diff --git i/doc/manual/default.nix w/doc/manual/default.nix
index 0be5ed2..9fcaced 100644
--- i/doc/manual/default.nix
+++ w/doc/manual/default.nix
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-{ revision ? "local", nixpkgs ? <nixpkgs> }:
+{ revision ? "local", nixpkgs ? <nixpkgs>, system ? builtins.currentSystem }:
 
 let
 
-  pkgs = import nixpkgs {};
+  pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; };
 
   systemModule = pkgs.lib.fixMergeModules [ ../../nix/options.nix ./dummy.nix ] {
                    inherit pkgs; utils = {};
diff --git i/release.nix w/release.nix
index 17b1eda..75bb6be 100644
--- i/release.nix
+++ w/release.nix
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
 , officialRelease ? false
 , nixpkgs ? <nixpkgs>
 , p ? (p: [ ])
+, system ? builtins.currentSystem
 }:
 
 let
-  pkgs = import nixpkgs { config = {}; overlays = []; };
+  pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; config = {}; overlays = []; };
   version = "1.8" + (if officialRelease then "" else "pre${toString nixopsSrc.revCount}_${nixopsSrc.shortRev}");
 
   allPlugins = let
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ in rec {
     distPhase =
       ''
         # Generate the manual and the man page.
-        cp ${(import ./doc/manual { revision = nixopsSrc.rev; inherit nixpkgs; }).optionsDocBook} doc/manual/machine-options.xml
+        cp ${(import ./doc/manual { revision = nixopsSrc.rev; inherit nixpkgs system; }).optionsDocBook} doc/manual/machine-options.xml
 
         for i in scripts/nixops setup.py doc/manual/manual.xml; do
           substituteInPlace $i --subst-var-by version ${version}
