diff --git a/system/options.nix b/system/options.nix
index f08f31867e4d..36b72157d150 100644
--- a/system/options.nix
+++ b/system/options.nix
@@ -380,69 +380,6 @@ in
     ";
   };
 
-  services = {
-
-  
-    ttyBackgrounds = {
-
-      enable = mkOption {
-        default = true;
-        description = "
-          Whether to enable graphical backgrounds for the virtual consoles.
-        ";
-      };
-
-      defaultTheme = mkOption {
-        default = pkgs.fetchurl {
-          #url = http://www.bootsplash.de/files/themes/Theme-BabyTux.tar.bz2;
-          url = http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/distfiles/Theme-BabyTux.tar.bz2;
-          md5 = "a6d89d1c1cff3b6a08e2f526f2eab4e0";
-        };
-        description = "
-          The default theme for the virtual consoles.  Themes can be found
-          at <link xlink:href='http://www.bootsplash.de/' />.
-        ";
-      };
-
-      defaultSpecificThemes = mkOption {
-        default = [
-          /*
-          { tty = 6;
-            theme = pkgs.fetchurl { # Yeah!
-              url = http://www.bootsplash.de/files/themes/Theme-Pativo.tar.bz2;
-              md5 = "9e13beaaadf88d43a5293e7ab757d569";
-            };
-          }
-          */
-          { tty = 10;
-            theme = pkgs.fetchurl {
-              #url = http://www.bootsplash.de/files/themes/Theme-GNU.tar.bz2;
-              url = http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/distfiles/Theme-GNU.tar.bz2;
-              md5 = "61969309d23c631e57b0a311102ef034";
-            };
-          }
-        ];
-        description = "
-          This option sets specific themes for virtual consoles.  If you
-          just want to set themes for additional consoles, use
-          <option>services.ttyBackgrounds.specificThemes</option>.
-        ";
-      };
-
-      specificThemes = mkOption {
-        default = [
-        ];
-        description = "
-          This option allows you to set specific themes for virtual
-          consoles.
-        ";
-      };
-
-    };
-
-
-  };
-
   nesting = {
     children = mkOption {
       default = [];
@@ -547,6 +484,7 @@ in
     (import ../upstart-jobs/dovecot.nix)
     (import ../upstart-jobs/bind.nix)
     (import ../upstart-jobs/mingetty.nix) # The terminals on ttyX.
+    (import ../upstart-jobs/tty-backgrounds.nix)
 
     # nix
     (import ../upstart-jobs/nix.nix) # nix options and daemon
diff --git a/upstart-jobs/default.nix b/upstart-jobs/default.nix
index 740b6785245e..1a3cf76740bb 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/default.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/default.nix
@@ -140,37 +140,6 @@ let
     ["reboot" "halt" "system-halt" "power-off"]
   )
     
-  # Transparent TTY backgrounds.
-  ++ optional (config.services.ttyBackgrounds.enable && kernelPackages.splashutils != null)
-    (import ../upstart-jobs/tty-backgrounds.nix {
-      inherit (pkgs) stdenv;
-      inherit (kernelPackages) splashutils;
-      
-      backgrounds =
-      
-        let
-        
-          specificThemes =
-            config.services.ttyBackgrounds.defaultSpecificThemes
-            ++ config.services.ttyBackgrounds.specificThemes;
-            
-          overridenTTYs = map (x: x.tty) specificThemes;
-
-          # Use the default theme for all the mingetty ttys and for the
-          # syslog tty, except those for which a specific theme is
-          # specified.
-          defaultTTYs =
-            pkgs.lib.filter (x: !(pkgs.lib.elem x overridenTTYs)) requiredTTYs;
-
-        in      
-          (map (ttyNumber: {
-            tty = ttyNumber;
-            theme = config.services.ttyBackgrounds.defaultTheme;
-          }) defaultTTYs)
-          ++ specificThemes;
-          
-    })
-
   # User-defined events.
   ++ (map makeJob (config.services.extraJobs));
 
diff --git a/upstart-jobs/tty-backgrounds.nix b/upstart-jobs/tty-backgrounds.nix
index 604085308709..825874aaeed4 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/tty-backgrounds.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/tty-backgrounds.nix
@@ -1,11 +1,100 @@
-{stdenv, splashutils, backgrounds}:
+{pkgs, config, ...}:
 
-rec {
-  name = "tty-backgrounds";
+###### interface
+let
+  inherit (pkgs.lib) mkOption mkIf;
 
