Merge changes from topic "libutil-split" into main

* changes:
  util.hh: Delete remaining file and clean up headers
  util.hh: Move nativeSystem to local-derivation-goal.cc
  util.hh: Move stuff to types.hh
  util.cc: Delete remaining file
  util.{hh,cc}: Move ignoreException to error.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out namespaces.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out users.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out strings.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out unix-domain-socket.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out child.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out current-process.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out processes.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out file-descriptor.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out file-system.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out terminal.{hh,cc}
  util.{hh,cc}: Split out environment-variables.{hh,cc}

161 files changed, 3411 insertions, 3224 deletions

diff --git a/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs b/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
index e96885e4c..4bef020d3 100644
--- a/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
+++ b/perl/lib/Nix/Store.xs
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "crypto.hh"
 
 #include <sodium.h>
diff --git a/src/libcmd/common-eval-args.cc b/src/libcmd/common-eval-args.cc
index 9beea5aa2..e86213020 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/common-eval-args.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/common-eval-args.cc
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 #include "common-eval-args.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "filetransfer.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "fetchers.hh"
 #include "registry.hh"
diff --git a/src/libcmd/editor-for.cc b/src/libcmd/editor-for.cc
index e5f762104..67653d9c9 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/editor-for.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/editor-for.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "editor-for.hh"
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
 #include "source-path.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.cc b/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.cc
index 06e507872..eb15fecc3 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "installable-attr-path.hh"
 #include "outputs-spec.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "command.hh"
 #include "attr-path.hh"
 #include "common-eval-args.hh"
diff --git a/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.hh b/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.hh
index e9f0c33da..86c2f8219 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.hh
+++ b/src/libcmd/installable-attr-path.hh
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "installable-value.hh"
 #include "outputs-spec.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "command.hh"
 #include "attr-path.hh"
 #include "common-eval-args.hh"
diff --git a/src/libcmd/installable-flake.cc b/src/libcmd/installable-flake.cc
index 46bdd411b..b1ebd339e 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/installable-flake.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/installable-flake.cc
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 #include "installable-flake.hh"
 #include "installable-derived-path.hh"
 #include "outputs-spec.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "command.hh"
 #include "attr-path.hh"
 #include "common-eval-args.hh"
diff --git a/src/libcmd/installables.cc b/src/libcmd/installables.cc
index 2c18653e4..ab0e4fd1c 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/installables.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/installables.cc
@@ -3,26 +3,21 @@
 #include "installable-derived-path.hh"
 #include "installable-attr-path.hh"
 #include "installable-flake.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "outputs-spec.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "command.hh"
 #include "attr-path.hh"
 #include "common-eval-args.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
-#include "eval-inline.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "eval-settings.hh"
-#include "get-drvs.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "flake/flake.hh"
 #include "eval-cache.hh"
-#include "url.hh"
 #include "registry.hh"
 #include "build-result.hh"
 
-#include <regex>
-#include <queue>
 
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
 
diff --git a/src/libcmd/installables.hh b/src/libcmd/installables.hh
index ad5b4f759..95e8841ca 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/installables.hh
+++ b/src/libcmd/installables.hh
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "path.hh"
 #include "outputs-spec.hh"
 #include "derived-path.hh"
diff --git a/src/libcmd/markdown.cc b/src/libcmd/markdown.cc
index 668a07763..dbaab8c19 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/markdown.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/markdown.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "markdown.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "error.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
 #include <sys/queue.h>
 #include <lowdown.h>
diff --git a/src/libcmd/repl-interacter.cc b/src/libcmd/repl-interacter.cc
index 41589cda1..0cf4e34b8 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/repl-interacter.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/repl-interacter.cc
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+#include "error.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include <csignal>
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <string>
@@ -18,11 +22,8 @@ extern "C" {
 }
 #endif
 
-#include "signals.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
 #include "repl-interacter.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "repl.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libcmd/repl.cc b/src/libcmd/repl.cc
index 02aa5a272..49865aa90 100644
--- a/src/libcmd/repl.cc
+++ b/src/libcmd/repl.cc
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 #include "print.hh"
 #include "progress-bar.hh"
 #include "gc-small-vector.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #if HAVE_BOEHMGC
 #define GC_INCLUDE_NEW
diff --git a/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc b/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc
index f4da99a9a..3e60f295d 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #include "attr-path.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval-cache.cc b/src/libexpr/eval-cache.cc
index 5969ee449..90fbfa308 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval-cache.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval-cache.cc
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #include "eval-cache.hh"
 #include "sqlite.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
-#include "eval-inline.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 namespace nix::eval_cache {
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval-settings.cc b/src/libexpr/eval-settings.cc
index 046ca557d..105fd3e9d 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval-settings.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval-settings.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "profiles.hh"
-#include "eval.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 #include "eval-settings.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval.cc b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
index a8b37325b..c9a624eeb 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 #include "print-options.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "downstream-placeholder.hh"
diff --git a/src/libexpr/flake/config.cc b/src/libexpr/flake/config.cc
index b9613462a..b330d96f9 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/flake/config.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/flake/config.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "flake.hh"
-#include "globals.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 #include "fetch-settings.hh"
 
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
diff --git a/src/libexpr/flake/flake.cc b/src/libexpr/flake/flake.cc
index e13d1cb93..ac50351ad 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/flake/flake.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/flake/flake.cc
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "fetchers.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
 #include "fetch-settings.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/get-drvs.cc b/src/libexpr/get-drvs.cc
index e686ffe8c..8c8e142b8 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/get-drvs.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/get-drvs.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "get-drvs.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
diff --git a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc
index 72a8764e6..6a1aa8f35 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "symbol-table.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "print.hh"
 #include "escape-string.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/parser.y b/src/libexpr/parser.y
index 5424d8741..91cc7d089 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/parser.y
+++ b/src/libexpr/parser.y
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #include <variant>
 
 #include "finally.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #include "nixexpr.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.cc b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
index 64a52dfd6..f8ce90ac1 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 #include "json-to-value.hh"
 #include "names.hh"
 #include "path-references.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "value-to-json.hh"
 #include "value-to-xml.hh"
 #include "primops.hh"
diff --git a/src/libexpr/print-ambiguous.cc b/src/libexpr/print-ambiguous.cc
index ec30f5073..bcf86b5c6 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/print-ambiguous.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/print-ambiguous.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "print-ambiguous.hh"
+#include "attr-set.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "print.hh"
-#include "eval.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "escape-string.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/print.cc b/src/libexpr/print.cc
index 231bde0a0..c56b0e72e 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/print.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/print.cc
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "english.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/search-path.cc b/src/libexpr/search-path.cc
index 180d5f8b1..a25767496 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/search-path.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/search-path.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "search-path.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc b/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc
index ebb3379a8..5743d9057 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #include "value-to-json.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/value-to-xml.cc b/src/libexpr/value-to-xml.cc
index 5d1fbd28d..fda360eff 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/value-to-xml.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/value-to-xml.cc
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
 #include "value-to-xml.hh"
 #include "xml-writer.hh"
-#include "eval-inline.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 
-#include <cstdlib>
-
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/value/context.hh b/src/libexpr/value/context.hh
index 998b70e36..7f23cd3a4 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/value/context.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/value/context.hh
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "comparator.hh"
 #include "derived-path.hh"
 #include "variant-wrapper.hh"
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/cache.cc b/src/libfetchers/cache.cc
index 672e1e0bc..eec77c2dc 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/cache.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/cache.cc
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "sqlite.hh"
 #include "sync.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
 
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh b/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh
index c67a75082..2dc2834fb 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh
+++ b/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 
 #include "types.hh"
 #include "config.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 #include <map>
 #include <limits>
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/fetch-to-store.hh b/src/libfetchers/fetch-to-store.hh
index 717450944..b74879637 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/fetch-to-store.hh
+++ b/src/libfetchers/fetch-to-store.hh
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 
 #include "source-path.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "repair-flag.hh"
 #include "content-address.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/git.cc b/src/libfetchers/git.cc
index 4d4bf6cd6..07cbc781c 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/git.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/git.cc
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 #include "fetchers.hh"
 #include "cache.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "tarfile.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "url-parts.hh"
 #include "pathlocks.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 #include "git.hh"
 #include "logging.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/mercurial.cc b/src/libfetchers/mercurial.cc
index 87fecfca3..4fffa71d3 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/mercurial.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/mercurial.cc
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #include "fetchers.hh"
 #include "cache.hh"
-#include "globals.hh"
-#include "tarfile.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "url-parts.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #include "fetch-settings.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/registry.cc b/src/libfetchers/registry.cc
index 4b2d61f52..96e9ed1c6 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/registry.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/registry.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #include "registry.hh"
 #include "fetchers.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "local-fs-store.hh"
diff --git a/src/libmain/common-args.cc b/src/libmain/common-args.cc
index 12ce289c5..af7f46296 100644
--- a/src/libmain/common-args.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/common-args.cc
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "args/root.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "loggers.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libmain/loggers.cc b/src/libmain/loggers.cc
index cda5cb939..80080d616 100644
--- a/src/libmain/loggers.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/loggers.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
 #include "loggers.hh"
 #include "progress-bar.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libmain/progress-bar.cc b/src/libmain/progress-bar.cc
index 1a68daca2..11b2fe800 100644
--- a/src/libmain/progress-bar.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/progress-bar.cc
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #include "progress-bar.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "sync.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "names.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
 #include <atomic>
 #include <map>
diff --git a/src/libmain/shared.cc b/src/libmain/shared.cc
index 33323a226..f99777a20 100644
--- a/src/libmain/shared.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/shared.cc
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "gc-store.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "loggers.hh"
 #include "progress-bar.hh"
+#include "current-process.hh"
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <cctype>
diff --git a/src/libmain/shared.hh b/src/libmain/shared.hh
index a7810f77c..b791980fa 100644
--- a/src/libmain/shared.hh
+++ b/src/libmain/shared.hh
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "args.hh"
 #include "args/root.hh"
 #include "common-args.hh"
 #include "path.hh"
 #include "derived-path.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "exit.hh"
 
 #include <signal.h>
diff --git a/src/libstore/build/child.cc b/src/libstore/build/child.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a82a5eec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libstore/build/child.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#include "current-process.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+
+namespace nix {
+
+void commonChildInit()
+{
+    logger = makeSimpleLogger();
+
+    const static std::string pathNullDevice = "/dev/null";
+    restoreProcessContext(false);
+
+    /* Put the child in a separate session (and thus a separate
+       process group) so that it has no controlling terminal (meaning
+       that e.g. ssh cannot open /dev/tty) and it doesn't receive
+       terminal signals. */
+    if (setsid() == -1)
+        throw SysError("creating a new session");
+
+    /* Dup stderr to stdout. */
+    if (dup2(STDERR_FILENO, STDOUT_FILENO) == -1)
+        throw SysError("cannot dup stderr into stdout");
+
+    /* Reroute stdin to /dev/null. */
+    int fdDevNull = open(pathNullDevice.c_str(), O_RDWR);
+    if (fdDevNull == -1)
+        throw SysError("cannot open '%1%'", pathNullDevice);
+    if (dup2(fdDevNull, STDIN_FILENO) == -1)
+        throw SysError("cannot dup null device into stdin");
+    close(fdDevNull);
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libstore/build/child.hh b/src/libstore/build/child.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3dfc552b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libstore/build/child.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+namespace nix {
+
+/**
+ * Common initialisation performed in child processes.
+ */
+void commonChildInit();
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc b/src/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc
index 5fa5deb7c..97ba994ad 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 #include "builtins/buildenv.hh"
 #include "references.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "archive.hh"
 #include "compression.hh"
 #include "common-protocol.hh"
diff --git a/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc b/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc
index ea4c2e508..86f72486e 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#include "child.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "hook-instance.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.hh b/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.hh
index d84f62877..481158296 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/build/hook-instance.hh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 ///@file
 
 #include "logging.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "serialise.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.cc b/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.cc
index 9be780212..479b4ffeb 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.cc
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 #include "builtins/buildenv.hh"
 #include "path-references.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "archive.hh"
 #include "compression.hh"
 #include "daemon.hh"
@@ -15,6 +14,8 @@
 #include "cgroup.hh"
 #include "personality.hh"
 #include "namespaces.hh"
+#include "child.hh"
+#include "unix-domain-socket.hh"
 
 #include <regex>
 #include <queue>
@@ -63,6 +64,11 @@ extern "C" int sandbox_init_with_parameters(const char *profile, uint64_t flags,
 
 namespace nix {
 
+/**
+ * The system for which Nix is compiled.
+ */
+constexpr std::string_view nativeSystem = SYSTEM;
+
 void handleDiffHook(
     uid_t uid, uid_t gid,
     const Path & tryA, const Path & tryB,
diff --git a/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.hh b/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.hh
index b7f317fb6..f3a83d42f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/build/local-derivation-goal.hh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include "derivation-goal.hh"
 #include "local-store.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/common-protocol.cc b/src/libstore/common-protocol.cc
index f906814bc..456ad2b1f 100644
--- a/src/libstore/common-protocol.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/common-protocol.cc
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 #include "serialise.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "path-with-outputs.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "build-result.hh"
 #include "common-protocol.hh"
 #include "common-protocol-impl.hh"
-#include "archive.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
 
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
diff --git a/src/libstore/crypto.cc b/src/libstore/crypto.cc
index 1027469c9..2e0fd8ca5 100644
--- a/src/libstore/crypto.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/crypto.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "crypto.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 #include <sodium.h>
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/crypto.hh b/src/libstore/crypto.hh
index 35216d470..22588cf97 100644
--- a/src/libstore/crypto.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/crypto.hh
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "types.hh"
 
 #include <map>
+#include <string>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/derivations.cc b/src/libstore/derivations.cc
index fef680421..4e70804e5 100644
--- a/src/libstore/derivations.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/derivations.cc
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "split.hh"
 #include "common-protocol.hh"
 #include "common-protocol-impl.hh"
diff --git a/src/libstore/derived-path.hh b/src/libstore/derived-path.hh
index 4d7033df2..c87cf2004 100644
--- a/src/libstore/derived-path.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/derived-path.hh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "config.hh"
 #include "path.hh"
 #include "outputs-spec.hh"
 #include "comparator.hh"
diff --git a/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc b/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
index 076a5ca56..76da8e415 100644
--- a/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #include "filetransfer.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "namespaces.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "s3.hh"
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <cmath>
 #include <cstring>
-#include <iostream>
 #include <queue>
 #include <random>
 #include <thread>
diff --git a/src/libstore/filetransfer.hh b/src/libstore/filetransfer.hh
index 3f55995ef..c692f1485 100644
--- a/src/libstore/filetransfer.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/filetransfer.hh
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "serialise.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
-#include "hash.hh"
 #include "config.hh"
 
 #include <string>
diff --git a/src/libstore/gc.cc b/src/libstore/gc.cc
index 6b37f0af3..d58e3c8eb 100644
--- a/src/libstore/gc.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/gc.cc
@@ -1,16 +1,14 @@
-#include "derivations.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "local-store.hh"
+#include "pathlocks.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
+#include "unix-domain-socket.hh"
 
-#include <functional>
 #include <queue>
-#include <algorithm>
 #include <regex>
-#include <random>
 
-#include <climits>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <poll.h>
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.cc b/src/libstore/globals.cc
index 3308cad1f..993a8cfa5 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.cc
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "archive.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 #include "args.hh"
 #include "abstract-setting-to-json.hh"
 #include "compute-levels.hh"
+#include "current-process.hh"
 
 #include <algorithm>
-#include <map>
 #include <mutex>
 #include <thread>
 #include <dlfcn.h>
@@ -25,6 +28,7 @@
 #include "config-impl.hh"
 
 #ifdef __APPLE__
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include <curl/curl.h>
 #include <sys/sysctl.h>
 #endif
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.hh b/src/libstore/globals.hh
index 85789f6b5..581de7ff6 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.hh
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
 #include "config.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 #include <map>
 #include <limits>
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-store.hh b/src/libstore/local-store.hh
index 14f024ca9..808fdc202 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-store.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/local-store.hh
@@ -3,11 +3,9 @@
 
 #include "sqlite.hh"
 
-#include "pathlocks.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "indirect-root-store.hh"
 #include "sync.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 #include <chrono>
 #include <future>
diff --git a/src/libstore/lock.cc b/src/libstore/lock.cc
index 80c75eaa5..05296757d 100644
--- a/src/libstore/lock.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/lock.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 #include "lock.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "pathlocks.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/machines.cc b/src/libstore/machines.cc
index 700c9b3dd..cdd1e1c2c 100644
--- a/src/libstore/machines.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/machines.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #include "machines.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 #include <algorithm>
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/meson.build b/src/libstore/meson.build
index 98549f6d9..f776e9621 100644
--- a/src/libstore/meson.build
+++ b/src/libstore/meson.build
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ libstore_sources = files(
   'store-api.cc',
   'uds-remote-store.cc',
   'worker-protocol.cc',
+  'build/child.cc',
   'build/derivation-goal.cc',
   'build/drv-output-substitution-goal.cc',
   'build/entry-points.cc',
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ libstore_sources = files(
 
 libstore_headers = files(
   'binary-cache-store.hh',
+  'build/child.hh',
   'build/derivation-goal.hh',
   'build/drv-output-substitution-goal.hh',
   'build/goal.hh',
diff --git a/src/libstore/names.cc b/src/libstore/names.cc
index 277aabf0f..b903a99f0 100644
--- a/src/libstore/names.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/names.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #include "names.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 #include <regex>
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/nar-info-disk-cache.cc b/src/libstore/nar-info-disk-cache.cc
index c7176d30f..169b63819 100644
--- a/src/libstore/nar-info-disk-cache.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/nar-info-disk-cache.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 #include "nar-info-disk-cache.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "sync.hh"
 #include "sqlite.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #include <sqlite3.h>
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
diff --git a/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc b/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc
index e09072e90..4f02296c3 100644
--- a/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/optimise-store.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "local-store.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
diff --git a/src/libstore/outputs-spec.cc b/src/libstore/outputs-spec.cc
index 21c069223..0d740c324 100644
--- a/src/libstore/outputs-spec.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/outputs-spec.cc
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 #include <regex>
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
 
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "regex-combinators.hh"
 #include "outputs-spec.hh"
 #include "path-regex.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/path-references.cc b/src/libstore/path-references.cc
index 33cf66ce3..8a02e9006 100644
--- a/src/libstore/path-references.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/path-references.cc
@@ -1,12 +1,8 @@
 #include "path-references.hh"
 #include "hash.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "archive.hh"
 
 #include <map>
-#include <cstdlib>
-#include <mutex>
-#include <algorithm>
 
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc b/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
index 3e654c1c9..ced0f30bb 100644
--- a/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 #include "pathlocks.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
-#include "sync.hh"
 
 #include <cerrno>
-#include <cstdlib>
 
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
diff --git a/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh b/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh
index 4921df352..7fcfa2e40 100644
--- a/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/profiles.cc b/src/libstore/profiles.cc
index 239047dd6..e8b88693d 100644
--- a/src/libstore/profiles.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/profiles.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #include "profiles.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "local-fs-store.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
diff --git a/src/libstore/remote-store.cc b/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
index 22d87b027..93b1afabd 100644
--- a/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "serialise.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "path-with-outputs.hh"
 #include "gc-store.hh"
diff --git a/src/libstore/serve-protocol.cc b/src/libstore/serve-protocol.cc
index 2e15d28d5..603137c81 100644
--- a/src/libstore/serve-protocol.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/serve-protocol.cc
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 #include "serialise.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "path-with-outputs.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "build-result.hh"
 #include "serve-protocol.hh"
 #include "serve-protocol-impl.hh"
-#include "archive.hh"
 #include "path-info.hh"
 
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
diff --git a/src/libstore/sqlite.cc b/src/libstore/sqlite.cc
index 4bd425b46..f40217734 100644
--- a/src/libstore/sqlite.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/sqlite.cc
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 #include "sqlite.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "url.hh"
 
 #include <sqlite3.h>
 
-#include <atomic>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/ssh.cc b/src/libstore/ssh.cc
index 87414fe9c..932ebaa52 100644
--- a/src/libstore/ssh.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/ssh.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
+#include "current-process.hh"
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
 #include "ssh.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/ssh.hh b/src/libstore/ssh.hh
index 94b952af9..f9c532caa 100644
--- a/src/libstore/ssh.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/ssh.hh
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "sync.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libstore/store-api.cc b/src/libstore/store-api.cc
index ed3566f5e..eb9b5c3ef 100644
--- a/src/libstore/store-api.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/store-api.cc
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
-#include "crypto.hh"
 #include "fs-accessor.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "nar-info-disk-cache.hh"
 #include "thread-pool.hh"
 #include "url.hh"
@@ -14,6 +12,7 @@
 // FIXME this should not be here, see TODO below on
 // `addMultipleToStore`.
 #include "worker-protocol.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
 #include <regex>
diff --git a/src/libstore/store-api.hh b/src/libstore/store-api.hh
index 745fce594..397ebe759 100644
--- a/src/libstore/store-api.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/store-api.hh
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "nar-info.hh"
 #include "realisation.hh"
 #include "path.hh"
diff --git a/src/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc b/src/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc
index 99589f8b2..226cdf717 100644
--- a/src/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "uds-remote-store.hh"
+#include "unix-domain-socket.hh"
 #include "worker-protocol.hh"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
diff --git a/src/libstore/worker-protocol.cc b/src/libstore/worker-protocol.cc
index ad94c79ee..d76a8d2b8 100644
--- a/src/libstore/worker-protocol.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/worker-protocol.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "serialise.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "path-with-outputs.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "build-result.hh"
diff --git a/src/libutil/archive.cc b/src/libutil/archive.cc
index a18c54ebf..1b42ee4b5 100644
--- a/src/libutil/archive.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/archive.cc
@@ -12,8 +12,9 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 
 #include "archive.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "config.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libutil/archive.hh b/src/libutil/archive.hh
index 017b6633c..f163a1947 100644
--- a/src/libutil/archive.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/archive.hh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include "types.hh"
 #include "serialise.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libutil/args.cc b/src/libutil/args.cc
index 520f50c30..4983e49af 100644
--- a/src/libutil/args.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/args.cc
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@
 #include "args/root.hh"
 #include "hash.hh"
 #include "json-utils.hh"
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
+
 #include "experimental-features-json.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 
 #include <glob.h>
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/args.hh b/src/libutil/args.hh
index 77f7ff2a8..35a5238c0 100644
--- a/src/libutil/args.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/args.hh
@@ -1,13 +1,17 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include <iostream>
+#include "experimental-features.hh"
+#include "types.hh"
+#include <functional>
 #include <map>
 #include <memory>
+#include <limits>
 
 #include <nlohmann/json_fwd.hpp>
+#include <optional>
+#include <set>
 
-#include "util.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/canon-path.cc b/src/libutil/canon-path.cc
index 040464532..f678fae94 100644
--- a/src/libutil/canon-path.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/canon-path.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #include "canon-path.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/cgroup.cc b/src/libutil/cgroup.cc
index 9320d2371..e28e21c3e 100644
--- a/src/libutil/cgroup.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/cgroup.cc
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
+#include "logging.hh"
 #if __linux__
 
 #include "cgroup.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "finally.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 #include <chrono>
 #include <cmath>
 #include <regex>
 #include <unordered_set>
 #include <thread>
+#include <signal.h>
 
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <mntent.h>
diff --git a/src/libutil/comparator.hh b/src/libutil/comparator.hh
index cbc2bb4fd..136a3f742 100644
--- a/src/libutil/comparator.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/comparator.hh
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include <tuple>
+
 #define DECLARE_ONE_CMP(PRE, QUAL, COMPARATOR, MY_TYPE) \
     PRE bool QUAL operator COMPARATOR(const MY_TYPE & other) const;
 #define DECLARE_EQUAL(prefix, qualification, my_type) \
diff --git a/src/libutil/compression.cc b/src/libutil/compression.cc
index 575a03712..678557a58 100644
--- a/src/libutil/compression.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/compression.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 #include "compression.hh"
 #include "tarfile.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "finally.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "logging.hh"
 
@@ -13,7 +11,6 @@
 #include <brotli/decode.h>
 #include <brotli/encode.h>
 
-#include <iostream>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/config-impl.hh b/src/libutil/config-impl.hh
index 9f69e8444..756175f95 100644
--- a/src/libutil/config-impl.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/config-impl.hh
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@
  * instantiation.
  */
 
