diff --git a/lib/tests/release.nix b/lib/tests/release.nix
index eebee1b49bc845..800d8a65c14f9b 100644
--- a/lib/tests/release.nix
+++ b/lib/tests/release.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ pkgs.runCommandNoCC "nixpkgs-lib-tests" {
     export TEST_ROOT=$(pwd)/test-tmp
     export NIX_BUILD_HOOK=
     export NIX_CONF_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/etc
-    export NIX_DB_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/db
     export NIX_LOCALSTATE_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/var
     export NIX_LOG_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/var/log/nix
     export NIX_STATE_DIR=$TEST_ROOT/var/nix
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix b/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix
index 5e307305af581a..f65829e29cabda 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/make-tarball.nix
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ releaseTools.sourceTarball {
   checkPhase = ''
     set -o pipefail
 
-    export NIX_DB_DIR=$TMPDIR
     export NIX_STATE_DIR=$TMPDIR
     export NIX_PATH=nixpkgs=$TMPDIR/barf.nix
     opts=(--option build-users-group "")
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/metrics.nix b/pkgs/top-level/metrics.nix
index 244b0ce7a66416..2bfcb9d5d80aa3 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/metrics.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/metrics.nix
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ runCommand "nixpkgs-metrics"
     requiredSystemFeatures = [ "benchmark" ];
   }
   ''
-    export NIX_DB_DIR=$TMPDIR
     export NIX_STATE_DIR=$TMPDIR
     nix-store --init