diff --git a/doc/manual/local.mk b/doc/manual/local.mk
index b40fa4ed2..ee5b328de 100644
--- a/doc/manual/local.mk
+++ b/doc/manual/local.mk
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ man-pages := $(foreach n, \
 
 clean-files += $(d)/*.1 $(d)/*.5 $(d)/*.8
 
-dist-files += $(man-pages)
-
 # Provide a dummy environment for nix, so that it will not access files outside the macOS sandbox.
 dummy-env = env -i \
 	HOME=/dummy \
diff --git a/local.mk b/local.mk
index fe314b902..6a7074e8e 100644
--- a/local.mk
+++ b/local.mk
@@ -1,9 +1,3 @@
-ifeq ($(MAKECMDGOALS), dist)
-  dist-files += $(shell cat .dist-files)
-endif
-
-dist-files += configure config.h.in perl/configure
-
 clean-files += Makefile.config
 
 GLOBAL_CXXFLAGS += -Wno-deprecated-declarations
diff --git a/mk/dist.mk b/mk/dist.mk
deleted file mode 100644
index 794b27771..000000000
--- a/mk/dist.mk
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-ifdef PACKAGE_NAME
-
-dist-name = $(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)
-
-dist: $(dist-name).tar.bz2 $(dist-name).tar.xz
-
-$(dist-name).tar.bz2: $(dist-files)
-	$(trace-gen) tar cfj $@ $(sort $(dist-files)) --transform 's,^,$(dist-name)/,'
-
-$(dist-name).tar.xz: $(dist-files)
-	$(trace-gen) tar cfJ $@ $(sort $(dist-files)) --transform 's,^,$(dist-name)/,'
-
-clean-files += $(dist-name).tar.bz2 $(dist-name).tar.xz
-
-print-top-help += echo "  dist: Generate a source distribution";
-
-endif
diff --git a/mk/lib.mk b/mk/lib.mk
index 1da51d879..a09ebaa97 100644
--- a/mk/lib.mk
+++ b/mk/lib.mk
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ bin-scripts :=
 noinst-scripts :=
 man-pages :=
 install-tests :=
-dist-files :=
 OS = $(shell uname -s)
 
 
@@ -112,9 +111,6 @@ $(foreach test, $(install-tests), $(eval $(call run-install-test,$(test))))
 $(foreach file, $(man-pages), $(eval $(call install-data-in, $(file), $(mandir)/man$(patsubst .%,%,$(suffix $(file))))))
 
 
-include mk/dist.mk
-
-
 .PHONY: default all man help
 
 all: $(programs-list) $(libs-list) $(jars-list) $(man-pages)
diff --git a/mk/libraries.mk b/mk/libraries.mk
index e6ef2e3ec..7c0e4f100 100644
--- a/mk/libraries.mk
+++ b/mk/libraries.mk
@@ -159,5 +159,4 @@ define build-library
   libs-list += $$($(1)_PATH)
   endif
   clean-files += $$(_d)/*.a $$(_d)/*.$(SO_EXT) $$(_d)/*.o $$(_d)/.*.dep $$($(1)_DEPS) $$($(1)_OBJS)
-  dist-files += $$(_srcs)
 endef
diff --git a/mk/programs.mk b/mk/programs.mk
index 3fa9685c3..d0cf5baf0 100644
--- a/mk/programs.mk
+++ b/mk/programs.mk
@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ define build-program
 
   programs-list += $$($(1)_PATH)
   clean-files += $$($(1)_PATH) $$(_d)/*.o $$(_d)/.*.dep $$($(1)_DEPS) $$($(1)_OBJS)
-  dist-files += $$(_srcs)
 
   # Phony target to run this program (typically as a dependency of 'check').
   .PHONY: $(1)_RUN
diff --git a/nix-rust/local.mk b/nix-rust/local.mk
index e4bfde31b..50db4783c 100644
--- a/nix-rust/local.mk
+++ b/nix-rust/local.mk
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ ifeq ($(OS), Darwin)
 	install_name_tool -id $@ $@
 endif
 
-dist-files += $(d)/vendor
-
 clean: clean-rust
 
 clean-rust:
diff --git a/src/libexpr/local.mk b/src/libexpr/local.mk
index a5422169d..519da33f7 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/local.mk
+++ b/src/libexpr/local.mk
@@ -35,8 +35,6 @@ $(d)/lexer-tab.cc $(d)/lexer-tab.hh: $(d)/lexer.l
 
 clean-files += $(d)/parser-tab.cc $(d)/parser-tab.hh $(d)/lexer-tab.cc $(d)/lexer-tab.hh
 
-dist-files += $(d)/parser-tab.cc $(d)/parser-tab.hh $(d)/lexer-tab.cc $(d)/lexer-tab.hh
-
 $(eval $(call install-file-in, $(d)/nix-expr.pc, $(prefix)/lib/pkgconfig, 0644))
 
 $(foreach i, $(wildcard src/libexpr/flake/*.hh), \