+#include "args.hh"
 #include "config.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/config.cc b/src/libutil/config.cc
index 81efcd507..8180886ce 100644
--- a/src/libutil/config.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/config.cc
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 #include "args.hh"
 #include "abstract-setting-to-json.hh"
 #include "experimental-features.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 #include "config-impl.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/current-process.cc b/src/libutil/current-process.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c64dd1e0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/current-process.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+#include "current-process.hh"
+#include "error.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "namespaces.hh"
+#include "signals.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
+
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+# include <mach-o/dyld.h>
+#endif
+
+#if __linux__
+# include <sys/resource.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <sys/mount.h>
+#include <cgroup.hh>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+unsigned int getMaxCPU()
+{
+    #if __linux__
+    try {
+        auto cgroupFS = getCgroupFS();
+        if (!cgroupFS) return 0;
+
+        auto cgroups = getCgroups("/proc/self/cgroup");
+        auto cgroup = cgroups[""];
+        if (cgroup == "") return 0;
+
+        auto cpuFile = *cgroupFS + "/" + cgroup + "/cpu.max";
+
+        auto cpuMax = readFile(cpuFile);
+        auto cpuMaxParts = tokenizeString<std::vector<std::string>>(cpuMax, " \n");
+
+        if (cpuMaxParts.size() != 2) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        auto quota = cpuMaxParts[0];
+        auto period = cpuMaxParts[1];
+        if (quota != "max")
+                return std::ceil(std::stoi(quota) / std::stof(period));
+    } catch (Error &) { ignoreException(lvlDebug); }
+    #endif
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+rlim_t savedStackSize = 0;
+
+void setStackSize(rlim_t stackSize)
+{
+    struct rlimit limit;
+    if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit) == 0 && limit.rlim_cur < stackSize) {
+        savedStackSize = limit.rlim_cur;
+        limit.rlim_cur = std::min(stackSize, limit.rlim_max);
+        if (setrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit) != 0) {
+            logger->log(
+                lvlError,
+                HintFmt(
+                    "Failed to increase stack size from %1% to %2% (maximum allowed stack size: %3%): %4%",
+                    savedStackSize,
+                    stackSize,
+                    limit.rlim_max,
+                    std::strerror(errno)
+                ).str()
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+void restoreProcessContext(bool restoreMounts)
+{
+    restoreSignals();
+    if (restoreMounts) {
+        restoreMountNamespace();
+    }
+
+    if (savedStackSize) {
+        struct rlimit limit;
+        if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit) == 0) {
+            limit.rlim_cur = savedStackSize;
+            setrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+std::optional<Path> getSelfExe()
+{
+    static auto cached = []() -> std::optional<Path>
+    {
+        #if __linux__
+        return readLink("/proc/self/exe");
+        #elif __APPLE__
+        char buf[1024];
+        uint32_t size = sizeof(buf);
+        if (_NSGetExecutablePath(buf, &size) == 0)
+            return buf;
+        else
+            return std::nullopt;
+        #else
+        return std::nullopt;
+        #endif
+    }();
+    return cached;
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/current-process.hh b/src/libutil/current-process.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d5a2791d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/current-process.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+#include <optional>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
+
+#include "types.hh"
+
+namespace nix {
+
+/**
+ * If cgroups are active, attempt to calculate the number of CPUs available.
+ * If cgroups are unavailable or if cpu.max is set to "max", return 0.
+ */
+unsigned int getMaxCPU();
+
+
+/**
+ * Change the stack size.
+ */
+void setStackSize(rlim_t stackSize);
+
+
+/**
+ * Restore the original inherited Unix process context (such as signal
+ * masks, stack size).
+
+ * See startSignalHandlerThread(), saveSignalMask().
+ */
+void restoreProcessContext(bool restoreMounts = true);
+
+/**
+ * @return the path of the current executable.
+ */
+std::optional<Path> getSelfExe();
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/environment-variables.cc b/src/libutil/environment-variables.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..71c404a0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/environment-variables.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#include <cstring>
+#include <map>
+#include <optional>
+#include <string>
+
+extern char * * environ __attribute__((weak));
+
+namespace nix {
+
+std::optional<std::string> getEnv(const std::string & key)
+{
+    char * value = getenv(key.c_str());
+    if (!value) return {};
+    return std::string(value);
+}
+
+std::optional<std::string> getEnvNonEmpty(const std::string & key) {
+    auto value = getEnv(key);
+    if (value == "") return {};
+    return value;
+}
+
+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;
+}
+
+
+void clearEnv()
+{
+    for (auto & name : getEnv())
+        unsetenv(name.first.c_str());
+}
+
+void replaceEnv(const std::map<std::string, std::string> & newEnv)
+{
+    clearEnv();
+    for (auto & newEnvVar : newEnv)
+        setenv(newEnvVar.first.c_str(), newEnvVar.second.c_str(), 1);
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/environment-variables.hh b/src/libutil/environment-variables.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..784b95921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/environment-variables.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#pragma once
+/**
+ * @file
+ *
+ * Utilities for working with the current process's environment
+ * variables.
+ */
+
+#include <map>
+#include <optional>
+#include <string>
+
+
+namespace nix {
+
+/**
+ * @return an environment variable.
+ */
+std::optional<std::string> getEnv(const std::string & key);
+
+/**
+ * @return a non empty environment variable. Returns nullopt if the env
+ * variable is set to ""
+ */
+std::optional<std::string> getEnvNonEmpty(const std::string & key);
+
+/**
+ * Get the entire environment.
+ */
+std::map<std::string, std::string> getEnv();
+
+/**
+ * Clear the environment.
+ */
+void clearEnv();
+
+/**
+ * Replace the entire environment with the given one.
+ */
+void replaceEnv(const std::map<std::string, std::string> & newEnv);
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/error.cc b/src/libutil/error.cc
index b534ff87e..e5d6a9fa8 100644
--- a/src/libutil/error.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/error.cc
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
 #include "error.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "position.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
 #include <iostream>
 #include <optional>
-#include "serialise.hh"
 #include <sstream>
 
 namespace nix {
 
-const std::string nativeSystem = SYSTEM;
-
 void BaseError::addTrace(std::shared_ptr<Pos> && e, HintFmt hint)
 {
     err.traces.push_front(Trace { .pos = std::move(e), .hint = hint });
@@ -415,4 +415,17 @@ std::ostream & showErrorInfo(std::ostream & out, const ErrorInfo & einfo, bool s
     return out;
 }
 
+void ignoreException(Verbosity lvl)
+{
+    /* Make sure no exceptions leave this function.
+       printError() also throws when remote is closed. */
+    try {
+        try {
+            throw;
+        } catch (std::exception & e) {
+            printMsg(lvl, "error (ignored): %1%", e.what());
+        }
+    } catch (...) { }
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/src/libutil/error.hh b/src/libutil/error.hh
index 323365d65..0884f9f32 100644
--- a/src/libutil/error.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/error.hh
@@ -202,4 +202,10 @@ public:
     }
 };
 
