diff --git a/modules/config/i18n.nix b/modules/config/i18n.nix
index c53325ed4e6..dd435d481b7 100644
--- a/modules/config/i18n.nix
+++ b/modules/config/i18n.nix
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
-{pkgs, config, ...}:
+{ config, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with pkgs.lib;
 
 ###### interface
+
 let
-  inherit (pkgs.lib) mkOption mkIf;
 
   options = {
     i18n = {
@@ -45,16 +47,15 @@ let
           The keyboard mapping table for the virtual consoles.
         ";
       };
+      
     };
+    
   };
-in
-
+  
 ###### implementation
 
-let
-
   glibcLocales = pkgs.glibcLocales.override {
-    allLocales = pkgs.lib.any (x: x == "all") config.i18n.supportedLocales;
+    allLocales = any (x: x == "all") config.i18n.supportedLocales;
     locales = config.i18n.supportedLocales;
   };
 
@@ -63,10 +64,19 @@ in
 {
   require = options;
 
-  environment.systemPackages = [glibcLocales];
+  environment.systemPackages = [ glibcLocales ];
 
   environment.shellInit =
     ''
       export LANG=${config.i18n.defaultLocale}
     '';
+
+  # ‘/etc/locale.conf’ is used by systemd.
+  environment.etc = singleton
+    { target = "locale.conf";
+      source = pkgs.writeText "locale.conf"
+        ''
+          LANG=${config.i18n.defaultLocale}
+        '';
+    };
 }
diff --git a/modules/tasks/kbd.nix b/modules/tasks/kbd.nix
index dd4b9f382c0..aa708fb6019 100644
--- a/modules/tasks/kbd.nix
+++ b/modules/tasks/kbd.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ let
     ++ config.boot.extraTTYs
     ++ [ config.services.syslogd.tty ];
   ttys = map (dev: "/dev/${dev}") requiredTTYs;
-  defaultLocale = config.i18n.defaultLocale;
   consoleFont = config.i18n.consoleFont;
   consoleKeyMap = config.i18n.consoleKeyMap;
 
@@ -23,6 +22,7 @@ in
 
     # most options are defined in i18n.nix
 
+    # FIXME: still needed?
     boot.extraTTYs = mkOption {
       default = [];
       example = ["tty8" "tty9"];
@@ -56,73 +56,17 @@ in
 
     environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.kbd ];
 
-    /* FIXME - remove; this is handled by systemd now.
-    
-    jobs.kbd =
-      { description = "Keyboard / console initialisation";
-
-        startOn = "started udev";
-
-        task = true;
-
-        script = ''
-          export LANG=${defaultLocale}
-          export LOCALE_ARCHIVE=/run/current-system/sw/lib/locale/locale-archive
-          export PATH=${pkgs.gzip}/bin:$PATH # Needed by setfont
-
-          set +e # continue in case of errors
-
-
-          # Enable or disable UTF-8 mode.  This is based on
-          # unicode_{start,stop}.
-          echo 'Enabling or disabling Unicode mode...'
-
-          charMap=$(${pkgs.glibc}/bin/locale charmap)
-
-          if test "$charMap" = UTF-8; then
-
-            for tty in ${toString ttys}; do
-
-              # Tell the console output driver that the bytes arriving are
-              # UTF-8 encoded multibyte sequences.
-              echo -n -e '\033%G' > $tty
-
-            done
-
-            # Set the keyboard driver in UTF-8 mode.
-            # !!! Commented out because it running this while the X
-            # server is running kicks the X server out of raw mode.
-            # UTF-8 mode is the default nowadays anyway.
-            # ${pkgs.kbd}/bin/kbd_mode -u
-
-          else
-
-            for tty in ${toString ttys}; do
-
-              # Tell the console output driver that the bytes arriving are
-              # UTF-8 encoded multibyte sequences.
-              echo -n -e '\033%@' > $tty
-
-            done
-
-            # Set the keyboard driver in ASCII (or any 8-bit character
-            # set) mode.
-            ${pkgs.kbd}/bin/kbd_mode -a
-
-          fi
-
-
-          # Set the console font.
-          for tty in ${toString ttys}; do
-            ${pkgs.kbd}/bin/setfont -C $tty ${consoleFont}
-          done
-
-
-          # Set the keymap.
-          ${pkgs.kbd}/bin/loadkeys '${consoleKeyMap}'
-        '';
+    # Let systemd-vconsole-setup.service do the work of setting up the
+    # virtual consoles.  FIXME: trigger a restart of
+    # systemd-vconsole-setup.service if /etc/vconsole.conf changes.
+    environment.etc = singleton
+      { target = "vconsole.conf";
+        source = pkgs.writeText "vconsole.conf"
+          ''
+            KEYMAP=${consoleKeyMap}
+            FONT=${consoleFont}
+          '';
       };
-    */
 
   };