diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/bash/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/bash/default.nix
index 9c9682fdf9d5..dea5ad9f017f 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/bash/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/bash/default.nix
@@ -95,4 +95,5 @@ bootBash.runCommand "${pname}-${version}" {
 
   # Install
   make install
+  ln -s bash $out/bin/sh
 ''
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/default.nix
index 2a10a3395ba7..b8807eec0902 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/default.nix
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ lib.makeScope
       bootBash = bash_2_05;
       gcc = gcc2;
       glibc = glibc22;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
     };
 
     binutils = callPackage ./binutils {
@@ -27,11 +28,13 @@ lib.makeScope
       binutils = binutils-mes;
       glibc = glibc22;
       sed = heirloom.sed;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
     };
     binutils-mes = callPackage ./binutils {
       bash = bash_2_05;
       tinycc = tinycc-mes;
       sed = heirloom.sed;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
       mesBootstrap = true;
     };
 
@@ -46,18 +49,27 @@ lib.makeScope
       bash = bash_2_05;
       gcc = gcc2;
       glibc = glibc22;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
     };
 
     findutils = callPackage ./findutils {
       bash = bash_2_05;
       gcc = gcc2;
       glibc = glibc22;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
+    };
+
+    gawk-mes = callPackage ./gawk/mes.nix {
+      bash = bash_2_05;
+      tinycc = tinycc-mes;
+      gnused = gnused-mes;
     };
 
     gawk = callPackage ./gawk {
       bash = bash_2_05;
-      tinycc = tinycc-mes;
-      gnused = gnused-mes;
+      gcc = gcc2;
+      glibc = glibc22;
+      bootGawk = gawk-mes;
     };
 
     gcc2 = callPackage ./gcc/2.nix {
@@ -76,11 +88,13 @@ lib.makeScope
     gcc46 = callPackage ./gcc/4.6.nix {
       gcc = gcc2;
       glibc = glibc22;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
     };
 
     inherit (callPackage ./glibc {
       bash = bash_2_05;
       gnused = gnused-mes;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
     }) glibc22;
 
     gnugrep = callPackage ./gnugrep {
@@ -140,6 +154,7 @@ lib.makeScope
     xz = callPackage ./xz {
       bash = bash_2_05;
       tinycc = tinycc-mes;
+      gawk = gawk-mes;
       inherit (heirloom) sed;
     };
 
@@ -153,6 +168,7 @@ lib.makeScope
       echo ${bzip2.tests.get-version}
       echo ${diffutils.tests.get-version}
       echo ${findutils.tests.get-version}
+      echo ${gawk-mes.tests.get-version}
       echo ${gawk.tests.get-version}
       echo ${gcc2.tests.get-version}
       echo ${gcc2-mes.tests.get-version}
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/common.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/common.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d95c66d86337
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/common.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{ lib }:
+
+{
+  meta = with lib; {
+    description = "GNU implementation of the Awk programming language";
+    homepage = "https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk";
+    license = licenses.gpl3Plus;
+    maintainers = teams.minimal-bootstrap.members;
+    platforms = platforms.unix;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/default.nix
index d840a204416d..935414f21760 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/default.nix
@@ -3,36 +3,41 @@
 , hostPlatform
 , fetchurl
 , bash
-, tinycc
+, gcc
+, glibc
+, binutils
+, linux-headers
 , gnumake
-, gnupatch
-, gnused
 , gnugrep
+, gnused
+, gnutar
+, gzip
+, bootGawk
 }:
 let
+  inherit (import ./common.nix { inherit lib; }) meta;
   pname = "gawk";
-  # >=3.1.x is incompatible with mes-libc
-  version = "3.0.6";
+  # >= 4.2.0 fails to cleanly build. may be worth investigating in the future.
+  # for now this version is sufficient to build glibc 2.16
+  version = "4.1.4";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://gnu/gawk/gawk-${version}.tar.gz";
-    sha256 = "1z4bibjm7ldvjwq3hmyifyb429rs2d9bdwkvs0r171vv1khpdwmb";
+    sha256 = "0dadjkpyyizmyd0l098qps8lb39r0vrz3xl3hwz2cmjs5c70h0wc";
   };
-
-  patches = [
-    # for reproducibility don't generate date stamp
-    ./no-stamp.patch
-  ];
 in
 bash.runCommand "${pname}-${version}" {
-  inherit pname version;
+  inherit pname version meta;
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
-    tinycc.compiler
+    gcc
+    binutils
     gnumake
-    gnupatch
     gnused
     gnugrep
+    gnutar
+    gzip
+    bootGawk
   ];
 
