("Nix/" + nixVersion).c_str());
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, 1);
+    /* We can't use a std::condition_variable to wake up the curl
+       thread, because it only monitors file descriptors. So use a
+       pipe instead. */
+    Pipe wakeupPipe;
 
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, writeCallbackWrapper);
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, (void *) this);
+    std::thread workerThread;
 
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, headerCallbackWrapper);
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, (void *) this);
+    CurlDownloader()
+        : mt19937(rd())
+    {
+        static std::once_flag globalInit;
+        std::call_once(globalInit, curl_global_init, CURL_GLOBAL_ALL);
 
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_PROGRESSFUNCTION, progressCallbackWrapper);
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_PROGRESSDATA, (void *) this);
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_NOPROGRESS, 0);
+        curlm = curl_multi_init();
 
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_NOSIGNAL, 1);
+        #if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x072b00 // correct?
+        curl_multi_setopt(curlm, CURLMOPT_PIPELINING, CURLPIPE_MULTIPLEX);
+        #endif
+        curl_multi_setopt(curlm, CURLMOPT_MAX_TOTAL_CONNECTIONS,
+            settings.get("binary-caches-parallel-connections", 25));
 
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, url.c_str());
+        enableHttp2 = settings.get("enable-http2", true);
 
-        if (options.verifyTLS)
-            curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CAINFO, getEnv("SSL_CERT_FILE", "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt").c_str());
-        else {
-            curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
-            curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
-        }
+        wakeupPipe.create();
+        fcntl(wakeupPipe.readSide.get(), F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK);
 
-        data = make_ref<std::string>();
+        workerThread = std::thread([&]() { workerThreadEntry(); });
+    }
 
-        if (requestHeaders) {
-            curl_slist_free_all(requestHeaders);
-            requestHeaders = 0;
+    ~CurlDownloader()
+    {
+        /* Signal the worker thread to exit. */
+        {
+            auto state(state_.lock());
+            state->quit = true;
         }
+        writeFull(wakeupPipe.writeSide.get(), " ");
 
-        if (!options.expectedETag.empty()) {
-            this->expectedETag = options.expectedETag;
-            requestHeaders = curl_slist_append(requestHeaders, ("If-None-Match: " + options.expectedETag).c_str());
-        }
+        workerThread.join();
 
-        curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, requestHeaders);
+        if (curlm) curl_multi_cleanup(curlm);
+    }
 
-        if (options.head)
-            curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_NOBODY, 1);
+    void workerThreadMain()
+    {
+        std::map<CURL *, std::shared_ptr<DownloadItem>> items;
+
+        bool quit = false;
+
+        std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point nextWakeup;
+
+        while (!quit) {
+            checkInterrupt();
+
+            /* Let curl do its thing. */
+            int running;
+            CURLMcode mc = curl_multi_perform(curlm, &running);
+            if (mc != CURLM_OK)
+                throw nix::Error(format("unexpected error from curl_multi_perform(): %s") % curl_multi_strerror(mc));
+
+            /* Set the promises of any finished requests. */
+            CURLMsg * msg;
+            int left;
+            while ((msg = curl_multi_info_read(curlm, &left))) {
+                if (msg->msg == CURLMSG_DONE) {
+                    auto i = items.find(msg->easy_handle);
+                    assert(i != items.end());
+                    i->second->finish(msg->data.result);
+                    curl_multi_remove_handle(curlm, i->second->req);
+                    i->second->active = false;
+                    items.erase(i);
+                }
+            }
 
-        if (showProgress) {
-            std::cerr << (format("downloading ‘%1%’... ") % url);
-            std::cerr.flush();
-            startTime = getTime();
-        }
+            /* Wait for activity, including wakeup events. */
+            int numfds = 0;
+            struct curl_waitfd extraFDs[1];
+            extraFDs[0].fd = wakeupPipe.readSide.get();
+            extraFDs[0].events = CURL_WAIT_POLLIN;
+            extraFDs[0].revents = 0;
+            auto sleepTimeMs =
+                nextWakeup != std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point()
+                ? std::max(0, (int) std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(nextWakeup - std::chrono::steady_clock::now()).count())
+                : 1000000000;
+            //printMsg(lvlVomit, format("download thread waiting for %d ms") % sleepTimeMs);
+            mc = curl_multi_wait(curlm, extraFDs, 1, sleepTimeMs, &numfds);
+            if (mc != CURLM_OK)
+                throw nix::Error(format("unexpected error from curl_multi_wait(): %s") % curl_multi_strerror(mc));
+
+            nextWakeup = std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point();
+
+            /* Add new curl requests from the incoming requests queue,
+               except for requests that are embargoed (waiting for a
+               retry timeout to expire). */
+            if (extraFDs[0].revents & CURL_WAIT_POLLIN) {
+                char buf[1024];
+                auto res = read(extraFDs[0].fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
+                if (res == -1 && errno != EINTR)
+                    throw SysError("reading curl wakeup socket");
+            }
+
+            std::vector<std::shared_ptr<DownloadItem>> incoming;
+            auto now = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
+
+            {
+                auto state(state_.lock());
+                while (!state->incoming.empty()) {
+                    auto item = state->incoming.top();
+                    if (item->embargo <= now) {
+                        incoming.push_back(item);
+                        state->incoming.pop();
+                    } else {
+                        if (nextWakeup == std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point()
+                            || item->embargo < nextWakeup)
+                            nextWakeup = item->embargo;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+                quit = state->quit;
+            }
 
-        CURLcode res = curl_easy_perform(curl);
-        if (showProgress)
-            //std::cerr << "\e[" << moveBack << "D\e[K\n";
-            std::cerr << "\n";
-        checkInterrupt();
-        if (res == CURLE_WRITE_ERROR && etag == options.expectedETag) return false;
-
-        long httpStatus = -1;
-        curl_easy_getinfo(curl, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE, &httpStatus);
-
-        if (res != CURLE_OK) {
-            Error err =
-                httpStatus == 404 ? NotFound :
-                httpStatus == 403 ? Forbidden :
-                (httpStatus == 408 || httpStatus == 500 || httpStatus == 503
-                 || httpStatus == 504  || httpStatus == 522 || httpStatus == 524
-                 || res == CURLE_COULDNT_RESOLVE_HOST) ? Transient :
-                Misc;
-            if (res == CURLE_HTTP_RETURNED_ERROR && httpStatus != -1)
-                throw DownloadError(err, format("unable to download ‘%s’: HTTP error %d")
-                    % url % httpStatus);
-            else
-                throw DownloadError(err, format("unable to download ‘%s’: %s (%d)")
-                    % url % curl_easy_strerror(res) % res);
+            for (auto & item : incoming) {
+                debug(format("starting download of %s") % item->request.uri);
+                item->init();
+                curl_multi_add_handle(curlm, item->req);
+                item->active = true;
+                items[item->req] = item;
+            }
         }
 
-        char *effectiveUrlCStr;
-        curl_easy_getinfo(curl, CURLINFO_EFFECTIVE_URL, &effectiveUrlCStr);
-        if (effectiveUrlCStr)
-            effectiveUrl = effectiveUrlCStr;
+        debug("download thread shutting down");
+    }
 
-        if (httpStatus == 304) return false;
+    void workerThreadEntry()
+    {
+        try {
+            workerThreadMain();
+        } catch (nix::Interrupted & e) {
+        } catch (std::exception & e) {
+            printError(format("unexpected error in download thread: %s") % e.what());
+        }
 
-        return true;
+        {
+            auto state(state_.lock());
+            while (!state->incoming.empty()) state->incoming.pop();
+            state->quit = true;
+        }
     }
 
-    DownloadResult download(string url, const DownloadOptions & options) override
+    void enqueueItem(std::shared_ptr<DownloadItem> item)
     {
-        size_t attempt = 0;
-
-        while (true) {
-            try {
-                DownloadResult res;
-                if (fetch(resolveUri(url), options)) {
-                    res.cached = false;
-                    res.data = data;
-                } else
-                    res.cached = true;
-                res.effectiveUrl = effectiveUrl;
-                res.etag = etag;
-                return res;
-            } catch (DownloadError & e) {
-                attempt++;
-                if (e.error != Transient || attempt >= options.tries) throw;
-                auto ms = options.baseRetryTimeMs * (1 << (attempt - 1));
-                printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: %s; retrying in %d ms") % e.what() % ms);
-                std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(ms));
-            }
+        {
+            auto state(state_.lock());
+            if (state->quit)
+                throw nix::Error("cannot enqueue download request because the download thread is shutting down");
+            state->incoming.push(item);
         }
+        writeFull(wakeupPipe.writeSide.get(), " ");
+    }
+
+    void enqueueDownload(const DownloadRequest & request,
+        std::function<void(const DownloadResult &)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) override
+    {
+        auto item = std::make_shared<DownloadItem>(*this, request);
+        item->success = success;
+        item->failure = failure;
+        enqueueItem(item);
     }
 };
 
+ref<Downloader> getDownloader()
+{
+    static std::shared_ptr<Downloader> downloader;
+    static std::once_flag downloaderCreated;
+    std::call_once(downloaderCreated, [&]() { downloader = makeDownloader(); });
+    return ref<Downloader>(downloader);
+}
+
 ref<Downloader> makeDownloader()
 {
     return make_ref<CurlDownloader>();
 }
 
+std::future<DownloadResult> Downloader::enqueueDownload(const DownloadRequest & request)
+{
+    auto promise = std::make_shared<std::promise<DownloadResult>>();
+    enqueueDownload(request,
+        [promise](const DownloadResult & result) { promise->set_value(result); },
+        [promise](std::exception_ptr exc) { promise->set_exception(exc); });
+    return promise->get_future();
+}
+
+DownloadResult Downloader::download(const DownloadRequest & request)
+{
+    return enqueueDownload(request).get();
+}
+
 Path Downloader::downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & url_, bool unpack, string name, const Hash & expectedHash, string * effectiveUrl)
 {
     auto url = resolveUri(url_);
@@ -292,7 +534,7 @@ Path Downloader::downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & url_, bool unpa
                     if (effectiveUrl)
                         *effectiveUrl = url_;
                 } else if (!ss[1].empty()) {
-                    printMsg(lvlDebug, format("verifying previous ETag ‘%1%’") % ss[1]);
+                    debug(format("verifying previous ETag ‘%1%’") % ss[1]);
                     expectedETag = ss[1];
                 }
             }
@@ -303,9 +545,9 @@ Path Downloader::downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & url_, bool unpa
     if (!skip) {
 
         try {
-            DownloadOptions options;
-            options.expectedETag = expectedETag;
-            auto res = download(url, options);
+            DownloadRequest request(url);
+            request.expectedETag = expectedETag;
+            auto res = download(request);
             if (effectiveUrl)
                 *effectiveUrl = res.effectiveUrl;
 
@@ -316,7 +558,7 @@ Path Downloader::downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & url_, bool unpa
                 Hash hash = hashString(expectedHash ? expectedHash.type : htSHA256, *res.data);
                 info.path = store->makeFixedOutputPath(false, hash, name);
                 info.narHash = hashString(htSHA256, *sink.s);
-                store->addToStore(info, *sink.s, false, true);
+                store->addToStore(info, sink.s, false, true);
                 storePath = info.path;
             }
 
@@ -326,7 +568,7 @@ Path Downloader::downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & url_, bool unpa
             writeFile(dataFile, url + "\n" + res.etag + "\n" + std::to_string(time(0)) + "\n");
         } catch (DownloadError & e) {
             if (storePath.empty()) throw;
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: %1%; using cached result") % e.msg());
+            printError(format("warning: %1%; using cached result") % e.msg());
         }
     }
 
@@ -340,7 +582,7 @@ Path Downloader::downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & url_, bool unpa
                 unpackedStorePath = "";
         }
         if (unpackedStorePath.empty()) {
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format("unpacking ‘%1%’...") % url);
+            printInfo(format("unpacking ‘%1%’...") % url);
             Path tmpDir = createTempDir();
             AutoDelete autoDelete(tmpDir, true);
             // FIXME: this requires GNU tar for decompression.
diff --git a/src/libstore/download.hh b/src/libstore/download.hh
index 011b85f4721b..82b5d641fde9 100644
--- a/src/libstore/download.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/download.hh
@@ -4,24 +4,28 @@
 #include "hash.hh"
 
 #include <string>
+#include <future>
 
 namespace nix {
 
-struct DownloadOptions
+struct DownloadRequest
 {
+    std::string uri;
     std::string expectedETag;
     bool verifyTLS = true;
     enum { yes, no, automatic } showProgress = yes;
     bool head = false;
     size_t tries = 1;
-    unsigned int baseRetryTimeMs = 100;
+    unsigned int baseRetryTimeMs = 250;
+
+    DownloadRequest(const std::string & uri) : uri(uri) { }
 };
 
 struct DownloadResult
 {
     bool cached;
-    string etag;
-    string effectiveUrl;
+    std::string etag;
+    std::string effectiveUrl;
     std::shared_ptr<std::string> data;
 };
 
@@ -29,14 +33,33 @@ class Store;
 
 struct Downloader
 {
-    virtual DownloadResult download(string url, const DownloadOptions & options) = 0;
+    /* Enqueue a download request, returning a future to the result of
+       the download. The future may throw a DownloadError
+       exception. */
+    virtual void enqueueDownload(const DownloadRequest & request,
+        std::function<void(const DownloadResult &)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) = 0;
+
+    std::future<DownloadResult> enqueueDownload(const DownloadRequest & request);
 
-    Path downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & url, bool unpack, string name = "",
-        const Hash & expectedHash = Hash(), string * effectiveUrl = nullptr);
+    /* Synchronously download a file. */
+    DownloadResult download(const DownloadRequest & request);
 
-    enum Error { NotFound, Forbidden, Misc, Transient };
+    /* Check if the specified file is already in ~/.cache/nix/tarballs
+       and is more recent than ‘tarball-ttl’ seconds. Otherwise,
+       use the recorded ETag to verify if the server has a more
+       recent version, and if so, download it to the Nix store. */
+    Path downloadCached(ref<Store> store, const string & uri, bool unpack, string name = "",
+        const Hash & expectedHash = Hash(), string * effectiveUri = nullptr);
+
+    enum Error { NotFound, Forbidden, Misc, Transient, Interrupted };
 };
 
+/* Return a shared Downloader object. Using this object is preferred
+   because it enables connection reuse and HTTP/2 multiplexing. */
+ref<Downloader> getDownloader();
+
+/* Return a new Downloader object. */
 ref<Downloader> makeDownloader();
 
 class DownloadError : public Error
diff --git a/src/libstore/export-import.cc b/src/libstore/export-import.cc
index 6090ee3e9f83..c5618c826c54 100644
--- a/src/libstore/export-import.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/export-import.cc
@@ -117,15 +117,7 @@ Paths Store::importPaths(Source & source, std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor,
         if (readInt(source) == 1)
             readString(source);
 
-        addToStore(info, *tee.data, false, dontCheckSigs);
-
-        // FIXME: implement accessors?
-        assert(!accessor);
-#if 0
-        auto accessor_ = std::dynamic_pointer_cast<BinaryCacheStoreAccessor>(accessor);
-        if (accessor_)
-            accessor_->nars.emplace(info.path, makeNarAccessor(tee.data));
-#endif
+        addToStore(info, tee.data, false, dontCheckSigs, accessor);
 
         res.push_back(info.path);
     }
diff --git a/src/libstore/gc.cc b/src/libstore/gc.cc
index 2eab7de0d8bf..ae03604faf98 100644
--- a/src/libstore/gc.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/gc.cc
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ int LocalStore::openGCLock(LockType lockType)
         throw SysError(format("opening global GC lock ‘%1%’") % fnGCLock);
 
     if (!lockFile(fdGCLock.get(), lockType, false)) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("waiting for the big garbage collector lock..."));
+        printError(format("waiting for the big garbage collector lock..."));
         lockFile(fdGCLock.get(), lockType, true);
     }
 
