diff --git a/doc/languages-frameworks/lua.section.md b/doc/languages-frameworks/lua.section.md
index 310ea88a86d5..23c40409eaa0 100644
--- a/doc/languages-frameworks/lua.section.md
+++ b/doc/languages-frameworks/lua.section.md
@@ -215,6 +215,11 @@ install the package
   environment variable and add dependent libraries to script's `LUA_PATH` and
   `LUA_CPATH`.
 
+It accepts as arguments:
+
+* 'luarocksConfig': a nix value that directly maps to the luarocks config used during
+  the installation
+
 By default `meta.platforms` is set to the same value as the interpreter unless overridden otherwise.
 
 #### `buildLuaApplication` function {#buildluaapplication-function}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/build-luarocks-package.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/build-luarocks-package.nix
index 882cd583717b..97ac535c9303 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/build-luarocks-package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/build-luarocks-package.nix
@@ -51,9 +51,10 @@
 
 # Appended to the generated luarocks config
 , extraConfig ? ""
-# Inserted into the generated luarocks config in the "variables" table
-, extraVariables ? {}
-# The two above arguments have access to builder variables -- e.g. to $out
+
+# transparent mapping nix <-> lua used as LUAROCKS_CONFIG
+# Refer to https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/wiki/Config-file-format for specs
+, luarocksConfig ? {}
 
 # relative to srcRoot, path to the rockspec to use when using rocks
 , rockspecFilename ? null
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ let
     luarocks
   ];
 
-  inherit doCheck extraConfig extraVariables rockspecFilename knownRockspec externalDeps nativeCheckInputs;
+  inherit doCheck extraConfig rockspecFilename knownRockspec externalDeps nativeCheckInputs;
 
   buildInputs = let
     # example externalDeps': [ { name = "CRYPTO"; dep = pkgs.openssl; } ]
@@ -116,9 +117,18 @@ let
     text = self.luarocks_content;
   };
 
-  luarocks_content = let
-      externalDepsGenerated = lib.filter (drv: !drv ? luaModule)
-        (self.nativeBuildInputs ++ self.propagatedBuildInputs ++ self.buildInputs);
+  luarocks_content =
+      (lib.generators.toLua { asBindings = true; } self.luarocksConfig) +
+      ''
+
+      ${self.extraConfig}
+      '';
+
+  # TODO make it the default variable
+  luarocksConfig = let
+    externalDepsGenerated = lib.filter (drv: !drv ? luaModule)
+      (self.nativeBuildInputs ++ self.propagatedBuildInputs ++ self.buildInputs);
+
     generatedConfig = luaLib.generateLuarocksConfig {
       externalDeps = lib.unique (self.externalDeps ++ externalDepsGenerated);
       # Filter out the lua derivation itself from the Lua module dependency
@@ -126,13 +136,17 @@ let
       # luaLib.hasLuaModule
       requiredLuaRocks = lib.filter luaLib.hasLuaModule
         (lua.pkgs.requiredLuaModules (self.nativeBuildInputs ++ self.propagatedBuildInputs));
-      inherit (self) extraVariables rocksSubdir;
+      inherit (self) rocksSubdir;
     };
-    in
-      ''
-      ${generatedConfig}
-      ${self.extraConfig}
-      '';
+
+    luarocksConfig' = lib.recursiveUpdate luarocksConfig
+      (lib.optionalAttrs (attrs ? extraVariables) (lib.warn "extraVariables in buildLuarocksPackage is deprecated, use luarocksConfig instead"
+      {
+        variables = attrs.extraVariables;
+      }))
+    ;
+  in lib.recursiveUpdate generatedConfig luarocksConfig';
+
 
   configurePhase = ''
     runHook preConfigure
diff --git a/pkgs/development/lua-modules/lib.nix b/pkgs/development/lua-modules/lib.nix
index 189e3464e81a..5841547073d3 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/lua-modules/lib.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/lua-modules/lib.nix
@@ -74,7 +74,11 @@ rec {
       };
     });
 
-  /* generate luarocks config
+
+  /* generate a luarocks config conforming to:
+    https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/wiki/Config-file-format
+
+    The config lists folders where to find lua dependencies
 
