diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix b/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix
index 15bd185ccec9..87964e27bb9c 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/default.nix
@@ -31,10 +31,8 @@ let
     else
       fn;
 
-  # Convert the list of options into an XML file.  The builtin
-  # unsafeDiscardStringContext is used to prevent the realisation of
-  # the store paths which are used in options definitions.
-  optionsXML = builtins.toFile "options.xml" (builtins.unsafeDiscardStringContext (builtins.toXML optionsList'));
+  # Convert the list of options into an XML file.
+  optionsXML = builtins.toFile "options.xml" (builtins.toXML optionsList');
 
   optionsDocBook = runCommand "options-db.xml" {} ''
     optionsXML=${optionsXML}
@@ -139,6 +137,8 @@ in rec {
     ''; # */
 
     meta.description = "The NixOS manual in HTML format";
+
+    allowedReferences = ["out"];
   };
 
   manualPDF = stdenv.mkDerivation {
@@ -187,6 +187,8 @@ in rec {
         ${docbook5_xsl}/xml/xsl/docbook/manpages/docbook.xsl \
         ./man-pages.xml
     '';
+
+    allowedReferences = ["out"];
   };
 
 }