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ Path LocalFSStore::addPermRoot(const Path & _storePath,
     if (settings.checkRootReachability) {
         Roots roots = findRoots();
         if (roots.find(gcRoot) == roots.end())
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 format(
                     "warning: ‘%1%’ is not in a directory where the garbage collector looks for roots; "
                     "therefore, ‘%2%’ might be removed by the garbage collector")
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ void LocalStore::readTempRoots(PathSet & tempRoots, FDs & fds)
            only succeed if the owning process has died.  In that case
            we don't care about its temporary roots. */
         if (lockFile(fd->get(), ltWrite, false)) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("removing stale temporary roots file ‘%1%’") % path);
+            printError(format("removing stale temporary roots file ‘%1%’") % path);
             unlink(path.c_str());
             writeFull(fd->get(), "d");
             continue;
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ void LocalStore::findRoots(const Path & path, unsigned char type, Roots & roots)
         if (isStorePath(storePath) && isValidPath(storePath))
             roots[path] = storePath;
         else
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format("skipping invalid root from ‘%1%’ to ‘%2%’") % path % storePath);
+            printInfo(format("skipping invalid root from ‘%1%’ to ‘%2%’") % path % storePath);
     };
 
     try {
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ void LocalStore::findRoots(const Path & path, unsigned char type, Roots & roots)
                 target = absPath(target, dirOf(path));
                 if (!pathExists(target)) {
                     if (isInDir(path, stateDir + "/" + gcRootsDir + "/auto")) {
-                        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("removing stale link from ‘%1%’ to ‘%2%’") % path % target);
+                        printInfo(format("removing stale link from ‘%1%’ to ‘%2%’") % path % target);
                         unlink(path.c_str());
                     }
                 } else {
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ void LocalStore::findRoots(const Path & path, unsigned char type, Roots & roots)
     catch (SysError & e) {
         /* We only ignore permanent failures. */
         if (e.errNo == EACCES || e.errNo == ENOENT || e.errNo == ENOTDIR)
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format("cannot read potential root ‘%1%’") % path);
+            printInfo(format("cannot read potential root ‘%1%’") % path);
         else
             throw;
     }
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ void LocalStore::deletePathRecursive(GCState & state, const Path & path)
         throw SysError(format("getting status of %1%") % realPath);
     }
 
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("deleting ‘%1%’") % path);
+    printInfo(format("deleting ‘%1%’") % path);
 
     state.results.paths.insert(path);
 
@@ -535,7 +535,7 @@ void LocalStore::deletePathRecursive(GCState & state, const Path & path)
             state.bytesInvalidated += size;
         } catch (SysError & e) {
             if (e.errNo == ENOSPC) {
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, format("note: can't create move ‘%1%’: %2%") % realPath % e.msg());
+                printInfo(format("note: can't create move ‘%1%’: %2%") % realPath % e.msg());
                 deleteGarbage(state, realPath);
             }
         }
@@ -543,7 +543,7 @@ void LocalStore::deletePathRecursive(GCState & state, const Path & path)
         deleteGarbage(state, realPath);
 
     if (state.results.bytesFreed + state.bytesInvalidated > state.options.maxFreed) {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("deleted or invalidated more than %1% bytes; stopping") % state.options.maxFreed);
+        printInfo(format("deleted or invalidated more than %1% bytes; stopping") % state.options.maxFreed);
         throw GCLimitReached();
     }
 }
@@ -562,7 +562,7 @@ bool LocalStore::canReachRoot(GCState & state, PathSet & visited, const Path & p
     }
 
     if (state.roots.find(path) != state.roots.end()) {
-        printMsg(lvlDebug, format("cannot delete ‘%1%’ because it's a root") % path);
+        debug(format("cannot delete ‘%1%’ because it's a root") % path);
         state.alive.insert(path);
         return true;
     }
@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ void LocalStore::tryToDelete(GCState & state, const Path & path)
     PathSet visited;
 
     if (canReachRoot(state, visited, path)) {
-        printMsg(lvlDebug, format("cannot delete ‘%1%’ because it's still reachable") % path);
+        debug(format("cannot delete ‘%1%’ because it's still reachable") % path);
     } else {
         /* No path we visited was a root, so everything is garbage.
            But we only delete ‘path’ and its referrers here so that
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ void LocalStore::removeUnusedLinks(const GCState & state)
         throw SysError(format("statting ‘%1%’") % linksDir);
     long long overhead = st.st_blocks * 512ULL;
 
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("note: currently hard linking saves %.2f MiB")
+    printInfo(format("note: currently hard linking saves %.2f MiB")
         % ((unsharedSize - actualSize - overhead) / (1024.0 * 1024.0)));
 }
 
@@ -715,7 +715,7 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
 
     /* Find the roots.  Since we've grabbed the GC lock, the set of
        permanent roots cannot increase now. */
-    printMsg(lvlError, format("finding garbage collector roots..."));
+    printError(format("finding garbage collector roots..."));
     Roots rootMap = options.ignoreLiveness ? Roots() : findRoots();
 
     for (auto & i : rootMap) state.roots.insert(i.second);
@@ -744,7 +744,7 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
             createDirs(trashDir);
         } catch (SysError & e) {
             if (e.errNo == ENOSPC) {
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, format("note: can't create trash directory: %1%") % e.msg());
+                printInfo(format("note: can't create trash directory: %1%") % e.msg());
                 state.moveToTrash = false;
             }
         }
@@ -765,9 +765,9 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
     } else if (options.maxFreed > 0) {
 
         if (state.shouldDelete)
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("deleting garbage..."));
+            printError(format("deleting garbage..."));
         else
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("determining live/dead paths..."));
+            printError(format("determining live/dead paths..."));
 
         try {
 
@@ -825,12 +825,12 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
     fds.clear();
 
     /* Delete the trash directory. */
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("deleting ‘%1%’") % trashDir);
+    printInfo(format("deleting ‘%1%’") % trashDir);
     deleteGarbage(state, trashDir);
 
     /* Clean up the links directory. */
     if (options.action == GCOptions::gcDeleteDead || options.action == GCOptions::gcDeleteSpecific) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("deleting unused links..."));
+        printError(format("deleting unused links..."));
         removeUnusedLinks(state);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.cc b/src/libstore/globals.cc
index ecf81e8eb38e..00b468892529 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.cc
@@ -183,6 +183,8 @@ void Settings::update()
     _get(enableImportNative, "allow-unsafe-native-code-during-evaluation");
     _get(useCaseHack, "use-case-hack");
     _get(preBuildHook, "pre-build-hook");
+    _get(keepGoing, "keep-going");
+    _get(keepFailed, "keep-failed");
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc b/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc
index bdcd2fd3998b..9d31f77c921f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/http-binary-cache-store.cc
@@ -13,17 +13,12 @@ private:
 
     Path cacheUri;
 
-    Pool<Downloader> downloaders;
-
 public:
 
     HttpBinaryCacheStore(
         const Params & params, const Path & _cacheUri)
         : BinaryCacheStore(params)
         , cacheUri(_cacheUri)
-        , downloaders(
-            std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max(),
-            []() { return makeDownloader(); })
     {
         if (cacheUri.back() == '/')
             cacheUri.pop_back();
@@ -54,12 +49,11 @@ protected:
     bool fileExists(const std::string & path) override
     {
         try {
-            auto downloader(downloaders.get());
-            DownloadOptions options;
-            options.showProgress = DownloadOptions::no;
-            options.head = true;
-            options.tries = 5;
-            downloader->download(cacheUri + "/" + path, options);
+            DownloadRequest request(cacheUri + "/" + path);
+            request.showProgress = DownloadRequest::no;
+            request.head = true;
+            request.tries = 5;
+            getDownloader()->download(request);
             return true;
         } catch (DownloadError & e) {
             /* S3 buckets return 403 if a file doesn't exist and the
@@ -75,20 +69,29 @@ protected:
         throw UploadToHTTP("uploading to an HTTP binary cache is not supported");
     }
 
-    std::shared_ptr<std::string> getFile(const std::string & path) override
+    void getFile(const std::string & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<std::string>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) override
     {
-        auto downloader(downloaders.get());
-        DownloadOptions options;
-        options.showProgress = DownloadOptions::no;
-        options.tries = 5;
-        options.baseRetryTimeMs = 1000;
-        try {
-            return downloader->download(cacheUri + "/" + path, options).data;
-        } catch (DownloadError & e) {
-            if (e.error == Downloader::NotFound || e.error == Downloader::Forbidden)
-                return 0;
-            throw;
-        }
+        DownloadRequest request(cacheUri + "/" + path);
+        request.showProgress = DownloadRequest::no;
+        request.tries = 8;
+
+        getDownloader()->enqueueDownload(request,
+            [success](const DownloadResult & result) {
+                success(result.data);
+            },
+            [success, failure](std::exception_ptr exc) {
+                try {
+                    std::rethrow_exception(exc);
+                } catch (DownloadError & e) {
+                    if (e.error == Downloader::NotFound || e.error == Downloader::Forbidden)
+                        return success(0);
+                    failure(exc);
+                } catch (...) {
+                    failure(exc);
+                }
+            });
     }
 
 };
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-binary-cache-store.cc b/src/libstore/local-binary-cache-store.cc
index 91d2650fe124..0f377989bd89 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-binary-cache-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/local-binary-cache-store.cc
@@ -32,7 +32,19 @@ protected:
 
     void upsertFile(const std::string & path, const std::string & data) override;
 
-    std::shared_ptr<std::string> getFile(const std::string & path) override;
+    void getFile(const std::string & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<std::string>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) override
+    {
+        sync2async<std::shared_ptr<std::string>>(success, failure, [&]() {
+            try {
+                return std::make_shared<std::string>(readFile(binaryCacheDir + "/" + path));
+            } catch (SysError & e) {
+                if (e.errNo == ENOENT) return std::shared_ptr<std::string>();
+                throw;
+            }
+        });
+    }
 
     PathSet queryAllValidPaths() override
     {
@@ -76,16 +88,6 @@ void LocalBinaryCacheStore::upsertFile(const std::string & path, const std::stri
     atomicWrite(binaryCacheDir + "/" + path, data);
 }
 
-std::shared_ptr<std::string> LocalBinaryCacheStore::getFile(const std::string & path)
-{
-    try {
-        return std::make_shared<std::string>(readFile(binaryCacheDir + "/" + path));
-    } catch (SysError & e) {
-        if (e.errNo == ENOENT) return 0;
-        throw;
-    }
-}
-
 static RegisterStoreImplementation regStore([](
     const std::string & uri, const Store::Params & params)
     -> std::shared_ptr<Store>
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-store.cc b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
index 272d48741114..612efde7bb8f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ LocalStore::LocalStore(const Params & params)
     , reservedPath(dbDir + "/reserved")
     , schemaPath(dbDir + "/schema")
     , trashDir(realStoreDir + "/trash")
-    , requireSigs(settings.get("signed-binary-caches", std::string("")) != "") // FIXME: rename option
+    , requireSigs(trim(settings.get("signed-binary-caches", std::string(""))) != "") // FIXME: rename option
     , publicKeys(getDefaultPublicKeys())
 {
     auto state(_state.lock());
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ LocalStore::LocalStore(const Params & params)
 
         struct group * gr = getgrnam(settings.buildUsersGroup.c_str());
         if (!gr)
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: the group ‘%1%’ specified in ‘build-users-group’ does not exist")
+            printError(format("warning: the group ‘%1%’ specified in ‘build-users-group’ does not exist")
                 % settings.buildUsersGroup);
         else {
             struct stat st;
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ LocalStore::LocalStore(const Params & params)
 #endif
             if (res == -1) {
                 writeFull(fd.get(), string(settings.reservedSize, 'X'));
-                ftruncate(fd.get(), settings.reservedSize);
+                [[gnu::unused]] auto res2 = ftruncate(fd.get(), settings.reservedSize);
             }
         }
     } catch (SysError & e) { /* don't care about errors */
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ LocalStore::LocalStore(const Params & params)
     globalLock = openLockFile(globalLockPath.c_str(), true);
 
     if (!lockFile(globalLock.get(), ltRead, false)) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, "waiting for the big Nix store lock...");
+        printError("waiting for the big Nix store lock...");
         lockFile(globalLock.get(), ltRead, true);
     }
 
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ LocalStore::LocalStore(const Params & params)
                 "please upgrade Nix to version 1.11 first.");
 
         if (!lockFile(globalLock.get(), ltWrite, false)) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, "waiting for exclusive access to the Nix store...");
+            printError("waiting for exclusive access to the Nix store...");
             lockFile(globalLock.get(), ltWrite, true);
         }
 
@@ -578,49 +578,54 @@ Hash parseHashField(const Path & path, const string & s)
 }
 
 
-std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> LocalStore::queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path)
+void LocalStore::queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path,
+    std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+    std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure)
 {
-    auto info = std::make_shared<ValidPathInfo>();
-    info->path = path;
+    sync2async<std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>>(success, failure, [&]() {
 
-    assertStorePath(path);
+        auto info = std::make_shared<ValidPathInfo>();
+        info->path = path;
 
-    return retrySQLite<std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>>([&]() {
-        auto state(_state.lock());
+        assertStorePath(path);
+
+        return retrySQLite<std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>>([&]() {
+            auto state(_state.lock());
 
-        /* Get the path info. */
-        auto useQueryPathInfo(state->stmtQueryPathInfo.use()(path));
+            /* Get the path info. */
+            auto useQueryPathInfo(state->stmtQueryPathInfo.use()(path));
 
-        if (!useQueryPathInfo.next())
-            return std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>();
+            if (!useQueryPathInfo.next())
+                return std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>();
 
-        info->id = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(0);
+            info->id = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(0);
 
-        info->narHash = parseHashField(path, useQueryPathInfo.getStr(1));
+            info->narHash = parseHashField(path, useQueryPathInfo.getStr(1));
 
-        info->registrationTime = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(2);
+            info->registrationTime = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(2);
 
-        auto s = (const char *) sqlite3_column_text(state->stmtQueryPathInfo, 3);
-        if (s) info->deriver = s;
+            auto s = (const char *) sqlite3_column_text(state->stmtQueryPathInfo, 3);
+            if (s) info->deriver = s;
 
-        /* Note that narSize = NULL yields 0. */
-        info->narSize = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(4);
+            /* Note that narSize = NULL yields 0. */
+            info->narSize = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(4);
 
-        info->ultimate = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(5) == 1;
+            info->ultimate = useQueryPathInfo.getInt(5) == 1;
 
-        s = (const char *) sqlite3_column_text(state->stmtQueryPathInfo, 6);
-        if (s) info->sigs = tokenizeString<StringSet>(s, " ");
+            s = (const char *) sqlite3_column_text(state->stmtQueryPathInfo, 6);
+            if (s) info->sigs = tokenizeString<StringSet>(s, " ");
 
-        s = (const char *) sqlite3_column_text(state->stmtQueryPathInfo, 7);
-        if (s) info->ca = s;
+            s = (const char *) sqlite3_column_text(state->stmtQueryPathInfo, 7);
+            if (s) info->ca = s;
 
-        /* Get the references. */
-        auto useQueryReferences(state->stmtQueryReferences.use()(info->id));
+            /* Get the references. */
+            auto useQueryReferences(state->stmtQueryReferences.use()(info->id));
 
-        while (useQueryReferences.next())
-            info->references.insert(useQueryReferences.getStr(0));
+            while (useQueryReferences.next())
+                info->references.insert(useQueryReferences.getStr(0));
 
