diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/i18n.nix b/nixos/modules/config/i18n.nix
index aa8f06d1c7f2..1ac6a79722cc 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/i18n.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/i18n.nix
@@ -31,16 +31,23 @@ in
 
     i18n = {
       glibcLocales = lib.mkOption {
-        type = lib.types.path;
-        default = pkgs.glibcLocales.override {
-          allLocales = lib.elem "all" config.i18n.supportedLocales;
-          locales = config.i18n.supportedLocales;
-        };
+        type = lib.types.nullOr lib.types.path;
+        default =
+          if pkgs.glibcLocales != null then
+            pkgs.glibcLocales.override {
+              allLocales = lib.elem "all" config.i18n.supportedLocales;
+              locales = config.i18n.supportedLocales;
+            }
+          else
+            null;
         defaultText = lib.literalExpression ''
-          pkgs.glibcLocales.override {
-            allLocales = lib.elem "all" config.i18n.supportedLocales;
-            locales = config.i18n.supportedLocales;
-          }
+          if pkgs.glibcLocales != null then
+            pkgs.glibcLocales.override {
+              allLocales = lib.elem "all" config.i18n.supportedLocales;
+              locales = config.i18n.supportedLocales;
+            }
+          else
+            null
         '';
         example = lib.literalExpression "pkgs.glibcLocales";
         description = ''
@@ -171,7 +178,9 @@ in
 
     environment.systemPackages =
       # We increase the priority a little, so that plain glibc in systemPackages can't win.
-      lib.optional (config.i18n.supportedLocales != [ ]) (lib.setPrio (-1) config.i18n.glibcLocales);
+      lib.optional (config.i18n.glibcLocales != null && config.i18n.supportedLocales != [ ]) (
+        lib.setPrio (-1) config.i18n.glibcLocales
+      );
 
     environment.sessionVariables = {
       LANG = config.i18n.defaultLocale;
@@ -179,9 +188,11 @@ in
     }
     // config.i18n.extraLocaleSettings;
 
-    systemd.globalEnvironment = lib.mkIf (config.i18n.supportedLocales != [ ]) {
-      LOCALE_ARCHIVE = "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive";
-    };
+    systemd.globalEnvironment =
+      lib.mkIf (config.i18n.glibcLocales != null && config.i18n.supportedLocales != [ ])
+        {
+          LOCALE_ARCHIVE = "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive";
+        };
 
     # ‘/etc/locale.conf’ is used by systemd.
     environment.etc."locale.conf".source = pkgs.writeText "locale.conf" ''
diff --git a/nixos/modules/security/apparmor/includes.nix b/nixos/modules/security/apparmor/includes.nix
index 92f5aa8d66b2..ae5a048788b3 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/security/apparmor/includes.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/security/apparmor/includes.nix
@@ -95,7 +95,9 @@ in
       include "${pkgs.apparmor-profiles}/etc/apparmor.d/abstractions/base"
       ${pkgs.stdenv.cc.libc}/share/locale/** r,
       ${pkgs.stdenv.cc.libc}/share/locale.alias r,
-      ${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive r,
+      ${lib.optionalString (
+        config.i18n.glibcLocales != null
+      ) "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive r,"}
       ${etcRule "localtime"}
       ${pkgs.tzdata}/share/zoneinfo/** r,
       ${pkgs.stdenv.cc.libc}/share/i18n/** r,
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/mail/public-inbox.nix b/nixos/modules/services/mail/public-inbox.nix
index 353db2e2207c..1ae773c35bcd 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/mail/public-inbox.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/mail/public-inbox.nix
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ let
         BindReadOnlyPaths = [
           "/etc"
           "/run/systemd"
+        ]
+        ++ lib.optionals (config.i18n.glibcLocales != null) [
           "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}"
         ]
         ++ mapAttrsToList (name: inbox: inbox.description) cfg.inboxes
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/xrdp.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/xrdp.nix
index dd322f468f3b..a1e9f9c23d80 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/xrdp.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/xrdp.nix
@@ -39,8 +39,12 @@ let
 
     # Ensure that clipboard works for non-ASCII characters
     sed -i -e '/.*SessionVariables.*/ a\
-    LANG=${config.i18n.defaultLocale}\
-    LOCALE_ARCHIVE=${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive
+    LANG=${config.i18n.defaultLocale}${
+      lib.optionalString (config.i18n.glibcLocales != null) ''
+        \
+        LOCALE_ARCHIVE=${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive
+      ''
+    }
     ' $out/sesman.ini
 
     ${cfg.extraConfDirCommands}
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/activation/switchable-system.nix b/nixos/modules/system/activation/switchable-system.nix
index d34223bc96a1..7919cc5804aa 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/activation/switchable-system.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/activation/switchable-system.nix
@@ -58,7 +58,11 @@
             --set DISTRO_ID ${lib.escapeShellArg config.system.nixos.distroId} \
             --set INSTALL_BOOTLOADER ${lib.escapeShellArg config.system.build.installBootLoader} \
             --set PRE_SWITCH_CHECK ${lib.escapeShellArg config.system.preSwitchChecksScript} \
-            --set LOCALE_ARCHIVE ${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive \
+            ${
+              lib.optionalString (
+                config.i18n.glibcLocales != null
+              ) "--set LOCALE_ARCHIVE ${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive"
+            } \
             --set SYSTEMD ${config.systemd.package}
         )
       '';
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix b/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
index 50a5204b0d70..25969918bb0e 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
@@ -351,7 +351,6 @@ in
       # Legacy environment variables. These were used by the activation script,
       # but some other script might still depend on them, although unlikely.
       installBootLoader = config.system.build.installBootLoader;
-      localeArchive = "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive";
       distroId = config.system.nixos.distroId;
       perl = pkgs.perl.withPackages (
         p: with p; [
@@ -374,6 +373,9 @@ in
       # option, as opposed to `system.extraDependencies`.
       passedChecks = concatStringsSep " " config.system.checks;
     }
+    // lib.optionalAttrs (config.i18n.glibcLocales != null) {
+      localeArchive = "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive";
+    }
     // lib.optionalAttrs (config.system.forbiddenDependenciesRegexes != [ ]) {
       closureInfo = pkgs.closureInfo {
         rootPaths = [