+/**
+ * Exception handling in destructors: print an error message, then
+ * ignore the exception.
+ */
+void ignoreException(Verbosity lvl = lvlError);
+
 }
diff --git a/src/libutil/experimental-features.cc b/src/libutil/experimental-features.cc
index 25beba467..f1cbfdb16 100644
--- a/src/libutil/experimental-features.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/experimental-features.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #include "experimental-features.hh"
 // Required for instances of to_json and from_json for ExperimentalFeature
 #include "experimental-features-json.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 #include "nlohmann/json.hpp"
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/file-descriptor.cc b/src/libutil/file-descriptor.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a19ceaf2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/file-descriptor.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,252 @@
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "finally.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "serialise.hh"
+#include "signals.hh"
+
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+std::string readFile(int fd)
+{
+    struct stat st;
+    if (fstat(fd, &st) == -1)
+        throw SysError("statting file");
+
+    return drainFD(fd, true, st.st_size);
+}
+
+
+std::string readLine(int fd)
+{
+    std::string s;
+    while (1) {
+        checkInterrupt();
+        char ch;
+        // FIXME: inefficient
+        ssize_t rd = read(fd, &ch, 1);
+        if (rd == -1) {
+            if (errno != EINTR)
+                throw SysError("reading a line");
+        } else if (rd == 0)
+            throw EndOfFile("unexpected EOF reading a line");
+        else {
+            if (ch == '\n') return s;
+            s += ch;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+
+void writeLine(int fd, std::string s)
+{
+    s += '\n';
+    writeFull(fd, s);
+}
+
+
+void readFull(int fd, char * buf, size_t count)
+{
+    while (count) {
+        checkInterrupt();
+        ssize_t res = read(fd, buf, count);
+        if (res == -1) {
+            if (errno == EINTR) continue;
+            throw SysError("reading from file");
+        }
+        if (res == 0) throw EndOfFile("unexpected end-of-file");
+        count -= res;
+        buf += res;
+    }
+}
+
+
+void writeFull(int fd, std::string_view s, bool allowInterrupts)
+{
+    while (!s.empty()) {
+        if (allowInterrupts) checkInterrupt();
+        ssize_t res = write(fd, s.data(), s.size());
+        if (res == -1 && errno != EINTR)
+            throw SysError("writing to file");
+        if (res > 0)
+            s.remove_prefix(res);
+    }
+}
+
+
+std::string drainFD(int fd, bool block, const size_t reserveSize)
+{
+    // the parser needs two extra bytes to append terminating characters, other users will
+    // not care very much about the extra memory.
+    StringSink sink(reserveSize + 2);
+    drainFD(fd, sink, block);
+    return std::move(sink.s);
+}
+
+
+void drainFD(int fd, Sink & sink, bool block)
+{
+    // silence GCC maybe-uninitialized warning in finally
+    int saved = 0;
+
+    if (!block) {
+        saved = fcntl(fd, F_GETFL);
+        if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, saved | O_NONBLOCK) == -1)
+            throw SysError("making file descriptor non-blocking");
+    }
+
+    Finally finally([&]() {
+        if (!block) {
+            if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, saved) == -1)
+                throw SysError("making file descriptor blocking");
+        }
+    });
+
+    std::array<unsigned char, 64 * 1024> buf;
+    while (1) {
+        checkInterrupt();
+        ssize_t rd = read(fd, buf.data(), buf.size());
+        if (rd == -1) {
+            if (!block && (errno == EAGAIN || errno == EWOULDBLOCK))
+                break;
+            if (errno != EINTR)
+                throw SysError("reading from file");
+        }
+        else if (rd == 0) break;
+        else sink({(char *) buf.data(), (size_t) rd});
+    }
+}
+
+AutoCloseFD::AutoCloseFD() : fd{-1} {}
+
+
+AutoCloseFD::AutoCloseFD(int fd) : fd{fd} {}
+
+
+AutoCloseFD::AutoCloseFD(AutoCloseFD && that) : fd{that.fd}
+{
+    that.fd = -1;
+}
+
+
+AutoCloseFD & AutoCloseFD::operator =(AutoCloseFD && that)
+{
+    close();
+    fd = that.fd;
+    that.fd = -1;
+    return *this;
+}
+
+
+AutoCloseFD::~AutoCloseFD()
+{
+    try {
+        close();
+    } catch (...) {
+        ignoreException();
+    }
+}
+
+
+int AutoCloseFD::get() const
+{
+    return fd;
+}
+
+
+void AutoCloseFD::close()
+{
+    if (fd != -1) {
+        if (::close(fd) == -1)
+            /* This should never happen. */
+            throw SysError("closing file descriptor %1%", fd);
+        fd = -1;
+    }
+}
+
+void AutoCloseFD::fsync()
+{
+  if (fd != -1) {
+      int result;
+#if __APPLE__
+      result = ::fcntl(fd, F_FULLFSYNC);
+#else
+      result = ::fsync(fd);
+#endif
+      if (result == -1)
+          throw SysError("fsync file descriptor %1%", fd);
+  }
+}
+
+
+AutoCloseFD::operator bool() const
+{
+    return fd != -1;
+}
+
+
+int AutoCloseFD::release()
+{
+    int oldFD = fd;
+    fd = -1;
+    return oldFD;
+}
+
+
+void Pipe::create()
+{
+    int fds[2];
+#if HAVE_PIPE2
+    if (pipe2(fds, O_CLOEXEC) != 0) throw SysError("creating pipe");
+#else
+    if (pipe(fds) != 0) throw SysError("creating pipe");
+    closeOnExec(fds[0]);
+    closeOnExec(fds[1]);
+#endif
+    readSide = AutoCloseFD{fds[0]};
+    writeSide = AutoCloseFD{fds[1]};
+}
+
+
+void Pipe::close()
+{
+    readSide.close();
+    writeSide.close();
+}
+
+
+void closeMostFDs(const std::set<int> & exceptions)
+{
+#if __linux__
+    try {
+        for (auto & s : readDirectory("/proc/self/fd")) {
+            auto fd = std::stoi(s.name);
+            if (!exceptions.count(fd)) {
+                debug("closing leaked FD %d", fd);
+                close(fd);
+            }
+        }
+        return;
+    } catch (SysError &) {
+    }
+#endif
+
+    int maxFD = 0;
+    maxFD = sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX);
+    for (int fd = 0; fd < maxFD; ++fd)
+        if (!exceptions.count(fd))
+            close(fd); /* ignore result */
+}
+
+
+void closeOnExec(int fd)
+{
+    int prev;
+    if ((prev = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD, 0)) == -1 ||
+        fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, prev | FD_CLOEXEC) == -1)
+        throw SysError("setting close-on-exec flag");
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/file-descriptor.hh b/src/libutil/file-descriptor.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f59baa7a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/file-descriptor.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+#include "error.hh"
+
+namespace nix {
+
+struct Sink;
+struct Source;
+
+/**
+ * Read a line from a file descriptor.
+ */
+std::string readLine(int fd);
+
+/**
+ * Write a line to a file descriptor.
+ */
+void writeLine(int fd, std::string s);
+
+/**
+ * Read the contents of a file into a string.
+ */
+std::string readFile(int fd);
+
+/**
+ * Wrappers arount read()/write() that read/write exactly the
+ * requested number of bytes.
+ */
+void readFull(int fd, char * buf, size_t count);
+void writeFull(int fd, std::string_view s, bool allowInterrupts = true);
+
+/**
+ * Read a file descriptor until EOF occurs.
+ */
+std::string drainFD(int fd, bool block = true, const size_t reserveSize=0);
+
+void drainFD(int fd, Sink & sink, bool block = true);
+
+class AutoCloseFD
+{
+    int fd;
+public:
+    AutoCloseFD();
+    explicit AutoCloseFD(int fd);
+    AutoCloseFD(const AutoCloseFD & fd) = delete;
+    AutoCloseFD(AutoCloseFD&& fd);
+    ~AutoCloseFD();
+    AutoCloseFD& operator =(const AutoCloseFD & fd) = delete;
+    AutoCloseFD& operator =(AutoCloseFD&& fd) noexcept(false);
+    int get() const;
+    explicit operator bool() const;
+    int release();
+    void close();
+    void fsync();
+    void reset() { *this = {}; }
+};
+
+class Pipe
+{
+public:
+    AutoCloseFD readSide, writeSide;
+    void create();
+    void close();
+};
+
+/**
+ * Close all file descriptors except those listed in the given set.
+ * Good practice in child processes.
+ */
+void closeMostFDs(const std::set<int> & exceptions);
+
+/**
+ * Set the close-on-exec flag for the given file descriptor.
+ */
+void closeOnExec(int fd);
+
+MakeError(EndOfFile, Error);
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/file-system.cc b/src/libutil/file-system.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d573b22b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/file-system.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,670 @@
+#include <sys/time.h>
+#include <filesystem>
+#include <atomic>
+
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "finally.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "serialise.hh"
+#include "signals.hh"
+#include "types.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
+
+namespace fs = std::filesystem;
+
+namespace nix {
+
+Path absPath(Path path, std::optional<PathView> dir, bool resolveSymlinks)
+{
+    if (path.empty() || path[0] != '/') {
+        if (!dir) {
+#ifdef __GNU__
+            /* GNU (aka. GNU/Hurd) doesn't have any limitation on path
+               lengths and doesn't define `PATH_MAX'.  */
+            char *buf = getcwd(NULL, 0);
+            if (buf == NULL)
+#else
+            char buf[PATH_MAX];
+            if (!getcwd(buf, sizeof(buf)))
+#endif
+                throw SysError("cannot get cwd");
+            path = concatStrings(buf, "/", path);
+#ifdef __GNU__
+            free(buf);
+#endif
+        } else
+            path = concatStrings(*dir, "/", path);
+    }
+    return canonPath(path, resolveSymlinks);
+}
+
+
+Path canonPath(PathView path, bool resolveSymlinks)
+{
+    assert(path != "");
+
+    std::string s;
+    s.reserve(256);
+
+    if (path[0] != '/')
+        throw Error("not an absolute path: '%1%'", path);
+
+    std::string temp;
+
+    /* Count the number of times we follow a symlink and stop at some
+       arbitrary (but high) limit to prevent infinite loops. */
+    unsigned int followCount = 0, maxFollow = 1024;
+
+    while (1) {
+
+        /* Skip slashes. */
+        while (!path.empty() && path[0] == '/') path.remove_prefix(1);
+        if (path.empty()) break;
+
+        /* Ignore `.'. */
+        if (path == "." || path.substr(0, 2) == "./")
+            path.remove_prefix(1);
+
+        /* If `..', delete the last component. */
+        else if (path == ".." || path.substr(0, 3) == "../")
+        {
+            if (!s.empty()) s.erase(s.rfind('/'));
+            path.remove_prefix(2);
+        }
+
+        /* Normal component; copy it. */
+        else {
+            s += '/';
+            if (const auto slash = path.find('/'); slash == std::string::npos) {
+                s += path;
+                path = {};
+            } else {
+                s += path.substr(0, slash);
+                path = path.substr(slash);
+            }
+
+            /* If s points to a symlink, resolve it and continue from there */
+            if (resolveSymlinks && isLink(s)) {
+                if (++followCount >= maxFollow)
+                    throw Error("infinite symlink recursion in path '%1%'", path);
+                temp = concatStrings(readLink(s), path);
+                path = temp;
+                if (!temp.empty() && temp[0] == '/') {
+                    s.clear();  /* restart for symlinks pointing to absolute path */
+                } else {
+                    s = dirOf(s);
+                    if (s == "/") {  // we don’t want trailing slashes here, which dirOf only produces if s = /
+                        s.clear();
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    return s.empty() ? "/" : std::move(s);
+}
+
+void chmodPath(const Path & path, mode_t mode)
+{
+    if (chmod(path.c_str(), mode) == -1)
+        throw SysError("setting permissions on '%s'", path);
+}
+
+Path dirOf(const PathView path)
+{
+    Path::size_type pos = path.rfind('/');
+    if (pos == std::string::npos)
+        return ".";
+    return pos == 0 ? "/" : Path(path, 0, pos);
+}
+
+
+std::string_view baseNameOf(std::string_view path)
+{
+    if (path.empty())
+        return "";
+
+    auto last = path.size() - 1;
+    if (path[last] == '/' && last > 0)
+        last -= 1;
+
+    auto pos = path.rfind('/', last);
+    if (pos == std::string::npos)
+        pos = 0;
+    else
+        pos += 1;
+
+    return path.substr(pos, last - pos + 1);
+}
+
+
+std::string expandTilde(std::string_view path)
+{
+    // TODO: expand ~user ?
+    auto tilde = path.substr(0, 2);
+    if (tilde == "~/" || tilde == "~")
+        return getHome() + std::string(path.substr(1));
+    else
+        return std::string(path);
+}
+
+
+bool isInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir)
+{
+    return path.substr(0, 1) == "/"
+        && path.substr(0, dir.size()) == dir
+        && path.size() >= dir.size() + 2
+        && path[dir.size()] == '/';
+}
+
+
+bool isDirOrInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir)
+{
+    return path == dir || isInDir(path, dir);
+}
+
+
+struct stat stat(const Path & path)
+{
+    struct stat st;
+    if (stat(path.c_str(), &st))
+        throw SysError("getting status of '%1%'", path);
+    return st;
+}
+
+
+struct stat lstat(const Path & path)
+{
+    struct stat st;
+    if (lstat(path.c_str(), &st))
+        throw SysError("getting status of '%1%'", path);
+    return st;
+}
+
+std::optional<struct stat> maybeLstat(const Path & path)
+{
+    std::optional<struct stat> st{std::in_place};
+    if (lstat(path.c_str(), &*st))
+    {
+        if (errno == ENOENT || errno == ENOTDIR)
+            st.reset();
+        else
+            throw SysError("getting status of '%s'", path);
+    }
+    return st;
+}
+
+bool pathExists(const Path & path)
+{
+    return maybeLstat(path).has_value();
+}
+
+bool pathAccessible(const Path & path)
+{
+    try {
+        return pathExists(path);
+    } catch (SysError & e) {
+        // swallow EPERM
+        if (e.errNo == EPERM) return false;
+        throw;
+    }
+}
+
+
+Path readLink(const Path & path)
+{
+    checkInterrupt();
+    std::vector<char> buf;
+    for (ssize_t bufSize = PATH_MAX/4; true; bufSize += bufSize/2) {
+        buf.resize(bufSize);
+        ssize_t rlSize = readlink(path.c_str(), buf.data(), bufSize);
+        if (rlSize == -1)
+            if (errno == EINVAL)
+                throw Error("'%1%' is not a symlink", path);
+            else
+                throw SysError("reading symbolic link '%1%'", path);
+        else if (rlSize < bufSize)
+            return std::string(buf.data(), rlSize);
+    }
+}
+
+
+bool isLink(const Path & path)
+{
+    struct stat st = lstat(path);
+    return S_ISLNK(st.st_mode);
+}
+
+
+DirEntries readDirectory(DIR *dir, const Path & path)
+{
+    DirEntries entries;
+    entries.reserve(64);
+
+    struct dirent * dirent;
+    while (errno = 0, dirent = readdir(dir)) { /* sic */
+        checkInterrupt();
+        std::string name = dirent->d_name;
+        if (name == "." || name == "..") continue;
+        entries.emplace_back(name, dirent->d_ino,
+#ifdef HAVE_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
+            dirent->d_type
+#else
+            DT_UNKNOWN
+#endif
+        );
+    }
+    if (errno) throw SysError("reading directory '%1%'", path);
+
+    return entries;
+}
+
+DirEntries readDirectory(const Path & path)
+{
+    AutoCloseDir dir(opendir(path.c_str()));
+    if (!dir) throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
+
+    return readDirectory(dir.get(), path);
+}
+
+
+unsigned char getFileType(const Path & path)
+{
+    struct stat st = lstat(path);
+    if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) return DT_DIR;
+    if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)) return DT_LNK;
+    if (S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) return DT_REG;
+    return DT_UNKNOWN;
+}
+
+
+std::string readFile(const Path & path)
+{
+    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC)};
+    if (!fd)
+        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
+    return readFile(fd.get());
+}
+
+
+void readFile(const Path & path, Sink & sink)
+{
+    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC)};
+    if (!fd)
+        throw SysError("opening file '%s'", path);
+    drainFD(fd.get(), sink);
+}
+
+
+void writeFile(const Path & path, std::string_view s, mode_t mode, bool sync)
+{
+    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC | O_CREAT | O_CLOEXEC, mode)};
+    if (!fd)
+        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
+    try {
+        writeFull(fd.get(), s);
+    } catch (Error & e) {
+        e.addTrace({}, "writing file '%1%'", path);
+        throw;
+    }
+    if (sync)
+        fd.fsync();
+    // Explicitly close to make sure exceptions are propagated.
+    fd.close();
+    if (sync)
+        syncParent(path);
+}
+
+
+void writeFile(const Path & path, Source & source, mode_t mode, bool sync)
+{
+    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC | O_CREAT | O_CLOEXEC, mode)};
+    if (!fd)
+        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
+
+    std::vector<char> buf(64 * 1024);
+
+    try {
+        while (true) {
+            try {
+                auto n = source.read(buf.data(), buf.size());
+                writeFull(fd.get(), {buf.data(), n});
+            } catch (EndOfFile &) { break; }
+        }
+    } catch (Error & e) {
+        e.addTrace({}, "writing file '%1%'", path);
+        throw;
+    }
+    if (sync)
+        fd.fsync();
+    // Explicitly close to make sure exceptions are propagated.
+    fd.close();
+    if (sync)
+        syncParent(path);
+}
+
+void syncParent(const Path & path)
+{
+    AutoCloseFD fd{open(dirOf(path).c_str(), O_RDONLY, 0)};
+    if (!fd)
+        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
+    fd.fsync();
+}
+
+static void _deletePath(int parentfd, const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
+{
+    checkInterrupt();
+
+    std::string name(baseNameOf(path));
+
+    struct stat st;
+    if (fstatat(parentfd, name.c_str(), &st, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) == -1) {
+        if (errno == ENOENT) return;
+        throw SysError("getting status of '%1%'", path);
+    }
+
+    if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
+        /* We are about to delete a file. Will it likely free space? */
+
+        switch (st.st_nlink) {
+            /* Yes: last link. */
+            case 1:
+                bytesFreed += st.st_size;
+                break;
+            /* Maybe: yes, if 'auto-optimise-store' or manual optimisation
+               was performed. Instead of checking for real let's assume
+               it's an optimised file and space will be freed.
+
+               In worst case we will double count on freed space for files
+               with exactly two hardlinks for unoptimised packages.
+             */
+            case 2:
+                bytesFreed += st.st_size;
+                break;
+            /* No: 3+ links. */
+            default:
+                break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
+        /* Make the directory accessible. */
+        const auto PERM_MASK = S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IXUSR;
+        if ((st.st_mode & PERM_MASK) != PERM_MASK) {
+            if (fchmodat(parentfd, name.c_str(), st.st_mode | PERM_MASK, 0) == -1)
+                throw SysError("chmod '%1%'", path);
+        }
+
+        int fd = openat(parentfd, path.c_str(), O_RDONLY);
+        if (fd == -1)
+            throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
+        AutoCloseDir dir(fdopendir(fd));
+        if (!dir)
+            throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
+        for (auto & i : readDirectory(dir.get(), path))
+            _deletePath(dirfd(dir.get()), path + "/" + i.name, bytesFreed);
+    }
+
+    int flags = S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) ? AT_REMOVEDIR : 0;
+    if (unlinkat(parentfd, name.c_str(), flags) == -1) {
+        if (errno == ENOENT) return;
+        throw SysError("cannot unlink '%1%'", path);
+    }
+}
+
+static void _deletePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
+{
+    Path dir = dirOf(path);
+    if (dir == "")
+        dir = "/";
+
+    AutoCloseFD dirfd{open(dir.c_str(), O_RDONLY)};
+    if (!dirfd) {
+        if (errno == ENOENT) return;
+        throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
+    }
+
+    _deletePath(dirfd.get(), path, bytesFreed);
+}
+
+
+void deletePath(const Path & path)
+{
+    uint64_t dummy;
+    deletePath(path, dummy);
+}
+
+
+void deletePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
+{
+    //Activity act(*logger, lvlDebug, "recursively deleting path '%1%'", path);
+    bytesFreed = 0;
+    _deletePath(path, bytesFreed);
+}
+
+Paths createDirs(const Path & path)
+{
+    Paths created;
+    if (path == "/") return created;
+
+    struct stat st;
+    if (lstat(path.c_str(), &st) == -1) {
+        created = createDirs(dirOf(path));
+        if (mkdir(path.c_str(), 0777) == -1 && errno != EEXIST)
+            throw SysError("creating directory '%1%'", path);
+        st = lstat(path);
+        created.push_back(path);
+    }
+
+    if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode) && stat(path.c_str(), &st) == -1)
+        throw SysError("statting symlink '%1%'", path);
+
+    if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) throw Error("'%1%' is not a directory", path);
+
+    return created;
+}
+
+
+//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+AutoDelete::AutoDelete() : del{false} {}
+
+AutoDelete::AutoDelete(const std::string & p, bool recursive) : path(p)
+{
+    del = true;
+    this->recursive = recursive;
+}
+
+AutoDelete::~AutoDelete()
+{
+    try {
+        if (del) {
+            if (recursive)
+                deletePath(path);
+            else {
+                if (remove(path.c_str()) == -1)
+                    throw SysError("cannot unlink '%1%'", path);
+            }
+        }
+    } catch (...) {
+        ignoreException();
+    }
+}
+
+void AutoDelete::cancel()
+{
+    del = false;
+}
+
+void AutoDelete::reset(const Path & p, bool recursive) {
+    path = p;
+    this->recursive = recursive;
+    del = true;
+}
+
+//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+static Path tempName(Path tmpRoot, const Path & prefix, bool includePid,
+    std::atomic<unsigned int> & counter)
+{
+    tmpRoot = canonPath(tmpRoot.empty() ? getEnv("TMPDIR").value_or("/tmp") : tmpRoot, true);
+    if (includePid)
+        return fmt("%1%/%2%-%3%-%4%", tmpRoot, prefix, getpid(), counter++);
+    else
+        return fmt("%1%/%2%-%3%", tmpRoot, prefix, counter++);
+}
+
+Path createTempDir(const Path & tmpRoot, const Path & prefix,
+    bool includePid, bool useGlobalCounter, mode_t mode)
+{
+    static std::atomic<unsigned int> globalCounter = 0;
+    std::atomic<unsigned int> localCounter = 0;
+    auto & counter(useGlobalCounter ? globalCounter : localCounter);
+
+    while (1) {
+        checkInterrupt();
+        Path tmpDir = tempName(tmpRoot, prefix, includePid, counter);
+        if (mkdir(tmpDir.c_str(), mode) == 0) {
+#if __FreeBSD__
+            /* Explicitly set the group of the directory.  This is to
+               work around around problems caused by BSD's group
+               ownership semantics (directories inherit the group of
+               the parent).  For instance, the group of /tmp on
+               FreeBSD is "wheel", so all directories created in /tmp
+               will be owned by "wheel"; but if the user is not in
+               "wheel", then "tar" will fail to unpack archives that
+               have the setgid bit set on directories. */
+            if (chown(tmpDir.c_str(), (uid_t) -1, getegid()) != 0)
+                throw SysError("setting group of directory '%1%'", tmpDir);
+#endif
+            return tmpDir;
+        }
+        if (errno != EEXIST)
+            throw SysError("creating directory '%1%'", tmpDir);
+    }
+}
+
+
+std::pair<AutoCloseFD, Path> createTempFile(const Path & prefix)
+{
+    Path tmpl(getEnv("TMPDIR").value_or("/tmp") + "/" + prefix + ".XXXXXX");
+    // Strictly speaking, this is UB, but who cares...
+    // FIXME: use O_TMPFILE.
+    AutoCloseFD fd(mkstemp((char *) tmpl.c_str()));
+    if (!fd)
+        throw SysError("creating temporary file '%s'", tmpl);
+    closeOnExec(fd.get());
+    return {std::move(fd), tmpl};
+}
+
+void createSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link)
+{
+    if (symlink(target.c_str(), link.c_str()))
+        throw SysError("creating symlink from '%1%' to '%2%'", link, target);
+}
+
+void replaceSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link)
+{
+    for (unsigned int n = 0; true; n++) {
+        Path tmp = canonPath(fmt("%s/.%d_%s", dirOf(link), n, baseNameOf(link)));
+
+        try {
+            createSymlink(target, tmp);
+        } catch (SysError & e) {
+            if (e.errNo == EEXIST) continue;
+            throw;
+        }
+
+        renameFile(tmp, link);
+
+        break;
+    }
+}
+
+void setWriteTime(const fs::path & p, const struct stat & st)
+{
+    struct timeval times[2];
+    times[0] = {
+        .tv_sec = st.st_atime,
+        .tv_usec = 0,
+    };
+    times[1] = {
+        .tv_sec = st.st_mtime,
+        .tv_usec = 0,
+    };
+    if (lutimes(p.c_str(), times) != 0)
+        throw SysError("changing modification time of '%s'", p);
+}
+
+void copy(const fs::directory_entry & from, const fs::path & to, CopyFileFlags flags)
+{
+    // TODO: Rewrite the `is_*` to use `symlink_status()`
+    auto statOfFrom = lstat(from.path().c_str());
+    auto fromStatus = from.symlink_status();
+
+    // Mark the directory as writable so that we can delete its children
+    if (flags.deleteAfter && fs::is_directory(fromStatus)) {
+        fs::permissions(from.path(), fs::perms::owner_write, fs::perm_options::add | fs::perm_options::nofollow);
+    }
+
+
+    if (fs::is_symlink(fromStatus) || fs::is_regular_file(fromStatus)) {
+        auto opts = fs::copy_options::overwrite_existing;
+
+        if (!flags.followSymlinks) {
+            opts |= fs::copy_options::copy_symlinks;
+        }
+
+        fs::copy(from.path(), to, opts);
+    } else if (fs::is_directory(fromStatus)) {
+        fs::create_directory(to);
+        for (auto & entry : fs::directory_iterator(from.path())) {
+            copy(entry, to / entry.path().filename(), flags);
+        }
+    } else {
+        throw Error("file '%s' has an unsupported type", from.path());
+    }
+
+    setWriteTime(to, statOfFrom);
+    if (flags.deleteAfter) {
+        if (!fs::is_symlink(fromStatus))
+            fs::permissions(from.path(), fs::perms::owner_write, fs::perm_options::add | fs::perm_options::nofollow);
+        fs::remove(from.path());
+    }
+}
+
+
+void copyFile(const Path & oldPath, const Path & newPath, CopyFileFlags flags)
+{
+    return copy(fs::directory_entry(fs::path(oldPath)), fs::path(newPath), flags);
+}
+
+void renameFile(const Path & oldName, const Path & newName)
+{
+    fs::rename(oldName, newName);
+}
+
+void moveFile(const Path & oldName, const Path & newName)
+{
+    try {
+        renameFile(oldName, newName);
+    } catch (fs::filesystem_error & e) {
+        auto oldPath = fs::path(oldName);
+        auto newPath = fs::path(newName);
+        // For the move to be as atomic as possible, copy to a temporary
+        // directory
+        fs::path temp = createTempDir(newPath.parent_path(), "rename-tmp");
+        Finally removeTemp = [&]() { fs::remove(temp); };
+        auto tempCopyTarget = temp / "copy-target";
+        if (e.code().value() == EXDEV) {
+            fs::remove(newPath);
+            warn("Can’t rename %s as %s, copying instead", oldName, newName);
+            copy(fs::directory_entry(oldPath), tempCopyTarget, { .deleteAfter = true });
+            renameFile(tempCopyTarget, newPath);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/file-system.hh b/src/libutil/file-system.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9b753980
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/file-system.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,269 @@
+#pragma once
+/**
+ * @file
+ *
+ * Utiltities for working with the file sytem and file paths.
+ */
+
+#include "types.hh"
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
+
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <dirent.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
+
+#include <functional>
+#include <optional>
+
+#ifndef HAVE_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
+#define DT_UNKNOWN 0
+#define DT_REG 1
+#define DT_LNK 2
+#define DT_DIR 3
+#endif
+
+namespace nix {
+
+struct Sink;
+struct Source;
+
+/**
+ * @return An absolutized path, resolving paths relative to the
+ * specified directory, or the current directory otherwise.  The path
+ * is also canonicalised.
+ */
+Path absPath(Path path,
+    std::optional<PathView> dir = {},
+    bool resolveSymlinks = false);
+
+/**
+ * Canonicalise a path by removing all `.` or `..` components and
+ * double or trailing slashes.  Optionally resolves all symlink
+ * components such that each component of the resulting path is *not*
+ * a symbolic link.
+ */
+Path canonPath(PathView path, bool resolveSymlinks = false);
+
+/**
+ * Change the permissions of a path
+ * Not called `chmod` as it shadows and could be confused with
+ * `int chmod(char *, mode_t)`, which does not handle errors
+ */
+void chmodPath(const Path & path, mode_t mode);
+
+/**
+ * @return The directory part of the given canonical path, i.e.,
+ * everything before the final `/`.  If the path is the root or an
+ * immediate child thereof (e.g., `/foo`), this means `/`
+ * is returned.
+ */
+Path dirOf(const PathView path);
+
+/**
+ * @return the base name of the given canonical path, i.e., everything
+ * following the final `/` (trailing slashes are removed).
+ */
+std::string_view baseNameOf(std::string_view path);
+
+/**
+ * Perform tilde expansion on a path.
+ */
+std::string expandTilde(std::string_view path);
+
+/**
+ * Check whether 'path' is a descendant of 'dir'. Both paths must be
+ * canonicalized.
+ */
+bool isInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir);
+
+/**
+ * Check whether 'path' is equal to 'dir' or a descendant of
+ * 'dir'. Both paths must be canonicalized.
+ */
+bool isDirOrInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir);
+
+/**
+ * Get status of `path`.
+ */
+struct stat stat(const Path & path);
+struct stat lstat(const Path & path);
+
+/**
+ * `lstat` the given path if it exists.
+ * @return std::nullopt if the path doesn't exist, or an optional containing the result of `lstat` otherwise
+ */
+std::optional<struct stat> maybeLstat(const Path & path);
+
+/**
+ * @return true iff the given path exists.
+ */
+bool pathExists(const Path & path);
+
+/**
+ * A version of pathExists that returns false on a permission error.
+ * Useful for inferring default paths across directories that might not
+ * be readable.
+ * @return true iff the given path can be accessed and exists
+ */
+bool pathAccessible(const Path & path);
+
+/**
+ * Read the contents (target) of a symbolic link.  The result is not
+ * in any way canonicalised.
+ */
+Path readLink(const Path & path);
+
+bool isLink(const Path & path);
+
+/**
+ * Read the contents of a directory.  The entries `.` and `..` are
+ * removed.
+ */
+struct DirEntry
+{
+    std::string name;
+    ino_t ino;
+    /**
+     * one of DT_*
+     */
+    unsigned char type;
+    DirEntry(std::string name, ino_t ino, unsigned char type)
+        : name(std::move(name)), ino(ino), type(type) { }
+};
+
+typedef std::vector<DirEntry> DirEntries;
+
+DirEntries readDirectory(const Path & path);
+
+unsigned char getFileType(const Path & path);
+
+/**
+ * Read the contents of a file into a string.
+ */
+std::string readFile(const Path & path);
+void readFile(const Path & path, Sink & sink);
+
+/**
+ * Write a string to a file.
+ */
+void writeFile(const Path & path, std::string_view s, mode_t mode = 0666, bool sync = false);
+
+void writeFile(const Path & path, Source & source, mode_t mode = 0666, bool sync = false);
+
+/**
+ * Flush a file's parent directory to disk
+ */
+void syncParent(const Path & path);
+
+/**
+ * Delete a path; i.e., in the case of a directory, it is deleted
+ * recursively. It's not an error if the path does not exist. The
+ * second variant returns the number of bytes and blocks freed.
+ */
+void deletePath(const Path & path);
+
+void deletePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed);
+
+/**
+ * Create a directory and all its parents, if necessary.  Returns the
+ * list of created directories, in order of creation.
+ */
+Paths createDirs(const Path & path);
+inline Paths createDirs(PathView path)
+{
+    return createDirs(Path(path));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Create a symlink.
+ */
+void createSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link);
+
+/**
+ * Atomically create or replace a symlink.
+ */
+void replaceSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link);
+
+void renameFile(const Path & src, const Path & dst);
+
+/**
+ * Similar to 'renameFile', but fallback to a copy+remove if `src` and `dst`
+ * are on a different filesystem.
+ *
+ * Beware that this might not be atomic because of the copy that happens behind
+ * the scenes
+ */
+void moveFile(const Path & src, const Path & dst);
+
+struct CopyFileFlags
+{
+    /**
+     * Delete the file after copying.
+     */
+    bool deleteAfter = false;
+
+    /**
+     * Follow symlinks and copy the eventual target.
+     */
+    bool followSymlinks = false;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Recursively copy the content of `oldPath` to `newPath`. If `andDelete` is
+ * `true`, then also remove `oldPath` (making this equivalent to `moveFile`, but
+ * with the guaranty that the destination will be “fresh”, with no stale inode
+ * or file descriptor pointing to it).
+ */
+void copyFile(const Path & oldPath, const Path & newPath, CopyFileFlags flags);
+
+/**
+ * Automatic cleanup of resources.
+ */
+
+
+class AutoDelete
+{
+    Path path;
+    bool del;
+    bool recursive;
+public:
+    AutoDelete();
+    AutoDelete(const Path & p, bool recursive = true);
+    ~AutoDelete();
+    void cancel();
+    void reset(const Path & p, bool recursive = true);
+    operator Path() const { return path; }
+    operator PathView() const { return path; }
+};
+
+struct DIRDeleter
+{
+    void operator()(DIR * dir) const {
+        closedir(dir);
+    }
+};
+
+typedef std::unique_ptr<DIR, DIRDeleter> AutoCloseDir;
+
+/**
+ * Create a temporary directory.
+ */
+Path createTempDir(const Path & tmpRoot = "", const Path & prefix = "nix",
+    bool includePid = true, bool useGlobalCounter = true, mode_t mode = 0755);
+
+/**
+ * Create a temporary file, returning a file handle and its path.
+ */
+std::pair<AutoCloseFD, Path> createTempFile(const Path & prefix = "nix");
+
+/**
+ * Used in various places.
+ */
+typedef std::function<bool(const Path & path)> PathFilter;
+
+extern PathFilter defaultPathFilter;
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/filesystem.cc b/src/libutil/filesystem.cc
deleted file mode 100644
index b637281d0..000000000
--- a/src/libutil/filesystem.cc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,175 +0,0 @@
-#include <sys/time.h>
-#include <filesystem>
-#include <atomic>
-
-#include "finally.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "signals.hh"
-#include "types.hh"
-
-namespace fs = std::filesystem;
-
-namespace nix {
-
-static Path tempName(Path tmpRoot, const Path & prefix, bool includePid,
-    std::atomic<unsigned int> & counter)
-{
-    tmpRoot = canonPath(tmpRoot.empty() ? getEnv("TMPDIR").value_or("/tmp") : tmpRoot, true);
-    if (includePid)
-        return fmt("%1%/%2%-%3%-%4%", tmpRoot, prefix, getpid(), counter++);
-    else
-        return fmt("%1%/%2%-%3%", tmpRoot, prefix, counter++);
-}
-
-Path createTempDir(const Path & tmpRoot, const Path & prefix,
-    bool includePid, bool useGlobalCounter, mode_t mode)
-{
-    static std::atomic<unsigned int> globalCounter = 0;
-    std::atomic<unsigned int> localCounter = 0;
-    auto & counter(useGlobalCounter ? globalCounter : localCounter);
-
-    while (1) {
-        checkInterrupt();
-        Path tmpDir = tempName(tmpRoot, prefix, includePid, counter);
-        if (mkdir(tmpDir.c_str(), mode) == 0) {
-#if __FreeBSD__
-            /* Explicitly set the group of the directory.  This is to
-               work around around problems caused by BSD's group
-               ownership semantics (directories inherit the group of
-               the parent).  For instance, the group of /tmp on
-               FreeBSD is "wheel", so all directories created in /tmp
-               will be owned by "wheel"; but if the user is not in
-               "wheel", then "tar" will fail to unpack archives that
-               have the setgid bit set on directories. */
-            if (chown(tmpDir.c_str(), (uid_t) -1, getegid()) != 0)
-                throw SysError("setting group of directory '%1%'", tmpDir);
-#endif
-            return tmpDir;
-        }
-        if (errno != EEXIST)
-            throw SysError("creating directory '%1%'", tmpDir);
-    }
-}
-
-
-std::pair<AutoCloseFD, Path> createTempFile(const Path & prefix)
-{
-    Path tmpl(getEnv("TMPDIR").value_or("/tmp") + "/" + prefix + ".XXXXXX");
-    // Strictly speaking, this is UB, but who cares...
-    // FIXME: use O_TMPFILE.
-    AutoCloseFD fd(mkstemp((char *) tmpl.c_str()));
-    if (!fd)
-        throw SysError("creating temporary file '%s'", tmpl);
-    closeOnExec(fd.get());
-    return {std::move(fd), tmpl};
-}
-
-void createSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link)
-{
-    if (symlink(target.c_str(), link.c_str()))
-        throw SysError("creating symlink from '%1%' to '%2%'", link, target);
-}
-
-void replaceSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link)
-{
-    for (unsigned int n = 0; true; n++) {
-        Path tmp = canonPath(fmt("%s/.%d_%s", dirOf(link), n, baseNameOf(link)));
-
-        try {
-            createSymlink(target, tmp);
-        } catch (SysError & e) {
-            if (e.errNo == EEXIST) continue;
-            throw;
-        }
-
-        renameFile(tmp, link);
-
-        break;
-    }
-}
-
-void setWriteTime(const fs::path & p, const struct stat & st)
-{
-    struct timeval times[2];
-    times[0] = {
-        .tv_sec = st.st_atime,
-        .tv_usec = 0,
-    };
-    times[1] = {
-        .tv_sec = st.st_mtime,
-        .tv_usec = 0,
-    };
-    if (lutimes(p.c_str(), times) != 0)
-        throw SysError("changing modification time of '%s'", p);
-}
-
-void copy(const fs::directory_entry & from, const fs::path & to, CopyFileFlags flags)
-{
-    // TODO: Rewrite the `is_*` to use `symlink_status()`
-    auto statOfFrom = lstat(from.path().c_str());
-    auto fromStatus = from.symlink_status();
-
-    // Mark the directory as writable so that we can delete its children
-    if (flags.deleteAfter && fs::is_directory(fromStatus)) {
-        fs::permissions(from.path(), fs::perms::owner_write, fs::perm_options::add | fs::perm_options::nofollow);
-    }
-
-
-    if (fs::is_symlink(fromStatus) || fs::is_regular_file(fromStatus)) {
-        auto opts = fs::copy_options::overwrite_existing;
-
-        if (!flags.followSymlinks) {
-            opts |= fs::copy_options::copy_symlinks;
-        }
-
-        fs::copy(from.path(), to, opts);
-    } else if (fs::is_directory(fromStatus)) {
-        fs::create_directory(to);
-        for (auto & entry : fs::directory_iterator(from.path())) {
-            copy(entry, to / entry.path().filename(), flags);
-        }
-    } else {
-        throw Error("file '%s' has an unsupported type", from.path());
-    }
-
-    setWriteTime(to, statOfFrom);
-    if (flags.deleteAfter) {
-        if (!fs::is_symlink(fromStatus))
-            fs::permissions(from.path(), fs::perms::owner_write, fs::perm_options::add | fs::perm_options::nofollow);
-        fs::remove(from.path());
-    }
-}
-
-
-void copyFile(const Path & oldPath, const Path & newPath, CopyFileFlags flags)
-{
-    return copy(fs::directory_entry(fs::path(oldPath)), fs::path(newPath), flags);
-}
-
-void renameFile(const Path & oldName, const Path & newName)
-{
-    fs::rename(oldName, newName);
-}
-
-void moveFile(const Path & oldName, const Path & newName)
-{
-    try {
-        renameFile(oldName, newName);
-    } catch (fs::filesystem_error & e) {
-        auto oldPath = fs::path(oldName);
-        auto newPath = fs::path(newName);
-        // For the move to be as atomic as possible, copy to a temporary
-        // directory
-        fs::path temp = createTempDir(newPath.parent_path(), "rename-tmp");
-        Finally removeTemp = [&]() { fs::remove(temp); };
-        auto tempCopyTarget = temp / "copy-target";
-        if (e.code().value() == EXDEV) {
-            fs::remove(newPath);
-            warn("Can’t rename %s as %s, copying instead", oldName, newName);
-            copy(fs::directory_entry(oldPath), tempCopyTarget, { .deleteAfter = true });
-            renameFile(tempCopyTarget, newPath);
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-}
diff --git a/src/libutil/hash.cc b/src/libutil/hash.cc
index 2c36d9d94..006b5000c 100644
--- a/src/libutil/hash.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/hash.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#include <iostream>
 #include <cstring>
 
 #include <openssl/crypto.h>
@@ -8,8 +7,8 @@
 #include "args.hh"
 #include "hash.hh"
 #include "archive.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "split.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
diff --git a/src/libutil/hash.hh b/src/libutil/hash.hh
index ae3ee40f4..bb2a5e2a7 100644
--- a/src/libutil/hash.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/hash.hh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include "types.hh"
 #include "serialise.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libutil/input-accessor.hh b/src/libutil/input-accessor.hh
index 740175af0..d8e17c9b1 100644
--- a/src/libutil/input-accessor.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/input-accessor.hh
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
-#include "types.hh"
-#include "archive.hh"
+
+#include <map>
+#include <optional>
+#include <string>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/logging.cc b/src/libutil/logging.cc
index 0e63f9bd6..febbfdb55 100644
--- a/src/libutil/logging.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/logging.cc
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
 #include "logging.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "config.hh"
-#include "source-path.hh"
 #include "position.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
 #include <atomic>
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
-#include <iostream>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/meson.build b/src/libutil/meson.build
index 58e0bd062..96450fbe2 100644
--- a/src/libutil/meson.build
+++ b/src/libutil/meson.build
@@ -6,13 +6,16 @@ libutil_sources = files(
   'compression.cc',
   'compute-levels.cc',
   'config.cc',
+  'current-process.cc',
   'english.cc',
+  'environment-variables.cc',
   'error.cc',
   'escape-char.cc',
   'escape-string.cc',
   'exit.cc',
   'experimental-features.cc',
-  'filesystem.cc',
+  'file-descriptor.cc',
+  'file-system.cc',
   'git.cc',
   'hash.cc',
   'hilite.cc',
@@ -21,18 +24,22 @@ libutil_sources = files(
   'namespaces.cc',
   'position.cc',
   'print-elided.cc',
+  'processes.cc',
   'references.cc',
   'regex.cc',
   'serialise.cc',
   'shlex.cc',
   'signals.cc',
   'source-path.cc',
+  'strings.cc',
   'suggestions.cc',
   'tarfile.cc',
+  'terminal.cc',
   'thread-pool.cc',
+  'unix-domain-socket.cc',
   'url.cc',
   'url-name.cc',
-  'util.cc',
+  'users.cc',
   'xml-writer.cc',
 )
 
@@ -52,13 +59,17 @@ libutil_headers = files(
   'compute-levels.hh',
   'config-impl.hh',
   'config.hh',
+  'current-process.hh',
   'english.hh',
+  'environment-variables.hh',
   'error.hh',
   'escape-char.hh',
   'escape-string.hh',
   'exit.hh',
   'experimental-features.hh',
   'experimental-features-json.hh',
+  'file-descriptor.hh',
+  'file-system.hh',
   'finally.hh',
   'fmt.hh',
   'git.hh',
@@ -75,6 +86,7 @@ libutil_headers = files(
   'pool.hh',
   'position.hh',
   'print-elided.hh',
+  'processes.hh',
   'ref.hh',
   'references.hh',
   'regex-combinators.hh',
@@ -85,16 +97,19 @@ libutil_headers = files(
   'signals.hh',
   'source-path.hh',
   'split.hh',
+  'strings.hh',
   'suggestions.hh',
   'sync.hh',
   'tarfile.hh',
+  'terminal.hh',
   'thread-pool.hh',
   'topo-sort.hh',
   'types.hh',
+  'unix-domain-socket.hh',
   'url-parts.hh',
   'url-name.hh',
   'url.hh',
-  'util.hh',
+  'users.hh',
   'variant-wrapper.hh',
   'xml-writer.hh',
 )
diff --git a/src/libutil/namespaces.cc b/src/libutil/namespaces.cc
index dec3a7189..98d3cd306 100644
--- a/src/libutil/namespaces.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/namespaces.cc
@@ -1,13 +1,73 @@
-#if __linux__
-
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "namespaces.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "finally.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 #include <sys/mount.h>
 
+#if __linux__
+# include <mutex>
+# include <sys/resource.h>
+#endif
+
 namespace nix {
 
+#if __linux__
+static AutoCloseFD fdSavedMountNamespace;
+static AutoCloseFD fdSavedRoot;
+#endif
+
+void saveMountNamespace()
+{
+#if __linux__
+    static std::once_flag done;
+    std::call_once(done, []() {
+        fdSavedMountNamespace = AutoCloseFD{open("/proc/self/ns/mnt", O_RDONLY)};
+        if (!fdSavedMountNamespace)
+            throw SysError("saving parent mount namespace");
+
+        fdSavedRoot = AutoCloseFD{open("/proc/self/root", O_RDONLY)};
+    });
+#endif
+}
+
+void restoreMountNamespace()
+{
+#if __linux__
+    try {
+        auto savedCwd = absPath(".");
+
+        if (fdSavedMountNamespace && setns(fdSavedMountNamespace.get(), CLONE_NEWNS) == -1)
+            throw SysError("restoring parent mount namespace");
+
+        if (fdSavedRoot) {
+            if (fchdir(fdSavedRoot.get()))
+                throw SysError("chdir into saved root");
+            if (chroot("."))
+                throw SysError("chroot into saved root");
+        }
+
+        if (chdir(savedCwd.c_str()) == -1)
+            throw SysError("restoring cwd");
+    } catch (Error & e) {
+        debug(e.msg());
+    }
+#endif
+}
+
+void unshareFilesystem()
+{
+#ifdef __linux__
+    if (unshare(CLONE_FS) != 0 && errno != EPERM)
+        throw SysError("unsharing filesystem state in download thread");
+#endif
+}
+
+
+#if __linux__
+
 static void diagnoseUserNamespaces()
 {
     if (!pathExists("/proc/self/ns/user")) {
@@ -93,6 +153,6 @@ bool mountAndPidNamespacesSupported()
     return res;
 }
 
