diff --git a/pin.nix b/pin.nix
index 01c5612c11d2af458015a00c8b6e66ef485c0b61..a3896902b7a2ed6e6ee051b924edc7637fd2926f 100644
--- a/pin.nix
+++ b/pin.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-jsonpath :
+{
+  hostPkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {},
+  jsonpath
+}:
   let
-    hostPkgs = import <nixpkgs> {};
     pinnedVersion = hostPkgs.lib.importJSON jsonpath;
     pinnedPkgs = hostPkgs.fetchgit {
       inherit (pinnedVersion) url rev sha256;
diff --git a/pkgs/default.nix b/pkgs/default.nix
index 6bc258a22f40872500c158986cd16cabbd7c6217..dca290690e53fcc057494407d0b3459416b817ab 100644
--- a/pkgs/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 {
-  pkgs         ? import ../pin.nix ../nixpkgs-18.03.json,
-  datamovepkgs ? import ../pin.nix ../datamove.json,
+  hostPkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {},
+  pkgs         ? import ../pin.nix {
+    inherit hostPkgs;
+    jsonpath =../nixpkgs-18.03.json;
+  },
+  datamovepkgs ? import ../pin.nix {
+    inherit hostPkgs;
+    jsonpath=../datamove.json;
+  },
   packagepins ? import ./pins.nix {inherit (pkgs) stdenv fetchgit fetchgitPrivate;}
 }:
 let