diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/builder.sh b/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/builder.sh
index 08a1cc5d3419..e43a2e37726c 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/builder.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/builder.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ source $stdenv/setup
 
 header "exporting $url (rev $rev) into $out"
 
-git clone "$url" $out
+git clone --depth 1 "$url" $out
 if test -n "$rev"; then
   cd $out
   git checkout $rev
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/nix-prefetch-git b/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/nix-prefetch-git
index 6e88b1d9c2ff..29b3472596d4 100755
--- a/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/nix-prefetch-git
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/fetchgit/nix-prefetch-git
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ if test -z "$finalPath"; then
     trap "rm -rf $tmpPath" EXIT
 
     # Perform the checkout.
-    git clone "$url" $tmpFile
+    git clone --depth 1 "$url" $tmpFile
     if test -n "$rev"; then
       cd $tmpFile
       echo $tmpFile