diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
index 0f9223f6da5..fcb50bd9ff5 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ let lib = import ../../../lib; in lib.makeOverridable (
 
 let
 
-  shouldCheckMeta = config.checkMeta or true;
+  # See discussion at https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/25304#issuecomment-298385426
+  # for why this defaults to false, but I (@copumpkin) want to default it to true soon.
+  shouldCheckMeta = config.checkMeta or false;
 
   allowUnfree = config.allowUnfree or false || builtins.getEnv "NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE" == "1";