-  unpackTheme = theme: import ../helpers/unpack-theme.nix {
-    inherit stdenv theme;
+  options = {
+    services = {
+      ttyBackgrounds = {
+
+        enable = mkOption {
+          default = true;
+          description = "
+            Whether to enable graphical backgrounds for the virtual consoles.
+          ";
+        };
+
+        defaultTheme = mkOption {
+          default = pkgs.fetchurl {
+            #url = http://www.bootsplash.de/files/themes/Theme-BabyTux.tar.bz2;
+            url = http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/distfiles/Theme-BabyTux.tar.bz2;
+            md5 = "a6d89d1c1cff3b6a08e2f526f2eab4e0";
+          };
+          description = "
+            The default theme for the virtual consoles.  Themes can be found
+            at <link xlink:href='http://www.bootsplash.de/' />.
+          ";
+        };
+
+        defaultSpecificThemes = mkOption {
+          default = [
+            /*
+            { tty = 6;
+              theme = pkgs.fetchurl { # Yeah!
+                url = http://www.bootsplash.de/files/themes/Theme-Pativo.tar.bz2;
+                md5 = "9e13beaaadf88d43a5293e7ab757d569";
+              };
+            }
+            */
+            { tty = 10;
+              theme = pkgs.fetchurl {
+                #url = http://www.bootsplash.de/files/themes/Theme-GNU.tar.bz2;
+                url = http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/distfiles/Theme-GNU.tar.bz2;
+                md5 = "61969309d23c631e57b0a311102ef034";
+              };
+            }
+          ];
+          description = "
+            This option sets specific themes for virtual consoles.  If you
+            just want to set themes for additional consoles, use
+            <option>services.ttyBackgrounds.specificThemes</option>.
+          ";
+        };
+
+        specificThemes = mkOption {
+          default = [
+          ];
+          description = "
+            This option allows you to set specific themes for virtual
+            consoles.
+          ";
+        };
+      };
+    };
   };
+in
+
+###### implementation
+
+let
+  inherit (pkgs) stdenv;
+  kernelPackages = config.boot.kernelPackages;
+  splashutils = kernelPackages.splashutils;
+  requiredTTYs = config.requiredTTYs;
+  backgrounds =
+  
+    let
+    
+      specificThemes =
+        config.services.ttyBackgrounds.defaultSpecificThemes
+        ++ config.services.ttyBackgrounds.specificThemes;
+        
+      overridenTTYs = map (x: x.tty) specificThemes;
+
+      # Use the default theme for all the mingetty ttys and for the
+      # syslog tty, except those for which a specific theme is
+      # specified.
+      defaultTTYs =
+        pkgs.lib.filter (x: !(pkgs.lib.elem x overridenTTYs)) requiredTTYs;
+
+    in      
+      (map (ttyNumber: {
+        tty = ttyNumber;
+        theme = config.services.ttyBackgrounds.defaultTheme;
+      }) defaultTTYs)
+      ++ specificThemes;
+
 
   themesUnpacked = stdenv.mkDerivation {
     name = "splash-themes";
@@ -15,46 +104,71 @@ rec {
     themes = map (x: if x ? theme then (unpackTheme x.theme) else "default") backgrounds;
   };
 
-  extraEtc = [
-    { source = themesUnpacked;
-      target = "splash";
-    }
+  unpackTheme = theme: import ../helpers/unpack-theme.nix {
+      inherit stdenv theme;
+    };
+
+
+
+in
+
+# FIXME see xfs
+# assert splashutils != null;
+
+mkIf (config.services.ttyBackgrounds.enable && kernelPackages.splashutils != null) {
+  require = [
+    options
   ];
 
-  job = ''
-    start on udev
 
-    start script
+  environment = {
+    etc = [
+      { source = themesUnpacked;
+        target = "splash";
+      }
+    ];
+  };
 
-        # Critical: tell the kernel where to find splash_helper.  It calls
-        # this program every time we switch between consoles.
-        helperProcFile=${splashutils.helperProcFile}
-        if test -e /proc/sys/fbcondecor; then helperProcFile=/proc/sys/fbcondecor; fi
-        echo ${splashutils}/${splashutils.helperName} > $helperProcFile
 
-        # For each console...
-        for tty in ${toString (map (x: x.tty) backgrounds)}; do
-            # Make sure that the console exists.
-            echo -n "" > /dev/tty$tty 
+  services = {
+    extraJobs = [ rec {
+      name = "tty-backgrounds";
 
-            # Set the theme as determined by tty-backgrounds-combine.sh
-            # above.
-            theme=$(readlink ${themesUnpacked}/$tty)
-            ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c setcfg -t $theme || true
-            ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c setpic -t $theme || true
-            ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c on || true
-        done
+      job = ''
+        start on udev
 
-    end script
+        start script
 
-    respawn sleep 10000 # !!! Hack
+            # Critical: tell the kernel where to find splash_helper.  It calls
+            # this program every time we switch between consoles.
+            helperProcFile=${splashutils.helperProcFile}
+            if test -e /proc/sys/fbcondecor; then helperProcFile=/proc/sys/fbcondecor; fi
+            echo ${splashutils}/${splashutils.helperName} > $helperProcFile
 
-    stop script
-        # Disable the theme on each console.
-        for tty in ${toString (map (x: x.tty) backgrounds)}; do
-            ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c off || true
-        done
-    end script
-  '';
-  
+            # For each console...
+            for tty in ${toString (map (x: x.tty) backgrounds)}; do
+                # Make sure that the console exists.
+                echo -n "" > /dev/tty$tty 
+
+                # Set the theme as determined by tty-backgrounds-combine.sh
+                # above.
+                theme=$(readlink ${themesUnpacked}/$tty)
+                ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c setcfg -t $theme || true
+                ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c setpic -t $theme || true
+                ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c on || true
+            done
+
+        end script
+
+        respawn sleep 10000 # !!! Hack
+
+        stop script
+            # Disable the theme on each console.
+            for tty in ${toString (map (x: x.tty) backgrounds)}; do
+                ${splashutils}/${splashutils.controlName} --tty $tty -c off || true
+            done
+        end script
+      '';
+    }];
+  };
 }