-}
-
 #endif
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/namespaces.hh b/src/libutil/namespaces.hh
index 0b7eeb66c..3a920e665 100644
--- a/src/libutil/namespaces.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/namespaces.hh
@@ -3,6 +3,26 @@
 
 namespace nix {
 
+/**
+ * Save the current mount namespace. Ignored if called more than
+ * once.
+ */
+void saveMountNamespace();
+
+/**
+ * Restore the mount namespace saved by saveMountNamespace(). Ignored
+ * if saveMountNamespace() was never called.
+ */
+void restoreMountNamespace();
+
+/**
+ * Cause this thread to not share any FS attributes with the main
+ * thread, because this causes setns() in restoreMountNamespace() to
+ * fail.
+ */
+void unshareFilesystem();
+
+
 #if __linux__
 
 bool userNamespacesSupported();
diff --git a/src/libutil/processes.cc b/src/libutil/processes.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8639a77f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/processes.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,405 @@
+#include "current-process.hh"
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
+#include "finally.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
+#include "serialise.hh"
+#include "signals.hh"
+
+#include <cerrno>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <future>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <thread>
+
+#include <grp.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+# include <sys/syscall.h>
+#endif
+
+#ifdef __linux__
+# include <sys/prctl.h>
+# include <sys/mman.h>
+#endif
+
+
+namespace nix {
+
+Pid::Pid()
+{
+}
+
+
+Pid::Pid(pid_t pid)
+    : pid(pid)
+{
+}
+
+
+Pid::~Pid() noexcept(false)
+{
+    if (pid != -1) kill();
+}
+
+
+void Pid::operator =(pid_t pid)
+{
+    if (this->pid != -1 && this->pid != pid) kill();
+    this->pid = pid;
+    killSignal = SIGKILL; // reset signal to default
+}
+
+
+Pid::operator pid_t()
+{
+    return pid;
+}
+
+
+int Pid::kill()
+{
+    assert(pid != -1);
+
+    debug("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) {
+        /* On BSDs, killing a process group will return EPERM if all
+           processes in the group are zombies (or something like
+           that). So try to detect and ignore that situation. */
+#if __FreeBSD__ || __APPLE__
+        if (errno != EPERM || ::kill(pid, 0) != 0)
+#endif
+            logError(SysError("killing process %d", pid).info());
+    }
+
+    return wait();
+}
+
+
+int Pid::wait()
+{
+    assert(pid != -1);
+    while (1) {
+        int status;
+        int res = waitpid(pid, &status, 0);
+        if (res == pid) {
+            pid = -1;
+            return status;
+        }
+        if (errno != EINTR)
+            throw SysError("cannot get exit status of PID %d", pid);
+        checkInterrupt();
+    }
+}
+
+
+void Pid::setSeparatePG(bool separatePG)
+{
+    this->separatePG = separatePG;
+}
+
+
+void Pid::setKillSignal(int signal)
+{
+    this->killSignal = signal;
+}
+
+
+pid_t Pid::release()
+{
+    pid_t p = pid;
+    pid = -1;
+    return p;
+}
+
+
+void killUser(uid_t uid)
+{
+    debug("killing all processes running under uid '%1%'", uid);
+
+    assert(uid != 0); /* just to be safe... */
+
+    /* The system call kill(-1, sig) sends the signal `sig' to all
+       users to which the current process can send signals.  So we
+       fork a process, switch to uid, and send a mass kill. */
+
+    Pid pid = startProcess([&]() {
+
+        if (setuid(uid) == -1)
+            throw SysError("setting uid");
+
+        while (true) {
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+            /* OSX's kill syscall takes a third parameter that, among
+               other things, determines if kill(-1, signo) affects the
+               calling process. In the OSX libc, it's set to true,
+               which means "follow POSIX", which we don't want here
+                 */
+            if (syscall(SYS_kill, -1, SIGKILL, false) == 0) break;
+#else
+            if (kill(-1, SIGKILL) == 0) break;
+#endif
+            if (errno == ESRCH || errno == EPERM) break; /* no more processes */
+            if (errno != EINTR)
+                throw SysError("cannot kill processes for uid '%1%'", uid);
+        }
+
+        _exit(0);
+    });
+
+    int status = pid.wait();
+    if (status != 0)
+        throw Error("cannot kill processes for uid '%1%': %2%", uid, statusToString(status));
+
+    /* !!! We should really do some check to make sure that there are
+       no processes left running under `uid', but there is no portable
+       way to do so (I think).  The most reliable way may be `ps -eo
+       uid | grep -q $uid'. */
+}
+
+
+//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+
+static pid_t doFork(std::function<void()> fun)
+{
+    pid_t pid = fork();
+    if (pid != 0) return pid;
+    fun();
+    abort();
+}
+
+#if __linux__
+static int childEntry(void * arg)
+{
+    auto main = (std::function<void()> *) arg;
+    (*main)();
+    return 1;
+}
+#endif
+
+
+pid_t startProcess(std::function<void()> fun, const ProcessOptions & options)
+{
+    std::function<void()> wrapper = [&]() {
+        logger = makeSimpleLogger();
+        try {
+#if __linux__
+            if (options.dieWithParent && prctl(PR_SET_PDEATHSIG, SIGKILL) == -1)
+                throw SysError("setting death signal");
+#endif
+            fun();
+        } catch (std::exception & e) {
+            try {
+                std::cerr << options.errorPrefix << e.what() << "\n";
+            } catch (...) { }
+        } catch (...) { }
+        if (options.runExitHandlers)
+            exit(1);
+        else
+            _exit(1);
+    };
+
+    pid_t pid = -1;
+
+    if (options.cloneFlags) {
+        #ifdef __linux__
+        // Not supported, since then we don't know when to free the stack.
+        assert(!(options.cloneFlags & CLONE_VM));
+
+        size_t stackSize = 1 * 1024 * 1024;
+        auto stack = (char *) mmap(0, stackSize,
+            PROT_WRITE | PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_STACK, -1, 0);
+        if (stack == MAP_FAILED) throw SysError("allocating stack");
+
+        Finally freeStack([&]() { munmap(stack, stackSize); });
+
+        pid = clone(childEntry, stack + stackSize, options.cloneFlags | SIGCHLD, &wrapper);
+        #else
+        throw Error("clone flags are only supported on Linux");
+        #endif
+    } else
+        pid = doFork(wrapper);
+
+    if (pid == -1) throw SysError("unable to fork");
+
+    return pid;
+}
+
+std::string runProgram(Path program, bool searchPath, const Strings & args,
+    const std::optional<std::string> & input, bool isInteractive)
+{
+    auto res = runProgram(RunOptions {.program = program, .searchPath = searchPath, .args = args, .input = input, .isInteractive = isInteractive});
+
+    if (!statusOk(res.first))
+        throw ExecError(res.first, "program '%1%' %2%", program, statusToString(res.first));
+
+    return res.second;
+}
+
+// Output = error code + "standard out" output stream
+std::pair<int, std::string> runProgram(RunOptions && options)
+{
+    StringSink sink;
+    options.standardOut = &sink;
+
+    int status = 0;
+
+    try {
+        runProgram2(options);
+    } catch (ExecError & e) {
+        status = e.status;
+    }
+
+    return {status, std::move(sink.s)};
+}
+
+void runProgram2(const RunOptions & options)
+{
+    checkInterrupt();
+
+    assert(!(options.standardIn && options.input));
+
+    std::unique_ptr<Source> source_;
+    Source * source = options.standardIn;
+
+    if (options.input) {
+        source_ = std::make_unique<StringSource>(*options.input);
+        source = source_.get();
+    }
+
+    /* Create a pipe. */
+    Pipe out, in;
+    if (options.standardOut) out.create();
+    if (source) in.create();
+
+    ProcessOptions processOptions;
+
+    std::optional<Finally<std::function<void()>>> resumeLoggerDefer;
+    if (options.isInteractive) {
+        logger->pause();
+        resumeLoggerDefer.emplace(
+            []() {
+                logger->resume();
+            }
+        );
+    }
+
+    /* Fork. */
+    Pid pid = startProcess([&]() {
+        if (options.environment)
+            replaceEnv(*options.environment);
+        if (options.standardOut && dup2(out.writeSide.get(), STDOUT_FILENO) == -1)
+            throw SysError("dupping stdout");
+        if (options.mergeStderrToStdout)
+            if (dup2(STDOUT_FILENO, STDERR_FILENO) == -1)
+                throw SysError("cannot dup stdout into stderr");
+        if (source && dup2(in.readSide.get(), STDIN_FILENO) == -1)
+            throw SysError("dupping stdin");
+
+        if (options.chdir && chdir((*options.chdir).c_str()) == -1)
+            throw SysError("chdir failed");
+        if (options.gid && setgid(*options.gid) == -1)
+            throw SysError("setgid failed");
+        /* Drop all other groups if we're setgid. */
+        if (options.gid && setgroups(0, 0) == -1)
+            throw SysError("setgroups failed");
+        if (options.uid && setuid(*options.uid) == -1)
+            throw SysError("setuid failed");
+
+        Strings args_(options.args);
+        args_.push_front(options.program);
+
+        restoreProcessContext();
+
+        if (options.searchPath)
+            execvp(options.program.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args_).data());
+            // This allows you to refer to a program with a pathname relative
+            // to the PATH variable.
+        else
+            execv(options.program.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args_).data());
+
+        throw SysError("executing '%1%'", options.program);
+    }, processOptions);
+
+    out.writeSide.close();
+
+    std::thread writerThread;
+
+    std::promise<void> promise;
+
+    Finally doJoin([&]() {
+        if (writerThread.joinable())
+            writerThread.join();
+    });
+
+
+    if (source) {
+        in.readSide.close();
+        writerThread = std::thread([&]() {
+            try {
+                std::vector<char> buf(8 * 1024);
+                while (true) {
+                    size_t n;
+                    try {
+                        n = source->read(buf.data(), buf.size());
+                    } catch (EndOfFile &) {
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    writeFull(in.writeSide.get(), {buf.data(), n});
+                }
+                promise.set_value();
+            } catch (...) {
+                promise.set_exception(std::current_exception());
+            }
+            in.writeSide.close();
+        });
+    }
+
+    if (options.standardOut)
+        drainFD(out.readSide.get(), *options.standardOut);
+
+    /* Wait for the child to finish. */
+    int status = pid.wait();
+
+    /* Wait for the writer thread to finish. */
+    if (source) promise.get_future().get();
+
+    if (status)
+        throw ExecError(status, "program '%1%' %2%", options.program, statusToString(status));
+}
+
+std::string statusToString(int status)
+{
+    if (!WIFEXITED(status) || WEXITSTATUS(status) != 0) {
+        if (WIFEXITED(status))
+            return fmt("failed with exit code %1%", WEXITSTATUS(status));
+        else if (WIFSIGNALED(status)) {
+            int sig = WTERMSIG(status);
+#if HAVE_STRSIGNAL
+            const char * description = strsignal(sig);
+            return fmt("failed due to signal %1% (%2%)", sig, description);
+#else
+            return fmt("failed due to signal %1%", sig);
+#endif
+        }
+        else
+            return "died abnormally";
+    } else return "succeeded";
+}
+
+
+bool statusOk(int status)
+{
+    return WIFEXITED(status) && WEXITSTATUS(status) == 0;
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/processes.hh b/src/libutil/processes.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..91a4edfd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/processes.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+#include "types.hh"
+#include "error.hh"
+
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <dirent.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+
+#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
+
+#include <functional>
+#include <map>
+#include <optional>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+struct Sink;
+struct Source;
+
+class Pid
+{
+    pid_t pid = -1;
+    bool separatePG = false;
+    int killSignal = SIGKILL;
+public:
+    Pid();
+    Pid(pid_t pid);
+    ~Pid() noexcept(false);
+    void operator =(pid_t pid);
+    operator pid_t();
+    int kill();
+    int wait();
+
+    void setSeparatePG(bool separatePG);
+    void setKillSignal(int signal);
+    pid_t release();
+};
+
+/**
+ * Kill all processes running under the specified uid by sending them
+ * a SIGKILL.
+ */
+void killUser(uid_t uid);
+
+
+/**
+ * Fork a process that runs the given function, and return the child
+ * pid to the caller.
+ */
+struct ProcessOptions
+{
+    std::string errorPrefix = "";
+    bool dieWithParent = true;
+    bool runExitHandlers = false;
+    /**
+     * use clone() with the specified flags (Linux only)
+     */
+    int cloneFlags = 0;
+};
+
+pid_t startProcess(std::function<void()> fun, const ProcessOptions & options = ProcessOptions());
+
+
+/**
+ * Run a program and return its stdout in a string (i.e., like the
+ * shell backtick operator).
+ */
+std::string runProgram(Path program, bool searchPath = false,
+    const Strings & args = Strings(),
+    const std::optional<std::string> & input = {}, bool isInteractive = false);
+
+struct RunOptions
+{
+    Path program;
+    bool searchPath = true;
+    Strings args;
+    std::optional<uid_t> uid;
+    std::optional<uid_t> gid;
+    std::optional<Path> chdir;
+    std::optional<std::map<std::string, std::string>> environment;
+    std::optional<std::string> input;
+    Source * standardIn = nullptr;
+    Sink * standardOut = nullptr;
+    bool mergeStderrToStdout = false;
+    bool isInteractive = false;
+};
+
+std::pair<int, std::string> runProgram(RunOptions && options);
+
+void runProgram2(const RunOptions & options);
+
+class ExecError : public Error
+{
+public:
+    int status;
+
+    template<typename... Args>
+    ExecError(int status, const Args & ... args)
+        : Error(args...), status(status)
+    { }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Convert the exit status of a child as returned by wait() into an
+ * error string.
+ */
+std::string statusToString(int status);
+
+bool statusOk(int status);
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/references.cc b/src/libutil/references.cc
index 7f59b4c09..6189f69b9 100644
--- a/src/libutil/references.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/references.cc
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 #include "references.hh"
 #include "hash.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "archive.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 
-#include <map>
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <mutex>
 #include <algorithm>
diff --git a/src/libutil/regex-combinators.hh b/src/libutil/regex-combinators.hh
index 87d6aa678..37962944e 100644
--- a/src/libutil/regex-combinators.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/regex-combinators.hh
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include "strings.hh"
+
 #include <string_view>
 
 namespace nix::regex {
diff --git a/src/libutil/serialise.cc b/src/libutil/serialise.cc
index a6cc919d2..3a8a01f16 100644
--- a/src/libutil/serialise.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/serialise.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "serialise.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 
 #include <cstring>
diff --git a/src/libutil/serialise.hh b/src/libutil/serialise.hh
index d1c791823..c9294ba2d 100644
--- a/src/libutil/serialise.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/serialise.hh
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 
 #include <memory>
 
+#include "strings.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
 
 namespace boost::context { struct stack_context; }
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/shlex.cc b/src/libutil/shlex.cc
index b5f340251..21fa0502a 100644
--- a/src/libutil/shlex.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/shlex.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #include "shlex.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/signals.cc b/src/libutil/signals.cc
index 41fdc9dc8..a94c2802a 100644
--- a/src/libutil/signals.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/signals.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #include "signals.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "error.hh"
 #include "sync.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
 #include <thread>
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/signals.hh b/src/libutil/signals.hh
index 71593df95..02f8d2ca3 100644
--- a/src/libutil/signals.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/signals.hh
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #pragma once
 /// @file
 
-#include "types.hh"
 #include "error.hh"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
@@ -12,7 +11,6 @@
 
 #include <atomic>
 #include <functional>
-#include <sstream>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/source-path.hh b/src/libutil/source-path.hh
index 4d4c51062..311e9f7a6 100644
--- a/src/libutil/source-path.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/source-path.hh
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
  */
 
 #include "ref.hh"
+#include "archive.hh"
 #include "canon-path.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "repair-flag.hh"
 #include "input-accessor.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/split.hh b/src/libutil/split.hh
index 4ff940eef..5455b6bff 100644
--- a/src/libutil/split.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/split.hh
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 #include <optional>
 #include <string_view>
 
-#include "util.hh"
-
 namespace nix {
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/libutil/strings.cc b/src/libutil/strings.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9cb319cce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/strings.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,232 @@
+#include "strings.hh"
+
+namespace nix {
+
+std::vector<char *> stringsToCharPtrs(const Strings & ss)
+{
+    std::vector<char *> res;
+    for (auto & s : ss) res.push_back((char *) s.c_str());
+    res.push_back(0);
+    return res;
+}
+
+
+template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators)
+{
+    C result;
+    auto pos = s.find_first_not_of(separators, 0);
+    while (pos != std::string_view::npos) {
+        auto end = s.find_first_of(separators, pos + 1);
+        if (end == std::string_view::npos) end = s.size();
+        result.insert(result.end(), std::string(s, pos, end - pos));
+        pos = s.find_first_not_of(separators, end);
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+template Strings tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
+template StringSet tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
+template std::vector<std::string> tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
+
+
+std::string chomp(std::string_view s)
+{
+    size_t i = s.find_last_not_of(" \n\r\t");
+    return i == std::string_view::npos ? "" : std::string(s, 0, i + 1);
+}
+
+
+std::string trim(std::string_view s, std::string_view whitespace)
+{
+    auto i = s.find_first_not_of(whitespace);
+    if (i == s.npos) return "";
+    auto j = s.find_last_not_of(whitespace);
+    return std::string(s, i, j == s.npos ? j : j - i + 1);
+}
+
+
+std::string replaceStrings(
+    std::string res,
+    std::string_view from,
+    std::string_view to)
+{
+    if (from.empty()) return res;
+    size_t pos = 0;
+    while ((pos = res.find(from, pos)) != std::string::npos) {
+        res.replace(pos, from.size(), to);
+        pos += to.size();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+
+
+Rewriter::Rewriter(std::map<std::string, std::string> rewrites)
+    : rewrites(std::move(rewrites))
+{
+    for (const auto & [k, v] : this->rewrites) {
+        assert(!k.empty());
+        initials.push_back(k[0]);
+    }
+    std::ranges::sort(initials);
+    auto [firstDupe, end] = std::ranges::unique(initials);
+    initials.erase(firstDupe, end);
+}
+
+std::string Rewriter::operator()(std::string s)
+{
+    size_t j = 0;
+    while ((j = s.find_first_of(initials, j)) != std::string::npos) {
+        size_t skip = 1;
+        for (auto & [from, to] : rewrites) {
+            if (s.compare(j, from.size(), from) == 0) {
+                s.replace(j, from.size(), to);
+                skip = to.size();
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        j += skip;
+    }
+    return s;
+}
+
+
+std::string toLower(const std::string & s)
+{
+    std::string r(s);
+    for (auto & c : r)
+        c = std::tolower(c);
+    return r;
+}
+
+
+std::string shellEscape(const std::string_view s)
+{
+    std::string r;
+    r.reserve(s.size() + 2);
+    r += "'";
+    for (auto & i : s)
+        if (i == '\'') r += "'\\''"; else r += i;
+    r += '\'';
+    return r;
+}
+
+constexpr char base64Chars[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
+
+std::string base64Encode(std::string_view s)
+{
+    std::string res;
+    res.reserve((s.size() + 2) / 3 * 4);
+    int data = 0, nbits = 0;
+
+    for (char c : s) {
+        data = data << 8 | (unsigned char) c;
+        nbits += 8;
+        while (nbits >= 6) {
+            nbits -= 6;
+            res.push_back(base64Chars[data >> nbits & 0x3f]);
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (nbits) res.push_back(base64Chars[data << (6 - nbits) & 0x3f]);
+    while (res.size() % 4) res.push_back('=');
+
+    return res;
+}
+
+
+std::string base64Decode(std::string_view s)
+{
+    constexpr char npos = -1;
+    constexpr std::array<char, 256> base64DecodeChars = [&]() {
+        std::array<char, 256>  result{};
+        for (auto& c : result)
+            c = npos;
+        for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
+            result[base64Chars[i]] = i;
+        return result;
+    }();
+
+    std::string res;
+    // Some sequences are missing the padding consisting of up to two '='.
+    //                    vvv
+    res.reserve((s.size() + 2) / 4 * 3);
+    unsigned int d = 0, bits = 0;
+
+    for (char c : s) {
+        if (c == '=') break;
+        if (c == '\n') continue;
+
+        char digit = base64DecodeChars[(unsigned char) c];
+        if (digit == npos)
+            throw Error("invalid character in Base64 string: '%c'", c);
+
+        bits += 6;
+        d = d << 6 | digit;
+        if (bits >= 8) {
+            res.push_back(d >> (bits - 8) & 0xff);
+            bits -= 8;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return res;
+}
+
+
+std::string stripIndentation(std::string_view s)
+{
+    size_t minIndent = 10000;
+    size_t curIndent = 0;
+    bool atStartOfLine = true;
+
+    for (auto & c : s) {
+        if (atStartOfLine && c == ' ')
+            curIndent++;
+        else if (c == '\n') {
+            if (atStartOfLine)
+                minIndent = std::max(minIndent, curIndent);
+            curIndent = 0;
+            atStartOfLine = true;
+        } else {
+            if (atStartOfLine) {
+                minIndent = std::min(minIndent, curIndent);
+                atStartOfLine = false;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    std::string res;
+
+    size_t pos = 0;
+    while (pos < s.size()) {
+        auto eol = s.find('\n', pos);
+        if (eol == s.npos) eol = s.size();
+        if (eol - pos > minIndent)
+            res.append(s.substr(pos + minIndent, eol - pos - minIndent));
+        res.push_back('\n');
+        pos = eol + 1;
+    }
+
+    return res;
+}
+
+
+std::pair<std::string_view, std::string_view> getLine(std::string_view s)
+{
+    auto newline = s.find('\n');
+
+    if (newline == s.npos) {
+        return {s, ""};
+    } else {
+        auto line = s.substr(0, newline);
+        if (!line.empty() && line[line.size() - 1] == '\r')
+            line = line.substr(0, line.size() - 1);
+        return {line, s.substr(newline + 1)};
+    }
+}
+
+std::string showBytes(uint64_t bytes)
+{
+    return fmt("%.2f MiB", bytes / (1024.0 * 1024.0));
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/strings.hh b/src/libutil/strings.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..daeb5be50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/strings.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,256 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+#include "error.hh"
+#include "types.hh"
+
+#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
+#include <vector>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+/**
+ * Tree formatting.
+ */
+constexpr char treeConn[] = "├───";
+constexpr char treeLast[] = "└───";
+constexpr char treeLine[] = "│   ";
+constexpr char treeNull[] = "    ";
+
+/**
+ * Convert a list of strings to a null-terminated vector of `char
+ * *`s. The result must not be accessed beyond the lifetime of the
+ * list of strings.
+ */
+std::vector<char *> stringsToCharPtrs(const Strings & ss);
+
+
+MakeError(FormatError, Error);
+
+
+/**
+ * String tokenizer.
+ */
+template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators = " \t\n\r");
+
+
+/**
+ * Concatenate the given strings with a separator between the
+ * elements.
+ */
+template<class C>
+std::string concatStringsSep(const std::string_view sep, const C & ss)
+{
+    size_t size = 0;
+    // need a cast to string_view since this is also called with Symbols
+    for (const auto & s : ss) size += sep.size() + std::string_view(s).size();
+    std::string s;
+    s.reserve(size);
+    for (auto & i : ss) {
+        if (s.size() != 0) s += sep;
+        s += i;
+    }
+    return s;
+}
+
+template<class ... Parts>
+auto concatStrings(Parts && ... parts)
+    -> std::enable_if_t<(... && std::is_convertible_v<Parts, std::string_view>), std::string>
+{
+    std::string_view views[sizeof...(parts)] = { parts... };
+    return concatStringsSep({}, views);
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Add quotes around a collection of strings.
+ */
+template<class C> Strings quoteStrings(const C & c)
+{
+    Strings res;
+    for (auto & s : c)
+        res.push_back("'" + s + "'");
+    return res;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remove trailing whitespace from a string.
+ *
+ * \todo return std::string_view.
+ */
+std::string chomp(std::string_view s);
+
+
+/**
+ * Remove whitespace from the start and end of a string.
+ */
+std::string trim(std::string_view s, std::string_view whitespace = " \n\r\t");
+
+
+/**
+ * Replace all occurrences of a string inside another string.
+ */
+std::string replaceStrings(
+    std::string s,
+    std::string_view from,
+    std::string_view to);
+
+
+/**
+ * Rewrites a string given a map of replacements, applying the replacements in
+ * sorted order, only once, considering only the strings appearing in the input
+ * string in performing replacement.
+ *
+ * - Replacements are not performed on intermediate strings. That is, for an input
+ *   `"abb"` with replacements `{"ab" -> "ba"}`, the result is `"bab"`.
+ * - Transitive replacements are not performed. For example, for the input `"abcde"`
+ *   with replacements `{"a" -> "b", "b" -> "c", "e" -> "b"}`, the result is
+ *   `"bccdb"`.
+ */
+class Rewriter
+{
+private:
+    std::string initials;
+    std::map<std::string, std::string> rewrites;
+
+public:
+    explicit Rewriter(std::map<std::string, std::string> rewrites);
+
+    std::string operator()(std::string s);
+};
+
+inline std::string rewriteStrings(std::string s, const StringMap & rewrites)
+{
+    return Rewriter(rewrites)(s);
+}
+
+
+
+/**
+ * Parse a string into an integer.
+ */
+template<class N>
+std::optional<N> string2Int(const std::string_view s)
+{
+    if (s.substr(0, 1) == "-" && !std::numeric_limits<N>::is_signed)
+        return std::nullopt;
+    try {
+        return boost::lexical_cast<N>(s.data(), s.size());
+    } catch (const boost::bad_lexical_cast &) {
+        return std::nullopt;
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Like string2Int(), but support an optional suffix 'K', 'M', 'G' or
+ * 'T' denoting a binary unit prefix.
+ */
+template<class N>
+N string2IntWithUnitPrefix(std::string_view s)
+{
+    N multiplier = 1;
+    if (!s.empty()) {
+        char u = std::toupper(*s.rbegin());
+        if (std::isalpha(u)) {
+            if (u == 'K') multiplier = 1ULL << 10;
+            else if (u == 'M') multiplier = 1ULL << 20;
+            else if (u == 'G') multiplier = 1ULL << 30;
+            else if (u == 'T') multiplier = 1ULL << 40;
+            else throw UsageError("invalid unit specifier '%1%'", u);
+            s.remove_suffix(1);
+        }
+    }
+    if (auto n = string2Int<N>(s))
+        return *n * multiplier;
+    throw UsageError("'%s' is not an integer", s);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Parse a string into a float.
+ */
+template<class N>
+std::optional<N> string2Float(const std::string_view s)
+{
+    try {
+        return boost::lexical_cast<N>(s.data(), s.size());
+    } catch (const boost::bad_lexical_cast &) {
+        return std::nullopt;
+    }
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Convert a little-endian integer to host order.
+ */
+template<typename T>
+T readLittleEndian(unsigned char * p)
+{
+    T x = 0;
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < sizeof(x); ++i, ++p) {
+        x |= ((T) *p) << (i * 8);
+    }
+    return x;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Convert a string to lower case.
+ */
+std::string toLower(const std::string & s);
+
+
+/**
+ * Escape a string as a shell word.
+ */
+std::string shellEscape(const std::string_view s);
+
+/**
+ * Base64 encoding/decoding.
+ */
+std::string base64Encode(std::string_view s);
+std::string base64Decode(std::string_view s);
+
+
+/**
+ * Remove common leading whitespace from the lines in the string
+ * 's'. For example, if every line is indented by at least 3 spaces,
+ * then we remove 3 spaces from the start of every line.
+ */
+std::string stripIndentation(std::string_view s);
+
+/**
+ * Get the prefix of 's' up to and excluding the next line break (LF
+ * optionally preceded by CR), and the remainder following the line
+ * break.
+ */
+std::pair<std::string_view, std::string_view> getLine(std::string_view s);
+
+std::string showBytes(uint64_t bytes);
+
+
+/**
+ * Provide an addition operator between strings and string_views
+ * inexplicably omitted from the standard library.
+ */
+inline std::string operator + (const std::string & s1, std::string_view s2)
+{
+    auto s = s1;
+    s.append(s2);
+    return s;
+}
+
+inline std::string operator + (std::string && s, std::string_view s2)
+{
+    s.append(s2);
+    return std::move(s);
+}
+
+inline std::string operator + (std::string_view s1, const char * s2)
+{
+    std::string s;
+    s.reserve(s1.size() + strlen(s2));
+    s.append(s1);
+    s.append(s2);
+    return s;
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/suggestions.cc b/src/libutil/suggestions.cc
index 9510a5f0c..cae52cf29 100644
--- a/src/libutil/suggestions.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/suggestions.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 #include "suggestions.hh"
 #include "ansicolor.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
+
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <ostream>
+#include <vector>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/suggestions.hh b/src/libutil/suggestions.hh
index 9abf5ee5f..3cac1371e 100644
--- a/src/libutil/suggestions.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/suggestions.hh
@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@
 ///@file
 
