diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
index e2227b13bbb..12c3cf87618 100644
--- a/default.nix
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-let requiredVersion = "1.10"; in
+let requiredVersion = import ./lib/minver.nix; in
 
 if ! builtins ? nixVersion || builtins.compareVersions requiredVersion builtins.nixVersion == 1 then
 
diff --git a/lib/minver.nix b/lib/minver.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4f448266d06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/minver.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# Expose the minimum required version for evaluating Nixpkgs
+"1.10"