diff --git a/lib/default.nix b/lib/default.nix
index 4c36f3b0d79..b5ccc3b5144 100644
--- a/lib/default.nix
+++ b/lib/default.nix
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ let
     filesystem = callLibs ./filesystem.nix;
 
     # back-compat aliases
-    platforms = systems.doubles;
+    platforms = systems.forMeta;
 
     inherit (builtins) add addErrorContext attrNames
       concatLists deepSeq elem elemAt filter genericClosure genList
diff --git a/lib/systems/default.nix b/lib/systems/default.nix
index d5a206e620c..bd408e00bb1 100644
--- a/lib/systems/default.nix
+++ b/lib/systems/default.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 rec {
   doubles = import ./doubles.nix { inherit lib; };
+  forMeta = import ./for-meta.nix { inherit lib; };
   parse = import ./parse.nix { inherit lib; };
   inspect = import ./inspect.nix { inherit lib; };
   platforms = import ./platforms.nix { inherit lib; };
diff --git a/lib/systems/doubles.nix b/lib/systems/doubles.nix
index 0e1ee62ac95..012a1786a3c 100644
--- a/lib/systems/doubles.nix
+++ b/lib/systems/doubles.nix
@@ -30,14 +30,14 @@ in rec {
   aarch64 = filterDoubles predicates.isAarch64;
   x86     = filterDoubles predicates.isx86;
   i686    = filterDoubles predicates.isi686;
-  mips    = filterDoubles predicates.isMips;
   x86_64  = filterDoubles predicates.isx86_64;
+  mips    = filterDoubles predicates.isMips;
 
   cygwin  = filterDoubles predicates.isCygwin;
   darwin  = filterDoubles predicates.isDarwin;
   freebsd = filterDoubles predicates.isFreeBSD;
   # Should be better, but MinGW is unclear, and HURD is bit-rotted.
-  gnu     = filterDoubles (matchAttrs { kernel = parse.kernels.linux;  abi = parse.abis.gnu; });
+  gnu     = filterDoubles (matchAttrs { kernel = parse.kernels.linux; abi = parse.abis.gnu; });
   illumos = filterDoubles predicates.isSunOS;
   linux   = filterDoubles predicates.isLinux;
   netbsd  = filterDoubles predicates.isNetBSD;
diff --git a/lib/systems/for-meta.nix b/lib/systems/for-meta.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0a7a4bf5b0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/systems/for-meta.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{ lib }:
+let
+  inherit (lib.systems) parse;
+  inherit (lib.systems.inspect) patterns;
+
+in rec {
+  inherit (lib.systems.doubles) all mesaPlatforms;
+  none = [];
+
+  arm     = [ patterns.Arm ];
+  aarch64 = [ patterns.Aarch64 ];
+  x86     = [ patterns.x86 ];
+  i686    = [ patterns.i686 ];
+  x86_64  = [ patterns.x86_64 ];
+  mips    = [ patterns.Mips ];
+
+  cygwin  = [ patterns.Cygwin ];
+  darwin  = [ patterns.Darwin ];
+  freebsd = [ patterns.FreeBSD ];
+  # Should be better, but MinGW is unclear, and HURD is bit-rotted.
+  gnu     = [ { kernel = parse.kernels.linux; abi = parse.abis.gnu; } ];
+  illumos = [ patterns.SunOS ];
+  linux   = [ patterns.Linux ];
+  netbsd  = [ patterns.NetBSD ];
+  openbsd = [ patterns.OpenBSD ];
+  unix    = patterns.Unix; # Actually a list
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix
index ee1e657bdab..444bad84d8d 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Checks derivation meta and attrs for problems (like brokenness,
 # licenses, etc).
 
-{ lib, config, system, meta }:
+{ lib, config, hostPlatform, meta }:
 
 let
   # See discussion at https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/25304#issuecomment-298385426
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ let
     license = either (listOf lib.types.attrs) (either lib.types.attrs str);
     maintainers = listOf str;
     priority = int;
-    platforms = listOf str;
+    platforms = listOf (either str lib.systems.parsed.types.system);
     hydraPlatforms = listOf str;
     broken = bool;
 
@@ -173,6 +173,11 @@ let
     else "key '${k}' is unrecognized; expected one of: \n\t      [${lib.concatMapStringsSep ", " (x: "'${x}'") (lib.attrNames metaTypes)}]";
   checkMeta = meta: if shouldCheckMeta then lib.remove null (lib.mapAttrsToList checkMetaAttr meta) else [];
 
+  checkPlatform = attrs: let
+      raw = attrs.meta.platforms;
+      uniform = map (x: if builtins.isString x then { system = x; } else { parsed = x; }) raw;
+    in lib.any (pat: lib.matchAttrs pat hostPlatform) uniform;
+
   # Check if a derivation is valid, that is whether it passes checks for
   # e.g brokenness or license.
   #
@@ -186,8 +191,8 @@ let
       { valid = false; reason = "blacklisted"; errormsg = "has a blacklisted license (‘${showLicense attrs.meta.license}’)"; }
     else if !allowBroken && attrs.meta.broken or false then
       { valid = false; reason = "broken"; errormsg = "is marked as broken"; }
-    else if !allowUnsupportedSystem && !allowBroken && attrs.meta.platforms or null != null && !lib.lists.elem system attrs.meta.platforms then
-      { valid = false; reason = "broken"; errormsg = "is not supported on ‘${system}’"; }
+    else if !allowUnsupportedSystem && !allowBroken && attrs.meta.platforms or null != null && !(checkPlatform attrs) then
+      { valid = false; reason = "broken"; errormsg = "is not supported on ‘${hostPlatform.config}’"; }
     else if !(hasAllowedInsecure attrs) then
       { valid = false; reason = "insecure"; errormsg = "is marked as insecure"; }
     else let res = checkMeta (attrs.meta or {}); in if res != [] then
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix
index 18c4beb965b..46df958b839 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ rec {
         inherit lib config meta;
         # Nix itself uses the `system` field of a derivation to decide where
         # to build it. This is a bit confusing for cross compilation.
-        inherit (stdenv) system;
+        inherit (stdenv) hostPlatform;
       } attrs;
 
       # The meta attribute is passed in the resulting attribute set,