-        return info;
+            return info;
+        });
     });
 }
 
@@ -777,18 +782,27 @@ Path LocalStore::queryPathFromHashPart(const string & hashPart)
 PathSet LocalStore::querySubstitutablePaths(const PathSet & paths)
 {
     if (!settings.useSubstitutes) return PathSet();
+
+    auto remaining = paths;
     PathSet res;
+
     for (auto & sub : getDefaultSubstituters()) {
+        if (remaining.empty()) break;
         if (sub->storeDir != storeDir) continue;
         if (!sub->wantMassQuery()) continue;
-        for (auto & path : paths) {
-            if (res.count(path)) continue;
-            debug(format("checking substituter ‘%s’ for path ‘%s’")
-                % sub->getUri() % path);
-            if (sub->isValidPath(path))
+
+        auto valid = sub->queryValidPaths(remaining);
+
+        PathSet remaining2;
+        for (auto & path : remaining)
+            if (valid.count(path))
                 res.insert(path);
-        }
+            else
+                remaining2.insert(path);
+
+        std::swap(remaining, remaining2);
     }
+
     return res;
 }
 
@@ -896,10 +910,10 @@ void LocalStore::invalidatePath(State & state, const Path & path)
 }
 
 
-void LocalStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
-    bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs)
+void LocalStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> & nar,
+    bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs, std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor)
 {
-    Hash h = hashString(htSHA256, nar);
+    Hash h = hashString(htSHA256, *nar);
     if (h != info.narHash)
         throw Error(format("hash mismatch importing path ‘%s’; expected hash ‘%s’, got ‘%s’") %
             info.path % info.narHash.to_string() % h.to_string());
@@ -926,7 +940,7 @@ void LocalStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
 
             deletePath(realPath);
 
-            StringSource source(nar);
+            StringSource source(*nar);
             restorePath(realPath, source);
 
             canonicalisePathMetaData(realPath, -1);
@@ -1104,7 +1118,7 @@ void LocalStore::invalidatePathChecked(const Path & path)
 
 bool LocalStore::verifyStore(bool checkContents, bool repair)
 {
-    printMsg(lvlError, format("reading the Nix store..."));
+    printError(format("reading the Nix store..."));
 
     bool errors = false;
 
@@ -1115,7 +1129,7 @@ bool LocalStore::verifyStore(bool checkContents, bool repair)
     for (auto & i : readDirectory(realStoreDir)) store.insert(i.name);
 
     /* Check whether all valid paths actually exist. */
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, "checking path existence...");
+    printInfo("checking path existence...");
 
     PathSet validPaths2 = queryAllValidPaths(), validPaths, done;
 
@@ -1128,7 +1142,7 @@ bool LocalStore::verifyStore(bool checkContents, bool repair)
 
     /* Optionally, check the content hashes (slow). */
     if (checkContents) {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, "checking hashes...");
+        printInfo("checking hashes...");
 
         Hash nullHash(htSHA256);
 
@@ -1141,7 +1155,7 @@ bool LocalStore::verifyStore(bool checkContents, bool repair)
                 HashResult current = hashPath(info->narHash.type, i);
 
                 if (info->narHash != nullHash && info->narHash != current.first) {
-                    printMsg(lvlError, format("path ‘%1%’ was modified! "
+                    printError(format("path ‘%1%’ was modified! "
                             "expected hash ‘%2%’, got ‘%3%’")
                         % i % printHash(info->narHash) % printHash(current.first));
                     if (repair) repairPath(i); else errors = true;
@@ -1151,14 +1165,14 @@ bool LocalStore::verifyStore(bool checkContents, bool repair)
 
                     /* Fill in missing hashes. */
                     if (info->narHash == nullHash) {
-                        printMsg(lvlError, format("fixing missing hash on ‘%1%’") % i);
+                        printError(format("fixing missing hash on ‘%1%’") % i);
                         info->narHash = current.first;
                         update = true;
                     }
 
                     /* Fill in missing narSize fields (from old stores). */
                     if (info->narSize == 0) {
-                        printMsg(lvlError, format("updating size field on ‘%1%’ to %2%") % i % current.second);
+                        printError(format("updating size field on ‘%1%’ to %2%") % i % current.second);
                         info->narSize = current.second;
                         update = true;
                     }
@@ -1174,9 +1188,9 @@ bool LocalStore::verifyStore(bool checkContents, bool repair)
                 /* It's possible that the path got GC'ed, so ignore
                    errors on invalid paths. */
                 if (isValidPath(i))
-                    printMsg(lvlError, format("error: %1%") % e.msg());
+                    printError(format("error: %1%") % e.msg());
                 else
-                    printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: %1%") % e.msg());
+                    printError(format("warning: %1%") % e.msg());
                 errors = true;
             }
         }
@@ -1195,7 +1209,7 @@ void LocalStore::verifyPath(const Path & path, const PathSet & store,
     done.insert(path);
 
     if (!isStorePath(path)) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("path ‘%1%’ is not in the Nix store") % path);
+        printError(format("path ‘%1%’ is not in the Nix store") % path);
         auto state(_state.lock());
         invalidatePath(*state, path);
         return;
@@ -1214,16 +1228,16 @@ void LocalStore::verifyPath(const Path & path, const PathSet & store,
             }
 
         if (canInvalidate) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("path ‘%1%’ disappeared, removing from database...") % path);
+            printError(format("path ‘%1%’ disappeared, removing from database...") % path);
             auto state(_state.lock());
             invalidatePath(*state, path);
         } else {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("path ‘%1%’ disappeared, but it still has valid referrers!") % path);
+            printError(format("path ‘%1%’ disappeared, but it still has valid referrers!") % path);
             if (repair)
                 try {
                     repairPath(path);
                 } catch (Error & e) {
-                    printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: %1%") % e.msg());
+                    printError(format("warning: %1%") % e.msg());
                     errors = true;
                 }
             else errors = true;
@@ -1275,7 +1289,7 @@ static void makeMutable(const Path & path)
 void LocalStore::upgradeStore7()
 {
     if (getuid() != 0) return;
-    printMsg(lvlError, "removing immutable bits from the Nix store (this may take a while)...");
+    printError("removing immutable bits from the Nix store (this may take a while)...");
     makeMutable(realStoreDir);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-store.hh b/src/libstore/local-store.hh
index 5b5960cf245f..511209d8404a 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-store.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/local-store.hh
@@ -106,7 +106,9 @@ public:
 
     PathSet queryAllValidPaths() override;
 
-    std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path) override;
+    void queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) override;
 
     void queryReferrers(const Path & path, PathSet & referrers) override;
 
@@ -123,12 +125,13 @@ public:
     void querySubstitutablePathInfos(const PathSet & paths,
         SubstitutablePathInfos & infos) override;
 
-    void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
-        bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs) override;
+    void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> & nar,
+        bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs,
+        std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor) override;
 
     Path addToStore(const string & name, const Path & srcPath,
-        bool recursive = true, HashType hashAlgo = htSHA256,
-        PathFilter & filter = defaultPathFilter, bool repair = false) override;
+        bool recursive, HashType hashAlgo,
+        PathFilter & filter, bool repair) override;
 
     /* Like addToStore(), but the contents of the path are contained
        in `dump', which is either a NAR serialisation (if recursive ==
@@ -138,7 +141,7 @@ public:
         bool recursive = true, HashType hashAlgo = htSHA256, bool repair = false);
 
     Path addTextToStore(const string & name, const string & s,
-        const PathSet & references, bool repair = false) override;
+        const PathSet & references, bool repair) override;
 
     void buildPaths(const PathSet & paths, BuildMode buildMode) override;
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/misc.cc b/src/libstore/misc.cc
index da654ba0d2c3..0c2c49e5531f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/misc.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/misc.cc
@@ -8,66 +8,90 @@
 namespace nix {
 
 
-void Store::computeFSClosure(const Path & path,
-    PathSet & paths, bool flipDirection, bool includeOutputs, bool includeDerivers)
+void Store::computeFSClosure(const Path & startPath,
+    PathSet & paths_, bool flipDirection, bool includeOutputs, bool includeDerivers)
 {
-    ThreadPool pool;
+    struct State
+    {
+        size_t pending;
+        PathSet & paths;
+        std::exception_ptr exc;
+    };
 
-    Sync<bool> state_;
+    Sync<State> state_(State{0, paths_, 0});
 
-    std::function<void(Path)> doPath;
+    std::function<void(const Path &)> enqueue;
 
-    doPath = [&](const Path & path) {
+    std::condition_variable done;
+
+    enqueue = [&](const Path & path) -> void {
         {
             auto state(state_.lock());
-            if (paths.count(path)) return;
-            paths.insert(path);
+            if (state->exc) return;
+            if (state->paths.count(path)) return;
+            state->paths.insert(path);
+            state->pending++;
         }
 
-        auto info = queryPathInfo(path);
+        queryPathInfo(path,
+            [&, path](ref<ValidPathInfo> info) {
+                // FIXME: calls to isValidPath() should be async
 
-        if (flipDirection) {
+                if (flipDirection) {
 
-            PathSet referrers;
-            queryReferrers(path, referrers);
-            for (auto & ref : referrers)
-                if (ref != path)
-                    pool.enqueue(std::bind(doPath, ref));
+                    PathSet referrers;
+                    queryReferrers(path, referrers);
+                    for (auto & ref : referrers)
+                        if (ref != path)
+                            enqueue(ref);
 
-            if (includeOutputs) {
-                PathSet derivers = queryValidDerivers(path);
-                for (auto & i : derivers)
-                    pool.enqueue(std::bind(doPath, i));
-            }
+                    if (includeOutputs)
+                        for (auto & i : queryValidDerivers(path))
+                            enqueue(i);
 
-            if (includeDerivers && isDerivation(path)) {
-                PathSet outputs = queryDerivationOutputs(path);
-                for (auto & i : outputs)
-                    if (isValidPath(i) && queryPathInfo(i)->deriver == path)
-                        pool.enqueue(std::bind(doPath, i));
-            }
+                    if (includeDerivers && isDerivation(path))
+                        for (auto & i : queryDerivationOutputs(path))
+                            if (isValidPath(i) && queryPathInfo(i)->deriver == path)
+                                enqueue(i);
 
-        } else {
+                } else {
 
-            for (auto & ref : info->references)
-                if (ref != path)
-                    pool.enqueue(std::bind(doPath, ref));
+                    for (auto & ref : info->references)
+                        if (ref != path)
+                            enqueue(ref);
 
-            if (includeOutputs && isDerivation(path)) {
-                PathSet outputs = queryDerivationOutputs(path);
-                for (auto & i : outputs)
-                    if (isValidPath(i)) pool.enqueue(std::bind(doPath, i));
-            }
+                    if (includeOutputs && isDerivation(path))
+                        for (auto & i : queryDerivationOutputs(path))
+                            if (isValidPath(i)) enqueue(i);
 
-            if (includeDerivers && isValidPath(info->deriver))
-                pool.enqueue(std::bind(doPath, info->deriver));
+                    if (includeDerivers && isValidPath(info->deriver))
+                        enqueue(info->deriver);
 
-        }
+                }
+
+                {
+                    auto state(state_.lock());
+                    assert(state->pending);
+                    if (!--state->pending) done.notify_one();
+                }
+
+            },
+
+            [&, path](std::exception_ptr exc) {
+                auto state(state_.lock());
+                if (!state->exc) state->exc = exc;
+                assert(state->pending);
+                if (!--state->pending) done.notify_one();
+            });
     };
 
-    pool.enqueue(std::bind(doPath, path));
+    enqueue(startPath);
 
-    pool.process();
+    {
+        auto state(state_.lock());
+        while (state->pending) state.wait(done);
+        if (state->exc) std::rethrow_exception(state->exc);
+    }
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc b/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc
index 927478121244..1bf8b7d83bbc 100644
--- a/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ struct MakeReadOnly
 
 LocalStore::InodeHash LocalStore::loadInodeHash()
 {
-    printMsg(lvlDebug, "loading hash inodes in memory");
+    debug("loading hash inodes in memory");
     InodeHash inodeHash;
 
     AutoCloseDir dir = opendir(linksDir.c_str());
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ Strings LocalStore::readDirectoryIgnoringInodes(const Path & path, const InodeHa
         checkInterrupt();
 
         if (inodeHash.count(dirent->d_ino)) {
-            printMsg(lvlDebug, format("‘%1%’ is already linked") % dirent->d_name);
+            debug(format("‘%1%’ is already linked") % dirent->d_name);
             continue;
         }
 
@@ -116,13 +116,13 @@ void LocalStore::optimisePath_(OptimiseStats & stats, const Path & path, InodeHa
        NixOS (example: $fontconfig/var/cache being modified).  Skip
        those files.  FIXME: check the modification time. */
     if (S_ISREG(st.st_mode) && (st.st_mode & S_IWUSR)) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("skipping suspicious writable file ‘%1%’") % path);
+        printError(format("skipping suspicious writable file ‘%1%’") % path);
         return;
     }
 
     /* This can still happen on top-level files. */
     if (st.st_nlink > 1 && inodeHash.count(st.st_ino)) {
-        printMsg(lvlDebug, format("‘%1%’ is already linked, with %2% other file(s)") % path % (st.st_nlink - 2));
+        debug(format("‘%1%’ is already linked, with %2% other file(s)") % path % (st.st_nlink - 2));
         return;
     }
 
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ void LocalStore::optimisePath_(OptimiseStats & stats, const Path & path, InodeHa
        contents of the symlink (i.e. the result of readlink()), not
        the contents of the target (which may not even exist). */
     Hash hash = hashPath(htSHA256, path).first;
-    printMsg(lvlDebug, format("‘%1%’ has hash ‘%2%’") % path % printHash(hash));
+    debug(format("‘%1%’ has hash ‘%2%’") % path % printHash(hash));
 
     /* Check if this is a known hash. */
     Path linkPath = linksDir + "/" + printHash32(hash);
@@ -161,12 +161,12 @@ void LocalStore::optimisePath_(OptimiseStats & stats, const Path & path, InodeHa
         throw SysError(format("getting attributes of path ‘%1%’") % linkPath);
 
     if (st.st_ino == stLink.st_ino) {
-        printMsg(lvlDebug, format("‘%1%’ is already linked to ‘%2%’") % path % linkPath);
+        debug(format("‘%1%’ is already linked to ‘%2%’") % path % linkPath);
         return;
     }
 
     if (st.st_size != stLink.st_size) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("removing corrupted link ‘%1%’") % linkPath);
+        printError(format("removing corrupted link ‘%1%’") % linkPath);
         unlink(linkPath.c_str());
         goto retry;
     }
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ void LocalStore::optimisePath_(OptimiseStats & stats, const Path & path, InodeHa
                systems).  This is likely to happen with empty files.
                Just shrug and ignore. */
             if (st.st_size)
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, format("‘%1%’ has maximum number of links") % linkPath);
+                printInfo(format("‘%1%’ has maximum number of links") % linkPath);
             return;
         }
         throw SysError(format("cannot link ‘%1%’ to ‘%2%’") % tempLink % linkPath);
@@ -201,14 +201,14 @@ void LocalStore::optimisePath_(OptimiseStats & stats, const Path & path, InodeHa
     /* Atomically replace the old file with the new hard link. */
     if (rename(tempLink.c_str(), path.c_str()) == -1) {
         if (unlink(tempLink.c_str()) == -1)
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("unable to unlink ‘%1%’") % tempLink);
+            printError(format("unable to unlink ‘%1%’") % tempLink);
         if (errno == EMLINK) {
             /* Some filesystems generate too many links on the rename,
                rather than on the original link.  (Probably it
                temporarily increases the st_nlink field before
                decreasing it again.) */
             if (st.st_size)
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, format("‘%1%’ has maximum number of links") % linkPath);
+                printInfo(format("‘%1%’ has maximum number of links") % linkPath);
             return;
         }
         throw SysError(format("cannot rename ‘%1%’ to ‘%2%’") % tempLink % path);
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ void LocalStore::optimiseStore()
 
     optimiseStore(stats);
 