 #include "comparator.hh"
-#include "types.hh"
+
 #include <set>
+#include <string_view>
+#include <string>
+#include <variant>
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/tarfile.cc b/src/libutil/tarfile.cc
index f3f04a936..760a5a65a 100644
--- a/src/libutil/tarfile.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/tarfile.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #include <archive.h>
 #include <archive_entry.h>
 
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "serialise.hh"
 #include "tarfile.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/terminal.cc b/src/libutil/terminal.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b58331d04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/terminal.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+#include "terminal.hh"
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
+#include "sync.hh"
+
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+bool shouldANSI()
+{
+    return isatty(STDERR_FILENO)
+        && getEnv("TERM").value_or("dumb") != "dumb"
+        && !(getEnv("NO_COLOR").has_value() || getEnv("NOCOLOR").has_value());
+}
+
+std::string filterANSIEscapes(std::string_view s, bool filterAll, unsigned int width)
+{
+    std::string t, e;
+    size_t w = 0;
+    auto i = s.begin();
+
+    while (w < (size_t) width && i != s.end()) {
+
+        if (*i == '\e') {
+            std::string e;
+            e += *i++;
+            char last = 0;
+
+            if (i != s.end() && *i == '[') {
+                e += *i++;
+                // eat parameter bytes
+                while (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x30 && *i <= 0x3f) e += *i++;
+                // eat intermediate bytes
+                while (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x20 && *i <= 0x2f) e += *i++;
+                // eat final byte
+                if (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x40 && *i <= 0x7e) e += last = *i++;
+            } else {
+                if (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x40 && *i <= 0x5f) e += *i++;
+            }
+
+            if (!filterAll && last == 'm')
+                t += e;
+        }
+
+        else if (*i == '\t') {
+            i++; t += ' '; w++;
+            while (w < (size_t) width && w % 8) {
+                t += ' '; w++;
+            }
+        }
+
+        else if (*i == '\r' || *i == '\a')
+            // do nothing for now
+            i++;
+
+        else {
+            w++;
+            // Copy one UTF-8 character.
+            if ((*i & 0xe0) == 0xc0) {
+                t += *i++;
+                if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) t += *i++;
+            } else if ((*i & 0xf0) == 0xe0) {
+                t += *i++;
+                if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) {
+                    t += *i++;
+                    if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) t += *i++;
+                }
+            } else if ((*i & 0xf8) == 0xf0) {
+                t += *i++;
+                if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) {
+                    t += *i++;
+                    if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) {
+                        t += *i++;
+                        if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) t += *i++;
+                    }
+                }
+            } else
+                t += *i++;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return t;
+}
+
+static Sync<std::pair<unsigned short, unsigned short>> windowSize{{0, 0}};
+
+void updateWindowSize()
+{
+    struct winsize ws;
+    if (ioctl(2, TIOCGWINSZ, &ws) == 0) {
+        auto windowSize_(windowSize.lock());
+        windowSize_->first = ws.ws_row;
+        windowSize_->second = ws.ws_col;
+    }
+}
+
+
+std::pair<unsigned short, unsigned short> getWindowSize()
+{
+    return *windowSize.lock();
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/terminal.hh b/src/libutil/terminal.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..43df5bd70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/terminal.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+#include <limits>
+#include <string>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+/**
+ * Determine whether ANSI escape sequences are appropriate for the
+ * present output.
+ */
+bool shouldANSI();
+
+/**
+ * Truncate a string to 'width' printable characters. If 'filterAll'
+ * is true, all ANSI escape sequences are filtered out. Otherwise,
+ * some escape sequences (such as colour setting) are copied but not
+ * included in the character count. Also, tabs are expanded to
+ * spaces.
+ */
+std::string filterANSIEscapes(std::string_view s,
+    bool filterAll = false,
+    unsigned int width = std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::max());
+
+/**
+ * Recalculate the window size, updating a global variable. Used in the
+ * `SIGWINCH` signal handler.
+ */
+void updateWindowSize();
+
+/**
+ * @return the number of rows and columns of the terminal.
+ *
+ * The value is cached so this is quick. The cached result is computed
+ * by `updateWindowSize()`.
+ */
+std::pair<unsigned short, unsigned short> getWindowSize();
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc b/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc
index a25769d9b..0ff83e997 100644
--- a/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/thread-pool.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "thread-pool.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libutil/thread-pool.hh b/src/libutil/thread-pool.hh
index 0e09fae97..3db7ce88f 100644
--- a/src/libutil/thread-pool.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/thread-pool.hh
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include "error.hh"
 #include "sync.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 #include <queue>
 #include <functional>
 #include <thread>
-#include <map>
 #include <atomic>
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/src/libutil/types.hh b/src/libutil/types.hh
index c86f52175..4974634d8 100644
--- a/src/libutil/types.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/types.hh
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "ref.hh"
 
 #include <list>
+#include <optional>
 #include <set>
 #include <string>
 #include <limits>
@@ -51,6 +52,116 @@ struct Explicit {
     }
 };
 
+/**
+ * Get a value for the specified key from an associate container.
+ */
+template <class T>
+const typename T::mapped_type * get(const T & map, const typename T::key_type & key)
+{
+    auto i = map.find(key);
+    if (i == map.end()) return nullptr;
+    return &i->second;
+}
+
+template <class T>
+typename T::mapped_type * get(T & map, const typename T::key_type & key)
+{
+    auto i = map.find(key);
+    if (i == map.end()) return nullptr;
+    return &i->second;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get a value for the specified key from an associate container, or a default value if the key isn't present.
+ */
+template <class T>
+const typename T::mapped_type & getOr(T & map,
+    const typename T::key_type & key,
+    const typename T::mapped_type & defaultValue)
+{
+    auto i = map.find(key);
+    if (i == map.end()) return defaultValue;
+    return i->second;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remove and return the first item from a container.
+ */
+template <class T>
+std::optional<typename T::value_type> remove_begin(T & c)
+{
+    auto i = c.begin();
+    if (i == c.end()) return {};
+    auto v = std::move(*i);
+    c.erase(i);
+    return v;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Remove and return the first item from a container.
+ */
+template <class T>
+std::optional<typename T::value_type> pop(T & c)
+{
+    if (c.empty()) return {};
+    auto v = std::move(c.front());
+    c.pop();
+    return v;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * A RAII helper that increments a counter on construction and
+ * decrements it on destruction.
+ */
+template<typename T>
+struct MaintainCount
+{
+    T & counter;
+    long delta;
+    MaintainCount(T & counter, long delta = 1) : counter(counter), delta(delta) { counter += delta; }
+    ~MaintainCount() { counter -= delta; }
+};
+
+
+/**
+ * A Rust/Python-like enumerate() iterator adapter.
+ *
+ * Borrowed from http://reedbeta.com/blog/python-like-enumerate-in-cpp17.
+ */
+template <typename T,
+          typename TIter = decltype(std::begin(std::declval<T>())),
+          typename = decltype(std::end(std::declval<T>()))>
+constexpr auto enumerate(T && iterable)
+{
+    struct iterator
+    {
+        size_t i;
+        TIter iter;
+        constexpr bool operator != (const iterator & other) const { return iter != other.iter; }
+        constexpr void operator ++ () { ++i; ++iter; }
+        constexpr auto operator * () const { return std::tie(i, *iter); }
+    };
+
+    struct iterable_wrapper
+    {
+        T iterable;
+        constexpr auto begin() { return iterator{ 0, std::begin(iterable) }; }
+        constexpr auto end() { return iterator{ 0, std::end(iterable) }; }
+    };
+
+    return iterable_wrapper{ std::forward<T>(iterable) };
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * C++17 std::visit boilerplate
+ */
+template<class... Ts> struct overloaded : Ts... { using Ts::operator()...; };
+template<class... Ts> overloaded(Ts...) -> overloaded<Ts...>;
+
+
 
 /**
  * This wants to be a little bit like rust's Cow type.
diff --git a/src/libutil/unix-domain-socket.cc b/src/libutil/unix-domain-socket.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a9a2a415a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/unix-domain-socket.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
+#include "unix-domain-socket.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
+
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <sys/un.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket()
+{
+    AutoCloseFD fdSocket{socket(PF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM
+        #ifdef SOCK_CLOEXEC
+        | SOCK_CLOEXEC
+        #endif
+        , 0)};
+    if (!fdSocket)
+        throw SysError("cannot create Unix domain socket");
+    closeOnExec(fdSocket.get());
+    return fdSocket;
+}
+
+
+AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket(const Path & path, mode_t mode)
+{
+    auto fdSocket = nix::createUnixDomainSocket();
+
+    bind(fdSocket.get(), path);
+
+    chmodPath(path.c_str(), mode);
+
+    if (listen(fdSocket.get(), 100) == -1)
+        throw SysError("cannot listen on socket '%1%'", path);
+
+    return fdSocket;
+}
+
+static void bindConnectProcHelper(
+    std::string_view operationName, auto && operation,
+    int fd, const std::string & path)
+{
+    struct sockaddr_un addr;
+    addr.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
+
+    // Casting between types like these legacy C library interfaces
+    // require is forbidden in C++. To maintain backwards
+    // compatibility, the implementation of the bind/connect functions
+    // contains some hints to the compiler that allow for this
+    // special case.
+    auto * psaddr = reinterpret_cast<struct sockaddr *>(&addr);
+
+    if (path.size() + 1 >= sizeof(addr.sun_path)) {
+        Pipe pipe;
+        pipe.create();
+        Pid pid = startProcess([&] {
+            try {
+                pipe.readSide.close();
+                Path dir = dirOf(path);
+                if (chdir(dir.c_str()) == -1)
+                    throw SysError("chdir to '%s' failed", dir);
+                std::string base(baseNameOf(path));
+                if (base.size() + 1 >= sizeof(addr.sun_path))
+                    throw Error("socket path '%s' is too long", base);
+                memcpy(addr.sun_path, base.c_str(), base.size() + 1);
+                if (operation(fd, psaddr, sizeof(addr)) == -1)
+                    throw SysError("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
+                writeFull(pipe.writeSide.get(), "0\n");
+            } catch (SysError & e) {
+                writeFull(pipe.writeSide.get(), fmt("%d\n", e.errNo));
+            } catch (...) {
+                writeFull(pipe.writeSide.get(), "-1\n");
+            }
+        });
+        pipe.writeSide.close();
+        auto errNo = string2Int<int>(chomp(drainFD(pipe.readSide.get())));
+        if (!errNo || *errNo == -1)
+            throw Error("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
+        else if (*errNo > 0) {
+            errno = *errNo;
+            throw SysError("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
+        }
+    } else {
+        memcpy(addr.sun_path, path.c_str(), path.size() + 1);
+        if (operation(fd, psaddr, sizeof(addr)) == -1)
+            throw SysError("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
+    }
+}
+
+
+void bind(int fd, const std::string & path)
+{
+    unlink(path.c_str());
+
+    bindConnectProcHelper("bind", ::bind, fd, path);
+}
+
+
+void connect(int fd, const std::string & path)
+{
+    bindConnectProcHelper("connect", ::connect, fd, path);
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/unix-domain-socket.hh b/src/libutil/unix-domain-socket.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..692ad2627
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/unix-domain-socket.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
+#include "types.hh"
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+/**
+ * Create a Unix domain socket.
+ */
+AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket();
+
+/**
+ * Create a Unix domain socket in listen mode.
+ */
+AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket(const Path & path, mode_t mode);
+
+/**
+ * Bind a Unix domain socket to a path.
+ */
+void bind(int fd, const std::string & path);
+
+/**
+ * Connect to a Unix domain socket.
+ */
+void connect(int fd, const std::string & path);
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/url-name.cc b/src/libutil/url-name.cc
index 7c526752c..12c55db9a 100644
--- a/src/libutil/url-name.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/url-name.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#include <iostream>
 #include <regex>
 
 #include "url-name.hh"
diff --git a/src/libutil/url-name.hh b/src/libutil/url-name.hh
index 3a3f88e76..dabd23ca1 100644
--- a/src/libutil/url-name.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/url-name.hh
@@ -5,9 +5,6 @@
 #include <optional>
 
