diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/activation/activatable-system.nix b/nixos/modules/system/activation/activatable-system.nix
index bb207ec0c18f..c3739f627a16 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/activation/activatable-system.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/activation/activatable-system.nix
@@ -11,12 +11,6 @@ let
     mkOption
     types
     ;
-
-  systemBuilderArgs = {
-    activationScript = config.system.activationScripts.script;
-    dryActivationScript = config.system.dryActivationScript;
-  };
-
 in
 {
   options = {
@@ -52,36 +46,51 @@ in
       '';
     };
   };
-  config = {
-    system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands = ''
-      echo "$activationScript" > $out/activate
-      echo "$dryActivationScript" > $out/dry-activate
-      substituteInPlace $out/activate --subst-var-by out ''${!toplevelVar}
-      substituteInPlace $out/dry-activate --subst-var-by out ''${!toplevelVar}
-      chmod u+x $out/activate $out/dry-activate
-      unset activationScript dryActivationScript
-    '';
+  config =
+    let
+      activationScript = lib.getExe (
+        pkgs.writeShellApplication {
+          name = "activate";
+          text = config.system.activationScripts.script;
+          checkPhase = "";
+          bashOptions = [ ];
+        }
+      );
+      dryActivationScript = lib.getExe (
+        pkgs.writeShellApplication {
+          name = "dry-activate";
+          text = config.system.dryActivationScript;
+          checkPhase = "";
+          bashOptions = [ ];
+        }
+      );
+    in
+    {
+      system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands =
+        # We use sed here instead of substitute(InPlace), because the substitute
+        # functions load the content of the file into a bash variable, which fails
+        # for very large activation scripts.
+        # bash
+        ''
+          cp ${activationScript} $out/activate
+          cp ${dryActivationScript} $out/dry-activate
+          ${lib.getExe pkgs.gnused} --in-place --expression "s|@out@|''${!toplevelVar}|g" $out/activate $out/dry-activate
+        '';
 
-    system.systemBuilderCommands = lib.mkIf config.system.activatable config.system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands;
-    system.systemBuilderArgs = lib.mkIf config.system.activatable (
-      systemBuilderArgs
-      // {
+      system.systemBuilderCommands = lib.mkIf config.system.activatable config.system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands;
+      system.systemBuilderArgs = lib.mkIf config.system.activatable {
         toplevelVar = "out";
-      }
-    );
+      };
 
-    system.build.separateActivationScript =
-      pkgs.runCommand "separate-activation-script"
-        (
-          systemBuilderArgs
-          // {
+      system.build.separateActivationScript =
+        pkgs.runCommand "separate-activation-script"
+          {
             toplevelVar = "toplevel";
             toplevel = config.system.build.toplevel;
           }
-        )
-        ''
-          mkdir $out
-          ${config.system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands}
-        '';
-  };
+          ''
+            mkdir $out
+            ${config.system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands}
+          '';
+    };
 }
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix b/nixos/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
index 08ab396e1de2..8fd274276a61 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
@@ -50,8 +50,6 @@ let
       ) withHeadlines;
     in
     ''
-      #!${pkgs.runtimeShell}
-
       source ${./lib/lib.sh}
 
       systemConfig='@out@'
diff --git a/nixos/tests/restart-by-activation-script.nix b/nixos/tests/restart-by-activation-script.nix
index 6d26d9843aff..2fad1f21584e 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/restart-by-activation-script.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/restart-by-activation-script.nix
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   };
 
   nodes.machine =
-    { pkgs, ... }:
+    { pkgs, lib, ... }:
     {
       imports = [ ../modules/profiles/minimal.nix ];
 
@@ -46,6 +46,14 @@
           fi
         '';
       };
+
+      # Make sure we don't crash on long activation scripts
+      specialisation.longscript.configuration = {
+        system.activationScripts.long = {
+          supportsDryActivation = true;
+          text = lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (lib.genList (i: ''# line number ${toString i}'') 1000000);
+        };
+      };
     };
 
   testScript = # python