-    printMsg(lvlError,
+    printError(
         format("%1% freed by hard-linking %2% files")
         % showBytes(stats.bytesFreed)
         % stats.filesLinked);
diff --git a/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc b/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
index b9e178d61f3c..8788ee1649fb 100644
--- a/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ bool PathLocks::lockPaths(const PathSet & _paths,
             /* Acquire an exclusive lock. */
             if (!lockFile(fd.get(), ltWrite, false)) {
                 if (wait) {
-                    if (waitMsg != "") printMsg(lvlError, waitMsg);
+                    if (waitMsg != "") printError(waitMsg);
                     lockFile(fd.get(), ltWrite, true);
                 } else {
                     /* Failed to lock this path; release all other
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ void PathLocks::unlock()
 
         lockedPaths.erase(i.second);
         if (close(i.first) == -1)
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 format("error (ignored): cannot close lock file on ‘%1%’") % i.second);
 
         debug(format("lock released on ‘%1%’") % i.second);
diff --git a/src/libstore/profiles.cc b/src/libstore/profiles.cc
index 449c88b576b6..f24daa8862a1 100644
--- a/src/libstore/profiles.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/profiles.cc
@@ -132,9 +132,9 @@ void deleteGeneration(const Path & profile, unsigned int gen)
 static void deleteGeneration2(const Path & profile, unsigned int gen, bool dryRun)
 {
     if (dryRun)
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("would remove generation %1%") % gen);
+        printInfo(format("would remove generation %1%") % gen);
     else {
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("removing generation %1%") % gen);
+        printInfo(format("removing generation %1%") % gen);
         deleteGeneration(profile, gen);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/libstore/remote-store.cc b/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
index f03f33fc175c..77faa2f801f1 100644
--- a/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
@@ -260,36 +260,40 @@ void RemoteStore::querySubstitutablePathInfos(const PathSet & paths,
 }
 
 
-std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> RemoteStore::queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path)
-{
-    auto conn(connections->get());
-    conn->to << wopQueryPathInfo << path;
-    try {
-        conn->processStderr();
-    } catch (Error & e) {
-        // Ugly backwards compatibility hack.
-        if (e.msg().find("is not valid") != std::string::npos)
-            throw InvalidPath(e.what());
-        throw;
-    }
-    if (GET_PROTOCOL_MINOR(conn->daemonVersion) >= 17) {
-        bool valid = readInt(conn->from) != 0;
-        if (!valid) throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % path);
-    }
-    auto info = std::make_shared<ValidPathInfo>();
-    info->path = path;
-    info->deriver = readString(conn->from);
-    if (info->deriver != "") assertStorePath(info->deriver);
-    info->narHash = parseHash(htSHA256, readString(conn->from));
-    info->references = readStorePaths<PathSet>(*this, conn->from);
-    info->registrationTime = readInt(conn->from);
-    info->narSize = readLongLong(conn->from);
-    if (GET_PROTOCOL_MINOR(conn->daemonVersion) >= 16) {
-        info->ultimate = readInt(conn->from) != 0;
-        info->sigs = readStrings<StringSet>(conn->from);
-        info->ca = readString(conn->from);
-    }
-    return info;
+void RemoteStore::queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path,
+    std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+    std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure)
+{
+    sync2async<std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>>(success, failure, [&]() {
+        auto conn(connections->get());
+        conn->to << wopQueryPathInfo << path;
+        try {
+            conn->processStderr();
+        } catch (Error & e) {
+            // Ugly backwards compatibility hack.
+            if (e.msg().find("is not valid") != std::string::npos)
+                throw InvalidPath(e.what());
+            throw;
+        }
+        if (GET_PROTOCOL_MINOR(conn->daemonVersion) >= 17) {
+            bool valid = readInt(conn->from) != 0;
+            if (!valid) throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % path);
+        }
+        auto info = std::make_shared<ValidPathInfo>();
+        info->path = path;
+        info->deriver = readString(conn->from);
+        if (info->deriver != "") assertStorePath(info->deriver);
+        info->narHash = parseHash(htSHA256, readString(conn->from));
+        info->references = readStorePaths<PathSet>(*this, conn->from);
+        info->registrationTime = readInt(conn->from);
+        info->narSize = readLongLong(conn->from);
+        if (GET_PROTOCOL_MINOR(conn->daemonVersion) >= 16) {
+            info->ultimate = readInt(conn->from) != 0;
+            info->sigs = readStrings<StringSet>(conn->from);
+            info->ca = readString(conn->from);
+        }
+        return info;
+    });
 }
 
 
@@ -342,15 +346,43 @@ Path RemoteStore::queryPathFromHashPart(const string & hashPart)
 }
 
 
-void RemoteStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
-    bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs)
+void RemoteStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> & nar,
+    bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs, std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor)
 {
     auto conn(connections->get());
-    conn->to << wopAddToStoreNar
-             << info.path << info.deriver << printHash(info.narHash)
-             << info.references << info.registrationTime << info.narSize
-             << info.ultimate << info.sigs << nar << repair << dontCheckSigs;
-    conn->processStderr();
+
+    if (GET_PROTOCOL_MINOR(conn->daemonVersion) < 18) {
+        conn->to << wopImportPaths;
+
+        StringSink sink;
+        sink << 1 // == path follows
+            ;
+        assert(nar->size() % 8 == 0);
+        sink((unsigned char *) nar->data(), nar->size());
+        sink
+            << exportMagic
+            << info.path
+            << info.references
+            << info.deriver
+            << 0 // == no legacy signature
+            << 0 // == no path follows
+            ;
+
+        StringSource source(*sink.s);
+        conn->processStderr(0, &source);
+
+        auto importedPaths = readStorePaths<PathSet>(*this, conn->from);
+        assert(importedPaths.size() <= 1);
+    }
+
+    else {
+        conn->to << wopAddToStoreNar
+                 << info.path << info.deriver << printHash(info.narHash)
+                 << info.references << info.registrationTime << info.narSize
+                 << info.ultimate << info.sigs << *nar << repair << dontCheckSigs;
+        // FIXME: don't send nar as a string
+        conn->processStderr();
+    }
 }
 
 
@@ -573,12 +605,12 @@ void RemoteStore::Connection::processStderr(Sink * sink, Source * source)
             to.flush();
         }
         else
-            printMsg(lvlError, chomp(readString(from)));
+            printError(chomp(readString(from)));
     }
     if (msg == STDERR_ERROR) {
         string error = readString(from);
         unsigned int status = readInt(from);
-        throw Error(format("%1%") % error, status);
+        throw Error(status, error);
     }
     else if (msg != STDERR_LAST)
         throw Error("protocol error processing standard error");
diff --git a/src/libstore/remote-store.hh b/src/libstore/remote-store.hh
index 5c9c617d93e4..40f17da300d0 100644
--- a/src/libstore/remote-store.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/remote-store.hh
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ public:
 
     PathSet queryAllValidPaths() override;
 
-    std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path) override;
+    void queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) override;
 
     void queryReferrers(const Path & path, PathSet & referrers) override;
 
@@ -49,8 +51,9 @@ public:
     void querySubstitutablePathInfos(const PathSet & paths,
         SubstitutablePathInfos & infos) override;
 
-    void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
-        bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs) override;
+    void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> & nar,
+        bool repair, bool dontCheckSigs,
+        std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor) override;
 
     Path addToStore(const string & name, const Path & srcPath,
         bool recursive = true, HashType hashAlgo = htSHA256,
diff --git a/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc b/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc
index ed95620bbd7c..c11f2b06b990 100644
--- a/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.cc
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ struct S3BinaryCacheStoreImpl : public S3BinaryCacheStore
         }
     }
 
-    const Stats & getS3Stats()
+    const Stats & getS3Stats() override
     {
         return stats;
     }
@@ -161,52 +161,56 @@ struct S3BinaryCacheStoreImpl : public S3BinaryCacheStore
 
         auto duration = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(now2 - now1).count();
 
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("uploaded ‘s3://%1%/%2%’ (%3% bytes) in %4% ms")
+        printInfo(format("uploaded ‘s3://%1%/%2%’ (%3% bytes) in %4% ms")
             % bucketName % path % data.size() % duration);
 
         stats.putTimeMs += duration;
     }
 
-    std::shared_ptr<std::string> getFile(const std::string & path) override
+    void getFile(const std::string & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<std::string>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) override
     {
-        debug(format("fetching ‘s3://%1%/%2%’...") % bucketName % path);
+        sync2async<std::shared_ptr<std::string>>(success, failure, [&]() {
+            debug(format("fetching ‘s3://%1%/%2%’...") % bucketName % path);
 
-        auto request =
-            Aws::S3::Model::GetObjectRequest()
-            .WithBucket(bucketName)
-            .WithKey(path);
+            auto request =
+                Aws::S3::Model::GetObjectRequest()
+                .WithBucket(bucketName)
+                .WithKey(path);
 
-        request.SetResponseStreamFactory([&]() {
-            return Aws::New<std::stringstream>("STRINGSTREAM");
-        });
+            request.SetResponseStreamFactory([&]() {
+                return Aws::New<std::stringstream>("STRINGSTREAM");
+            });
 
-        stats.get++;
+            stats.get++;
 
-        try {
+            try {
 
-            auto now1 = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
+                auto now1 = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
 
-            auto result = checkAws(format("AWS error fetching ‘%s’") % path,
-                client->GetObject(request));
+                auto result = checkAws(format("AWS error fetching ‘%s’") % path,
+                    client->GetObject(request));
 
-            auto now2 = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
+                auto now2 = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
 
-            auto res = dynamic_cast<std::stringstream &>(result.GetBody()).str();
+                auto res = dynamic_cast<std::stringstream &>(result.GetBody()).str();
 
-            auto duration = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(now2 - now1).count();
+                auto duration = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(now2 - now1).count();
 
-            printMsg(lvlTalkative, format("downloaded ‘s3://%1%/%2%’ (%3% bytes) in %4% ms")
-                % bucketName % path % res.size() % duration);
+                printMsg(lvlTalkative, format("downloaded ‘s3://%1%/%2%’ (%3% bytes) in %4% ms")
+                    % bucketName % path % res.size() % duration);
 
-            stats.getBytes += res.size();
-            stats.getTimeMs += duration;
+                stats.getBytes += res.size();
+                stats.getTimeMs += duration;
 
-            return std::make_shared<std::string>(res);
+                return std::make_shared<std::string>(res);
 
-        } catch (S3Error & e) {
-            if (e.err == Aws::S3::S3Errors::NO_SUCH_KEY) return 0;
-            throw;
-        }
+            } catch (S3Error & e) {
+                if (e.err == Aws::S3::S3Errors::NO_SUCH_KEY) return std::shared_ptr<std::string>();
+                throw;
+            }
+        });
     }
 
     PathSet queryAllValidPaths() override
diff --git a/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.hh b/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.hh
index 79ab72e5a940..4d43fe4d23d8 100644
--- a/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/s3-binary-cache-store.hh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ public:
         std::atomic<uint64_t> head{0};
     };
 
-    const Stats & getS3Stats();
+    virtual const Stats & getS3Stats() = 0;
 };
 
 }
diff --git a/src/libstore/sqlite.cc b/src/libstore/sqlite.cc
index ea0b843f5752..0197b091cd12 100644
--- a/src/libstore/sqlite.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/sqlite.cc
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ namespace nix {
     int err = sqlite3_errcode(db);
     if (err == SQLITE_BUSY || err == SQLITE_PROTOCOL) {
         if (err == SQLITE_PROTOCOL)
-            printMsg(lvlError, "warning: SQLite database is busy (SQLITE_PROTOCOL)");
+            printError("warning: SQLite database is busy (SQLITE_PROTOCOL)");
         else {
             static bool warned = false;
             if (!warned) {
-                printMsg(lvlError, "warning: SQLite database is busy");
+                printError("warning: SQLite database is busy");
                 warned = true;
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/libstore/store-api.cc b/src/libstore/store-api.cc
index 1ce483ca991a..f7f6c9696688 100644
--- a/src/libstore/store-api.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/store-api.cc
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 #include "util.hh"
 #include "nar-info-disk-cache.hh"
 
+#include <future>
+
 
 namespace nix {
 
@@ -283,51 +285,125 @@ bool Store::isValidPath(const Path & storePath)
 
 ref<const ValidPathInfo> Store::queryPathInfo(const Path & storePath)
 {
+    std::promise<ref<ValidPathInfo>> promise;
+
+    queryPathInfo(storePath,
+        [&](ref<ValidPathInfo> info) {
+            promise.set_value(info);
+        },
+        [&](std::exception_ptr exc) {
+            promise.set_exception(exc);
+        });
+
+    return promise.get_future().get();
+}
+
+
+void Store::queryPathInfo(const Path & storePath,
+    std::function<void(ref<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+    std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure)
+{
     auto hashPart = storePathToHash(storePath);
 
-    {
-        auto state_(state.lock());
-        auto res = state_->pathInfoCache.get(hashPart);
-        if (res) {
-            stats.narInfoReadAverted++;
-            if (!*res)
-                throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % storePath);
-            return ref<ValidPathInfo>(*res);
+    try {
+
+        {
+            auto res = state.lock()->pathInfoCache.get(hashPart);
+            if (res) {
+                stats.narInfoReadAverted++;
+                if (!*res)
+                    throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % storePath);
+                return success(ref<ValidPathInfo>(*res));
+            }
         }
-    }
 
-    if (diskCache) {
-        auto res = diskCache->lookupNarInfo(getUri(), hashPart);
-        if (res.first != NarInfoDiskCache::oUnknown) {
-            stats.narInfoReadAverted++;
-            auto state_(state.lock());
-            state_->pathInfoCache.upsert(hashPart,
-                res.first == NarInfoDiskCache::oInvalid ? 0 : res.second);
-            if (res.first == NarInfoDiskCache::oInvalid ||
-                (res.second->path != storePath && storePathToName(storePath) != ""))
-                throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % storePath);
-            return ref<ValidPathInfo>(res.second);
+        if (diskCache) {
+            auto res = diskCache->lookupNarInfo(getUri(), hashPart);
+            if (res.first != NarInfoDiskCache::oUnknown) {
+                stats.narInfoReadAverted++;
+                {
+                    auto state_(state.lock());
+                    state_->pathInfoCache.upsert(hashPart,
+                        res.first == NarInfoDiskCache::oInvalid ? 0 : res.second);
+                    if (res.first == NarInfoDiskCache::oInvalid ||
+                        (res.second->path != storePath && storePathToName(storePath) != ""))
+                        throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % storePath);
+                }
+                return success(ref<ValidPathInfo>(res.second));
+            }
         }
+
+    } catch (std::exception & e) {
+        return callFailure(failure);
     }
 
-    auto info = queryPathInfoUncached(storePath);
+    queryPathInfoUncached(storePath,
+        [this, storePath, hashPart, success, failure](std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> info) {
 
-    if (diskCache)
-        diskCache->upsertNarInfo(getUri(), hashPart, info);
+            if (diskCache)
+                diskCache->upsertNarInfo(getUri(), hashPart, info);
+
+            {
+                auto state_(state.lock());
+                state_->pathInfoCache.upsert(hashPart, info);
+            }
+
+            if (!info
+                || (info->path != storePath && storePathToName(storePath) != ""))
+            {
+                stats.narInfoMissing++;
+                return failure(std::make_exception_ptr(InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % storePath)));
+            }
+
+            callSuccess(success, failure, ref<ValidPathInfo>(info));
+
+        }, failure);
+}
 
-    {
-        auto state_(state.lock());
-        state_->pathInfoCache.upsert(hashPart, info);
-    }
 