 #include "url.hh"
-#include "url-parts.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "split.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/url.cc b/src/libutil/url.cc
index afccc4245..46688cef5 100644
--- a/src/libutil/url.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/url.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #include "url.hh"
 #include "url-parts.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "split.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/users.cc b/src/libutil/users.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a9a8a7353
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/users.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
+
+#include <pwd.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+std::string getUserName()
+{
+    auto pw = getpwuid(geteuid());
+    std::string name = pw ? pw->pw_name : getEnv("USER").value_or("");
+    if (name.empty())
+        throw Error("cannot figure out user name");
+    return name;
+}
+
+Path getHomeOf(uid_t userId)
+{
+    std::vector<char> buf(16384);
+    struct passwd pwbuf;
+    struct passwd * pw;
+    if (getpwuid_r(userId, &pwbuf, buf.data(), buf.size(), &pw) != 0
+        || !pw || !pw->pw_dir || !pw->pw_dir[0])
+        throw Error("cannot determine user's home directory");
+    return pw->pw_dir;
+}
+
+Path getHome()
+{
+    static Path homeDir = []()
+    {
+        std::optional<std::string> unownedUserHomeDir = {};
+        auto homeDir = getEnv("HOME");
+        if (homeDir) {
+            // Only use $HOME if doesn't exist or is owned by the current user.
+            struct stat st;
+            int result = stat(homeDir->c_str(), &st);
+            if (result != 0) {
+                if (errno != ENOENT) {
+                    warn("couldn't stat $HOME ('%s') for reason other than not existing ('%d'), falling back to the one defined in the 'passwd' file", *homeDir, errno);
+                    homeDir.reset();
+                }
+            } else if (st.st_uid != geteuid()) {
+                unownedUserHomeDir.swap(homeDir);
+            }
+        }
+        if (!homeDir) {
+            homeDir = getHomeOf(geteuid());
+            if (unownedUserHomeDir.has_value() && unownedUserHomeDir != homeDir) {
+                warn("$HOME ('%s') is not owned by you, falling back to the one defined in the 'passwd' file ('%s')", *unownedUserHomeDir, *homeDir);
+            }
+        }
+        return *homeDir;
+    }();
+    return homeDir;
+}
+
+
+Path getCacheDir()
+{
+    auto cacheDir = getEnv("XDG_CACHE_HOME");
+    return cacheDir ? *cacheDir : getHome() + "/.cache";
+}
+
+
+Path getConfigDir()
+{
+    auto configDir = getEnv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME");
+    return configDir ? *configDir : getHome() + "/.config";
+}
+
+std::vector<Path> getConfigDirs()
+{
+    Path configHome = getConfigDir();
+    auto configDirs = getEnv("XDG_CONFIG_DIRS").value_or("/etc/xdg");
+    std::vector<Path> result = tokenizeString<std::vector<std::string>>(configDirs, ":");
+    result.insert(result.begin(), configHome);
+    return result;
+}
+
+
+Path getDataDir()
+{
+    auto dataDir = getEnv("XDG_DATA_HOME");
+    return dataDir ? *dataDir : getHome() + "/.local/share";
+}
+
+Path getStateDir()
+{
+    auto stateDir = getEnv("XDG_STATE_HOME");
+    return stateDir ? *stateDir : getHome() + "/.local/state";
+}
+
+Path createNixStateDir()
+{
+    Path dir = getStateDir() + "/nix";
+    createDirs(dir);
+    return dir;
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/users.hh b/src/libutil/users.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3add4c732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/users.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+#pragma once
+///@file
+
+#include "types.hh"
+
+#include <sys/types.h>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+std::string getUserName();
+
+/**
+ * @return the given user's home directory from /etc/passwd.
+ */
+Path getHomeOf(uid_t userId);
+
+/**
+ * @return $HOME or the user's home directory from /etc/passwd.
+ */
+Path getHome();
+
+/**
+ * @return $XDG_CACHE_HOME or $HOME/.cache.
+ */
+Path getCacheDir();
+
+/**
+ * @return $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config.
+ */
+Path getConfigDir();
+
+/**
+ * @return the directories to search for user configuration files
+ */
+std::vector<Path> getConfigDirs();
+
+/**
+ * @return $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share.
+ */
+Path getDataDir();
+
+/**
+ * @return $XDG_STATE_HOME or $HOME/.local/state.
+ *
+ * @note Not to be confused with settings.nixStateDir.
+ */
+Path getStateDir();
+
+/**
+ * Create $XDG_STATE_HOME/nix or $HOME/.local/state/nix, and return
+ * the path to it.
+ * @note Not to be confused with settings.nixStateDir.
+ */
+Path createNixStateDir();
+
+/**
+ * Perform tilde expansion on a path.
+ */
+std::string expandTilde(std::string_view path);
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
deleted file mode 100644
index 2c0fcc897..000000000
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,1916 +0,0 @@
-#include "util.hh"
-#include "sync.hh"
-#include "finally.hh"
-#include "serialise.hh"
-#include "cgroup.hh"
-#include "signals.hh"
-
-#include <array>
-#include <cctype>
-#include <cerrno>
-#include <climits>
-#include <cstdio>
-#include <cstdlib>
-#include <cstring>
-#include <future>
-#include <iostream>
-#include <mutex>
-#include <sstream>
-#include <thread>
-
-#include <fcntl.h>
-#include <grp.h>
-#include <pwd.h>
-#include <sys/ioctl.h>
-#include <sys/types.h>
-#include <sys/socket.h>
-#include <sys/wait.h>
-#include <sys/time.h>
-#include <sys/un.h>
-#include <unistd.h>
-
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-#include <sys/syscall.h>
-#include <mach-o/dyld.h>
-#endif
-
-#ifdef __linux__
-#include <sys/prctl.h>
-#include <sys/resource.h>
-#include <sys/mman.h>
-
-#include <cmath>
-#endif
-
-
-extern char * * environ __attribute__((weak));
-
-
-#ifdef NDEBUG
-#error "Lix may not be built with assertions disabled (i.e. with -DNDEBUG)."
-#endif
-
-namespace nix {
-
-std::optional<std::string> getEnv(const std::string & key)
-{
-    char * value = getenv(key.c_str());
-    if (!value) return {};
-    return std::string(value);
-}
-
-std::optional<std::string> getEnvNonEmpty(const std::string & key) {
-    auto value = getEnv(key);
-    if (value == "") return {};
-    return value;
-}
-
-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;
-}
-
-
-void clearEnv()
-{
-    for (auto & name : getEnv())
-        unsetenv(name.first.c_str());
-}
-
-void replaceEnv(const std::map<std::string, std::string> & newEnv)
-{
-    clearEnv();
-    for (auto & newEnvVar : newEnv)
-        setenv(newEnvVar.first.c_str(), newEnvVar.second.c_str(), 1);
-}
-
-
-Path absPath(Path path, std::optional<PathView> dir, bool resolveSymlinks)
-{
-    if (path.empty() || path[0] != '/') {
-        if (!dir) {
-#ifdef __GNU__
-            /* GNU (aka. GNU/Hurd) doesn't have any limitation on path
-               lengths and doesn't define `PATH_MAX'.  */
-            char *buf = getcwd(NULL, 0);
-            if (buf == NULL)
-#else
-            char buf[PATH_MAX];
-            if (!getcwd(buf, sizeof(buf)))
-#endif
-                throw SysError("cannot get cwd");
-            path = concatStrings(buf, "/", path);
-#ifdef __GNU__
-            free(buf);
-#endif
-        } else
-            path = concatStrings(*dir, "/", path);
-    }
-    return canonPath(path, resolveSymlinks);
-}
-
-
-Path canonPath(PathView path, bool resolveSymlinks)
-{
-    assert(path != "");
-
-    std::string s;
-    s.reserve(256);
-
-    if (path[0] != '/')
-        throw Error("not an absolute path: '%1%'", path);
-
-    std::string temp;
-
-    /* Count the number of times we follow a symlink and stop at some
-       arbitrary (but high) limit to prevent infinite loops. */
-    unsigned int followCount = 0, maxFollow = 1024;
-
-    while (1) {
-
-        /* Skip slashes. */
-        while (!path.empty() && path[0] == '/') path.remove_prefix(1);
-        if (path.empty()) break;
-
-        /* Ignore `.'. */
-        if (path == "." || path.substr(0, 2) == "./")
-            path.remove_prefix(1);
-
-        /* If `..', delete the last component. */
-        else if (path == ".." || path.substr(0, 3) == "../")
-        {
-            if (!s.empty()) s.erase(s.rfind('/'));
-            path.remove_prefix(2);
-        }
-
-        /* Normal component; copy it. */
-        else {
-            s += '/';
-            if (const auto slash = path.find('/'); slash == std::string::npos) {
-                s += path;
-                path = {};
-            } else {
-                s += path.substr(0, slash);
-                path = path.substr(slash);
-            }
-
-            /* If s points to a symlink, resolve it and continue from there */
-            if (resolveSymlinks && isLink(s)) {
-                if (++followCount >= maxFollow)
-                    throw Error("infinite symlink recursion in path '%1%'", path);
-                temp = concatStrings(readLink(s), path);
-                path = temp;
-                if (!temp.empty() && temp[0] == '/') {
-                    s.clear();  /* restart for symlinks pointing to absolute path */
-                } else {
-                    s = dirOf(s);
-                    if (s == "/") {  // we don’t want trailing slashes here, which dirOf only produces if s = /
-                        s.clear();
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    return s.empty() ? "/" : std::move(s);
-}
-
-void chmodPath(const Path & path, mode_t mode)
-{
-    if (chmod(path.c_str(), mode) == -1)
-        throw SysError("setting permissions on '%s'", path);
-}
-
-Path dirOf(const PathView path)
-{
-    Path::size_type pos = path.rfind('/');
-    if (pos == std::string::npos)
-        return ".";
-    return pos == 0 ? "/" : Path(path, 0, pos);
-}
-
-
-std::string_view baseNameOf(std::string_view path)
-{
-    if (path.empty())
-        return "";
-
-    auto last = path.size() - 1;
-    if (path[last] == '/' && last > 0)
-        last -= 1;
-
-    auto pos = path.rfind('/', last);
-    if (pos == std::string::npos)
-        pos = 0;
-    else
-        pos += 1;
-
-    return path.substr(pos, last - pos + 1);
-}
-
-
-std::string expandTilde(std::string_view path)
-{
-    // TODO: expand ~user ?
-    auto tilde = path.substr(0, 2);
-    if (tilde == "~/" || tilde == "~")
-        return getHome() + std::string(path.substr(1));
-    else
-        return std::string(path);
-}
-
-
-bool isInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir)
-{
-    return path.substr(0, 1) == "/"
-        && path.substr(0, dir.size()) == dir
-        && path.size() >= dir.size() + 2
-        && path[dir.size()] == '/';
-}
-
-
-bool isDirOrInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir)
-{
-    return path == dir || isInDir(path, dir);
-}
-
-
-struct stat stat(const Path & path)
-{
-    struct stat st;
-    if (stat(path.c_str(), &st))
-        throw SysError("getting status of '%1%'", path);
-    return st;
-}
-
-
-struct stat lstat(const Path & path)
-{
-    struct stat st;
-    if (lstat(path.c_str(), &st))
-        throw SysError("getting status of '%1%'", path);
-    return st;
-}
-
-std::optional<struct stat> maybeLstat(const Path & path)
-{
-    std::optional<struct stat> st{std::in_place};
-    if (lstat(path.c_str(), &*st))
-    {
-        if (errno == ENOENT || errno == ENOTDIR)
-            st.reset();
-        else
-            throw SysError("getting status of '%s'", path);
-    }
-    return st;
-}
-
-bool pathExists(const Path & path)
-{
-    return maybeLstat(path).has_value();
-}
-
-bool pathAccessible(const Path & path)
-{
-    try {
-        return pathExists(path);
-    } catch (SysError & e) {
-        // swallow EPERM
-        if (e.errNo == EPERM) return false;
-        throw;
-    }
-}
-
-
-Path readLink(const Path & path)
-{
-    checkInterrupt();
-    std::vector<char> buf;
-    for (ssize_t bufSize = PATH_MAX/4; true; bufSize += bufSize/2) {
-        buf.resize(bufSize);
-        ssize_t rlSize = readlink(path.c_str(), buf.data(), bufSize);
-        if (rlSize == -1)
-            if (errno == EINVAL)
-                throw Error("'%1%' is not a symlink", path);
-            else
-                throw SysError("reading symbolic link '%1%'", path);
-        else if (rlSize < bufSize)
-            return std::string(buf.data(), rlSize);
-    }
-}
-
-
-bool isLink(const Path & path)
-{
-    struct stat st = lstat(path);
-    return S_ISLNK(st.st_mode);
-}
-
-
-DirEntries readDirectory(DIR *dir, const Path & path)
-{
-    DirEntries entries;
-    entries.reserve(64);
-
-    struct dirent * dirent;
-    while (errno = 0, dirent = readdir(dir)) { /* sic */
-        checkInterrupt();
-        std::string name = dirent->d_name;
-        if (name == "." || name == "..") continue;
-        entries.emplace_back(name, dirent->d_ino,
-#ifdef HAVE_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
-            dirent->d_type
-#else
-            DT_UNKNOWN
-#endif
-        );
-    }
-    if (errno) throw SysError("reading directory '%1%'", path);
-
-    return entries;
-}
-
-DirEntries readDirectory(const Path & path)
-{
-    AutoCloseDir dir(opendir(path.c_str()));
-    if (!dir) throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
-
-    return readDirectory(dir.get(), path);
-}
-
-
-unsigned char getFileType(const Path & path)
-{
-    struct stat st = lstat(path);
-    if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) return DT_DIR;
-    if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)) return DT_LNK;
-    if (S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) return DT_REG;
-    return DT_UNKNOWN;
-}
-
-
-std::string readFile(int fd)
-{
-    struct stat st;
-    if (fstat(fd, &st) == -1)
-        throw SysError("statting file");
-
-    return drainFD(fd, true, st.st_size);
-}
-
-
-std::string readFile(const Path & path)
-{
-    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC)};
-    if (!fd)
-        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
-    return readFile(fd.get());
-}
-
-
-void readFile(const Path & path, Sink & sink)
-{
-    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC)};
-    if (!fd)
-        throw SysError("opening file '%s'", path);
-    drainFD(fd.get(), sink);
-}
-
-
-void writeFile(const Path & path, std::string_view s, mode_t mode, bool sync)
-{
-    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC | O_CREAT | O_CLOEXEC, mode)};
-    if (!fd)
-        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
-    try {
-        writeFull(fd.get(), s);
-    } catch (Error & e) {
-        e.addTrace({}, "writing file '%1%'", path);
-        throw;
-    }
-    if (sync)
-        fd.fsync();
-    // Explicitly close to make sure exceptions are propagated.
-    fd.close();
-    if (sync)
-        syncParent(path);
-}
-
-
-void writeFile(const Path & path, Source & source, mode_t mode, bool sync)
-{
-    AutoCloseFD fd{open(path.c_str(), O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC | O_CREAT | O_CLOEXEC, mode)};
-    if (!fd)
-        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
-
-    std::vector<char> buf(64 * 1024);
-
-    try {
-        while (true) {
-            try {
-                auto n = source.read(buf.data(), buf.size());
-                writeFull(fd.get(), {buf.data(), n});
-            } catch (EndOfFile &) { break; }
-        }
-    } catch (Error & e) {
-        e.addTrace({}, "writing file '%1%'", path);
-        throw;
-    }
-    if (sync)
-        fd.fsync();
-    // Explicitly close to make sure exceptions are propagated.
-    fd.close();
-    if (sync)
-        syncParent(path);
-}
-
-void syncParent(const Path & path)
-{
-    AutoCloseFD fd{open(dirOf(path).c_str(), O_RDONLY, 0)};
-    if (!fd)
-        throw SysError("opening file '%1%'", path);
-    fd.fsync();
-}
-
-std::string readLine(int fd)
-{
-    std::string s;
-    while (1) {
-        checkInterrupt();
-        char ch;
-        // FIXME: inefficient
-        ssize_t rd = read(fd, &ch, 1);
-        if (rd == -1) {
-            if (errno != EINTR)
-                throw SysError("reading a line");
-        } else if (rd == 0)
-            throw EndOfFile("unexpected EOF reading a line");
-        else {
-            if (ch == '\n') return s;
-            s += ch;
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-
-void writeLine(int fd, std::string s)
-{
-    s += '\n';
-    writeFull(fd, s);
-}
-
-
-static void _deletePath(int parentfd, const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
-{
-    checkInterrupt();
-
-    std::string name(baseNameOf(path));
-
-    struct stat st;
-    if (fstatat(parentfd, name.c_str(), &st, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) == -1) {
-        if (errno == ENOENT) return;
-        throw SysError("getting status of '%1%'", path);
-    }
-
-    if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
-        /* We are about to delete a file. Will it likely free space? */
-
-        switch (st.st_nlink) {
-            /* Yes: last link. */
-            case 1:
-                bytesFreed += st.st_size;
-                break;
-            /* Maybe: yes, if 'auto-optimise-store' or manual optimisation
-               was performed. Instead of checking for real let's assume
-               it's an optimised file and space will be freed.
-
-               In worst case we will double count on freed space for files
-               with exactly two hardlinks for unoptimised packages.
-             */
-            case 2:
-                bytesFreed += st.st_size;
-                break;
-            /* No: 3+ links. */
-            default:
-                break;
-        }
-    }
-
-    if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
-        /* Make the directory accessible. */
-        const auto PERM_MASK = S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IXUSR;
-        if ((st.st_mode & PERM_MASK) != PERM_MASK) {
-            if (fchmodat(parentfd, name.c_str(), st.st_mode | PERM_MASK, 0) == -1)
-                throw SysError("chmod '%1%'", path);
-        }
-
-        int fd = openat(parentfd, path.c_str(), O_RDONLY);
-        if (fd == -1)
-            throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
-        AutoCloseDir dir(fdopendir(fd));
-        if (!dir)
-            throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
-        for (auto & i : readDirectory(dir.get(), path))
-            _deletePath(dirfd(dir.get()), path + "/" + i.name, bytesFreed);
-    }
-
-    int flags = S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) ? AT_REMOVEDIR : 0;
-    if (unlinkat(parentfd, name.c_str(), flags) == -1) {
-        if (errno == ENOENT) return;
-        throw SysError("cannot unlink '%1%'", path);
-    }
-}
-
-static void _deletePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
-{
-    Path dir = dirOf(path);
-    if (dir == "")
-        dir = "/";
-
-    AutoCloseFD dirfd{open(dir.c_str(), O_RDONLY)};
-    if (!dirfd) {
-        if (errno == ENOENT) return;
-        throw SysError("opening directory '%1%'", path);
-    }
-
-    _deletePath(dirfd.get(), path, bytesFreed);
-}
-
-
-void deletePath(const Path & path)
-{
-    uint64_t dummy;
-    deletePath(path, dummy);
-}
-
-
-void deletePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
-{
-    //Activity act(*logger, lvlDebug, "recursively deleting path '%1%'", path);
-    bytesFreed = 0;
-    _deletePath(path, bytesFreed);
-}
-
-
-std::string getUserName()
-{
-    auto pw = getpwuid(geteuid());
-    std::string name = pw ? pw->pw_name : getEnv("USER").value_or("");
-    if (name.empty())
-        throw Error("cannot figure out user name");
-    return name;
-}
-
-Path getHomeOf(uid_t userId)
-{
-    std::vector<char> buf(16384);
-    struct passwd pwbuf;
-    struct passwd * pw;
-    if (getpwuid_r(userId, &pwbuf, buf.data(), buf.size(), &pw) != 0
-        || !pw || !pw->pw_dir || !pw->pw_dir[0])
-        throw Error("cannot determine user's home directory");
-    return pw->pw_dir;
-}
-
-Path getHome()
-{
-    static Path homeDir = []()
-    {
-        std::optional<std::string> unownedUserHomeDir = {};
-        auto homeDir = getEnv("HOME");
-        if (homeDir) {
-            // Only use $HOME if doesn't exist or is owned by the current user.
-            struct stat st;
-            int result = stat(homeDir->c_str(), &st);
-            if (result != 0) {
-                if (errno != ENOENT) {
-                    warn("couldn't stat $HOME ('%s') for reason other than not existing ('%d'), falling back to the one defined in the 'passwd' file", *homeDir, errno);
-                    homeDir.reset();
-                }
-            } else if (st.st_uid != geteuid()) {
-                unownedUserHomeDir.swap(homeDir);
-            }
-        }
-        if (!homeDir) {
-            homeDir = getHomeOf(geteuid());
-            if (unownedUserHomeDir.has_value() && unownedUserHomeDir != homeDir) {
-                warn("$HOME ('%s') is not owned by you, falling back to the one defined in the 'passwd' file ('%s')", *unownedUserHomeDir, *homeDir);
-            }
-        }
-        return *homeDir;
-    }();
-    return homeDir;
-}
-
-
-Path getCacheDir()
-{
-    auto cacheDir = getEnv("XDG_CACHE_HOME");
-    return cacheDir ? *cacheDir : getHome() + "/.cache";
-}
-
-
-Path getConfigDir()
-{
-    auto configDir = getEnv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME");
-    return configDir ? *configDir : getHome() + "/.config";
-}
-
-std::vector<Path> getConfigDirs()
-{
-    Path configHome = getConfigDir();
-    auto configDirs = getEnv("XDG_CONFIG_DIRS").value_or("/etc/xdg");
-    std::vector<Path> result = tokenizeString<std::vector<std::string>>(configDirs, ":");
-    result.insert(result.begin(), configHome);
-    return result;
-}
-
-
-Path getDataDir()
-{
-    auto dataDir = getEnv("XDG_DATA_HOME");
-    return dataDir ? *dataDir : getHome() + "/.local/share";
-}
-
-Path getStateDir()
-{
-    auto stateDir = getEnv("XDG_STATE_HOME");
-    return stateDir ? *stateDir : getHome() + "/.local/state";
-}
-
-Path createNixStateDir()
-{
-    Path dir = getStateDir() + "/nix";
-    createDirs(dir);
-    return dir;
-}
-
-
-std::optional<Path> getSelfExe()
-{
-    static auto cached = []() -> std::optional<Path>
-    {
-        #if __linux__
-        return readLink("/proc/self/exe");
-        #elif __APPLE__
-        char buf[1024];
-        uint32_t size = sizeof(buf);
-        if (_NSGetExecutablePath(buf, &size) == 0)
-            return buf;
-        else
-            return std::nullopt;
-        #else
-        return std::nullopt;
-        #endif
-    }();
-    return cached;
-}
-
-
-Paths createDirs(const Path & path)
-{
-    Paths created;
-    if (path == "/") return created;
-
-    struct stat st;
-    if (lstat(path.c_str(), &st) == -1) {
-        created = createDirs(dirOf(path));
-        if (mkdir(path.c_str(), 0777) == -1 && errno != EEXIST)
-            throw SysError("creating directory '%1%'", path);
-        st = lstat(path);
-        created.push_back(path);
-    }
-
-    if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode) && stat(path.c_str(), &st) == -1)
-        throw SysError("statting symlink '%1%'", path);
-
-    if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) throw Error("'%1%' is not a directory", path);
-
-    return created;
-}
-
-
-void readFull(int fd, char * buf, size_t count)
-{
-    while (count) {
-        checkInterrupt();
-        ssize_t res = read(fd, buf, count);
-        if (res == -1) {
-            if (errno == EINTR) continue;
-            throw SysError("reading from file");
-        }
-        if (res == 0) throw EndOfFile("unexpected end-of-file");
-        count -= res;
-        buf += res;
-    }
-}
-
-
-void writeFull(int fd, std::string_view s, bool allowInterrupts)
-{
-    while (!s.empty()) {
-        if (allowInterrupts) checkInterrupt();
-        ssize_t res = write(fd, s.data(), s.size());
-        if (res == -1 && errno != EINTR)
-            throw SysError("writing to file");
-        if (res > 0)
-            s.remove_prefix(res);
-    }
-}
-
-
-std::string drainFD(int fd, bool block, const size_t reserveSize)
-{
-    // the parser needs two extra bytes to append terminating characters, other users will
-    // not care very much about the extra memory.
-    StringSink sink(reserveSize + 2);
-    drainFD(fd, sink, block);
-    return std::move(sink.s);
-}
-
-
-void drainFD(int fd, Sink & sink, bool block)
-{
-    // silence GCC maybe-uninitialized warning in finally
-    int saved = 0;
-
-    if (!block) {
-        saved = fcntl(fd, F_GETFL);
-        if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, saved | O_NONBLOCK) == -1)
-            throw SysError("making file descriptor non-blocking");
-    }
-
-    Finally finally([&]() {
-        if (!block) {
-            if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, saved) == -1)
-                throw SysError("making file descriptor blocking");
-        }
-    });
-
-    std::array<unsigned char, 64 * 1024> buf;
-    while (1) {
-        checkInterrupt();
-        ssize_t rd = read(fd, buf.data(), buf.size());
-        if (rd == -1) {
-            if (!block && (errno == EAGAIN || errno == EWOULDBLOCK))
-                break;
-            if (errno != EINTR)
-                throw SysError("reading from file");
-        }
-        else if (rd == 0) break;
-        else sink({(char *) buf.data(), (size_t) rd});
-    }
-}
-
-//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-unsigned int getMaxCPU()
-{
-    #if __linux__
-    try {
-        auto cgroupFS = getCgroupFS();
-        if (!cgroupFS) return 0;
-
-        auto cgroups = getCgroups("/proc/self/cgroup");
-        auto cgroup = cgroups[""];
-        if (cgroup == "") return 0;
-
-        auto cpuFile = *cgroupFS + "/" + cgroup + "/cpu.max";
-
-        auto cpuMax = readFile(cpuFile);
-        auto cpuMaxParts = tokenizeString<std::vector<std::string>>(cpuMax, " \n");
-
-        if (cpuMaxParts.size() != 2) {
-            return 0;
-        }
-
-        auto quota = cpuMaxParts[0];
-        auto period = cpuMaxParts[1];
-        if (quota != "max")
-                return std::ceil(std::stoi(quota) / std::stof(period));
-    } catch (Error &) { ignoreException(lvlDebug); }
-    #endif
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
-//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-
-AutoDelete::AutoDelete() : del{false} {}
-
-AutoDelete::AutoDelete(const std::string & p, bool recursive) : path(p)
-{
-    del = true;
-    this->recursive = recursive;
-}
-
-AutoDelete::~AutoDelete()
-{
-    try {
-        if (del) {
-            if (recursive)
-                deletePath(path);
-            else {
-                if (remove(path.c_str()) == -1)
-                    throw SysError("cannot unlink '%1%'", path);
-            }
-        }
-    } catch (...) {
-        ignoreException();
-    }
-}
-
-void AutoDelete::cancel()
-{
-    del = false;
-}
-
-void AutoDelete::reset(const Path & p, bool recursive) {
-    path = p;
-    this->recursive = recursive;
-    del = true;
-}
-
-
-
-//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-
-AutoCloseFD::AutoCloseFD() : fd{-1} {}
-
-
-AutoCloseFD::AutoCloseFD(int fd) : fd{fd} {}
-
-
-AutoCloseFD::AutoCloseFD(AutoCloseFD && that) : fd{that.fd}
-{
-    that.fd = -1;
-}
-
-
-AutoCloseFD & AutoCloseFD::operator =(AutoCloseFD && that)
-{
-    close();
-    fd = that.fd;
-    that.fd = -1;
-    return *this;
-}
-
-
-AutoCloseFD::~AutoCloseFD()
-{
-    try {
-        close();
-    } catch (...) {
-        ignoreException();
-    }
-}
-
-
-int AutoCloseFD::get() const
-{
-    return fd;
-}
-
-
-void AutoCloseFD::close()
-{
-    if (fd != -1) {
-        if (::close(fd) == -1)
-            /* This should never happen. */
-            throw SysError("closing file descriptor %1%", fd);
-        fd = -1;
-    }
-}
-
-void AutoCloseFD::fsync()
-{
-  if (fd != -1) {
-      int result;
-#if __APPLE__
-      result = ::fcntl(fd, F_FULLFSYNC);
-#else
-      result = ::fsync(fd);
-#endif
-      if (result == -1)
-          throw SysError("fsync file descriptor %1%", fd);
-  }
-}
-
-
-AutoCloseFD::operator bool() const
-{
-    return fd != -1;
-}
-
-
-int AutoCloseFD::release()
-{
-    int oldFD = fd;
-    fd = -1;
-    return oldFD;
-}
-
-
-void Pipe::create()
-{
-    int fds[2];
-#if HAVE_PIPE2
-    if (pipe2(fds, O_CLOEXEC) != 0) throw SysError("creating pipe");
-#else
-    if (pipe(fds) != 0) throw SysError("creating pipe");
-    closeOnExec(fds[0]);
-    closeOnExec(fds[1]);
-#endif
-    readSide = AutoCloseFD{fds[0]};
-    writeSide = AutoCloseFD{fds[1]};
-}
-
-
-void Pipe::close()
-{
-    readSide.close();
-    writeSide.close();
-}
-
-
-//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-
-Pid::Pid()
-{
-}
-
-
-Pid::Pid(pid_t pid)
-    : pid(pid)
-{
-}
-
-
-Pid::~Pid() noexcept(false)
-{
-    if (pid != -1) kill();
-}
-
-
-void Pid::operator =(pid_t pid)
-{
-    if (this->pid != -1 && this->pid != pid) kill();
-    this->pid = pid;
-    killSignal = SIGKILL; // reset signal to default
-}
-
-
-Pid::operator pid_t()
-{
-    return pid;
-}
-
-
-int Pid::kill()
-{
-    assert(pid != -1);
-
-    debug("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) {
-        /* On BSDs, killing a process group will return EPERM if all
-           processes in the group are zombies (or something like
-           that). So try to detect and ignore that situation. */
-#if __FreeBSD__ || __APPLE__
-        if (errno != EPERM || ::kill(pid, 0) != 0)
-#endif
-            logError(SysError("killing process %d", pid).info());
-    }
-
-    return wait();
-}
-
-
-int Pid::wait()
-{
-    assert(pid != -1);
-    while (1) {
-        int status;
-        int res = waitpid(pid, &status, 0);
-        if (res == pid) {
-            pid = -1;
-            return status;
-        }
-        if (errno != EINTR)
-            throw SysError("cannot get exit status of PID %d", pid);
-        checkInterrupt();
-    }
-}
-
-
-void Pid::setSeparatePG(bool separatePG)
-{
-    this->separatePG = separatePG;
-}
-
-
-void Pid::setKillSignal(int signal)
-{
-    this->killSignal = signal;
-}
-
-
-pid_t Pid::release()
-{
-    pid_t p = pid;
-    pid = -1;
-    return p;
-}
-
-
-void killUser(uid_t uid)
-{
-    debug("killing all processes running under uid '%1%'", uid);
-
-    assert(uid != 0); /* just to be safe... */
-
-    /* The system call kill(-1, sig) sends the signal `sig' to all
-       users to which the current process can send signals.  So we
-       fork a process, switch to uid, and send a mass kill. */
-
-    Pid pid = startProcess([&]() {
-
-        if (setuid(uid) == -1)
-            throw SysError("setting uid");
-
-        while (true) {
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-            /* OSX's kill syscall takes a third parameter that, among
-               other things, determines if kill(-1, signo) affects the
-               calling process. In the OSX libc, it's set to true,
-               which means "follow POSIX", which we don't want here
-                 */
-            if (syscall(SYS_kill, -1, SIGKILL, false) == 0) break;
-#else
-            if (kill(-1, SIGKILL) == 0) break;
-#endif
-            if (errno == ESRCH || errno == EPERM) break; /* no more processes */
-            if (errno != EINTR)
-                throw SysError("cannot kill processes for uid '%1%'", uid);
-        }
-
-        _exit(0);
-    });
-
-    int status = pid.wait();
-    if (status != 0)
-        throw Error("cannot kill processes for uid '%1%': %2%", uid, statusToString(status));
-
-    /* !!! We should really do some check to make sure that there are
-       no processes left running under `uid', but there is no portable
-       way to do so (I think).  The most reliable way may be `ps -eo
-       uid | grep -q $uid'. */
-}
-
-
-//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-
-static pid_t doFork(std::function<void()> fun)
-{
-    pid_t pid = fork();
-    if (pid != 0) return pid;
-    fun();
-    abort();
-}
-
-
-#if __linux__
-static int childEntry(void * arg)
-{
-    auto main = (std::function<void()> *) arg;
-    (*main)();
-    return 1;
-}
-#endif
-
-
-pid_t startProcess(std::function<void()> fun, const ProcessOptions & options)
-{
-    std::function<void()> wrapper = [&]() {
-        logger = makeSimpleLogger();
-        try {
-#if __linux__
-            if (options.dieWithParent && prctl(PR_SET_PDEATHSIG, SIGKILL) == -1)
-                throw SysError("setting death signal");
-#endif
-            fun();
-        } catch (std::exception & e) {
-            try {
-                std::cerr << options.errorPrefix << e.what() << "\n";
-            } catch (...) { }
-        } catch (...) { }
-        if (options.runExitHandlers)
-            exit(1);
-        else
-            _exit(1);
-    };
-
-    pid_t pid = -1;
-
-    if (options.cloneFlags) {
-        #ifdef __linux__
-        // Not supported, since then we don't know when to free the stack.
-        assert(!(options.cloneFlags & CLONE_VM));
-
-        size_t stackSize = 1 * 1024 * 1024;
-        auto stack = (char *) mmap(0, stackSize,
-            PROT_WRITE | PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_STACK, -1, 0);
-        if (stack == MAP_FAILED) throw SysError("allocating stack");
-
-        Finally freeStack([&]() { munmap(stack, stackSize); });
-
-        pid = clone(childEntry, stack + stackSize, options.cloneFlags | SIGCHLD, &wrapper);
-        #else
-        throw Error("clone flags are only supported on Linux");
-        #endif
-    } else
-        pid = doFork(wrapper);
-
-    if (pid == -1) throw SysError("unable to fork");
-
-    return pid;
-}
-
-
-std::vector<char *> stringsToCharPtrs(const Strings & ss)
-{
-    std::vector<char *> res;
-    for (auto & s : ss) res.push_back((char *) s.c_str());
-    res.push_back(0);
-    return res;
-}
-
-std::string runProgram(Path program, bool searchPath, const Strings & args,
-    const std::optional<std::string> & input, bool isInteractive)
-{
-    auto res = runProgram(RunOptions {.program = program, .searchPath = searchPath, .args = args, .input = input, .isInteractive = isInteractive});
-
-    if (!statusOk(res.first))
-        throw ExecError(res.first, "program '%1%' %2%", program, statusToString(res.first));
-
-    return res.second;
-}
-
-// Output = error code + "standard out" output stream
-std::pair<int, std::string> runProgram(RunOptions && options)
-{
-    StringSink sink;
-    options.standardOut = &sink;
-
-    int status = 0;
-
-    try {
-        runProgram2(options);
-    } catch (ExecError & e) {
-        status = e.status;
-    }
-
-    return {status, std::move(sink.s)};
-}
-
-void runProgram2(const RunOptions & options)
-{
-    checkInterrupt();
-
-    assert(!(options.standardIn && options.input));
-
-    std::unique_ptr<Source> source_;
-    Source * source = options.standardIn;
-
-    if (options.input) {
-        source_ = std::make_unique<StringSource>(*options.input);
-        source = source_.get();
-    }
-
-    /* Create a pipe. */
-    Pipe out, in;
-    if (options.standardOut) out.create();
-    if (source) in.create();
-
-    ProcessOptions processOptions;
-
-    std::optional<Finally<std::function<void()>>> resumeLoggerDefer;
-    if (options.isInteractive) {
-        logger->pause();
-        resumeLoggerDefer.emplace(
-            []() {
-                logger->resume();
-            }
-        );
-    }
-
-    /* Fork. */
-    Pid pid = startProcess([&]() {
-        if (options.environment)
-            replaceEnv(*options.environment);
-        if (options.standardOut && dup2(out.writeSide.get(), STDOUT_FILENO) == -1)
-            throw SysError("dupping stdout");
-        if (options.mergeStderrToStdout)
-            if (dup2(STDOUT_FILENO, STDERR_FILENO) == -1)
-                throw SysError("cannot dup stdout into stderr");
-        if (source && dup2(in.readSide.get(), STDIN_FILENO) == -1)
-            throw SysError("dupping stdin");
-
-        if (options.chdir && chdir((*options.chdir).c_str()) == -1)
-            throw SysError("chdir failed");
-        if (options.gid && setgid(*options.gid) == -1)
-            throw SysError("setgid failed");
-        /* Drop all other groups if we're setgid. */
-        if (options.gid && setgroups(0, 0) == -1)
-            throw SysError("setgroups failed");
-        if (options.uid && setuid(*options.uid) == -1)
-            throw SysError("setuid failed");
-
-        Strings args_(options.args);
-        args_.push_front(options.program);
-
-        restoreProcessContext();
-
-        if (options.searchPath)
-            execvp(options.program.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args_).data());
-            // This allows you to refer to a program with a pathname relative
-            // to the PATH variable.
-        else
-            execv(options.program.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args_).data());
-
-        throw SysError("executing '%1%'", options.program);
-    }, processOptions);
-
-    out.writeSide.close();
-
-    std::thread writerThread;
-
-    std::promise<void> promise;
-
-    Finally doJoin([&]() {
-        if (writerThread.joinable())
-            writerThread.join();
-    });
-
-
-    if (source) {
-        in.readSide.close();
-        writerThread = std::thread([&]() {
-            try {
-                std::vector<char> buf(8 * 1024);
-                while (true) {
-                    size_t n;
-                    try {
-                        n = source->read(buf.data(), buf.size());
-                    } catch (EndOfFile &) {
-                        break;
-                    }
-                    writeFull(in.writeSide.get(), {buf.data(), n});
-                }
-                promise.set_value();
-            } catch (...) {
-                promise.set_exception(std::current_exception());
-            }
-            in.writeSide.close();
-        });
-    }
-
-    if (options.standardOut)
-        drainFD(out.readSide.get(), *options.standardOut);
-
-    /* Wait for the child to finish. */
-    int status = pid.wait();
-
-    /* Wait for the writer thread to finish. */
-    if (source) promise.get_future().get();
-
-    if (status)
-        throw ExecError(status, "program '%1%' %2%", options.program, statusToString(status));
-}
-
-
-void closeMostFDs(const std::set<int> & exceptions)
-{
-#if __linux__
-    try {
-        for (auto & s : readDirectory("/proc/self/fd")) {
-            auto fd = std::stoi(s.name);
-            if (!exceptions.count(fd)) {
-                debug("closing leaked FD %d", fd);
-                close(fd);
-            }
-        }
-        return;
-    } catch (SysError &) {
-    }
-#endif
-
-    int maxFD = 0;
-    maxFD = sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX);
-    for (int fd = 0; fd < maxFD; ++fd)
-        if (!exceptions.count(fd))
-            close(fd); /* ignore result */
-}
-
-
-void closeOnExec(int fd)
-{
-    int prev;
-    if ((prev = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD, 0)) == -1 ||
-        fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, prev | FD_CLOEXEC) == -1)
-        throw SysError("setting close-on-exec flag");
-}
-
-
-//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-
-template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators)
-{
-    C result;
-    auto pos = s.find_first_not_of(separators, 0);
-    while (pos != std::string_view::npos) {
-        auto end = s.find_first_of(separators, pos + 1);
-        if (end == std::string_view::npos) end = s.size();
-        result.insert(result.end(), std::string(s, pos, end - pos));
-        pos = s.find_first_not_of(separators, end);
-    }
-    return result;
-}
-
-template Strings tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
-template StringSet tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
-template std::vector<std::string> tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
-
-
-std::string chomp(std::string_view s)
-{
-    size_t i = s.find_last_not_of(" \n\r\t");
-    return i == std::string_view::npos ? "" : std::string(s, 0, i + 1);
-}
-
-
-std::string trim(std::string_view s, std::string_view whitespace)
-{
-    auto i = s.find_first_not_of(whitespace);
-    if (i == s.npos) return "";
-    auto j = s.find_last_not_of(whitespace);
-    return std::string(s, i, j == s.npos ? j : j - i + 1);
-}
-
-
-std::string replaceStrings(
-    std::string res,
-    std::string_view from,
-    std::string_view to)
-{
-    if (from.empty()) return res;
-    size_t pos = 0;
-    while ((pos = res.find(from, pos)) != std::string::npos) {
-        res.replace(pos, from.size(), to);
-        pos += to.size();
-    }
-    return res;
-}
-
-
-Rewriter::Rewriter(std::map<std::string, std::string> rewrites)
-    : rewrites(std::move(rewrites))
-{
-    for (const auto & [k, v] : this->rewrites) {
-        assert(!k.empty());
-        initials.push_back(k[0]);
-    }
-    std::ranges::sort(initials);
-    auto [firstDupe, end] = std::ranges::unique(initials);
-    initials.erase(firstDupe, end);
-}
-
-std::string Rewriter::operator()(std::string s)
-{
-    size_t j = 0;
-    while ((j = s.find_first_of(initials, j)) != std::string::npos) {
-        size_t skip = 1;
-        for (auto & [from, to] : rewrites) {
-            if (s.compare(j, from.size(), from) == 0) {
-                s.replace(j, from.size(), to);
-                skip = to.size();
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-        j += skip;
-    }
-    return s;
-}
-
-
-std::string statusToString(int status)
-{
-    if (!WIFEXITED(status) || WEXITSTATUS(status) != 0) {
-        if (WIFEXITED(status))
-            return fmt("failed with exit code %1%", WEXITSTATUS(status));
-        else if (WIFSIGNALED(status)) {
-            int sig = WTERMSIG(status);
-#if HAVE_STRSIGNAL
-            const char * description = strsignal(sig);
-            return fmt("failed due to signal %1% (%2%)", sig, description);
-#else
-            return fmt("failed due to signal %1%", sig);
-#endif
-        }
-        else
-            return "died abnormally";
-    } else return "succeeded";
-}
-
-
-bool statusOk(int status)
-{
-    return WIFEXITED(status) && WEXITSTATUS(status) == 0;
-}
-
-
-std::string toLower(const std::string & s)
-{
-    std::string r(s);
-    for (auto & c : r)
-        c = std::tolower(c);
-    return r;
-}
-
-
-std::string shellEscape(const std::string_view s)
-{
-    std::string r;
-    r.reserve(s.size() + 2);
-    r += "'";
-    for (auto & i : s)
-        if (i == '\'') r += "'\\''"; else r += i;
-    r += '\'';
-    return r;
-}
-
-
-void ignoreException(Verbosity lvl)
-{
-    /* Make sure no exceptions leave this function.
-       printError() also throws when remote is closed. */
-    try {
-        try {
-            throw;
-        } catch (std::exception & e) {
-            printMsg(lvl, "error (ignored): %1%", e.what());
-        }
-    } catch (...) { }
-}
-
-bool shouldANSI()
-{
-    return isatty(STDERR_FILENO)
-        && getEnv("TERM").value_or("dumb") != "dumb"
-        && !(getEnv("NO_COLOR").has_value() || getEnv("NOCOLOR").has_value());
-}
-
-std::string filterANSIEscapes(std::string_view s, bool filterAll, unsigned int width)
-{
-    std::string t, e;
-    size_t w = 0;
-    auto i = s.begin();
-
-    while (w < (size_t) width && i != s.end()) {
-
-        if (*i == '\e') {
-            std::string e;
-            e += *i++;
-            char last = 0;
-
-            if (i != s.end() && *i == '[') {
-                e += *i++;
-                // eat parameter bytes
-                while (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x30 && *i <= 0x3f) e += *i++;
-                // eat intermediate bytes
-                while (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x20 && *i <= 0x2f) e += *i++;
-                // eat final byte
-                if (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x40 && *i <= 0x7e) e += last = *i++;
-            } else {
-                if (i != s.end() && *i >= 0x40 && *i <= 0x5f) e += *i++;
-            }
-
-            if (!filterAll && last == 'm')
-                t += e;
-        }
-
-        else if (*i == '\t') {
-            i++; t += ' '; w++;
-            while (w < (size_t) width && w % 8) {
-                t += ' '; w++;
-            }
-        }
-
-        else if (*i == '\r' || *i == '\a')
-            // do nothing for now
-            i++;
-
-        else {
-            w++;
-            // Copy one UTF-8 character.
-            if ((*i & 0xe0) == 0xc0) {
-                t += *i++;
-                if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) t += *i++;
-            } else if ((*i & 0xf0) == 0xe0) {
-                t += *i++;
-                if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) {
-                    t += *i++;
-                    if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) t += *i++;
-                }
-            } else if ((*i & 0xf8) == 0xf0) {
-                t += *i++;
-                if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) {
-                    t += *i++;
-                    if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) {
-                        t += *i++;
-                        if (i != s.end() && ((*i & 0xc0) == 0x80)) t += *i++;
-                    }
-                }
-            } else
-                t += *i++;
-        }
-    }
-
-    return t;
-}
-
-
-constexpr char base64Chars[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
-
-std::string base64Encode(std::string_view s)
-{
-    std::string res;
-    res.reserve((s.size() + 2) / 3 * 4);
-    int data = 0, nbits = 0;
-
-    for (char c : s) {
-        data = data << 8 | (unsigned char) c;
-        nbits += 8;
-        while (nbits >= 6) {
-            nbits -= 6;
-            res.push_back(base64Chars[data >> nbits & 0x3f]);
-        }
-    }
-
-    if (nbits) res.push_back(base64Chars[data << (6 - nbits) & 0x3f]);
-    while (res.size() % 4) res.push_back('=');
-
-    return res;
-}
-
-
-std::string base64Decode(std::string_view s)
-{
-    constexpr char npos = -1;
-    constexpr std::array<char, 256> base64DecodeChars = [&]() {
-        std::array<char, 256>  result{};
-        for (auto& c : result)
-            c = npos;
-        for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
-            result[base64Chars[i]] = i;
-        return result;
-    }();
-
-    std::string res;
-    // Some sequences are missing the padding consisting of up to two '='.
-    //                    vvv
-    res.reserve((s.size() + 2) / 4 * 3);
-    unsigned int d = 0, bits = 0;
-
-    for (char c : s) {
-        if (c == '=') break;
-        if (c == '\n') continue;
-
-        char digit = base64DecodeChars[(unsigned char) c];
-        if (digit == npos)
-            throw Error("invalid character in Base64 string: '%c'", c);
-
-        bits += 6;
-        d = d << 6 | digit;
-        if (bits >= 8) {
-            res.push_back(d >> (bits - 8) & 0xff);
-            bits -= 8;
-        }
-    }
-
-    return res;
-}
-
-
-std::string stripIndentation(std::string_view s)
-{
-    size_t minIndent = 10000;
-    size_t curIndent = 0;
-    bool atStartOfLine = true;
-
-    for (auto & c : s) {
-        if (atStartOfLine && c == ' ')
-            curIndent++;
-        else if (c == '\n') {
-            if (atStartOfLine)
-                minIndent = std::max(minIndent, curIndent);
-            curIndent = 0;
-            atStartOfLine = true;
-        } else {
-            if (atStartOfLine) {
-                minIndent = std::min(minIndent, curIndent);
-                atStartOfLine = false;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    std::string res;
-
-    size_t pos = 0;
-    while (pos < s.size()) {
-        auto eol = s.find('\n', pos);
-        if (eol == s.npos) eol = s.size();
-        if (eol - pos > minIndent)
-            res.append(s.substr(pos + minIndent, eol - pos - minIndent));
-        res.push_back('\n');
-        pos = eol + 1;
-    }
-
-    return res;
-}
-
-
-std::pair<std::string_view, std::string_view> getLine(std::string_view s)
-{
-    auto newline = s.find('\n');
-
-    if (newline == s.npos) {
-        return {s, ""};
-    } else {
-        auto line = s.substr(0, newline);
-        if (!line.empty() && line[line.size() - 1] == '\r')
-            line = line.substr(0, line.size() - 1);
-        return {line, s.substr(newline + 1)};
-    }
-}
-
-
-//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-static Sync<std::pair<unsigned short, unsigned short>> windowSize{{0, 0}};
-
-
-void updateWindowSize()
-{
-    struct winsize ws;
-    if (ioctl(2, TIOCGWINSZ, &ws) == 0) {
-        auto windowSize_(windowSize.lock());
-        windowSize_->first = ws.ws_row;
-        windowSize_->second = ws.ws_col;
-    }
-}
-
-
-std::pair<unsigned short, unsigned short> getWindowSize()
-{
-    return *windowSize.lock();
-}
-
-
-rlim_t savedStackSize = 0;
-
-void setStackSize(rlim_t stackSize)
-{
-    struct rlimit limit;
-    if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit) == 0 && limit.rlim_cur < stackSize) {
-        savedStackSize = limit.rlim_cur;
-        limit.rlim_cur = std::min(stackSize, limit.rlim_max);
-        if (setrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit) != 0) {
-            logger->log(
-                lvlError,
-                HintFmt(
-                    "Failed to increase stack size from %1% to %2% (maximum allowed stack size: %3%): %4%",
-                    savedStackSize,
-                    stackSize,
-                    limit.rlim_max,
-                    std::strerror(errno)
-                ).str()
-            );
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-#if __linux__
-static AutoCloseFD fdSavedMountNamespace;
-static AutoCloseFD fdSavedRoot;
-#endif
-
-void saveMountNamespace()
-{
-#if __linux__
-    static std::once_flag done;
-    std::call_once(done, []() {
-        fdSavedMountNamespace = AutoCloseFD{open("/proc/self/ns/mnt", O_RDONLY)};
-        if (!fdSavedMountNamespace)
-            throw SysError("saving parent mount namespace");
-
-        fdSavedRoot = AutoCloseFD{open("/proc/self/root", O_RDONLY)};
-    });
-#endif
-}
-
-void restoreMountNamespace()
-{
-#if __linux__
-    try {
-        auto savedCwd = absPath(".");
-
-        if (fdSavedMountNamespace && setns(fdSavedMountNamespace.get(), CLONE_NEWNS) == -1)
-            throw SysError("restoring parent mount namespace");
-
-        if (fdSavedRoot) {
-            if (fchdir(fdSavedRoot.get()))
-                throw SysError("chdir into saved root");
-            if (chroot("."))
-                throw SysError("chroot into saved root");
-        }
-
-        if (chdir(savedCwd.c_str()) == -1)
-            throw SysError("restoring cwd");
-    } catch (Error & e) {
-        debug(e.msg());
-    }
-#endif
-}
-
-void unshareFilesystem()
-{
-#ifdef __linux__
-    if (unshare(CLONE_FS) != 0 && errno != EPERM)
-        throw SysError("unsharing filesystem state in download thread");
-#endif
-}
-
-void restoreProcessContext(bool restoreMounts)
-{
-    restoreSignals();
-    if (restoreMounts) {
-        restoreMountNamespace();
-    }
-
-    if (savedStackSize) {
-        struct rlimit limit;
-        if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit) == 0) {
-            limit.rlim_cur = savedStackSize;
-            setrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, &limit);
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket()
-{
-    AutoCloseFD fdSocket{socket(PF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM
-        #ifdef SOCK_CLOEXEC
-        | SOCK_CLOEXEC
-        #endif
-        , 0)};
-    if (!fdSocket)
-        throw SysError("cannot create Unix domain socket");
-    closeOnExec(fdSocket.get());
-    return fdSocket;
-}
-
-
-AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket(const Path & path, mode_t mode)
-{
-    auto fdSocket = nix::createUnixDomainSocket();
-
-    bind(fdSocket.get(), path);
-
-    chmodPath(path.c_str(), mode);
-
-    if (listen(fdSocket.get(), 100) == -1)
-        throw SysError("cannot listen on socket '%1%'", path);
-
-    return fdSocket;
-}
-
-
-static void bindConnectProcHelper(
-    std::string_view operationName, auto && operation,
-    int fd, const std::string & path)
-{
-    struct sockaddr_un addr;
-    addr.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
-
-    // Casting between types like these legacy C library interfaces
-    // require is forbidden in C++. To maintain backwards
-    // compatibility, the implementation of the bind/connect functions
-    // contains some hints to the compiler that allow for this
-    // special case.
-    auto * psaddr = reinterpret_cast<struct sockaddr *>(&addr);
-
-    if (path.size() + 1 >= sizeof(addr.sun_path)) {
-        Pipe pipe;
-        pipe.create();
-        Pid pid = startProcess([&] {
-            try {
-                pipe.readSide.close();
-                Path dir = dirOf(path);
-                if (chdir(dir.c_str()) == -1)
-                    throw SysError("chdir to '%s' failed", dir);
-                std::string base(baseNameOf(path));
-                if (base.size() + 1 >= sizeof(addr.sun_path))
-                    throw Error("socket path '%s' is too long", base);
-                memcpy(addr.sun_path, base.c_str(), base.size() + 1);
-                if (operation(fd, psaddr, sizeof(addr)) == -1)
-                    throw SysError("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
-                writeFull(pipe.writeSide.get(), "0\n");
-            } catch (SysError & e) {
-                writeFull(pipe.writeSide.get(), fmt("%d\n", e.errNo));
-            } catch (...) {
-                writeFull(pipe.writeSide.get(), "-1\n");
-            }
-        });
-        pipe.writeSide.close();
-        auto errNo = string2Int<int>(chomp(drainFD(pipe.readSide.get())));
-        if (!errNo || *errNo == -1)
-            throw Error("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
-        else if (*errNo > 0) {
-            errno = *errNo;
-            throw SysError("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
-        }
-    } else {
-        memcpy(addr.sun_path, path.c_str(), path.size() + 1);
-        if (operation(fd, psaddr, sizeof(addr)) == -1)
-            throw SysError("cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
-    }
-}
-
-
-void bind(int fd, const std::string & path)
-{
-    unlink(path.c_str());
-
-    bindConnectProcHelper("bind", ::bind, fd, path);
-}
-
-
-void connect(int fd, const std::string & path)
-{
-    bindConnectProcHelper("connect", ::connect, fd, path);
-}
-
-
-std::string showBytes(uint64_t bytes)
-{
-    return fmt("%.2f MiB", bytes / (1024.0 * 1024.0));
-}
-
-
-// FIXME: move to libstore/build
-void commonChildInit()
-{
-    logger = makeSimpleLogger();
-
-    const static std::string pathNullDevice = "/dev/null";
-    restoreProcessContext(false);
-
-    /* Put the child in a separate session (and thus a separate
-       process group) so that it has no controlling terminal (meaning
-       that e.g. ssh cannot open /dev/tty) and it doesn't receive
-       terminal signals. */
-    if (setsid() == -1)
-        throw SysError("creating a new session");
-
-    /* Dup stderr to stdout. */
-    if (dup2(STDERR_FILENO, STDOUT_FILENO) == -1)
-        throw SysError("cannot dup stderr into stdout");
-
-    /* Reroute stdin to /dev/null. */
-    int fdDevNull = open(pathNullDevice.c_str(), O_RDWR);
-    if (fdDevNull == -1)
-        throw SysError("cannot open '%1%'", pathNullDevice);
-    if (dup2(fdDevNull, STDIN_FILENO) == -1)
-        throw SysError("cannot dup null device into stdin");
-    close(fdDevNull);
-}
-
-}
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
deleted file mode 100644
index 14868776c..000000000
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,971 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-///@file
-
-#include "types.hh"
-#include "error.hh"
-#include "logging.hh"
-#include "ansicolor.hh"
-
-#include <sys/types.h>
-#include <sys/stat.h>
-#include <sys/resource.h>
-#include <dirent.h>
-#include <unistd.h>
-#include <signal.h>
-
-#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
-
-#include <atomic>
-#include <functional>
-#include <map>
-#include <sstream>
-#include <optional>
-
-#ifndef HAVE_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
-#define DT_UNKNOWN 0
-#define DT_REG 1
-#define DT_LNK 2
-#define DT_DIR 3
-#endif
-
-namespace nix {
-
-struct Sink;
-struct Source;
-
-/**
- * The system for which Nix is compiled.
- */
-extern const std::string nativeSystem;
-
-
-/**
- * @return an environment variable.
- */
-std::optional<std::string> getEnv(const std::string & key);
-
-/**
- * @return a non empty environment variable. Returns nullopt if the env
- * variable is set to ""
- */
-std::optional<std::string> getEnvNonEmpty(const std::string & key);
-
-/**
- * Get the entire environment.
- */
-std::map<std::string, std::string> getEnv();
-
-/**
- * Clear the environment.
- */
-void clearEnv();
-
-/**
- * @return An absolutized path, resolving paths relative to the
- * specified directory, or the current directory otherwise.  The path
- * is also canonicalised.
- */
-Path absPath(Path path,
-    std::optional<PathView> dir = {},
-    bool resolveSymlinks = false);
-
-/**
- * Canonicalise a path by removing all `.` or `..` components and
- * double or trailing slashes.  Optionally resolves all symlink
- * components such that each component of the resulting path is *not*
- * a symbolic link.
- */
-Path canonPath(PathView path, bool resolveSymlinks = false);
-
-/**
- * Change the permissions of a path
- * Not called `chmod` as it shadows and could be confused with
- * `int chmod(char *, mode_t)`, which does not handle errors
- */
-void chmodPath(const Path & path, mode_t mode);
-
-/**
- * @return The directory part of the given canonical path, i.e.,
- * everything before the final `/`.  If the path is the root or an
- * immediate child thereof (e.g., `/foo`), this means `/`
- * is returned.
- */
-Path dirOf(const PathView path);
-
-/**
- * @return the base name of the given canonical path, i.e., everything
- * following the final `/` (trailing slashes are removed).
- */
-std::string_view baseNameOf(std::string_view path);
-
-/**
- * Perform tilde expansion on a path.
- */
-std::string expandTilde(std::string_view path);
-
-/**
- * Check whether 'path' is a descendant of 'dir'. Both paths must be
- * canonicalized.
- */
-bool isInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir);
-
-/**
- * Check whether 'path' is equal to 'dir' or a descendant of
- * 'dir'. Both paths must be canonicalized.
- */
-bool isDirOrInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir);
-
-/**
- * Get status of `path`.
- */
-struct stat stat(const Path & path);
-struct stat lstat(const Path & path);
-
-/**
- * `lstat` the given path if it exists.
- * @return std::nullopt if the path doesn't exist, or an optional containing the result of `lstat` otherwise
- */
-std::optional<struct stat> maybeLstat(const Path & path);
-
-/**
- * @return true iff the given path exists.
- */
-bool pathExists(const Path & path);
-
-/**
- * A version of pathExists that returns false on a permission error.
- * Useful for inferring default paths across directories that might not
- * be readable.
- * @return true iff the given path can be accessed and exists
- */
-bool pathAccessible(const Path & path);
-
-/**
- * Read the contents (target) of a symbolic link.  The result is not
- * in any way canonicalised.
- */
-Path readLink(const Path & path);
-
-bool isLink(const Path & path);
-
-/**
- * Read the contents of a directory.  The entries `.` and `..` are
- * removed.
- */
-struct DirEntry
-{
-    std::string name;
-    ino_t ino;
-    /**
-     * one of DT_*
-     */
-    unsigned char type;
-    DirEntry(std::string name, ino_t ino, unsigned char type)
-        : name(std::move(name)), ino(ino), type(type) { }
-};
-
-typedef std::vector<DirEntry> DirEntries;
-
-DirEntries readDirectory(const Path & path);
-
-unsigned char getFileType(const Path & path);
-
-/**
- * Read the contents of a file into a string.
- */
-std::string readFile(int fd);
-std::string readFile(const Path & path);
-void readFile(const Path & path, Sink & sink);
-
-/**
- * Write a string to a file.
- */
-void writeFile(const Path & path, std::string_view s, mode_t mode = 0666, bool sync = false);
-
-void writeFile(const Path & path, Source & source, mode_t mode = 0666, bool sync = false);
-
-/**
- * Flush a file's parent directory to disk
- */
-void syncParent(const Path & path);
-
-/**
- * Read a line from a file descriptor.
- */
-std::string readLine(int fd);
-
-/**
- * Write a line to a file descriptor.
- */
-void writeLine(int fd, std::string s);
-
-/**
- * Delete a path; i.e., in the case of a directory, it is deleted
- * recursively. It's not an error if the path does not exist. The
- * second variant returns the number of bytes and blocks freed.
- */
-void deletePath(const Path & path);
-
-void deletePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed);
-
-std::string getUserName();
-
-/**
- * @return the given user's home directory from /etc/passwd.
- */
-Path getHomeOf(uid_t userId);
-
-/**
- * @return $HOME or the user's home directory from /etc/passwd.
- */
-Path getHome();
-
-/**
- * @return $XDG_CACHE_HOME or $HOME/.cache.
- */
-Path getCacheDir();
-
-/**
- * @return $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config.
- */
-Path getConfigDir();
-
-/**
- * @return the directories to search for user configuration files
- */
-std::vector<Path> getConfigDirs();
-
-/**
- * @return $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share.
- */
-Path getDataDir();
-
-/**
- * @return the path of the current executable.
- */
-std::optional<Path> getSelfExe();
-
-/**
- * @return $XDG_STATE_HOME or $HOME/.local/state.
- *
- * @note Not to be confused with settings.nixStateDir.
- */
-Path getStateDir();
-
-/**
- * Create $XDG_STATE_HOME/nix or $HOME/.local/state/nix, and return
- * the path to it.
- * @note Not to be confused with settings.nixStateDir.
- */
-Path createNixStateDir();
-
-/**
- * Create a directory and all its parents, if necessary.  Returns the
- * list of created directories, in order of creation.
- */
-Paths createDirs(const Path & path);
-inline Paths createDirs(PathView path)
-{
-    return createDirs(Path(path));
-}
-
-/**
- * Create a symlink.
- */
-void createSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link);
-
-/**
- * Atomically create or replace a symlink.
- */
-void replaceSymlink(const Path & target, const Path & link);
-
-void renameFile(const Path & src, const Path & dst);
-
-/**
- * Similar to 'renameFile', but fallback to a copy+remove if `src` and `dst`
- * are on a different filesystem.
- *
- * Beware that this might not be atomic because of the copy that happens behind
- * the scenes
- */
-void moveFile(const Path & src, const Path & dst);
-
-struct CopyFileFlags
-{
-    /**
-     * Delete the file after copying.
-     */
-    bool deleteAfter = false;
-
-    /**
-     * Follow symlinks and copy the eventual target.
-     */
-    bool followSymlinks = false;
-};
-
-/**
- * Recursively copy the content of `oldPath` to `newPath`. If `andDelete` is
- * `true`, then also remove `oldPath` (making this equivalent to `moveFile`, but
- * with the guaranty that the destination will be “fresh”, with no stale inode
- * or file descriptor pointing to it).
- */
-void copyFile(const Path & oldPath, const Path & newPath, CopyFileFlags flags);
-
-/**
- * Wrappers arount read()/write() that read/write exactly the
- * requested number of bytes.
- */
-void readFull(int fd, char * buf, size_t count);
-void writeFull(int fd, std::string_view s, bool allowInterrupts = true);
-
-MakeError(EndOfFile, Error);
-
-
-/**
- * Read a file descriptor until EOF occurs.
- */
-std::string drainFD(int fd, bool block = true, const size_t reserveSize=0);
-
-void drainFD(int fd, Sink & sink, bool block = true);
-
-/**
- * If cgroups are active, attempt to calculate the number of CPUs available.
- * If cgroups are unavailable or if cpu.max is set to "max", return 0.
- */
-unsigned int getMaxCPU();
-
-/**
- * Automatic cleanup of resources.
- */
-
-
-class AutoDelete
-{
-    Path path;
-    bool del;
-    bool recursive;
-public:
-    AutoDelete();
-    AutoDelete(const Path & p, bool recursive = true);
-    ~AutoDelete();
-    void cancel();
-    void reset(const Path & p, bool recursive = true);
-    operator Path() const { return path; }
-    operator PathView() const { return path; }
-};
-
-
-class AutoCloseFD
-{
-    int fd;
-public:
-    AutoCloseFD();
-    explicit AutoCloseFD(int fd);
-    AutoCloseFD(const AutoCloseFD & fd) = delete;
-    AutoCloseFD(AutoCloseFD&& fd);
-    ~AutoCloseFD();
-    AutoCloseFD& operator =(const AutoCloseFD & fd) = delete;
-    AutoCloseFD& operator =(AutoCloseFD&& fd) noexcept(false);
-    int get() const;
-    explicit operator bool() const;
-    int release();
-    void close();
-    void fsync();
-    void reset() { *this = {}; }
-};
-
-
-/**
- * Create a temporary directory.
- */
-Path createTempDir(const Path & tmpRoot = "", const Path & prefix = "nix",
-    bool includePid = true, bool useGlobalCounter = true, mode_t mode = 0755);
-
-/**
- * Create a temporary file, returning a file handle and its path.
- */
-std::pair<AutoCloseFD, Path> createTempFile(const Path & prefix = "nix");
-
-
-class Pipe
-{
-public:
-    AutoCloseFD readSide, writeSide;
-    void create();
-    void close();
-};
-
-
-struct DIRDeleter
-{
-    void operator()(DIR * dir) const {
-        closedir(dir);
-    }
-};
-
-typedef std::unique_ptr<DIR, DIRDeleter> AutoCloseDir;
-
-
-class Pid
-{
-    pid_t pid = -1;
-    bool separatePG = false;
-    int killSignal = SIGKILL;
-public:
-    Pid();
-    Pid(pid_t pid);
-    ~Pid() noexcept(false);
-    void operator =(pid_t pid);
-    operator pid_t();
-    int kill();
-    int wait();
-
-    void setSeparatePG(bool separatePG);
-    void setKillSignal(int signal);
-    pid_t release();
-};
-
-
-/**
- * Kill all processes running under the specified uid by sending them
- * a SIGKILL.
- */
-void killUser(uid_t uid);
-
-
-/**
- * Fork a process that runs the given function, and return the child
- * pid to the caller.
- */
-struct ProcessOptions
-{
-    std::string errorPrefix = "";
-    bool dieWithParent = true;
-    bool runExitHandlers = false;
-    /**
-     * use clone() with the specified flags (Linux only)
-     */
-    int cloneFlags = 0;
-};
-
-pid_t startProcess(std::function<void()> fun, const ProcessOptions & options = ProcessOptions());
-
-
-/**
- * Run a program and return its stdout in a string (i.e., like the
- * shell backtick operator).
- */
-std::string runProgram(Path program, bool searchPath = false,
-    const Strings & args = Strings(),
-    const std::optional<std::string> & input = {}, bool isInteractive = false);
-
-struct RunOptions
-{
-    Path program;
-    bool searchPath = true;
-    Strings args;
-    std::optional<uid_t> uid;
-    std::optional<uid_t> gid;
-    std::optional<Path> chdir;
-    std::optional<std::map<std::string, std::string>> environment;
-    std::optional<std::string> input;
-    Source * standardIn = nullptr;
-    Sink * standardOut = nullptr;
-    bool mergeStderrToStdout = false;
-    bool isInteractive = false;
-};
-
-std::pair<int, std::string> runProgram(RunOptions && options);
-
-void runProgram2(const RunOptions & options);
-
-
-/**
- * Change the stack size.
- */
-void setStackSize(rlim_t stackSize);
-
-
-/**
- * Restore the original inherited Unix process context (such as signal
- * masks, stack size).
-
- * See startSignalHandlerThread(), saveSignalMask().
- */
-void restoreProcessContext(bool restoreMounts = true);
-
-/**
- * Save the current mount namespace. Ignored if called more than
- * once.
- */
-void saveMountNamespace();
-
-/**
- * Restore the mount namespace saved by saveMountNamespace(). Ignored
- * if saveMountNamespace() was never called.
- */
-void restoreMountNamespace();
-
-/**
- * Cause this thread to not share any FS attributes with the main
- * thread, because this causes setns() in restoreMountNamespace() to
- * fail.
- */
-void unshareFilesystem();
-
-
-class ExecError : public Error
-{
-public:
-    int status;
-
-    template<typename... Args>
-    ExecError(int status, const 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
- * list of strings.
- */
-std::vector<char *> stringsToCharPtrs(const Strings & ss);
-
-/**
- * Close all file descriptors except those listed in the given set.
- * Good practice in child processes.
- */
-void closeMostFDs(const std::set<int> & exceptions);
-
-/**
- * Set the close-on-exec flag for the given file descriptor.
- */
-void closeOnExec(int fd);
-
-
-MakeError(FormatError, Error);
-
-
-/**
- * String tokenizer.
- */
-template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators = " \t\n\r");
-
-
-/**
- * Concatenate the given strings with a separator between the
- * elements.
- */
-template<class C>
-std::string concatStringsSep(const std::string_view sep, const C & ss)
-{
-    size_t size = 0;
-    // need a cast to string_view since this is also called with Symbols
-    for (const auto & s : ss) size += sep.size() + std::string_view(s).size();
-    std::string s;
-    s.reserve(size);
-    for (auto & i : ss) {
-        if (s.size() != 0) s += sep;
-        s += i;
-    }
-    return s;
-}
-
-template<class ... Parts>
-auto concatStrings(Parts && ... parts)
-    -> std::enable_if_t<(... && std::is_convertible_v<Parts, std::string_view>), std::string>
-{
-    std::string_view views[sizeof...(parts)] = { parts... };
-    return concatStringsSep({}, views);
-}
-
-
-/**
- * Add quotes around a collection of strings.
- */
-template<class C> Strings quoteStrings(const C & c)
-{
-    Strings res;
-    for (auto & s : c)
-        res.push_back("'" + s + "'");
-    return res;
-}
-
-/**
- * Remove trailing whitespace from a string.
- *
- * \todo return std::string_view.
- */
-std::string chomp(std::string_view s);
-
-
-/**
- * Remove whitespace from the start and end of a string.
- */
-std::string trim(std::string_view s, std::string_view whitespace = " \n\r\t");
-
-
-/**
- * Replace all occurrences of a string inside another string.
- */
-std::string replaceStrings(
-    std::string s,
-    std::string_view from,
-    std::string_view to);
-
-
-/**
- * Rewrites a string given a map of replacements, applying the replacements in
- * sorted order, only once, considering only the strings appearing in the input
- * string in performing replacement.
- *
- * - Replacements are not performed on intermediate strings. That is, for an input
- *   `"abb"` with replacements `{"ab" -> "ba"}`, the result is `"bab"`.
- * - Transitive replacements are not performed. For example, for the input `"abcde"`
- *   with replacements `{"a" -> "b", "b" -> "c", "e" -> "b"}`, the result is
- *   `"bccdb"`.
- */
-class Rewriter
-{
-private:
-    std::string initials;
-    std::map<std::string, std::string> rewrites;
-
-public:
-    explicit Rewriter(std::map<std::string, std::string> rewrites);
-
-    std::string operator()(std::string s);
-};
-
-inline std::string rewriteStrings(std::string s, const StringMap & rewrites)
-{
-    return Rewriter(rewrites)(s);
-}
-
-
-/**
- * Convert the exit status of a child as returned by wait() into an
- * error string.
- */
-std::string statusToString(int status);
-
-bool statusOk(int status);
-
-
-/**
- * Parse a string into an integer.
- */
-template<class N>
-std::optional<N> string2Int(const std::string_view s)
-{
-    if (s.substr(0, 1) == "-" && !std::numeric_limits<N>::is_signed)
-        return std::nullopt;
-    try {
-        return boost::lexical_cast<N>(s.data(), s.size());
-    } catch (const boost::bad_lexical_cast &) {
-        return std::nullopt;
-    }
-}
-
-/**
- * Like string2Int(), but support an optional suffix 'K', 'M', 'G' or
- * 'T' denoting a binary unit prefix.
- */
-template<class N>
-N string2IntWithUnitPrefix(std::string_view s)
-{
-    N multiplier = 1;
-    if (!s.empty()) {
-        char u = std::toupper(*s.rbegin());
-        if (std::isalpha(u)) {
-            if (u == 'K') multiplier = 1ULL << 10;
-            else if (u == 'M') multiplier = 1ULL << 20;
-            else if (u == 'G') multiplier = 1ULL << 30;
-            else if (u == 'T') multiplier = 1ULL << 40;
-            else throw UsageError("invalid unit specifier '%1%'", u);
-            s.remove_suffix(1);
-        }
-    }
-    if (auto n = string2Int<N>(s))
-        return *n * multiplier;
-    throw UsageError("'%s' is not an integer", s);
-}
-
-/**
- * Parse a string into a float.
- */
-template<class N>
-std::optional<N> string2Float(const std::string_view s)
-{
-    try {
-        return boost::lexical_cast<N>(s.data(), s.size());
-    } catch (const boost::bad_lexical_cast &) {
-        return std::nullopt;
-    }
-}
-
-
-/**
- * Convert a little-endian integer to host order.
- */
-template<typename T>
-T readLittleEndian(unsigned char * p)
-{
-    T x = 0;
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < sizeof(x); ++i, ++p) {
-        x |= ((T) *p) << (i * 8);
-    }
-    return x;
-}
-
-/**
- * Convert a string to lower case.
- */
-std::string toLower(const std::string & s);
-
-
-/**
- * Escape a string as a shell word.
- */
-std::string shellEscape(const std::string_view s);
-
-
-/**
- * Exception handling in destructors: print an error message, then
- * ignore the exception.
- */
-void ignoreException(Verbosity lvl = lvlError);
-
-
-
-/**
- * Tree formatting.
- */
-constexpr char treeConn[] = "├───";
-constexpr char treeLast[] = "└───";
-constexpr char treeLine[] = "│   ";
-constexpr char treeNull[] = "    ";
-
-/**
- * Determine whether ANSI escape sequences are appropriate for the
- * present output.
- */
-bool shouldANSI();
-
-/**
- * Truncate a string to 'width' printable characters. If 'filterAll'
- * is true, all ANSI escape sequences are filtered out. Otherwise,
- * some escape sequences (such as colour setting) are copied but not
- * included in the character count. Also, tabs are expanded to
- * spaces.
- */
-std::string filterANSIEscapes(std::string_view s,
-    bool filterAll = false,
-    unsigned int width = std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::max());
-
-
-/**
- * Base64 encoding/decoding.
- */
-std::string base64Encode(std::string_view s);
-std::string base64Decode(std::string_view s);
-
-
-/**
- * Remove common leading whitespace from the lines in the string
- * 's'. For example, if every line is indented by at least 3 spaces,
- * then we remove 3 spaces from the start of every line.
- */
-std::string stripIndentation(std::string_view s);
-
-
-/**
- * Get the prefix of 's' up to and excluding the next line break (LF
- * optionally preceded by CR), and the remainder following the line
- * break.
- */
-std::pair<std::string_view, std::string_view> getLine(std::string_view s);
-
-
-/**
- * Get a value for the specified key from an associate container.
- */
-template <class T>
-const typename T::mapped_type * get(const T & map, const typename T::key_type & key)
-{
-    auto i = map.find(key);
-    if (i == map.end()) return nullptr;
-    return &i->second;
-}
-
-template <class T>
-typename T::mapped_type * get(T & map, const typename T::key_type & key)
-{
-    auto i = map.find(key);
-    if (i == map.end()) return nullptr;
-    return &i->second;
-}
-
-/**
- * Get a value for the specified key from an associate container, or a default value if the key isn't present.
- */
-template <class T>
-const typename T::mapped_type & getOr(T & map,
-    const typename T::key_type & key,
-    const typename T::mapped_type & defaultValue)
-{
-    auto i = map.find(key);
-    if (i == map.end()) return defaultValue;
-    return i->second;
-}
-
-/**
- * Remove and return the first item from a container.
- */
-template <class T>
-std::optional<typename T::value_type> remove_begin(T & c)
-{
-    auto i = c.begin();
-    if (i == c.end()) return {};
-    auto v = std::move(*i);
-    c.erase(i);
-    return v;
-}
-
-
-/**
- * Remove and return the first item from a container.
- */
-template <class T>
-std::optional<typename T::value_type> pop(T & c)
-{
-    if (c.empty()) return {};
-    auto v = std::move(c.front());
-    c.pop();
-    return v;
-}
-
-
-/**
- * A RAII helper that increments a counter on construction and
- * decrements it on destruction.
- */
-template<typename T>
-struct MaintainCount
-{
-    T & counter;
-    long delta;
-    MaintainCount(T & counter, long delta = 1) : counter(counter), delta(delta) { counter += delta; }
-    ~MaintainCount() { counter -= delta; }
-};
-
-
-/**
- * @return the number of rows and columns of the terminal.
- */
-std::pair<unsigned short, unsigned short> getWindowSize();
-
-void updateWindowSize();
-
-
-/**
- * Used in various places.
- */
-typedef std::function<bool(const Path & path)> PathFilter;
-
-extern PathFilter defaultPathFilter;
-
-/**
- * Common initialisation performed in child processes.
- */
-void commonChildInit();
-
-/**
- * Create a Unix domain socket.
- */
-AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket();
-
-/**
- * Create a Unix domain socket in listen mode.
- */
-AutoCloseFD createUnixDomainSocket(const Path & path, mode_t mode);
-
-/**
- * Bind a Unix domain socket to a path.
- */
-void bind(int fd, const std::string & path);
-
-/**
- * Connect to a Unix domain socket.
- */
-void connect(int fd, const std::string & path);
-
-
-/**
- * A Rust/Python-like enumerate() iterator adapter.
- *
- * Borrowed from http://reedbeta.com/blog/python-like-enumerate-in-cpp17.
- */
-template <typename T,
-          typename TIter = decltype(std::begin(std::declval<T>())),
-          typename = decltype(std::end(std::declval<T>()))>
-constexpr auto enumerate(T && iterable)
-{
-    struct iterator
-    {
-        size_t i;
-        TIter iter;
-        constexpr bool operator != (const iterator & other) const { return iter != other.iter; }
-        constexpr void operator ++ () { ++i; ++iter; }
-        constexpr auto operator * () const { return std::tie(i, *iter); }
-    };
-
-    struct iterable_wrapper
-    {
-        T iterable;
-        constexpr auto begin() { return iterator{ 0, std::begin(iterable) }; }
-        constexpr auto end() { return iterator{ 0, std::end(iterable) }; }
-    };
-
-    return iterable_wrapper{ std::forward<T>(iterable) };
-}
-
-
-/**
- * C++17 std::visit boilerplate
- */
-template<class... Ts> struct overloaded : Ts... { using Ts::operator()...; };
-template<class... Ts> overloaded(Ts...) -> overloaded<Ts...>;
-
-
-std::string showBytes(uint64_t bytes);
-
-
-/**
- * Provide an addition operator between strings and string_views
- * inexplicably omitted from the standard library.
- */
-inline std::string operator + (const std::string & s1, std::string_view s2)
-{
-    auto s = s1;
-    s.append(s2);
-    return s;
-}
-
-inline std::string operator + (std::string && s, std::string_view s2)
-{
-    s.append(s2);
-    return std::move(s);
-}
-
-inline std::string operator + (std::string_view s1, const char * s2)
-{
-    std::string s;
-    s.reserve(s1.size() + strlen(s2));
-    s.append(s1);
-    s.append(s2);
-    return s;
-}
-
-}
diff --git a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
index 9a3994842..31d4ac9ff 100644
--- a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
+++ b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "local-fs-store.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
+#include "current-process.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "path-with-outputs.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
diff --git a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
index 26003f021..971337b63 100644
--- a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
+++ b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #include "legacy.hh"
 #include "fetchers.hh"
 #include "eval-settings.hh" // for defexpr
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <regex>
diff --git a/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc b/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc
index 1cbba0537..54de68232 100644
--- a/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc
+++ b/src/nix-collect-garbage/nix-collect-garbage.cc
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "store-cast.hh"
 #include "gc-store.hh"
diff --git a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
index ad255a1e1..227a3331c 100644
--- a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
+++ b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "local-fs-store.hh"
 #include "user-env.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "users.hh"
 #include "value-to-json.hh"
 #include "xml-writer.hh"
 #include "legacy.hh"
diff --git a/src/nix-env/user-env.cc b/src/nix-env/user-env.cc
index f0131a458..530039ac6 100644
--- a/src/nix-env/user-env.cc
+++ b/src/nix-env/user-env.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "user-env.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "path-with-outputs.hh"
diff --git a/src/nix-instantiate/nix-instantiate.cc b/src/nix-instantiate/nix-instantiate.cc
index 3b99b73b4..c0b251ae4 100644
--- a/src/nix-instantiate/nix-instantiate.cc
+++ b/src/nix-instantiate/nix-instantiate.cc
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 #include "attr-path.hh"
 #include "value-to-xml.hh"
 #include "value-to-json.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "local-fs-store.hh"
 #include "common-eval-args.hh"
diff --git a/src/nix-store/dotgraph.cc b/src/nix-store/dotgraph.cc
index 577cadceb..2c530999b 100644
--- a/src/nix-store/dotgraph.cc
+++ b/src/nix-store/dotgraph.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "dotgraph.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 
 #include <iostream>
diff --git a/src/nix-store/graphml.cc b/src/nix-store/graphml.cc
index 439557658..3e789a2d8 100644
--- a/src/nix-store/graphml.cc
+++ b/src/nix-store/graphml.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #include "graphml.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
 
