diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e40230ba..3ea2055a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ BUILD_NAME:=sortix-$(RELEASE)-$(MACHINE)
 LIVE_INITRD:=$(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).live.tar
 OVERLAY_INITRD:=$(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).overlay.tar
 SRC_INITRD:=$(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).src.tar
-SYSTEM_INITRD:=$(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).system.tar
+SYSTEM_INITRD:=$(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).system.tix.tar
 
 .PHONY: all
 all: sysroot
@@ -246,6 +246,7 @@ sysroot-system: sysroot-fsh sysroot-base-headers
 	  || exit $$?; done)
 	LC_ALL=C sort -u "$(SYSROOT)/tix/manifest/system" > "$(SYSROOT)/tix/manifest/system.new"
 	mv "$(SYSROOT)/tix/manifest/system.new" "$(SYSROOT)/tix/manifest/system"
+	printf 'TIX_VERSION=3\nNAME=system\nPLATFORM=$(HOST)\nPREFIX=\nSYSTEM=true\n' > "$(SYSROOT)/tix/tixinfo/system"
 
 .PHONY: sysroot-source
 sysroot-source: sysroot-fsh
@@ -477,7 +478,7 @@ $(SRC_INITRD): sysroot
 
 $(SYSTEM_INITRD): sysroot
 	sed -E 's,^/,,' "$(SYSROOT)/tix/manifest/system" | \
-	tar -cf $(SYSTEM_INITRD) -C "$(SYSROOT)" --numeric-owner --owner=0 --group=0 --no-recursion -T - tix/manifest/system
+	tar -cf $(SYSTEM_INITRD) -C "$(SYSROOT)" --numeric-owner --owner=0 --group=0 --no-recursion -T - tix/manifest/system tix/tixinfo/system
 
 # Packaging
 
@@ -502,7 +503,7 @@ ifeq ($(SORTIX_ISO_COMPRESSION),xz)
 	test ! -e "$(OVERLAY_INITRD)" || \
 	xz -c $(OVERLAY_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/overlay.tar.xz
 	xz -c $(SRC_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/src.tar.xz
-	xz -c $(SYSTEM_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/system.tar.xz
+	xz -c $(SYSTEM_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/repository/system.tix.tar.xz
 	build-aux/iso-grub-cfg.sh --platform $(HOST) --version $(VERSION) $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso
 	grub-mkrescue --compress=xz -o $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).iso $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso
 else ifeq ($(SORTIX_ISO_COMPRESSION),gzip)
@@ -511,7 +512,7 @@ else ifeq ($(SORTIX_ISO_COMPRESSION),gzip)
 	test ! -e "$(OVERLAY_INITRD)" || \
 	gzip -c $(OVERLAY_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/overlay.tar.gz
 	gzip -c $(SRC_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/src.tar.gz
-	gzip -c $(SYSTEM_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/system.tar.gz
+	gzip -c $(SYSTEM_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/repository/system.tix.tar.gz
 	build-aux/iso-grub-cfg.sh --platform $(HOST) --version $(VERSION) $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso
 	grub-mkrescue --compress=gz -o $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).iso $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso
 else # none
@@ -520,7 +521,7 @@ else # none
 	test ! -e "$(OVERLAY_INITRD)" || \
 	cp $(OVERLAY_INITRD) $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/overlay.tar
 	cp $(SRC_INITRD) $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/src.tar
-	cp $(SYSTEM_INITRD) $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/boot/system.tar
+	cp $(SYSTEM_INITRD) $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso/repository/system.tix.tar
 	build-aux/iso-grub-cfg.sh --platform $(HOST) --version $(VERSION) $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso
 	grub-mkrescue -o $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME).iso $(SORTIX_BUILDS_DIR)/$(BUILD_NAME)-iso
 endif
@@ -563,16 +564,12 @@ $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/overlay.tar.xz: $(OVERLAY_INITR
 $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/src.tar.xz: $(SRC_INITRD) $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot
 	xz -c $< > $@
 
-$(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/system.tar.xz: $(SYSTEM_INITRD) $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot
-	xz -c $< > $@
-
 .PHONY: release-boot
 release-boot: \
   $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/sortix.bin.xz \
   $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/live.tar.xz \
   $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/overlay.tar.xz \
   $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/src.tar.xz \
-  $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/$(MACHINE)/boot/system.tar.xz \
 
 .PHONY: release-iso
 release-iso: $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/builds/$(BUILD_NAME).iso
@@ -597,7 +594,7 @@ $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/man:
 