-    if (!info
-        || (info->path != storePath && storePathToName(storePath) != ""))
+PathSet Store::queryValidPaths(const PathSet & paths)
+{
+    struct State
     {
-        stats.narInfoMissing++;
-        throw InvalidPath(format("path ‘%s’ is not valid") % storePath);
-    }
+        size_t left;
+        PathSet valid;
+        std::exception_ptr exc;
+    };
 
-    return ref<ValidPathInfo>(info);
+    Sync<State> state_(State{paths.size(), PathSet()});
+
+    std::condition_variable wakeup;
+
+    for (auto & path : paths)
+        queryPathInfo(path,
+            [path, &state_, &wakeup](ref<ValidPathInfo> info) {
+                auto state(state_.lock());
+                state->valid.insert(path);
+                assert(state->left);
+                if (!--state->left)
+                    wakeup.notify_one();
+            },
+            [path, &state_, &wakeup](std::exception_ptr exc) {
+                auto state(state_.lock());
+                try {
+                    std::rethrow_exception(exc);
+                } catch (InvalidPath &) {
+                } catch (...) {
+                    state->exc = exc;
+                }
+                assert(state->left);
+                if (!--state->left)
+                    wakeup.notify_one();
+            });
+
+    while (true) {
+        auto state(state_.lock());
+        if (!state->left) {
+            if (state->exc) std::rethrow_exception(state->exc);
+            return state->valid;
+        }
+        state.wait(wakeup);
+    }
 }
 
 
@@ -380,7 +456,31 @@ void copyStorePath(ref<Store> srcStore, ref<Store> dstStore,
     StringSink sink;
     srcStore->narFromPath({storePath}, sink);
 
-    dstStore->addToStore(*info, *sink.s, repair);
+    dstStore->addToStore(*info, sink.s, repair);
+}
+
+
+void copyClosure(ref<Store> srcStore, ref<Store> dstStore,
+    const PathSet & storePaths, bool repair)
+{
+    PathSet closure;
+    for (auto & path : storePaths)
+        srcStore->computeFSClosure(path, closure);
+
+    PathSet valid = dstStore->queryValidPaths(closure);
+
+    if (valid.size() == closure.size()) return;
+
+    Paths sorted = srcStore->topoSortPaths(closure);
+
+    Paths missing;
+    for (auto i = sorted.rbegin(); i != sorted.rend(); ++i)
+        if (!valid.count(*i)) missing.push_back(*i);
+
+    printMsg(lvlDebug, format("copying %1% missing paths") % missing.size());
+
+    for (auto & i : missing)
+        copyStorePath(srcStore, dstStore, i, repair);
 }
 
 
@@ -442,7 +542,7 @@ void ValidPathInfo::sign(const SecretKey & secretKey)
 bool ValidPathInfo::isContentAddressed(const Store & store) const
 {
     auto warn = [&]() {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: path ‘%s’ claims to be content-addressed but isn't") % path);
+        printError(format("warning: path ‘%s’ claims to be content-addressed but isn't") % path);
     };
 
     if (hasPrefix(ca, "text:")) {
diff --git a/src/libstore/store-api.hh b/src/libstore/store-api.hh
index ae1d51016e99..6762852cf30e 100644
--- a/src/libstore/store-api.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/store-api.hh
@@ -189,6 +189,9 @@ enum BuildMode { bmNormal, bmRepair, bmCheck, bmHash };
 
 struct BuildResult
 {
+    /* Note: don't remove status codes, and only add new status codes
+       at the end of the list, to prevent client/server
+       incompatibilities in the nix-store --serve protocol. */
     enum Status {
         Built = 0,
         Substituted,
@@ -197,6 +200,7 @@ struct BuildResult
         InputRejected,
         OutputRejected,
         TransientFailure, // possibly transient
+        CachedFailure, // no longer used
         TimedOut,
         MiscFailure,
         DependencyFailed,
@@ -307,7 +311,7 @@ protected:
 public:
 
     /* Query which of the given paths is valid. */
-    virtual PathSet queryValidPaths(const PathSet & paths) = 0;
+    virtual PathSet queryValidPaths(const PathSet & paths);
 
     /* Query the set of all valid paths. Note that for some store
        backends, the name part of store paths may be omitted
@@ -320,9 +324,16 @@ public:
        the name part of the store path. */
     ref<const ValidPathInfo> queryPathInfo(const Path & path);
 
+    /* Asynchronous version of queryPathInfo(). */
+    void queryPathInfo(const Path & path,
+        std::function<void(ref<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure);
+
 protected:
 
-    virtual std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo> queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path) = 0;
+    virtual void queryPathInfoUncached(const Path & path,
+        std::function<void(std::shared_ptr<ValidPathInfo>)> success,
+        std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> failure) = 0;
 
 public:
 
@@ -359,8 +370,9 @@ public:
     virtual bool wantMassQuery() { return false; }
 
     /* Import a path into the store. */
-    virtual void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const std::string & nar,
-        bool repair = false, bool dontCheckSigs = false) = 0;
+    virtual void addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> & nar,
+        bool repair = false, bool dontCheckSigs = false,
+        std::shared_ptr<FSAccessor> accessor = 0) = 0;
 
     /* Copy the contents of a path to the store and register the
        validity the resulting path.  The resulting path is returned.
@@ -568,6 +580,11 @@ void copyStorePath(ref<Store> srcStore, ref<Store> dstStore,
     const Path & storePath, bool repair = false);
 
 
+/* Copy the closure of the specified paths from one store to another. */
+void copyClosure(ref<Store> srcStore, ref<Store> dstStore,
+    const PathSet & storePaths, bool repair = false);
+
+
 /* Remove the temporary roots file for this process.  Any temporary
    root becomes garbage after this point unless it has been registered
    as a (permanent) root. */
diff --git a/src/libstore/worker-protocol.hh b/src/libstore/worker-protocol.hh
index 2cd246dab5df..6a4ed47cc9fa 100644
--- a/src/libstore/worker-protocol.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/worker-protocol.hh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ namespace nix {
 #define WORKER_MAGIC_1 0x6e697863
 #define WORKER_MAGIC_2 0x6478696f
 
-#define PROTOCOL_VERSION 0x111
+#define PROTOCOL_VERSION 0x112
 #define GET_PROTOCOL_MAJOR(x) ((x) & 0xff00)
 #define GET_PROTOCOL_MINOR(x) ((x) & 0x00ff)
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/affinity.cc b/src/libutil/affinity.cc
index 3cbdf878617a..98f8287ada67 100644
--- a/src/libutil/affinity.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/affinity.cc
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@ void setAffinityTo(int cpu)
 #if __linux__
     if (sched_getaffinity(0, sizeof(cpu_set_t), &savedAffinity) == -1) return;
     didSaveAffinity = true;
-    printMsg(lvlDebug, format("locking this thread to CPU %1%") % cpu);
+    debug(format("locking this thread to CPU %1%") % cpu);
     cpu_set_t newAffinity;
     CPU_ZERO(&newAffinity);
     CPU_SET(cpu, &newAffinity);
     if (sched_setaffinity(0, sizeof(cpu_set_t), &newAffinity) == -1)
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("failed to lock thread to CPU %1%") % cpu);
+        printError(format("failed to lock thread to CPU %1%") % cpu);
 #endif
 }
 
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ void restoreAffinity()
 #if __linux__
     if (!didSaveAffinity) return;
     if (sched_setaffinity(0, sizeof(cpu_set_t), &savedAffinity) == -1)
-        printMsg(lvlError, "failed to restore affinity %1%");
+        printError("failed to restore affinity %1%");
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/archive.cc b/src/libutil/archive.cc
index edd4a881b485..fbba7f853f95 100644
--- a/src/libutil/archive.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/archive.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-#define _XOPEN_SOURCE 600
-
 #include "config.h"
 
 #include <cerrno>
@@ -84,7 +82,7 @@ static void dump(const Path & path, Sink & sink, PathFilter & filter)
                 string name(i.name);
                 size_t pos = i.name.find(caseHackSuffix);
                 if (pos != string::npos) {
-                    printMsg(lvlDebug, format("removing case hack suffix from ‘%1%’") % (path + "/" + i.name));
+                    debug(format("removing case hack suffix from ‘%1%’") % (path + "/" + i.name));
                     name.erase(pos);
                 }
                 if (unhacked.find(name) != unhacked.end())
@@ -248,7 +246,7 @@ static void parse(ParseSink & sink, Source & source, const Path & path)
                     if (useCaseHack) {
                         auto i = names.find(name);
                         if (i != names.end()) {
-                            printMsg(lvlDebug, format("case collision between ‘%1%’ and ‘%2%’") % i->first % name);
+                            debug(format("case collision between ‘%1%’ and ‘%2%’") % i->first % name);
                             name += caseHackSuffix;
                             name += std::to_string(++i->second);
                         } else
diff --git a/src/libutil/args.hh b/src/libutil/args.hh
index 6aa08aacac9e..ac12f8be633a 100644
--- a/src/libutil/args.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/args.hh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 namespace nix {
 
-MakeError(UsageError, nix::Error);
+MakeError(UsageError, Error);
 
 enum HashType : char;
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/finally.hh b/src/libutil/finally.hh
index 47c64deaecea..7760cfe9a410 100644
--- a/src/libutil/finally.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/finally.hh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
+#include <functional>
+
 /* A trivial class to run a function at the end of a scope. */
 class Finally
 {
diff --git a/src/libutil/json.cc b/src/libutil/json.cc
index ecc3fdfe514e..6023d1d4fb84 100644
--- a/src/libutil/json.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/json.cc
@@ -44,6 +44,16 @@ void toJSON(std::ostream & str, long n)
     str << n;
 }
 
+void toJSON(std::ostream & str, unsigned int n)
+{
+    str << n;
+}
+
+void toJSON(std::ostream & str, int n)
+{
+    str << n;
+}
+
 void toJSON(std::ostream & str, double f)
 {
     str << f;
diff --git a/src/libutil/json.hh b/src/libutil/json.hh
index aec456845056..03eecb732586 100644
--- a/src/libutil/json.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/json.hh
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ void toJSON(std::ostream & str, const char * s);
 void toJSON(std::ostream & str, unsigned long long n);
 void toJSON(std::ostream & str, unsigned long n);
 void toJSON(std::ostream & str, long n);
+void toJSON(std::ostream & str, unsigned int n);
+void toJSON(std::ostream & str, int n);
 void toJSON(std::ostream & str, double f);
 void toJSON(std::ostream & str, bool b);
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/logging.cc b/src/libutil/logging.cc
index 15bb1e175da6..d9e8d22d7685 100644
--- a/src/libutil/logging.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/logging.cc
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Verbosity verbosity = lvlInfo;
 void warnOnce(bool & haveWarned, const FormatOrString & fs)
 {
     if (!haveWarned) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: %1%") % fs.s);
+        printError(format("warning: %1%") % fs.s);
         haveWarned = true;
     }
 }
@@ -60,14 +60,12 @@ void warnOnce(bool & haveWarned, const FormatOrString & fs)
 void writeToStderr(const string & s)
 {
     try {
-        writeFull(STDERR_FILENO, s);
+        writeFull(STDERR_FILENO, s, false);
     } catch (SysError & e) {
-        /* Ignore failing writes to stderr if we're in an exception
-           handler, otherwise throw an exception.  We need to ignore
-           write errors in exception handlers to ensure that cleanup
-           code runs to completion if the other side of stderr has
-           been closed unexpectedly. */
-        if (!std::uncaught_exception()) throw;
+        /* Ignore failing writes to stderr.  We need to ignore write
+           errors to ensure that cleanup code that logs to stderr runs
+           to completion if the other side of stderr has been closed
+           unexpectedly. */
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/logging.hh b/src/libutil/logging.hh
index 277dff280053..ba99a81c3826 100644
--- a/src/libutil/logging.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/logging.hh
@@ -66,14 +66,19 @@ Logger * makeDefaultLogger();
 
 extern Verbosity verbosity; /* suppress msgs > this */
 
-#define printMsg(level, f) \
+/* Print a message if the current log level is at least the specified
+   level. Note that this has to be implemented as a macro to ensure
+   that the arguments are evaluated lazily. */
+#define printMsg(level, args...) \
     do { \
         if (level <= nix::verbosity) { \
-            logger->log(level, (f)); \
+            logger->log(level, fmt(args)); \
         } \
     } while (0)
 
-#define debug(f) printMsg(lvlDebug, f)
+#define printError(args...) printMsg(lvlError, args)
+#define printInfo(args...) printMsg(lvlInfo, args)
+#define debug(args...) printMsg(lvlDebug, args)
 
 void warnOnce(bool & haveWarned, const FormatOrString & fs);
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/regex.cc b/src/libutil/regex.cc
deleted file mode 100644
index 84274b3e1da9..000000000000
--- a/src/libutil/regex.cc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-#include "regex.hh"
-#include "types.hh"
-
-#include <algorithm>
-
-namespace nix {
-
-Regex::Regex(const string & pattern, bool subs)
-{
-    /* Patterns must match the entire string. */
-    int err = regcomp(&preg, ("^(" + pattern + ")$").c_str(), (subs ? 0 : REG_NOSUB) | REG_EXTENDED);
-    if (err) throw RegexError(format("compiling pattern ‘%1%’: %2%") % pattern % showError(err));
-    nrParens = subs ? std::count(pattern.begin(), pattern.end(), '(') : 0;
-}
-
-Regex::~Regex()
-{
-    regfree(&preg);
-}
-
-bool Regex::matches(const string & s)
-{
-    int err = regexec(&preg, s.c_str(), 0, 0, 0);
-    if (err == 0) return true;
-    else if (err == REG_NOMATCH) return false;
-    throw Error(format("matching string ‘%1%’: %2%") % s % showError(err));
-}
-
-bool Regex::matches(const string & s, Subs & subs)
-{
-    regmatch_t pmatch[nrParens + 2];
-    int err = regexec(&preg, s.c_str(), nrParens + 2, pmatch, 0);
-    if (err == 0) {
-        for (unsigned int n = 2; n < nrParens + 2; ++n)
-            if (pmatch[n].rm_eo != -1)
-                subs[n - 2] = string(s, pmatch[n].rm_so, pmatch[n].rm_eo - pmatch[n].rm_so);
-        return true;
-    }
-    else if (err == REG_NOMATCH) return false;
-    throw Error(format("matching string ‘%1%’: %2%") % s % showError(err));
-}
-
-string Regex::showError(int err)
-{
-    char buf[256];
-    regerror(err, &preg, buf, sizeof(buf));
-    return string(buf);
-}
-
-}
diff --git a/src/libutil/regex.hh b/src/libutil/regex.hh
deleted file mode 100644
index 53e31f4edc4a..000000000000
--- a/src/libutil/regex.hh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-#include "types.hh"
-
-#include <sys/types.h>
-#include <regex.h>
-
-#include <map>
-
-namespace nix {
-
-MakeError(RegexError, Error)
-
-class Regex
-{
-public:
-    Regex(const string & pattern, bool subs = false);
-    ~Regex();
-    bool matches(const string & s);
-    typedef std::map<unsigned int, string> Subs;
-    bool matches(const string & s, Subs & subs);
-
-private:
-    unsigned nrParens;
-    regex_t preg;
-    string showError(int err);
-};
-
-}
diff --git a/src/libutil/serialise.cc b/src/libutil/serialise.cc
index 776308cdf321..24c6d107359e 100644
--- a/src/libutil/serialise.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/serialise.cc
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ size_t threshold = 256 * 1024 * 1024;
 
 static void warnLargeDump()
 {
-    printMsg(lvlError, "warning: dumping very large path (> 256 MiB); this may run out of memory");
+    printError("warning: dumping very large path (> 256 MiB); this may run out of memory");
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/sync.hh b/src/libutil/sync.hh
index ebe64ffbdab7..2aa074299b23 100644
--- a/src/libutil/sync.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/sync.hh
@@ -54,6 +54,14 @@ public:
             cv.wait(lk);
         }
 
