diff --git a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/build-tex-env.nix b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/build-tex-env.nix
index 99eb67aa6ff2..41231ae1b186 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/build-tex-env.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/build-tex-env.nix
@@ -40,9 +40,10 @@ lib.fix (self: {
 let
   ### texlive.combine backward compatibility
   # if necessary, convert old style { pkgs = [ ... ]; } packages to attribute sets
-  ensurePkgSets = ps: if ! __fromCombineWrapper && builtins.any (p: p ? pkgs && builtins.all (p: p ? tlType) p.pkgs) ps
-    then let oldStyle = builtins.partition (p: p ? pkgs && builtins.all (p: p ? tlType) p.pkgs) ps;
-      in oldStyle.wrong ++ lib.concatMap toTLPkgSets oldStyle.right
+  isOldPkgList = p: ! p.outputSpecified or false && p ? pkgs && builtins.all (p: p ? tlType) p.pkgs;
+  ensurePkgSets = ps: if ! __fromCombineWrapper && builtins.any isOldPkgList ps
+    then let oldPkgLists = builtins.partition isOldPkgList ps;
+      in oldPkgLists.wrong ++ lib.concatMap toTLPkgSets oldPkgLists.right
     else ps;
 
   pkgList = rec {