diff --git a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
index 75d8b6c6d..b38e4f4f8 100644
--- a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
+++ b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #include "serve-protocol.hh"
 #include "serve-protocol-impl.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "graphml.hh"
 #include "legacy.hh"
 #include "path-with-outputs.hh"
diff --git a/src/nix/daemon.cc b/src/nix/daemon.cc
index 9d4afb6d9..f1cc1ee9c 100644
--- a/src/nix/daemon.cc
+++ b/src/nix/daemon.cc
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 #include "local-store.hh"
 #include "remote-store.hh"
 #include "remote-store-connection.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "serialise.hh"
 #include "archive.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
@@ -14,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "legacy.hh"
 #include "signals.hh"
 #include "daemon.hh"
+#include "unix-domain-socket.hh"
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <climits>
diff --git a/src/nix/develop.cc b/src/nix/develop.cc
index b5543447e..cd32bb20a 100644
--- a/src/nix/develop.cc
+++ b/src/nix/develop.cc
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "progress-bar.hh"
 #include "run.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 #include <iterator>
 #include <memory>
diff --git a/src/nix/doctor.cc b/src/nix/doctor.cc
index da7a1d7a0..4e1cfe8c0 100644
--- a/src/nix/doctor.cc
+++ b/src/nix/doctor.cc
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "local-fs-store.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "worker-protocol.hh"
 
