diff --git a/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md b/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
index f9489c546659..38b84b553432 100644
--- a/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
+++ b/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@
 
 - `requireFile` now sets `meta.license = lib.licenses.unfree` by default. Users of `requireFile`-based derivations that preserve this default will need to explicitly allow their evaluation as described in [](#sec-allow-unfree).
 
+- `texlive.combine` is deprecated and scheduled for removal in 27.05. Please migrate to `texliveSmall.withPackages` (see [](#sec-language-texlive-user-guide)).
+
 - `librest` providing 0.7 ABI was removed. `librest_1_0` providing 1.0 ABI was renamed to `librest` and `librest_1_0` was kept as an alias.
 
 - `pnpm_10` was upgraded to version 10.34.1+, which introduced stricter integrity checks. If you encounter `ERR_PNPM_MISSING_TARBALL_INTEGRITY`, you can fall back to the older `pnpm_10_34_0`.
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine-wrapper.nix b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine-wrapper.nix
index e0ed2bc8f1fa..82a5b6701e60 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine-wrapper.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine-wrapper.nix
@@ -73,10 +73,14 @@ let
   all = lib.filter pkgFilter combined ++ lib.filter (pkg: pkg.tlType == "tlpkg") combined;
   converted = map toSpecified all;
 in
-buildTeXEnv {
-  __extraName = extraName;
-  __extraVersion = extraVersion;
-  requiredTeXPackages = _: converted;
-  __combine = true;
-  __fromCombineWrapper = true;
-}
+lib.addMetaAttrs
+  {
+    problems.removal.message = "texlive.combine is deprecated and will be removed from Nixpkgs 27.05. Please switch to texliveSmall.withPackages. See https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#sec-language-texlive-user-guide.";
+  }
+  (buildTeXEnv {
+    __extraName = extraName;
+    __extraVersion = extraVersion;
+    requiredTeXPackages = _: converted;
+    __combine = true;
+    __fromCombineWrapper = true;
+  })
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/default.nix
index 43a962cb77b9..94a7f51089a4 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/default.nix
@@ -624,6 +624,7 @@ let
             meta = meta // {
               description = "TeX Live environment for ${pname}";
               license = licenses.${pname};
+              problems.removal.message = "texlive.combined schemes are deprecated and will be removed from Nixpkgs 27.05. Please switch to texliveSmall or another top level scheme.";
             };
           }
       )