diff --git a/nixos/modules/misc/version.nix b/nixos/modules/misc/version.nix
index 898c0326cf0b..b61e00d647b2 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/misc/version.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/misc/version.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ let
     concatStringsSep
     mapAttrsToList
     toLower
-    optionalString
     literalExpression
     match
     mkRenamedOptionModule
@@ -34,11 +33,12 @@ let
   osReleaseContents =
     let
       isNixos = cfg.distroId == "nixos";
+      optionalAttr = cond: attr: if cond then attr else null;
     in
     {
       NAME = "${cfg.distroName}";
       ID = "${cfg.distroId}";
-      ID_LIKE = optionalString (!isNixos) "nixos";
+      ${optionalAttr (!isNixos) "ID_LIKE"} = "nixos";
       VENDOR_NAME = cfg.vendorName;
       VERSION = "${cfg.release} (${cfg.codeName})";
       VERSION_CODENAME = toLower cfg.codeName;
@@ -47,17 +47,16 @@ let
       PRETTY_NAME = "${cfg.distroName} ${cfg.release} (${cfg.codeName})";
       CPE_NAME = "cpe:/o:${cfg.vendorId}:${cfg.distroId}:${cfg.release}";
       LOGO = "nix-snowflake";
-      HOME_URL = optionalString isNixos "https://nixos.org/";
-      VENDOR_URL = optionalString isNixos "https://nixos.org/";
-      DOCUMENTATION_URL = optionalString isNixos "https://nixos.org/learn.html";
-      SUPPORT_URL = optionalString isNixos "https://nixos.org/community.html";
-      BUG_REPORT_URL = optionalString isNixos "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues";
-      ANSI_COLOR = optionalString isNixos "0;38;2;126;186;228";
-      IMAGE_ID = optionalString (config.system.image.id != null) config.system.image.id;
-      ${if config.system.image.version != null then "IMAGE_VERSION" else null} =
-        config.system.image.version;
-      VARIANT = optionalString (cfg.variantName != null) cfg.variantName;
-      VARIANT_ID = optionalString (cfg.variant_id != null) cfg.variant_id;
+      ${optionalAttr isNixos "HOME_URL"} = "https://nixos.org/";
+      ${optionalAttr isNixos "VENDOR_URL"} = "https://nixos.org/";
+      ${optionalAttr isNixos "DOCUMENTATION_URL"} = "https://nixos.org/learn.html";
+      ${optionalAttr isNixos "SUPPORT_URL"} = "https://nixos.org/community.html";
+      ${optionalAttr isNixos "BUG_REPORT_URL"} = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues";
+      ${optionalAttr isNixos "ANSI_COLOR"} = "0;38;2;126;186;228";
+      ${optionalAttr (config.system.image.id != null) "IMAGE_ID"} = config.system.image.id;
+      ${optionalAttr (config.system.image.version != null) "IMAGE_VERSION"} = config.system.image.version;
+      ${optionalAttr (cfg.variantName != null) "VARIANT"} = cfg.variantName;
+      ${optionalAttr (cfg.variant_id != null) "VARIANT_ID"} = cfg.variant_id;
       DEFAULT_HOSTNAME = config.system.nixos.distroId;
     }
     // cfg.extraOSReleaseArgs;