 using namespace nix;
diff --git a/src/nix/edit.cc b/src/nix/edit.cc
index 66629fab0..d1741a254 100644
--- a/src/nix/edit.cc
+++ b/src/nix/edit.cc
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "attr-path.hh"
 #include "progress-bar.hh"
 #include "editor-for.hh"
+#include "current-process.hh"
 
 #include <unistd.h>
 
diff --git a/src/nix/main.cc b/src/nix/main.cc
index 83d697326..5d92cfd76 100644
--- a/src/nix/main.cc
+++ b/src/nix/main.cc
@@ -3,10 +3,12 @@
 #include "args/root.hh"
 #include "command.hh"
 #include "common-args.hh"
+#include "current-process.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "eval-settings.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "legacy.hh"
+#include "namespaces.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "filetransfer.hh"
diff --git a/src/nix/run.cc b/src/nix/run.cc
index 94d492ca7..e1e896bb4 100644
--- a/src/nix/run.cc
+++ b/src/nix/run.cc
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include "progress-bar.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "build/personality.hh"
+#include "current-process.hh"
 
 #if __linux__
 #include <sys/mount.h>
diff --git a/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc b/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc
index 3e47fc8f0..cbc28fdd7 100644
--- a/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc
+++ b/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "common-args.hh"
 #include "local-fs-store.hh"
 #include "logging.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
 #include "profiles.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "filetransfer.hh"
diff --git a/tests/functional/repl_characterization/repl_characterization.cc b/tests/functional/repl_characterization/repl_characterization.cc
index 0d3e5352d..c91d6c1e3 100644
--- a/tests/functional/repl_characterization/repl_characterization.cc
+++ b/tests/functional/repl_characterization/repl_characterization.cc
@@ -6,12 +6,10 @@
 #include <string_view>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
-#include "escape-string.hh"
 #include "test-session.hh"
 #include "tests/characterization.hh"
 #include "tests/cli-literate-parser.hh"
-#include "tests/terminal-code-eater.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 using namespace std::string_literals;
 
diff --git a/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.cc b/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.cc
index c3eb45b85..be3d407f3 100644
--- a/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.cc
+++ b/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.cc
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "test-session.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "escape-char.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.hh b/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.hh
index 9961849fc..c77cce6d5 100644
--- a/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.hh
+++ b/tests/functional/repl_characterization/test-session.hh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #include <span>
 #include <string>
 
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-descriptor.hh"
 #include "tests/terminal-code-eater.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/tests/unit/libcmd/args.cc b/tests/unit/libcmd/args.cc
index 73550dacf..886467ea0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libcmd/args.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/libcmd/args.cc
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 #include "filetransfer.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 
 constexpr std::string_view INVALID_CHANNEL = "channel:example";
 constexpr std::string_view CHANNEL_URL = "https://nixos.org/channels/example/nixexprs.tar.xz";
diff --git a/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/test-data.hh b/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/test-data.hh
index 7aa1dd90d..1fec6f912 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/test-data.hh
+++ b/tests/unit/libstore-support/tests/test-data.hh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #pragma once
 
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/tests/unit/libstore/machines.cc b/tests/unit/libstore/machines.cc
index 0277237bb..ba27d85b7 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libstore/machines.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/libstore/machines.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+#include "file-system.hh"
 #include "machines.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 #include "tests/test-data.hh"
 
 #include <gmock/gmock-matchers.h>
diff --git a/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/characterization.hh b/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/characterization.hh
index 7f570f619..db82476da 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/characterization.hh
+++ b/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/characterization.hh
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 #pragma once
 ///@file
 
+#include "environment-variables.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+
 #include <gtest/gtest.h>
 
 #include <filesystem>
 
-#include "util.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
diff --git a/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/cli-literate-parser.cc b/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/cli-literate-parser.cc
index 822f5e276..f74fe85eb 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/cli-literate-parser.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/libutil-support/tests/cli-literate-parser.cc
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 #include "escape-char.hh"
 #include "libexpr/print.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include <ranges>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string/replace.hpp>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string/trim.hpp>
@@ -18,7 +17,7 @@
 #include "libexpr/print.hh"
 #include "shlex.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 
 static constexpr const bool DEBUG_PARSER = false;
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/libutil/logging.cc b/tests/unit/libutil/logging.cc
index 94cbe9c51..f99f49527 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libutil/logging.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/libutil/logging.cc
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 #include "logging.hh"
 #include "nixexpr.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
 #include <fstream>
 
 #include <gtest/gtest.h>
diff --git a/tests/unit/libutil/tests.cc b/tests/unit/libutil/tests.cc
index 720370066..9a44ad59b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libutil/tests.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/libutil/tests.cc
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
-#include "util.hh"
+#include "file-system.hh"
+#include "processes.hh"
+#include "strings.hh"
 #include "types.hh"
+#include "terminal.hh"
 
-#include <limits.h>
 #include <gtest/gtest.h>
 
 #include <numeric>
 
 namespace nix {
 
-/* ----------- tests for util.hh ------------------------------------------------*/
+/* ----------- tests for libutil ------------------------------------------------*/
 
     /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
      * absPath