   passthru.tests.get-version = result:
@@ -40,33 +45,19 @@ bash.runCommand "${pname}-${version}" {
       ${result}/bin/awk --version
       mkdir $out
     '';
-
-  meta = with lib; {
-    description = "GNU implementation of the Awk programming language";
-    homepage = "https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk";
-    license = licenses.gpl3Plus;
-    maintainers = teams.minimal-bootstrap.members;
-    platforms = platforms.unix;
-  };
 } ''
   # Unpack
-  ungz --file ${src} --output gawk.tar
-  untar --file gawk.tar
-  rm gawk.tar
+  tar xzf ${src}
   cd gawk-${version}
 
-  # Patch
-  ${lib.concatMapStringsSep "\n" (f: "patch -Np0 -i ${f}") patches}
-
   # Configure
-  export CC="tcc -B ${tinycc.libs}/lib"
-  export ac_cv_func_getpgrp_void=yes
-  export ac_cv_func_tzset=yes
+  export C_INCLUDE_PATH="${glibc}/include:${linux-headers}/include"
+  export LIBRARY_PATH="${glibc}/lib"
+  export LIBS="-lc -lnss_files -lnss_dns -lresolv"
   bash ./configure \
+    --prefix=$out \
     --build=${buildPlatform.config} \
-    --host=${hostPlatform.config} \
-    --disable-nls \
-    --prefix=$out
+    --host=${hostPlatform.config}
 
   # Build
   make gawk
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/mes.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/mes.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c14399309306
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/minimal-bootstrap/gawk/mes.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+{ lib
+, buildPlatform
+, hostPlatform
+, fetchurl
+, bash
+, tinycc
+, gnumake
+, gnupatch
+, gnused
+, gnugrep
+}:
+let
+  inherit (import ./common.nix { inherit lib; }) meta;
+  pname = "gawk-mes";
+  # >=3.1.x is incompatible with mes-libc
+  version = "3.0.6";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://gnu/gawk/gawk-${version}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "1z4bibjm7ldvjwq3hmyifyb429rs2d9bdwkvs0r171vv1khpdwmb";
+  };
+
+  patches = [
+    # for reproducibility don't generate date stamp
+    ./no-stamp.patch
+  ];
+in
+bash.runCommand "${pname}-${version}" {
+  inherit pname version meta;
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    tinycc.compiler
+    gnumake
+    gnupatch
+    gnused
+    gnugrep
+  ];
+
+  passthru.tests.get-version = result:
+    bash.runCommand "${pname}-get-version-${version}" {} ''
+      ${result}/bin/awk --version
+      mkdir $out
+    '';
+} ''
+  # Unpack
+  ungz --file ${src} --output gawk.tar
+  untar --file gawk.tar
+  rm gawk.tar
+  cd gawk-${version}
+
+  # Patch
+  ${lib.concatMapStringsSep "\n" (f: "patch -Np0 -i ${f}") patches}
+
+  # Configure
+  export CC="tcc -B ${tinycc.libs}/lib"
+  export ac_cv_func_getpgrp_void=yes
+  export ac_cv_func_tzset=yes
+  bash ./configure \
+    --build=${buildPlatform.config} \
+    --host=${hostPlatform.config} \
+    --disable-nls \
+    --prefix=$out
+
+  # Build
+  make gawk
+
+  # Install
+  install -D gawk $out/bin/gawk
+  ln -s gawk $out/bin/awk
+''