diff --git a/doc/languages-frameworks/go.section.md b/doc/languages-frameworks/go.section.md
index b4228d9d313d..f52570ac8cca 100644
--- a/doc/languages-frameworks/go.section.md
+++ b/doc/languages-frameworks/go.section.md
@@ -114,21 +114,24 @@ Both `buildGoModule` and `buildGoPackage` can be tweaked to behave slightly diff
 
 ### `buildFlagsArray` and `buildFlags`: {#ex-goBuildFlags-noarray}
 
-These attributes set build flags supported by `go build`. We recommend using `buildFlagsArray`. The most common use case of these attributes is to make the resulting executable aware of its own version. For example:
+These attributes set build flags supported by `go build`. We recommend using `buildFlagsArray`.
 
 ```nix
   buildFlagsArray = [
-    # Note: single quotes are not needed.
-    "-ldflags=-X main.Version=${version} -X main.Commit=${version}"
+    "-tags=release"
   ];
 ```
 
+### `ldflags` {#var-go-ldflags}
+
+Arguments to pass to the Go linker tool via the `-ldflags` argument of `go build`. The most common use case for this argument is to make the resulting executable aware of its own version. For example:
+
 ```nix
-  buildFlagsArray = ''
-    -ldflags=
-    -X main.Version=${version}
-    -X main.Commit=${version}
-  '';
+  ldflags = [
+    "-s" "-w"
+    "-X main.Version=${version}"
+    "-X main.Commit=${version}"
+  ];
 ```
 
 ### `deleteVendor` {#var-go-deleteVendor}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/go-modules/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/development/go-modules/generic/default.nix
index 8246eaefed4c..10beb80f2e6a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/go-modules/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/go-modules/generic/default.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 , passthru ? {}
 , patches ? []
 
+# Go linker flags, passed to go via -ldflags
+, ldflags ? []
+
 # A function to override the go-modules derivation
 , overrideModAttrs ? (_oldAttrs : {})
 
@@ -153,7 +156,7 @@ let
         echo "$d" | grep -q "\(/_\|examples\|Godeps\|testdata\)" && return 0
         [ -n "$excludedPackages" ] && echo "$d" | grep -q "$excludedPackages" && return 0
         local OUT
-        if ! OUT="$(go $cmd $buildFlags "''${buildFlagsArray[@]}" -v -p $NIX_BUILD_CORES $d 2>&1)"; then
+        if ! OUT="$(go $cmd $buildFlags "''${buildFlagsArray[@]}" ''${ldflags:+-ldflags="$ldflags"} -v -p $NIX_BUILD_CORES $d 2>&1)"; then
           if ! echo "$OUT" | grep -qE '(no( buildable| non-test)?|build constraints exclude all) Go (source )?files'; then
             echo "$OUT" >&2
             return 1
diff --git a/pkgs/development/go-packages/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/development/go-packages/generic/default.nix
index 8a093a03d1c1..88d7acb42fc9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/go-packages/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/go-packages/generic/default.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 , preFixup ? ""
 , shellHook ? ""
 
+# Go linker flags, passed to go via -ldflags
+, ldflags ? []
+
 # We want parallel builds by default
 , enableParallelBuilding ? true
 
@@ -148,7 +151,7 @@ let
         echo "$d" | grep -q "\(/_\|examples\|Godeps\)" && return 0
         [ -n "$excludedPackages" ] && echo "$d" | grep -q "$excludedPackages" && return 0
         local OUT
-        if ! OUT="$(go $cmd $buildFlags "''${buildFlagsArray[@]}" -v -p $NIX_BUILD_CORES $d 2>&1)"; then
+        if ! OUT="$(go $cmd $buildFlags "''${buildFlagsArray[@]}" ''${ldflags:+-ldflags="$ldflags"} -v -p $NIX_BUILD_CORES $d 2>&1)"; then
           if ! echo "$OUT" | grep -qE '(no( buildable| non-test)?|build constraints exclude all) Go (source )?files'; then
             echo "$OUT" >&2
             return 1