     Example:
       generateLuarocksConfig {
@@ -89,7 +93,6 @@ rec {
       externalDeps ? []
     # a list of lua derivations
     , requiredLuaRocks ? []
-    , extraVariables ? {}
     , rocksSubdir ? "rocks-subdir"
     , ...
     }@args: let
@@ -119,33 +122,37 @@ rec {
       externalDepsDirs = map
         (x: builtins.toString x)
         (lib.filter (lib.isDerivation) externalDeps);
-  in toLua { asBindings = true; } ({
-    local_cache = "";
-    # To prevent collisions when creating environments, we install the rock
-    # files into per-package subdirectories
-    rocks_subdir = rocksSubdir;
-    # first tree is the default target where new rocks are installed,
-    # any other trees in the list are treated as additional sources of installed rocks for matching dependencies.
-    rocks_trees = (
-      [{name = "current"; root = "${placeholder "out"}"; rocks_dir = "current"; }] ++
-      rocksTrees
-    );
-  } // lib.optionalAttrs lua.pkgs.isLuaJIT {
-    # Luajit provides some additional functionality built-in; this exposes
-    # that to luarock's dependency system
-    rocks_provided = {
-      jit = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
-      ffi = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
-      luaffi = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
-      bit = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
-    };
-  } // {
-    # For single-output external dependencies
-    external_deps_dirs = externalDepsDirs;
-    # Some needed machinery to handle multiple-output external dependencies,
-    # as per https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/issues/766
-    variables = (depVariables // extraVariables);
-  }
-  // removeAttrs args [ "rocksSubdir" "extraVariables" "requiredLuaRocks" "externalDeps" ]
-  );
+
+      generatedConfig = ({
+        local_cache = "";
+
+        # To prevent collisions when creating environments, we install the rock
+        # files into per-package subdirectories
+        rocks_subdir = rocksSubdir;
+
+        # first tree is the default target where new rocks are installed,
+        # any other trees in the list are treated as additional sources of installed rocks for matching dependencies.
+        rocks_trees = (
+          [{name = "current"; root = "${placeholder "out"}"; rocks_dir = "current"; }] ++
+          rocksTrees
+        );
+      } // lib.optionalAttrs lua.pkgs.isLuaJIT {
+        # Luajit provides some additional functionality built-in; this exposes
+        # that to luarock's dependency system
+        rocks_provided = {
+          jit = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
+          ffi = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
+          luaffi = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
+          bit = "${lua.luaversion}-1";
+        };
+      } // {
+        # For single-output external dependencies
+        external_deps_dirs = externalDepsDirs;
+        # Some needed machinery to handle multiple-output external dependencies,
+        # as per https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/issues/766
+        variables = depVariables;
+      }
+      // removeAttrs args [ "requiredLuaRocks" "externalDeps" ]
+      );
+  in generatedConfig;
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/lua-modules/nfd/default.nix b/pkgs/development/lua-modules/nfd/default.nix
index a02fd0a1df4d..5c2ffabc9b54 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/lua-modules/nfd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/lua-modules/nfd/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ buildLuarocksPackage {
   ];
   knownRockspec = "lua/nfd-scm-1.rockspec";
 
-  extraVariables.LUA_LIBDIR = "${lua}/lib";
+  luarocksConfig.LUA_LIBDIR = "${lua}/lib";
   nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config ];
 
   buildInputs = lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ AppKit ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/lua-modules/overrides.nix b/pkgs/development/lua-modules/overrides.nix
index 20641092e7b1..a0ad25043920 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/lua-modules/overrides.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/lua-modules/overrides.nix
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ with prev;
   });
 
   ldbus = prev.ldbus.overrideAttrs (oa: {
-    extraVariables = {
+    luarocksConfig.variables = {
       DBUS_DIR = "${dbus.lib}";
       DBUS_ARCH_INCDIR = "${dbus.lib}/lib/dbus-1.0/include";
       DBUS_INCDIR = "${dbus.dev}/include/dbus-1.0";
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ with prev;
   });
 
   luadbi-mysql = prev.luadbi-mysql.overrideAttrs (oa: {
-    extraVariables = {
+    luarocksConfig.variables = {
       # Can't just be /include and /lib, unfortunately needs the trailing 'mysql'
       MYSQL_INCDIR = "${libmysqlclient.dev}/include/mysql";
       MYSQL_LIBDIR = "${libmysqlclient}/lib/mysql";
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ with prev;
     buildInputs = [ libuv ];
 
     # Use system libuv instead of building local and statically linking
-    extraVariables = {
+    luarocksConfig.variables = {
       WITH_SHARED_LIBUV = "ON";
     };
 
@@ -573,6 +573,7 @@ with prev;
     '';
   });
 
+  # upstream broken, can't be generated, so moved out from the generated set
   readline = final.callPackage({ buildLuarocksPackage, fetchurl, luaAtLeast, luaOlder, lua, luaposix }:
   buildLuarocksPackage ({
     pname = "readline";
@@ -588,7 +589,7 @@ with prev;
       sha256 = "1mk9algpsvyqwhnq7jlw4cgmfzj30l7n2r6ak4qxgdxgc39f48k4";
     };
 
-    extraVariables = rec {
+    luarocksConfig.variables = rec {
       READLINE_INCDIR = "${readline.dev}/include";
       HISTORY_INCDIR = READLINE_INCDIR;
     };
@@ -597,7 +598,6 @@ with prev;
       tar xf *.tar.gz
     '';
 
-    disabled = (luaOlder "5.1") || (luaAtLeast "5.5");
     propagatedBuildInputs = [ lua luaposix
       readline.out
     ];
@@ -606,6 +606,7 @@ with prev;
       homepage = "http://pjb.com.au/comp/lua/readline.html";
       description = "Interface to the readline library";
       license.fullName = "MIT/X11";
+      broken = (luaOlder "5.1") || (luaAtLeast "5.5");
     };
   })) {};