 $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/man/ports.list: sysroot $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/man
 	for section in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9; do mkdir -p $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/man/man$$section; done
-	for port in system `LC_ALL=C ls "$(SYSROOT)/tix/tixinfo"`; do \
+	for port in `LC_ALL=C ls "$(SYSROOT)/tix/tixinfo"`; do \
 	  for manpage in `grep -E "^/share/man/man[1-9]/.*\.[1-9]$$" "$(SYSROOT)/tix/manifest/$$port" | \
 	                  LC_ALL=C sort | \
 	                  tee $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/man/$$port.list | \
@@ -612,8 +609,9 @@ $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/repository/$(HOST):
 	mkdir -p $@
 
 .PHONY: release-repository
-release-repository: sysroot $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/repository/$(HOST)
-	for port in `LC_ALL=C ls "$(SYSROOT)/tix/tixinfo"`; do \
+release-repository: sysroot $(SYSTEM_INITRD) $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/repository/$(HOST)
+	xz -c $(SYSTEM_INITRD) > $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/repository/$(HOST)/system.tix.tar.xz
+	for port in `LC_ALL=C ls "$(SYSROOT)/tix/tixinfo" | (grep -Ev '^system$$' || true)`; do \
 	  cp $(SORTIX_REPOSITORY_DIR)/$(HOST)/$$port.tix.tar.xz $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/repository/$(HOST) && \
 	  cp $(SORTIX_REPOSITORY_DIR)/$(HOST)/$$port.version $(SORTIX_RELEASE_DIR)/$(RELEASE)/repository/$(HOST); \
 	done
diff --git a/build-aux/iso-grub-cfg.sh b/build-aux/iso-grub-cfg.sh
index 420c6ed3..190031d6 100755
--- a/build-aux/iso-grub-cfg.sh
+++ b/build-aux/iso-grub-cfg.sh
@@ -114,10 +114,11 @@ kernel=$(maybe_compressed boot/sortix.bin)
 live_initrd=$(maybe_compressed boot/live.tar)
 overlay_initrd=$(maybe_compressed boot/overlay.tar)
 src_initrd=$(maybe_compressed boot/src.tar)
-system_initrd=$(maybe_compressed boot/system.tar)
+system_initrd=$(maybe_compressed repository/system.tix.tar)
 ports=$(ls repository |
-       grep -E '\.tix\.tar\.xz$' |
-       sed -E 's/\.tix\.tar\.xz$//')
+        grep -E '\.tix\.tar\.xz$' |
+        sed -E 's/\.tix\.tar\.xz$//' |
+        (grep -Ev '^system$' || true))
 
 mkdir -p boot/grub
 mkdir -p boot/grub/init
diff --git a/build-aux/manhtml.sh b/build-aux/manhtml.sh
index 407e3d8f..03cce9bd 100755
--- a/build-aux/manhtml.sh
+++ b/build-aux/manhtml.sh
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ echo "Generating manhtml index"
  ep
  section "Ports manual pages" "ports"
  bp
- cat ports.list | sort |
+ grep -Ev '^system$' ports.list | sort |
  while read port; do
    if [ -s "$port.list" ]; then
      link "$port.html" "$port"
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ echo "Generating manhtml index"
  ep
  end_html) | finalize_html index.html
 
-(echo system && cat ports.list) |
+(echo system && grep -Ev '^system$' ports.list) |
 while read port; do
   echo "Generating manhtml index for $port"
   (if [ "$port" = system ]; then prettyport="System"; else prettyport=$port; fi
diff --git a/share/man/man7/kernel.7 b/share/man/man7/kernel.7
index 3db231fb..29a4385d 100644
--- a/share/man/man7/kernel.7
+++ b/share/man/man7/kernel.7
@@ -83,11 +83,6 @@ The format of each multiboot module is automatically detected by default:
 .Xr tar 7
 archives in the ustar format are extracted into the root directory.
 The bootloader must already have decompressed the archive.
-If the archive contains the
-.Pa tix/tixinfo
-file, it is instead installed into the root directory as a
-.Xr tix 7
-binary package.
 .El
 .Pp
 Each multiboot module has its own command line where the options are as follows:
diff --git a/sysinstall/manifest.c b/sysinstall/manifest.c
index 8da171b8..20155f2e 100644
--- a/sysinstall/manifest.c
+++ b/sysinstall/manifest.c
@@ -654,6 +654,8 @@ char** read_installed_list(const char* prefix, size_t* out_count)
 	{
 		if ( entry->d_name[0] == '.' )
 			continue;
+		if ( !strcmp(entry->d_name, "system") )
+			continue;
 		if ( !string_array_append(&installed, &count, &length, entry->d_name) )
 		{
 			warn("malloc");