+        template<class Rep, class Period>
+        void wait_for(std::condition_variable & cv,
+            const std::chrono::duration<Rep, Period> & duration)
+        {
+            assert(s);
+            cv.wait_for(lk, duration);
+        }
+
         template<class Rep, class Period, class Predicate>
         bool wait_for(std::condition_variable & cv,
             const std::chrono::duration<Rep, Period> & duration,
diff --git a/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc b/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc
index 696ecd6c38c8..0a3a407240f7 100644
--- a/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ void ThreadPool::workerEntry()
             if (state->exception) {
                 if (!dynamic_cast<Interrupted*>(&e) &&
                     !dynamic_cast<ThreadPoolShutDown*>(&e))
-                    printMsg(lvlError, format("error: %s") % e.what());
+                    printError(format("error: %s") % e.what());
             } else {
                 state->exception = std::current_exception();
                 work.notify_all();
diff --git a/src/libutil/types.hh b/src/libutil/types.hh
index bd192b8506b2..b9a93d27d2ad 100644
--- a/src/libutil/types.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/types.hh
@@ -41,6 +41,45 @@ struct FormatOrString
 };
 
 
+/* A helper for formatting strings. ‘fmt(format, a_0, ..., a_n)’ is
+   equivalent to ‘boost::format(format) % a_0 % ... %
+   ... a_n’. However, ‘fmt(s)’ is equivalent to ‘s’ (so no %-expansion
+   takes place). */
+
+inline void formatHelper(boost::format & f)
+{
+}
+
+template<typename T, typename... Args>
+inline void formatHelper(boost::format & f, T x, Args... args)
+{
+    formatHelper(f % x, args...);
+}
+
+inline std::string fmt(const std::string & s)
+{
+    return s;
+}
+
+inline std::string fmt(const char * s)
+{
+    return s;
+}
+
+inline std::string fmt(const FormatOrString & fs)
+{
+    return fs.s;
+}
+
+template<typename... Args>
+inline std::string fmt(const std::string & fs, Args... args)
+{
+    boost::format f(fs);
+    formatHelper(f, args...);
+    return f.str();
+}
+
+
 /* BaseError should generally not be caught, as it has Interrupted as
    a subclass. Catch Error instead. */
 class BaseError : public std::exception
@@ -49,14 +88,28 @@ protected:
     string prefix_; // used for location traces etc.
     string err;
 public:
-    unsigned int status; // exit status
-    BaseError(const FormatOrString & fs, unsigned int status = 1);
+    unsigned int status = 1; // exit status
+
+    template<typename... Args>
+    BaseError(unsigned int status, Args... args)
+        : err(fmt(args...))
+        , status(status)
+    {
+    }
+
+    template<typename... Args>
+    BaseError(Args... args)
+        : err(fmt(args...))
+    {
+    }
+
 #ifdef EXCEPTION_NEEDS_THROW_SPEC
     ~BaseError() throw () { };
     const char * what() const throw () { return err.c_str(); }
 #else
     const char * what() const noexcept { return err.c_str(); }
 #endif
+
     const string & msg() const { return err; }
     const string & prefix() const { return prefix_; }
     BaseError & addPrefix(const FormatOrString & fs);
@@ -66,7 +119,7 @@ public:
     class newClass : public superClass                  \
     {                                                   \
     public:                                             \
-        newClass(const FormatOrString & fs, unsigned int status = 1) : superClass(fs, status) { }; \
+        using superClass::superClass;                   \
     };
 
 MakeError(Error, BaseError)
@@ -75,7 +128,15 @@ class SysError : public Error
 {
 public:
     int errNo;
-    SysError(const FormatOrString & fs);
+
+    template<typename... Args>
+    SysError(Args... args)
+        : Error(addErrno(fmt(args...)))
+    { }
+
+private:
+
+    std::string addErrno(const std::string & s);
 };
 
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index f1e714a664a5..ce16cc30a5c7 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <sstream>
 #include <cstring>
+#include <cctype>
 
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -30,13 +31,6 @@ extern char * * environ;
 namespace nix {
 
 
-BaseError::BaseError(const FormatOrString & fs, unsigned int status)
-    : status(status)
-{
-    err = fs.s;
-}
-
-
 BaseError & BaseError::addPrefix(const FormatOrString & fs)
 {
     prefix_ = fs.s + prefix_;
@@ -44,10 +38,10 @@ BaseError & BaseError::addPrefix(const FormatOrString & fs)
 }
 
 
-SysError::SysError(const FormatOrString & fs)
-    : Error(format("%1%: %2%") % fs.s % strerror(errno))
-    , errNo(errno)
+std::string SysError::addErrno(const std::string & s)
 {
+    errNo = errno;
+    return s + ": " + strerror(errNo);
 }
 
 
@@ -58,6 +52,21 @@ string getEnv(const string & key, const string & def)
 }
 
 
+std::map<std::string, std::string> getEnv()
+{
+    std::map<std::string, std::string> env;
+    for (size_t i = 0; environ[i]; ++i) {
+        auto s = environ[i];
+        auto eq = strchr(s, '=');
+        if (!eq)
+            // invalid env, just keep going
+            continue;
+        env.emplace(std::string(s, eq), std::string(eq + 1));
+    }
+    return env;
+}
+
+
 Path absPath(Path path, Path dir)
 {
     if (path[0] != '/') {
@@ -330,10 +339,11 @@ static void _deletePath(const Path & path, unsigned long long & bytesFreed)
         bytesFreed += st.st_blocks * 512;
 
     if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
-        /* Make the directory writable. */
-        if (!(st.st_mode & S_IWUSR)) {
-            if (chmod(path.c_str(), st.st_mode | S_IWUSR) == -1)
-                throw SysError(format("making ‘%1%’ writable") % path);
+        /* Make the directory accessible. */
+        const auto PERM_MASK = S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IXUSR;
+        if ((st.st_mode & PERM_MASK) != PERM_MASK) {
+            if (chmod(path.c_str(), st.st_mode | PERM_MASK) == -1)
+                throw SysError(format("chmod ‘%1%’") % path);
         }
 
         for (auto & i : readDirectory(path))
@@ -473,24 +483,24 @@ void readFull(int fd, unsigned char * buf, size_t count)
 }
 
 
-void writeFull(int fd, const unsigned char * buf, size_t count)
+void writeFull(int fd, const unsigned char * buf, size_t count, bool allowInterrupts)
 {
     while (count) {
-        checkInterrupt();
         ssize_t res = write(fd, (char *) buf, count);
-        if (res == -1) {
-            if (errno == EINTR) continue;
+        if (res == -1 && errno != EINTR)
             throw SysError("writing to file");
+        if (res > 0) {
+            count -= res;
+            buf += res;
         }
-        count -= res;
-        buf += res;
+        if (allowInterrupts) checkInterrupt();
     }
 }
 
 
-void writeFull(int fd, const string & s)
+void writeFull(int fd, const string & s, bool allowInterrupts)
 {
-    writeFull(fd, (const unsigned char *) s.data(), s.size());
+    writeFull(fd, (const unsigned char *) s.data(), s.size(), allowInterrupts);
 }
 
 
@@ -715,20 +725,20 @@ void Pid::kill(bool quiet)
     if (pid == -1 || pid == 0) return;
 
     if (!quiet)
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("killing process %1%") % pid);
+        printError(format("killing process %1%") % pid);
 
     /* Send the requested signal to the child.  If it has its own
        process group, send the signal to every process in the child
        process group (which hopefully includes *all* its children). */
     if (::kill(separatePG ? -pid : pid, killSignal) != 0)
-        printMsg(lvlError, (SysError(format("killing process %1%") % pid).msg()));
+        printError((SysError(format("killing process %1%") % pid).msg()));
 
     /* Wait until the child dies, disregarding the exit status. */
     int status;
     while (waitpid(pid, &status, 0) == -1) {
         checkInterrupt();
         if (errno != EINTR) {
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 (SysError(format("waiting for process %1%") % pid).msg()));
             break;
         }
@@ -768,6 +778,14 @@ void Pid::setKillSignal(int signal)
 }
 
 
+pid_t Pid::release()
+{
+    pid_t p = pid;
+    pid = -1;
+    return p;
+}
+
+
 void killUser(uid_t uid)
 {
     debug(format("killing all processes running under uid ‘%1%’") % uid);
@@ -918,7 +936,7 @@ string runProgram(Path program, bool searchPath, const Strings & args,
     /* Wait for the child to finish. */
     int status = pid.wait(true);
     if (!statusOk(status))
-        throw ExecError(format("program ‘%1%’ %2%")
+        throw ExecError(status, format("program ‘%1%’ %2%")
             % program % statusToString(status));
 
     return result;
@@ -1087,44 +1105,12 @@ bool hasSuffix(const string & s, const string & suffix)
 }
 
 
-void expect(std::istream & str, const string & s)
+std::string toLower(const std::string & s)
 {
-    char s2[s.size()];
-    str.read(s2, s.size());
-    if (string(s2, s.size()) != s)
-        throw FormatError(format("expected string ‘%1%’") % s);
-}
-
-
-string parseString(std::istream & str)
-{
-    string res;
-    expect(str, "\"");
-    int c;
-    while ((c = str.get()) != '"')
-        if (c == '\\') {
-            c = str.get();
-            if (c == 'n') res += '\n';
-            else if (c == 'r') res += '\r';
-            else if (c == 't') res += '\t';
-            else res += c;
-        }
-        else res += c;
-    return res;
-}
-
-
-bool endOfList(std::istream & str)
-{
-    if (str.peek() == ',') {
-        str.get();
-        return false;
-    }
-    if (str.peek() == ']') {
-        str.get();
-        return true;
-    }
-    return false;
+    std::string r(s);
+    for (auto & c : r)
+        c = std::tolower(c);
+    return r;
 }
 
 
@@ -1148,7 +1134,7 @@ void ignoreException()
     try {
         throw;
     } catch (std::exception & e) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("error (ignored): %1%") % e.what());
+        printError(format("error (ignored): %1%") % e.what());
     }
 }
 
@@ -1246,4 +1232,15 @@ string base64Decode(const string & s)
 }
 
 
+void callFailure(const std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> & failure, std::exception_ptr exc)
+{
+    try {
+        failure(exc);
+    } catch (std::exception & e) {
+        printError(format("uncaught exception: %s") % e.what());
+        abort();
+    }
+}
+
+
 }
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
index 819921dfff1e..50b96f7ed92c 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/util.hh
@@ -8,9 +8,11 @@
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <signal.h>
+
 #include <functional>
 #include <limits>
 #include <cstdio>
+#include <map>
 
 #ifndef HAVE_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
 #define DT_UNKNOWN 0
@@ -25,6 +27,9 @@ namespace nix {
 /* Return an environment variable. */
 string getEnv(const string & key, const string & def = "");
 
+/* Get the entire environment. */
+std::map<std::string, std::string> getEnv();
+
 /* Return an absolutized path, resolving paths relative to the
    specified directory, or the current directory otherwise.  The path
    is also canonicalised. */
@@ -120,8 +125,8 @@ void replaceSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link);
 /* Wrappers arount read()/write() that read/write exactly the
    requested number of bytes. */
 void readFull(int fd, unsigned char * buf, size_t count);
-void writeFull(int fd, const unsigned char * buf, size_t count);
-void writeFull(int fd, const string & s);
+void writeFull(int fd, const unsigned char * buf, size_t count, bool allowInterrupts = true);
+void writeFull(int fd, const string & s, bool allowInterrupts = true);
 
 MakeError(EndOfFile, Error)
 
@@ -215,6 +220,7 @@ public:
     int wait(bool block);
     void setSeparatePG(bool separatePG);
     void setKillSignal(int signal);
+    pid_t release();
 };
 
 
@@ -242,7 +248,16 @@ pid_t startProcess(std::function<void()> fun, const ProcessOptions & options = P
 string runProgram(Path program, bool searchPath = false,
     const Strings & args = Strings(), const string & input = "");
 
-MakeError(ExecError, Error)
+class ExecError : public Error
+{
+public:
+    int status;
+
+    template<typename... Args>
+    ExecError(int status, Args... args)
+        : Error(args...), status(status)
+    { }
+};
 
 /* Convert a list of strings to a null-terminated vector of char
    *'s. The result must not be accessed beyond the lifetime of the
@@ -334,18 +349,8 @@ bool hasPrefix(const string & s, const string & prefix);
 bool hasSuffix(const string & s, const string & suffix);
 
 
-/* Read string `s' from stream `str'. */
-void expect(std::istream & str, const string & s);
-
-MakeError(FormatError, Error)
-
-
-/* Read a C-style string from stream `str'. */
-string parseString(std::istream & str);
-
-
-/* Utility function used to parse legacy ATerms. */
-bool endOfList(std::istream & str);
+/* Convert a string to lower case. */
+std::string toLower(const std::string & s);
 
 
 /* Escape a string that contains octal-encoded escape codes such as
@@ -386,4 +391,44 @@ string get(const T & map, const string & key, const string & def = "")
 }
 
 
+/* Call ‘failure’ with the current exception as argument. If ‘failure’
+   throws an exception, abort the program. */
+void callFailure(const std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> & failure,
+    std::exception_ptr exc = std::current_exception());
+
+
+/* Evaluate the function ‘f’. If it returns a value, call ‘success’
+   with that value as its argument. If it or ‘success’ throws an
+   exception, call ‘failure’. If ‘failure’ throws an exception, abort
+   the program. */
+template<class T>
+void sync2async(
+    const std::function<void(T)> & success,
+    const std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> & failure,
+    const std::function<T()> & f)
+{
+    try {
+        success(f());
+    } catch (...) {
+        callFailure(failure);
+    }
+}
+
+
+/* Call the function ‘success’. If it throws an exception, call
+   ‘failure’. If that throws an exception, abort the program. */
+template<class T>
+void callSuccess(
+    const std::function<void(T)> & success,
+    const std::function<void(std::exception_ptr exc)> & failure,
+    T && arg)
+{
+    try {
+        success(arg);
+    } catch (...) {
+        callFailure(failure);
+    }
+}
+
+
 }
diff --git a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
index 50fcf16abdf0..08c6793577a4 100755
--- a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
+++ b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
@@ -1,30 +1,32 @@
 #include <cstring>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <iostream>
 #include <regex>
-#include "util.hh"
-#include <unistd.h>
-#include "shared.hh"
 #include <sstream>
 #include <vector>
-#include <iostream>
-#include <fstream>
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
+#include "affinity.hh"
+#include "util.hh"
+#include "shared.hh"
 
 using namespace nix;
-using std::stringstream;
 
-extern char ** environ;
+extern char * * environ;
 
 /* Recreate the effect of the perl shellwords function, breaking up a
  * string into arguments like a shell word, including escapes
  */
 std::vector<string> shellwords(const string & s)
 {
-    auto whitespace = std::regex("^(\\s+).*");
+    std::regex whitespace("^(\\s+).*");
     auto begin = s.cbegin();
-    auto res = std::vector<string>{};
-    auto cur = stringstream{};
+    std::vector<string> res;
+    std::string cur;
     enum state {
         sBegin,
         sQuote
@@ -33,36 +35,41 @@ std::vector<string> shellwords(const string & s)
     auto it = begin;
     for (; it != s.cend(); ++it) {
         if (st == sBegin) {
-            auto match = std::smatch{};
+            std::smatch match;
             if (regex_search(it, s.cend(), match, whitespace)) {
-                cur << string(begin, it);
-                res.push_back(cur.str());
-                cur = stringstream{};
+                cur.append(begin, it);
+                res.push_back(cur);
+                cur.clear();
                 it = match[1].second;
                 begin = it;
             }
         }
         switch (*it) {
             case '"':
-                cur << string(begin, it);
+                cur.append(begin, it);
                 begin = it + 1;
                 st = st == sBegin ? sQuote : sBegin;
                 break;
             case '\\':
                 /* perl shellwords mostly just treats the next char as part of the string with no special processing */
-                cur << string(begin, it);
+                cur.append(begin, it);
                 begin = ++it;
                 break;
         }
     }
-    cur << string(begin, it);
-    auto last = cur.str();
-    if (!last.empty()) {
-        res.push_back(std::move(last));
-    }
+    cur.append(begin, it);
+    if (!cur.empty()) res.push_back(cur);
     return res;
 }
 
