diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/xi/xinit/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/xi/xinit/package.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cd1b7eb26009
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/xi/xinit/package.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+{
+  lib,
+  stdenv,
+  fetchFromGitLab,
+  buildPackages,
+  autoreconfHook,
+  pkg-config,
+  util-macros,
+  darwin,
+  libx11,
+  xorgproto,
+  xauth,
+  xorg-server,
+  nix-update-script,
+}:
+stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
+  pname = "xinit";
+  version = "1.4.4";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitLab {
+    domain = "gitlab.freedesktop.org";
+    group = "xorg";
+    owner = "app";
+    repo = "xinit";
+    tag = "xinit-${finalAttrs.version}";
+    hash = "sha256-1GL0xJ/l9BnhoUyD5m1Ch86hjcRdBnys366qM4Lj84U=";
+  };
+
+  strictDeps = true;
+
+  depsBuildBuild = [ buildPackages.stdenv.cc ];
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    autoreconfHook
+    pkg-config
+    util-macros
+  ]
+  ++ lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin [
+    darwin.bootstrap_cmds
+  ];
+
+  buildInputs = [
+    libx11
+    xorgproto
+  ];
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [
+    xauth
+  ]
+  ++ lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin [
+    libx11
+    xorgproto
+  ];
+
+  configureFlags = [
+    "--with-xserver=${xorg-server.out}/bin/X"
+  ]
+  ++ lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin [
+    "--with-bundle-id-prefix=org.nixos.xquartz"
+    "--with-launchdaemons-dir=${placeholder "out"}/LaunchDaemons"
+    "--with-launchagents-dir=${placeholder "out"}/LaunchAgents"
+  ];
+
+  postFixup = ''
+    substituteInPlace $out/bin/startx \
+      --replace-fail '"''${prefix}/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc"' '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc' \
+      --replace-fail '"$xinitdir/xserverrc"' '/etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc'
+  '';
+
+  passthru = {
+    updateScript = nix-update-script { extraArgs = [ "--version-regex=xinit-(.*)" ]; };
+  };
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "X server & client startup utilities (includes startx)";
+    homepage = "https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xinit";
+    license = with lib.licenses; [
+      mitOpenGroup
+      x11
+    ];
+    mainProgram = "xinit";
+    maintainers = [ ];
+    platforms = lib.platforms.unix;
+  };
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/default.nix
index 79141d56bf1e..b62e8afb1f99 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/default.nix
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@
   xgamma,
   xgc,
   xhost,
+  xinit,
   xkbevd,
   xkbprint,
   xkbutils,
@@ -221,6 +222,7 @@ self: with self; {
     xgamma
     xgc
     xhost
+    xinit
     xkbevd
     xkbprint
     xkbutils
@@ -2124,42 +2126,6 @@ self: with self; {
     })
   ) { };
 
-  # THIS IS A GENERATED FILE.  DO NOT EDIT!
-  xinit = callPackage (
-    {
-      stdenv,
-      pkg-config,
-      fetchurl,
-      libX11,
-      xorgproto,
-      testers,
-    }:
-    stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
-      pname = "xinit";
-      version = "1.4.4";
-      builder = ./builder.sh;
-      src = fetchurl {
-        url = "mirror://xorg/individual/app/xinit-1.4.4.tar.xz";
-        sha256 = "1ygymifhg500sx1ybk8x4d1zn4g4ywvlnyvqwcf9hzsc2rx7r920";
-      };
-      hardeningDisable = [
-        "bindnow"
-        "relro"
-      ];
-      strictDeps = true;
-      nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config ];
-      buildInputs = [
-        libX11
-        xorgproto
-      ];
-      passthru.tests.pkg-config = testers.testMetaPkgConfig finalAttrs.finalPackage;
-      meta = {
-        pkgConfigModules = [ ];
-        platforms = lib.platforms.unix;
-      };
-    })
-  ) { };
-
   # THIS IS A GENERATED FILE.  DO NOT EDIT!
   xinput = callPackage (
     {
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/generate-expr-from-tarballs.pl b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/generate-expr-from-tarballs.pl
index 9c2c32c17c80..4d3895a46e2c 100755
--- a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/generate-expr-from-tarballs.pl
+++ b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/generate-expr-from-tarballs.pl
@@ -466,6 +466,7 @@ print OUT <<EOF;
   xgamma,
   xgc,
   xhost,
+  xinit,
   xkbevd,
   xkbprint,
   xkbutils,
@@ -553,6 +554,7 @@ self: with self; {
     xgamma
     xgc
     xhost
+    xinit
     xkbevd
     xkbprint
     xkbutils
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/overrides.nix b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/overrides.nix
index f09cbb0b800f..d8a69f4885a7 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/overrides.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/overrides.nix
@@ -338,42 +338,6 @@ self: super:
       postPatch = lib.concatStrings (lib.mapAttrsToList patchIn layouts);
     });
 
-  xinit =
-    (super.xinit.override {
-      stdenv = if isDarwin then clangStdenv else stdenv;
-    }).overrideAttrs
-      (attrs: {
-        nativeBuildInputs = attrs.nativeBuildInputs ++ lib.optional isDarwin bootstrap_cmds;
-        depsBuildBuild = [ buildPackages.stdenv.cc ];
-        configureFlags = [
-          "--with-xserver=${xorg.xorgserver.out}/bin/X"
-        ]
-        ++ lib.optionals isDarwin [
-          "--with-bundle-id-prefix=org.nixos.xquartz"
-          "--with-launchdaemons-dir=\${out}/LaunchDaemons"
-          "--with-launchagents-dir=\${out}/LaunchAgents"
-        ];
-        postPatch = ''
-          # Avoid replacement of word-looking cpp's builtin macros in Nix's cross-compiled paths
-          substituteInPlace Makefile.in --replace "PROGCPPDEFS =" "PROGCPPDEFS = -Dlinux=linux -Dunix=unix"
-        '';
-        propagatedBuildInputs =
-          attrs.propagatedBuildInputs or [ ]
-          ++ [ xorg.xauth ]
-          ++ lib.optionals isDarwin [
-            xorg.libX11
-            xorg.xorgproto
-          ];
-        postFixup = ''
-          sed -i $out/bin/startx \
-            -e '/^sysserverrc=/ s:=.*:=/etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc:' \
-            -e '/^sysclientrc=/ s:=.*:=/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc:'
-        '';
-        meta = attrs.meta // {
-          mainProgram = "xinit";
-        };
-      });
-
   xf86videointel = super.xf86videointel.overrideAttrs (attrs: {
     # the update script only works with released tarballs :-/
     name = "xf86-video-intel-2024-05-06";
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/tarballs.list b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/tarballs.list
index 5e12f1358438..5c120927dcb8 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/tarballs.list
+++ b/pkgs/servers/x11/xorg/tarballs.list
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-mirror://xorg/individual/app/xinit-1.4.4.tar.xz
 mirror://xorg/individual/app/xinput-1.6.4.tar.xz
 mirror://xorg/individual/app/xkbcomp-1.5.0.tar.xz
 mirror://xorg/individual/app/xtrap-1.0.3.tar.bz2