diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/default.nix
index 0e3de0c4ab98..d4f2f50ceee6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/default.nix
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
         pkgsBuildHost = pkgsBuildBuild // { targetPackages.stdenv = llvmPackages_5.stdenv; };
         pkgsBuildTarget = pkgsBuildTarget // { targetPackages.stdenv = llvmPackages_5.stdenv; };
       });
+      rustfmt = self.callPackage ./rustfmt.nix { inherit Security; };
       cargo = self.callPackage ./cargo.nix {
         # Use boot package set to break cycle
         rustPlatform = bootRustPlatform;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/rustfmt.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/rustfmt.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..62a6ccbbef17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/rust/rustfmt.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+{ stdenv, rustPlatform, rustc, Security }:
+
+rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
+  name = "rustfmt-${version}";
+  inherit (rustc) version src;
+
+  # the rust source tarball already has all the dependencies vendored, no need to fetch them again
+  cargoVendorDir = "vendor";
+  preBuild = "pushd src/tools/rustfmt";
+  postBuild = "popd";
+
+  buildInputs = stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin Security;
+
+  # As of 1.0.0 and rustc 1.30 rustfmt requires a nightly compiler
+  RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP = 1;
+
+  # Without disabling the test the build fails with:
+  #
+  #   Compiling rustc_llvm v0.0.0 (/private/tmp/nix-build-rustfmt-1.36.0.drv-0/rustc-1.36.0-src/src/librustc_llvm)
+  #   ...
+  #   error: failed to run custom build command for `rustc_llvm v0.0.0
+  #     (/private/tmp/nix-build-rustfmt-1.36.0.drv-0/rustc-1.36.0-src/src/librustc_llvm)`
+  #
+  #   Caused by:
+  #     process didn't exit successfully:
+  #       `/private/tmp/nix-build-rustfmt-1.36.0.drv-0/rustc-1.36.0-src/target/debug/build/rustc_llvm-4d3eb1eff32fd46b/build-script-build` (exit code: 101)
+  #   --- stdout
+  #   cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=REAL_LIBRARY_PATH_VAR
+  #   cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=REAL_LIBRARY_PATH
+  #
+  #   --- stderr
+  #   thread 'main' panicked at 'REAL_LIBRARY_PATH_VAR', src/libcore/option.rs:1036:5
+  #   note: Run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace.
+  #
+  # Setting the following:
+  #
+  #   # This mimics https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/1.36.0/src/bootstrap/util.rs#L58:L70
+  #   REAL_LIBRARY_PATH_VAR =
+  #     if stdenv.isDarwin then "DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH"
+  #     else "LD_LIBRARY_PATH";
+  #
+  # Results in:
+  #
+  #   Compiling rustc_llvm v0.0.0 (/private/tmp/nix-build-rustfmt-1.36.0.drv-0/rustc-1.36.0-src/src/librustc_llvm)
+  #   ...
+  #   error: failed to run custom build command for `rustc_llvm v0.0.0 (/private/tmp/nix-build-rustfmt-1.36.0.drv-0/rustc-1.36.0-src/src/librustc_llvm)`
+  #
+  #   Caused by:
+  #     process didn't exit successfully: `/private/tmp/nix-build-rustfmt-1.36.0.drv-0/rustc-1.36.0-src/target/debug/build/rustc_llvm-4d3eb1eff32fd46b/build-script-build` (exit code: 1)
+  #   --- stdout
+  #   cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=REAL_LIBRARY_PATH_VAR
+  #   cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=REAL_LIBRARY_PATH
+  #   cargo:rerun-if-changed=llvm-config
+  #   cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=LLVM_CONFIG
+  #
+  #
+  #   failed to execute command: "llvm-config" "--version"
+  #   error: No such file or directory (os error 2)
+  #
+  # Adding `llvmSharedForBuild` to rustc's `passthru` and adding
+  # `rustc.llvmSharedForBuild` to the `buildInputs` fixes this but then the
+  # build fails lateron with:
+  #
+  #   Compiling rustc_llvm v0.0.0 (/private/tmp/nix-build-rustfmt-1.36.0.drv-0/rustc-1.36.0-src/src/librustc_llvm)
+  #   ...
+  #   error[E0658]: use of unstable library feature 'rustc_private': this crate is being loaded from the sysroot, an unstable location; did you mean to load this crate from crates.io via `Cargo.toml` instead?
+  #    --> src/librustc_llvm/lib.rs:9:1
+  #     |
+  #   9 | extern crate rustc_cratesio_shim;
+  #     | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+  #     |
+  #     = note: for more information, see https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/27812
+  #     = help: add #![feature(rustc_private)] to the crate attributes to enable
+  #
+  #   error: aborting due to previous error
+  #
+  #   For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0658`.
+  #
+  #   error: Could not compile `rustc_llvm`.
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    description = "A tool for formatting Rust code according to style guidelines";
+    homepage = https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/rustfmt;
+    license = with licenses; [ mit asl20 ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ globin basvandijk ];
+    platforms = platforms.all;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/rust/rustfmt/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/rust/rustfmt/default.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index b98ab0dc74d7..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/rust/rustfmt/default.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, rustPlatform, darwin }:
-
-rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
-  name = "rustfmt-${version}";
-  version = "1.2.2";
-
-  src = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "rust-lang";
-    repo = "rustfmt";
-    rev = "v${version}";
-    sha256 = "1k9p6sp8q87flx9vzg46880ir7likvbydai3g6q76278h86rn0v8";
-  };
-
-  cargoSha256 = "08x6vy5v2vgrk3gsw3qcvv52a7hifsgcsnsg1phlk1ikaff21y4z";
-
-  buildInputs = stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks.Security;
-
-  # As of 1.0.0 and rustc 1.30 rustfmt requires a nightly compiler
-  RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP = 1;
-
-  # we run tests in debug mode so tests look for a debug build of
-  # rustfmt. Anyway this adds nearly no compilation time.
-  preCheck = ''
-    cargo build
-  '';
-
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "A tool for formatting Rust code according to style guidelines";
-    homepage = https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/rustfmt;
-    license = with licenses; [ mit asl20 ];
-    maintainers = [ maintainers.globin ];
-    platforms = platforms.all;
-  };
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 5e9eb55dbab7..e5f86984b17d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -8243,7 +8243,7 @@ in
   rls = callPackage ../development/tools/rust/rls {
     inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) CoreFoundation Security;
   };
-  rustfmt = callPackage ../development/tools/rust/rustfmt { };
+  rustfmt = rustPackages.rustfmt;
   rustracer = callPackage ../development/tools/rust/racer {
     inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) Security;
   };