+static void maybePrintExecError(ExecError & e)
+{
+    if (WIFEXITED(e.status))
+        throw Exit(WEXITSTATUS(e.status));
+    else
+        throw e;
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char ** argv)
 {
     return handleExceptions(argv[0], [&]() {
@@ -76,26 +83,26 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
         auto packages = false;
         auto interactive = true;
 
-        auto instArgs = Strings{};
-        auto buildArgs = Strings{};
-        auto exprs = Strings{};
+        Strings instArgs;
+        Strings buildArgs;
+        Strings exprs;
 
         auto shell = getEnv("SHELL", "/bin/sh");
-        auto envCommand = string{}; // interactive shell
-        auto envExclude = Strings{};
+        std::string envCommand; // interactive shell
+        Strings envExclude;
 
         auto myName = runEnv ? "nix-shell" : "nix-build";
 
         auto inShebang = false;
-        auto script = string{};
-        auto savedArgs = std::vector<string>{};
+        std::string script;
+        std::vector<string> savedArgs;
 
-        auto tmpDir = AutoDelete{createTempDir("", myName)};
+        AutoDelete tmpDir(createTempDir("", myName));
 
-        auto outLink = string("./result");
+        std::string outLink = "./result";
         auto drvLink = (Path) tmpDir + "/derivation";
 
-        auto args = std::vector<string>{};
+        std::vector<string> args;
         for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i)
             args.push_back(argv[i]);
         // Heuristic to see if we're invoked as a shebang script, namely, if we
@@ -110,7 +117,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
                     inShebang = true;
                     for (int i = 2; i < argc - 1; ++i)
                         savedArgs.push_back(argv[i]);
-                    args = std::vector<string>{};
+                    std::vector<string> args;
                     for (auto line : lines) {
                         line = chomp(line);
                         std::smatch match;
@@ -284,7 +291,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
                         execArgs = "-a PERL";
                 }
 
-                auto joined = stringstream{};
+                std::ostringstream joined;
                 for (const auto & i : savedArgs)
                     joined << shellEscape(i) << ' ';
 
@@ -320,7 +327,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
 
         if (packages) {
             instArgs.push_back("--expr");
-            auto joined = stringstream{};
+            std::ostringstream joined;
             joined << "with import <nixpkgs> { }; runCommand \"shell\" { buildInputs = [ ";
             for (const auto & i : exprs)
                 joined << '(' << i << ") ";
@@ -338,19 +345,23 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
 
         for (auto & expr : exprs) {
             // Instantiate.
-            auto drvPaths = std::vector<string>{};
+            std::vector<string> drvPaths;
             if (!std::regex_match(expr, std::regex("^/.*\\.drv$"))) {
                 // If we're in a #! script, interpret filenames relative to the
                 // script.
                 if (inShebang && !packages)
                     expr = absPath(expr, dirOf(script));
 
-                auto instantiateArgs = Strings{"--add-root", drvLink, "--indirect"};
+                Strings instantiateArgs{"--add-root", drvLink, "--indirect"};
                 for (const auto & arg : instArgs)
                     instantiateArgs.push_back(arg);
                 instantiateArgs.push_back(expr);
-                auto instOutput = runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-instantiate", false, instantiateArgs);
-                drvPaths = tokenizeString<std::vector<string>>(instOutput);
+                try {
+                    auto instOutput = runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-instantiate", false, instantiateArgs);
+                    drvPaths = tokenizeString<std::vector<string>>(instOutput);
+                } catch (ExecError & e) {
+                    maybePrintExecError(e);
+                }
             } else {
                 drvPaths.push_back(expr);
             }
@@ -365,7 +376,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
                 auto drv = store->derivationFromPath(drvPath);
 
                 // Build or fetch all dependencies of the derivation.
-                auto nixStoreArgs = Strings{"-r", "--no-output", "--no-gc-warning"};
+                Strings nixStoreArgs{"-r", "--no-output", "--no-gc-warning"};
                 for (const auto & arg : buildArgs)
                     nixStoreArgs.push_back(arg);
                 for (const auto & input : drv.inputDrvs)
@@ -373,35 +384,36 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
                         nixStoreArgs.push_back(input.first);
                 for (const auto & src : drv.inputSrcs)
                     nixStoreArgs.push_back(src);
-                runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-store", false, nixStoreArgs);
+
+                try {
+                    runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-store", false, nixStoreArgs);
+                } catch (ExecError & e) {
+                    maybePrintExecError(e);
+                }
 
                 // Set the environment.
+                auto env = getEnv();
+
                 auto tmp = getEnv("TMPDIR", getEnv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR", "/tmp"));
+
                 if (pure) {
-                    auto skippedEnv = std::vector<string>{"HOME", "USER", "LOGNAME", "DISPLAY", "PATH", "TERM", "IN_NIX_SHELL", "TZ", "PAGER", "NIX_BUILD_SHELL"};
-                    auto removed = std::vector<string>{};
-                    for (auto i = size_t{0}; environ[i]; ++i) {
-                        auto eq = strchr(environ[i], '=');
-                        if (!eq)
-                            // invalid env, just keep going
-                            continue;
-                        auto name = string(environ[i], eq);
-                        if (find(skippedEnv.begin(), skippedEnv.end(), name) == skippedEnv.end())
-                            removed.emplace_back(std::move(name));
-                    }
-                    for (const auto & name : removed)
-                        unsetenv(name.c_str());
+                    std::set<string> keepVars{"HOME", "USER", "LOGNAME", "DISPLAY", "PATH", "TERM", "IN_NIX_SHELL", "TZ", "PAGER", "NIX_BUILD_SHELL"};
+                    decltype(env) newEnv;
+                    for (auto & i : env)
+                        if (keepVars.count(i.first))
+                            newEnv.emplace(i);
+                    env = newEnv;
                     // NixOS hack: prevent /etc/bashrc from sourcing /etc/profile.
-                    setenv("__ETC_PROFILE_SOURCED", "1", 1);
+                    env["__ETC_PROFILE_SOURCED"] = "1";
                 }
-                setenv("NIX_BUILD_TOP", tmp.c_str(), 1);
-                setenv("TMPDIR", tmp.c_str(), 1);
-                setenv("TEMPDIR", tmp.c_str(), 1);
-                setenv("TMP", tmp.c_str(), 1);
-                setenv("TEMP", tmp.c_str(), 1);
-                setenv("NIX_STORE", store->storeDir.c_str(), 1);
-                for (const auto & env : drv.env)
-                    setenv(env.first.c_str(), env.second.c_str(), 1);
+
+                env["NIX_BUILD_TOP"] = env["TMPDIR"] = env["TEMPDIR"] = env["TMP"] = env["TEMP"] = tmp;
+                env["NIX_STORE"] = store->storeDir;
+
+                for (auto & var : drv.env)
+                    env.emplace(var);
+
+                restoreAffinity();
 
                 // Run a shell using the derivation's environment.  For
                 // convenience, source $stdenv/setup to setup additional
@@ -410,7 +422,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
                 auto rcfile = (Path) tmpDir + "/rc";
                 writeFile(rcfile, (format(
                         "rm -rf '%1%'; "
-                        "unset BASH_ENV; "
                         "[ -n \"$PS1\" ] && [ -e ~/.bashrc ] && source ~/.bashrc; "
                         "%2%"
                         "dontAddDisableDepTrack=1; "
@@ -424,12 +435,26 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
                         "shopt -u nullglob; "
                         "unset TZ; %4%"
                         "%5%"
-                        ) % (Path) tmpDir % (pure ? "" : "p=$PATH") % (pure ? "" : "PATH=$PATH:$p; unset p; ") % (getenv("TZ") ? (string("export TZ='") + getenv("TZ") + "'; ") : "") % envCommand).str());
-                setenv("BASH_ENV", rcfile.c_str(), 1);
-                if (interactive)
-                    execlp(getEnv("NIX_BUILD_SHELL", "bash").c_str(), "bash", "--rcfile", rcfile.c_str(), NULL);
-                else
-                    execlp(getEnv("NIX_BUILD_SHELL", "bash").c_str(), "bash", rcfile.c_str(), NULL);
+                        )
+                        % (Path) tmpDir
+                        % (pure ? "" : "p=$PATH; ")
+                        % (pure ? "" : "PATH=$PATH:$p; unset p; ")
+                        % (getenv("TZ") ? (string("export TZ='") + getenv("TZ") + "'; ") : "")
+                        % envCommand).str());
+
+                Strings envStrs;
+                for (auto & i : env)
+                    envStrs.push_back(i.first + "=" + i.second);
+
+                auto args = interactive
+                    ? Strings{"bash", "--rcfile", rcfile}
+                    : Strings{"bash", rcfile};
+
+                environ = stringsToCharPtrs(envStrs).data();
+
+                execvp(getEnv("NIX_BUILD_SHELL", "bash").c_str(),
+                    stringsToCharPtrs(args).data());
+
                 throw SysError("executing shell");
             }
 
@@ -437,11 +462,11 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
             // ./result, ./result-dev, and so on, rather than ./result,
             // ./result-2-dev, and so on.  This combines multiple derivation
             // paths into one "/nix/store/drv-path!out1,out2,..." argument.
-            auto prevDrvPath = string{};
-            auto drvPaths2 = Strings{};
+            std::string prevDrvPath;
+            Strings drvPaths2;
             for (const auto & drvPath : drvPaths) {
                 auto p = drvPath;
-                auto output = string{"out"};
+                std::string output = "out";
                 std::smatch match;
                 if (std::regex_match(drvPath, match, std::regex("(.*)!(.*)"))) {
                     p = match[1].str();
@@ -460,25 +485,28 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
                 }
             }
             // Build.
-            auto outPaths = Strings{};
-            auto nixStoreArgs = Strings{"--add-root", outLink, "--indirect", "-r"};
+            Strings outPaths;
+            Strings nixStoreArgs{"--add-root", outLink, "--indirect", "-r"};
             for (const auto & arg : buildArgs)
                 nixStoreArgs.push_back(arg);
             for (const auto & path : drvPaths2)
                 nixStoreArgs.push_back(path);
-            auto nixStoreRes = runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-store", false, nixStoreArgs);
-            for (const auto & outpath : tokenizeString<std::vector<string>>(nixStoreRes)) {
-                outPaths.push_back(chomp(outpath));
+
+            std::string nixStoreRes;
+            try {
+                nixStoreRes = runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-store", false, nixStoreArgs);
+            } catch (ExecError & e) {
+                maybePrintExecError(e);
             }
 
+            for (const auto & outpath : tokenizeString<std::vector<string>>(nixStoreRes))
+                outPaths.push_back(chomp(outpath));
+
             if (dryRun)
                 continue;
-            for (const auto & outPath : outPaths) {
-                auto target = readLink(outPath);
-                std::cout << target << '\n';
-            }
+
+            for (const auto & outPath : outPaths)
+                std::cout << readLink(outPath) << '\n';
         }
-        return;
     });
 }
-
diff --git a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
index 0f7858aa53a5..5b4c2181996c 100755
--- a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
+++ b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ static void update(const StringSet & channelNames)
         // got redirected in the process, so that we can grab the various parts of a nix channel
         // definition from a consistent location if the redirect changes mid-download.
         auto effectiveUrl = string{};
-        auto dl = makeDownloader();
+        auto dl = getDownloader();
         auto filename = dl->downloadCached(store, url, false, "", Hash(), &effectiveUrl);
         url = chomp(std::move(effectiveUrl));
 
@@ -114,10 +114,10 @@ static void update(const StringSet & channelNames)
         if (!unpacked) {
             // The URL doesn't unpack directly, so let's try treating it like a full channel folder with files in it
             // Check if the channel advertises a binary cache.
-            DownloadOptions opts;
-            opts.showProgress = DownloadOptions::no;
+            DownloadRequest request(url + "/binary-cache-url");
+            request.showProgress = DownloadRequest::no;
             try {
-                auto dlRes = dl->download(url + "/binary-cache-url", opts);
+                auto dlRes = dl->download(request);
                 extraAttrs = "binaryCacheURL = \"" + *dlRes.data + "\";";
             } catch (DownloadError & e) {
             }
diff --git a/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc b/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc
index 3aa348581b19..cc663a96924d 100644
--- a/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc
+++ b/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ void removeOldGenerations(std::string dir)
                 if (e.errNo == ENOENT) continue;
             }
             if (link.find("link") != string::npos) {
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, format("removing old generations of profile %1%") % path);
+                printInfo(format("removing old generations of profile %1%") % path);
                 if (deleteOlderThan != "")
                     deleteGenerationsOlderThan(path, deleteOlderThan, dryRun);
                 else
diff --git a/src/nix-daemon/nix-daemon.cc b/src/nix-daemon/nix-daemon.cc
index 0fe005378a6c..c8fa81df13c8 100644
--- a/src/nix-daemon/nix-daemon.cc
+++ b/src/nix-daemon/nix-daemon.cc
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ static void performOp(ref<LocalStore> store, bool trusted, unsigned int clientVe
         string s = readString(from);
         PathSet refs = readStorePaths<PathSet>(*store, from);
         startWork();
-        Path path = store->addTextToStore(suffix, s, refs);
+        Path path = store->addTextToStore(suffix, s, refs, false);
         stopWork();
         to << path;
         break;
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ static void performOp(ref<LocalStore> store, bool trusted, unsigned int clientVe
     case wopImportPaths: {
         startWork();
         TunnelSource source(from);
-        Paths paths = store->importPaths(source, 0);
+        Paths paths = store->importPaths(source, 0, trusted);
         stopWork();
         to << paths;
         break;
@@ -596,13 +596,13 @@ static void performOp(ref<LocalStore> store, bool trusted, unsigned int clientVe
         info.narSize = readLongLong(from);
         info.ultimate = readLongLong(from);
         info.sigs = readStrings<StringSet>(from);
-        auto nar = readString(from);
+        auto nar = make_ref<std::string>(readString(from));
         auto repair = readInt(from) ? true : false;
         auto dontCheckSigs = readInt(from) ? true : false;
         if (!trusted && dontCheckSigs)
             dontCheckSigs = false;
         startWork();
-        store->addToStore(info, nar, repair, dontCheckSigs);
+        store->addToStore(info, nar, repair, dontCheckSigs, nullptr);
         stopWork();
         break;
     }
@@ -695,7 +695,7 @@ static void processConnection(bool trusted)
 
         canSendStderr = false;
         _isInterrupted = false;
-        printMsg(lvlDebug, format("%1% operations") % opCount);
+        debug(format("%1% operations") % opCount);
 
     } catch (Error & e) {
         stopWork(false, e.msg(), 1);
@@ -888,7 +888,7 @@ static void daemonLoop(char * * argv)
             if (!trusted && !matchUser(user, group, allowedUsers))
                 throw Error(format("user ‘%1%’ is not allowed to connect to the Nix daemon") % user);
 
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format((string) "accepted connection from pid %1%, user %2%" + (trusted ? " (trusted)" : ""))
+            printInfo(format((string) "accepted connection from pid %1%, user %2%" + (trusted ? " (trusted)" : ""))
                 % (peer.pidKnown ? std::to_string(peer.pid) : "<unknown>")
                 % (peer.uidKnown ? user : "<unknown>"));
 
