diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix b/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix
index d023470c48fc..cc6e87103350 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ releaseTools.sourceTarball rec {
     mkdir -p $out/tarballs
     mkdir ../$releaseName
     cp -prd . ../$releaseName
-    echo nixpkgs > ../$releaseName/channel-name
     (cd .. && tar cfa $out/tarballs/$releaseName.tar.xz $releaseName) || false
   '';