diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders.nix b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders.nix
index d8b4ae5dd97f..32ace4a795a1 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders.nix
@@ -150,9 +150,11 @@ rec {
           echo -n "$text" > "$target"
         fi
 
-        eval "$checkPhase"
+        if [ -n "$executable" ]; then
+          chmod +x "$target"
+        fi
 
-        (test -n "$executable" && chmod +x "$target") || true
+        eval "$checkPhase"
       '';
 
   /*
@@ -411,7 +413,10 @@ rec {
         mkdir -p "$(dirname "$file")"
         cat $files > "$file"
 
-        (test -n "$executable" && chmod +x "$file") || true
+        if [ -n "$executable" ]; then
+          chmod +x "$file"
+        fi
+
         eval "$checkPhase"
       '';
 
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/test/write-shell-script.nix b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/test/write-shell-script.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a5c9f1fae42f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/test/write-shell-script.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{ lib, writeShellScript }: let
+  output = "hello";
+in (writeShellScript "test-script" ''
+  echo ${lib.escapeShellArg output}
+'').overrideAttrs (old: {
+  checkPhase = old.checkPhase or "" + ''
+    expected=${lib.escapeShellArg output}
+    got=$("$target")
+    if [[ "$got" != "$expected" ]]; then
+      echo "wrong output: expected $expected, got $got"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  '';
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/test/default.nix b/pkgs/test/default.nix
index 5d154d1630b6..bc810790a3dd 100644
--- a/pkgs/test/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/test/default.nix
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ with pkgs;
   trivial-builders = recurseIntoAttrs {
     writeStringReferencesToFile = callPackage ../build-support/trivial-builders/test/writeStringReferencesToFile.nix {};
     writeTextFile = callPackage ../build-support/trivial-builders/test/write-text-file.nix {};
+    writeShellScript = callPackage ../build-support/trivial-builders/test/write-shell-script.nix {};
     references = callPackage ../build-support/trivial-builders/test/references.nix {};
     overriding = callPackage ../build-support/trivial-builders/test-overriding.nix {};
     concat = callPackage ../build-support/trivial-builders/test/concat-test.nix {};