@@ -925,7 +925,7 @@ static void daemonLoop(char * * argv)
         } catch (Interrupted & e) {
             throw;
         } catch (Error & e) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("error processing connection: %1%") % e.msg());
+            printError(format("error processing connection: %1%") % e.msg());
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
index 6a557e8ac9db..908c09bc8c8a 100644
--- a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
+++ b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ static void getAllExprs(EvalState & state,
             if (hasSuffix(attrName, ".nix"))
                 attrName = string(attrName, 0, attrName.size() - 4);
             if (attrs.find(attrName) != attrs.end()) {
-                printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: name collision in input Nix expressions, skipping ‘%1%’") % path2);
+                printError(format("warning: name collision in input Nix expressions, skipping ‘%1%’") % path2);
                 continue;
             }
             attrs.insert(attrName);
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ static DrvInfos filterBySelector(EvalState & state, const DrvInfos & allElems,
             matches.clear();
             for (auto & j : newest) {
                 if (multiple.find(j.second.first.name) != multiple.end())
-                    printMsg(lvlInfo,
+                    printInfo(
                         format("warning: there are multiple derivations named ‘%1%’; using the first one")
                         % j.second.first.name);
                 matches.push_back(j.second);
@@ -496,13 +496,13 @@ static void installDerivations(Globals & globals,
                 if (!globals.preserveInstalled &&
                     newNames.find(drvName.name) != newNames.end() &&
                     !keep(i))
-                    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("replacing old ‘%1%’") % i.name);
+                    printInfo(format("replacing old ‘%1%’") % i.name);
                 else
                     allElems.push_back(i);
             }
 
             for (auto & i : newElems)
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, format("installing ‘%1%’") % i.name);
+                printInfo(format("installing ‘%1%’") % i.name);
         }
 
         printMissing(*globals.state, newElems);
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ static void upgradeDerivations(Globals & globals,
                 {
                     const char * action = compareVersions(drvName.version, bestVersion) <= 0
                         ? "upgrading" : "downgrading";
-                    printMsg(lvlInfo,
+                    printInfo(
                         format("%1% ‘%2%’ to ‘%3%’")
                         % action % i.name % bestElem->name);
                     newElems.push_back(*bestElem);
@@ -674,7 +674,7 @@ static void opSetFlag(Globals & globals, Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
             DrvName drvName(i.name);
             for (auto & j : selectors)
                 if (j.matches(drvName)) {
-                    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("setting flag on ‘%1%’") % i.name);
+                    printInfo(format("setting flag on ‘%1%’") % i.name);
                     j.hits++;
                     setMetaFlag(*globals.state, i, flagName, flagValue);
                     break;
@@ -748,7 +748,7 @@ static void uninstallDerivations(Globals & globals, Strings & selectors,
                 if ((isPath(j) && i.queryOutPath() == globals.state->store->followLinksToStorePath(j))
                     || DrvName(j).matches(drvName))
                 {
-                    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("uninstalling ‘%1%’") % i.name);
+                    printInfo(format("uninstalling ‘%1%’") % i.name);
                     found = true;
                     break;
                 }
@@ -874,7 +874,7 @@ static void queryJSON(Globals & globals, vector<DrvInfo> & elems)
             auto placeholder = metaObj.placeholder(j);
             Value * v = i.queryMeta(j);
             if (!v) {
-                printMsg(lvlError, format("derivation ‘%1%’ has invalid meta attribute ‘%2%’") % i.name % j);
+                printError(format("derivation ‘%1%’ has invalid meta attribute ‘%2%’") % i.name % j);
                 placeholder.write(nullptr);
             } else {
                 PathSet context;
@@ -1118,7 +1118,7 @@ static void opQuery(Globals & globals, Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
                             attrs2["name"] = j;
                             Value * v = i.queryMeta(j);
                             if (!v)
-                                printMsg(lvlError, format("derivation ‘%1%’ has invalid meta attribute ‘%2%’") % i.name % j);
+                                printError(format("derivation ‘%1%’ has invalid meta attribute ‘%2%’") % i.name % j);
                             else {
                                 if (v->type == tString) {
                                     attrs2["type"] = "string";
@@ -1219,7 +1219,7 @@ static void switchGeneration(Globals & globals, int dstGen)
             throw Error(format("generation %1% does not exist") % dstGen);
     }
 
-    printMsg(lvlInfo, format("switching from generation %1% to %2%")
+    printInfo(format("switching from generation %1% to %2%")
         % curGen % dst.number);
 
     if (globals.dryRun) return;
@@ -1372,7 +1372,7 @@ int main(int argc, char * * argv)
             else if (*arg == "--delete-generations")
                 op = opDeleteGenerations;
             else if (*arg == "--dry-run") {
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, "(dry run; not doing anything)");
+                printInfo("(dry run; not doing anything)");
                 globals.dryRun = true;
             }
             else if (*arg == "--system-filter")
diff --git a/src/nix-env/user-env.cc b/src/nix-env/user-env.cc
index f239f63776c2..e9997fae57ba 100644
--- a/src/nix-env/user-env.cc
+++ b/src/nix-env/user-env.cc
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ bool createUserEnv(EvalState & state, DrvInfos & elems,
 
         Path lockTokenCur = optimisticLockProfile(profile);
         if (lockToken != lockTokenCur) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("profile ‘%1%’ changed while we were busy; restarting") % profile);
+            printError(format("profile ‘%1%’ changed while we were busy; restarting") % profile);
             return false;
         }
 
diff --git a/src/nix-prefetch-url/nix-prefetch-url.cc b/src/nix-prefetch-url/nix-prefetch-url.cc
index 00f5ae28d1dc..acf603025690 100644
--- a/src/nix-prefetch-url/nix-prefetch-url.cc
+++ b/src/nix-prefetch-url/nix-prefetch-url.cc
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ int main(int argc, char * * argv)
             /* Extract the hash mode. */
             attr = v.attrs->find(state.symbols.create("outputHashMode"));
             if (attr == v.attrs->end())
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, "warning: this does not look like a fetchurl call");
+                printInfo("warning: this does not look like a fetchurl call");
             else
                 unpack = state.forceString(*attr->value) == "recursive";
 
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ int main(int argc, char * * argv)
             auto actualUri = resolveMirrorUri(state, uri);
 
             /* Download the file. */
-            auto result = makeDownloader()->download(actualUri, DownloadOptions());
+            auto result = getDownloader()->download(DownloadRequest(actualUri));
 
             AutoDelete tmpDir(createTempDir(), true);
             Path tmpFile = (Path) tmpDir + "/tmp";
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ int main(int argc, char * * argv)
 
             /* Optionally unpack the file. */
             if (unpack) {
-                printMsg(lvlInfo, "unpacking...");
+                printInfo("unpacking...");
                 Path unpacked = (Path) tmpDir + "/unpacked";
                 createDirs(unpacked);
                 if (hasSuffix(baseNameOf(uri), ".zip"))
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ int main(int argc, char * * argv)
         }
 
         if (!printPath)
-            printMsg(lvlInfo, format("path is ‘%1%’") % storePath);
+            printInfo(format("path is ‘%1%’") % storePath);
 
         std::cout << printHash16or32(hash) << std::endl;
         if (printPath)
diff --git a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
index e8b56f929b13..a8cb46319abc 100644
--- a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
+++ b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
@@ -755,7 +755,7 @@ static void opVerify(Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
         else throw UsageError(format("unknown flag ‘%1%’") % i);
 
     if (store->verifyStore(checkContents, repair)) {
-        printMsg(lvlError, "warning: not all errors were fixed");
+        printError("warning: not all errors were fixed");
         throw Exit(1);
     }
 }
@@ -777,7 +777,7 @@ static void opVerifyPath(Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
         store->narFromPath(path, sink);
         auto current = sink.finish();
         if (current.first != info->narHash) {
-            printMsg(lvlError,
+            printError(
                 format("path ‘%1%’ was modified! expected hash ‘%2%’, got ‘%3%’")
                 % path % printHash(info->narHash) % printHash(current.first));
             status = 1;
@@ -879,7 +879,7 @@ static void opServe(Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
                         try {
                             store->buildPaths(willSubstitute);
                         } catch (Error & e) {
-                            printMsg(lvlError, format("warning: %1%") % e.msg());
+                            printError(format("warning: %1%") % e.msg());
                         }
                 }
 
diff --git a/src/nix/path-info.cc b/src/nix/path-info.cc
index d8b6232d47ca..a9b33e1877dd 100644
--- a/src/nix/path-info.cc
+++ b/src/nix/path-info.cc
@@ -46,7 +46,15 @@ struct CmdPathInfo : StorePathsCommand
             },
             Example{
                 "To print the 10 most recently added paths (using --json and the jq(1) command):",
-                "nix path-info --all --json | jq -r 'sort_by(.registrationTime)[-11:-1][].path'"
+                "nix path-info --json --all | jq -r 'sort_by(.registrationTime)[-11:-1][].path'"
+            },
+            Example{
+                "To show the size of the entire Nix store:",
+                "nix path-info --json --all | jq 'map(.narSize) | add'"
+            },
+            Example{
+                "To show every path whose closure is bigger than 1 GB, sorted by closure size:",
+                "nix path-info --json --all -S | jq 'map(select(.closureSize > 1e9)) | sort_by(.closureSize) | map([.path, .closureSize])'"
             },
         };
     }
diff --git a/src/nix/sigs.cc b/src/nix/sigs.cc
index 0c0d7b728f05..d8d8c0f53df0 100644
--- a/src/nix/sigs.cc
+++ b/src/nix/sigs.cc
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ struct CmdCopySigs : StorePathsCommand
 
         pool.process();
 
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("imported %d signatures") % added);
+        printInfo(format("imported %d signatures") % added);
     }
 };
 
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ struct CmdSignPaths : StorePathsCommand
             }
         }
 
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("added %d signatures") % added);
+        printInfo(format("added %d signatures") % added);
     }
 };
 
diff --git a/src/nix/verify.cc b/src/nix/verify.cc
index 519fcb6f898b..2f8d02fa060e 100644
--- a/src/nix/verify.cc
+++ b/src/nix/verify.cc
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ struct CmdVerify : StorePathsCommand
                     if (hash.first != info->narHash) {
                         logger->incProgress(corruptedLabel);
                         corrupted = 1;
-                        printMsg(lvlError,
+                        printError(
                             format("path ‘%s’ was modified! expected hash ‘%s’, got ‘%s’")
                             % info->path % printHash(info->narHash) % printHash(hash.first));
                     }
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ struct CmdVerify : StorePathsCommand
                                 doSigs(info2->sigs);
                             } catch (InvalidPath &) {
                             } catch (Error & e) {
-                                printMsg(lvlError, format(ANSI_RED "error:" ANSI_NORMAL " %s") % e.what());
+                                printError(format(ANSI_RED "error:" ANSI_NORMAL " %s") % e.what());
                             }
                         }
 
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ struct CmdVerify : StorePathsCommand
                     if (!good) {
                         logger->incProgress(untrustedLabel);
                         untrusted++;
-                        printMsg(lvlError, format("path ‘%s’ is untrusted") % info->path);
+                        printError(format("path ‘%s’ is untrusted") % info->path);
                     }
 
                 }
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ struct CmdVerify : StorePathsCommand
                 done++;
 
             } catch (Error & e) {
-                printMsg(lvlError, format(ANSI_RED "error:" ANSI_NORMAL " %s") % e.what());
+                printError(format(ANSI_RED "error:" ANSI_NORMAL " %s") % e.what());
                 logger->incProgress(failedLabel);
                 failed++;
             }
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ struct CmdVerify : StorePathsCommand
 
         pool.process();
 
-        printMsg(lvlInfo, format("%d paths checked, %d untrusted, %d corrupted, %d failed")
+        printInfo(format("%d paths checked, %d untrusted, %d corrupted, %d failed")
             % done % untrusted % corrupted % failed);
 
         throw Exit(
diff --git a/src/resolve-system-dependencies/resolve-system-dependencies.cc b/src/resolve-system-dependencies/resolve-system-dependencies.cc
index a5f0cd7b3b70..ae8ca36ba9de 100644
--- a/src/resolve-system-dependencies/resolve-system-dependencies.cc
+++ b/src/resolve-system-dependencies/resolve-system-dependencies.cc
@@ -62,13 +62,13 @@ std::set<std::string> runResolver(const Path & filename) {
             }
         }
         if (mach64_offset == 0) {
-            printMsg(lvlError, format("Could not find any mach64 blobs in file ‘%1%’, continuing...") % filename);
+            printError(format("Could not find any mach64 blobs in file ‘%1%’, continuing...") % filename);
             return std::set<string>();
         }
     } else if (magic == MH_MAGIC_64 || magic == MH_CIGAM_64) {
         mach64_offset = 0;
     } else {
-        printMsg(lvlError, format("Object file has unknown magic number ‘%1%’, skipping it...") % magic);
+        printError(format("Object file has unknown magic number ‘%1%’, skipping it...") % magic);
         return std::set<string>();
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/common.sh.in b/tests/common.sh.in
index 316d5f6896bb..4565a490adfd 100644
--- a/tests/common.sh.in
+++ b/tests/common.sh.in
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ set -e
 
 datadir="@datadir@"
 
-export TEST_ROOT=${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/nix-test
+export TEST_ROOT=$(realpath ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/nix-test)
 export NIX_STORE_DIR
 if ! NIX_STORE_DIR=$(readlink -f $TEST_ROOT/store 2> /dev/null); then
     # Maybe the build directory is symlinked.
diff --git a/tests/gc-runtime.sh b/tests/gc-runtime.sh
index a44195756f52..4c5028005c57 100644
--- a/tests/gc-runtime.sh
+++ b/tests/gc-runtime.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ esac
 set -m # enable job control, needed for kill
 
 profiles="$NIX_STATE_DIR"/profiles
-rm -f $profiles/*
+rm -rf $profiles
 
 nix-env -p $profiles/test -f ./gc-runtime.nix -i gc-runtime
 
diff --git a/tests/simple.sh b/tests/simple.sh
index 8f9d782a6c81..37631b648c67 100644
--- a/tests/simple.sh
+++ b/tests/simple.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ if test "$text" != "Hello World!"; then exit 1; fi
 nix-store --delete $outPath
 if test -e $outPath/hello; then false; fi
 
-outPath="$(NIX_REMOTE=local?store=/foo\&real=$TMPDIR/real-store nix-instantiate --readonly-mode hash-check.nix)"
+outPath="$(NIX_REMOTE=local?store=/foo\&real=$TEST_ROOT/real-store nix-instantiate --readonly-mode hash-check.nix)"
 if test "$outPath" != "/foo/lfy1s6ca46rm5r6w4gg9hc0axiakjcnm-dependencies.drv"; then
     echo "hashDerivationModulo appears broken, got $outPath"
     exit 1
diff --git a/tests/tarball.sh b/tests/tarball.sh
index 329e73b91696..ba534c6261ad 100644
--- a/tests/tarball.sh
+++ b/tests/tarball.sh
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ tarball=$TEST_ROOT/tarball.tar.xz
 
 nix-env -f file://$tarball -qa --out-path | grep -q dependencies
 
-nix-build -o $TMPDIR/result file://$tarball
+nix-build -o $TEST_ROOT/result file://$tarball
 
-nix-build -o $TMPDIR/result '<foo>' -I foo=file://$tarball
+nix-build -o $TEST_ROOT/result '<foo>' -I foo=file://$tarball
 
-nix-build -o $TMPDIR/result -E "import (fetchTarball file://$tarball)"
+nix-build -o $TEST_ROOT/result -E "import (fetchTarball file://$tarball)"
 
 nix-instantiate --eval -E '1 + 2' -I fnord=file://no-such-tarball.tar.xz
 nix-instantiate --eval -E 'with <fnord/xyzzy>; 1 + 2' -I fnord=file://no-such-tarball.tar.xz