diff --git a/gnu/system/file-systems.scm b/gnu/system/file-systems.scm
index 4a3c1fe008..b9eda80958 100644
--- a/gnu/system/file-systems.scm
+++ b/gnu/system/file-systems.scm
@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@
             file-system-dependencies
             file-system-location
 
-            reduce-directories
             file-system-type-predicate
             btrfs-subvolume?
             btrfs-store-subvolume-file-name
@@ -266,27 +265,6 @@ For example:
 (define (file-name-depth file-name)
   (length (string-tokenize file-name %not-slash)))
 
-(define (reduce-directories file-names)
-  "Eliminate entries in FILE-NAMES that are children of other entries in
-FILE-NAMES.  This is for example useful when passing a list of files to GNU
-tar, which would otherwise descend into each directory passed and archive the
-duplicate files as hard links, which can be undesirable."
-  (let* ((file-names/sorted
-          ;; Ascending sort by file hierarchy depth, then by file name length.
-          (stable-sort (delete-duplicates file-names)
-                       (lambda (f1 f2)
-                         (let ((depth1 (file-name-depth f1))
-                               (depth2 (file-name-depth f2)))
-                           (if (= depth1 depth2)
-                               (string< f1 f2)
-                               (< depth1 depth2)))))))
-    (reverse (fold (lambda (file-name results)
-                     (if (find (cut file-prefix? <> file-name) results)
-                         results        ;parent found -- skipping
-                         (cons file-name results)))
-                   '()
-                   file-names/sorted))))
-
 (define* (file-system-device->string device #:key uuid-type)
   "Return the string representations of the DEVICE field of a <file-system>
 record.  When the device is a UUID, its representation is chosen depending on
diff --git a/guix/scripts/pack.scm b/guix/scripts/pack.scm
index 78201d6f5f..9e1f270dfb 100644
--- a/guix/scripts/pack.scm
+++ b/guix/scripts/pack.scm
@@ -231,17 +231,17 @@ its source property."
 
   (with-imported-modules (source-module-closure
                           `((guix build pack)
+                            (guix build store-copy)
                             (guix build utils)
                             (guix build union)
-                            (gnu build install)
-                            (gnu system file-systems))
+                            (gnu build install))
                           #:select? import-module?)
     #~(begin
         (use-modules (guix build pack)
+                     (guix build store-copy)
                      (guix build utils)
                      ((guix build union) #:select (relative-file-name))
                      (gnu build install)
-                     ((gnu system file-systems) #:select (reduce-directories))
                      (srfi srfi-1)
                      (srfi srfi-26)
                      (ice-9 match))
@@ -279,11 +279,11 @@ its source property."
         ;; Furthermore GNU tar < 1.30 sometimes fails to extract tarballs
         ;; with hard links:
         ;; <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2017-11/msg00009.html>.
-        (populate-single-profile-directory %root
-                                           #:profile #$profile
-                                           #:profile-name #$profile-name
-                                           #:closure "profile"
-                                           #:database #+database)
+        (populate-store (list "profile") %root #:deduplicate? #f)
+
+        (when #+localstatedir?
+          (install-database-and-gc-roots %root #+database #$profile
+                                         #:profile-name #$profile-name))
 
         ;; Create SYMLINKS.
         (for-each (cut evaluate-populate-directive <> %root)
@@ -291,31 +291,14 @@ its source property."
 
         ;; Create the tarball.
         (with-directory-excursion %root
-          (apply invoke tar
-                 `(,@(tar-base-options
-                      #:tar tar
-                      #:compressor '#+(and=> compressor compressor-command))
-                   "-cvf" ,#$output
-                   ;; Avoid adding / and /var to the tarball, so
-                   ;; that the ownership and permissions of those
-                   ;; directories will not be overwritten when
-                   ;; extracting the archive.  Do not include /root
-                   ;; because the root account might have a
-                   ;; different home directory.
-                   ,#$@(if localstatedir?
-                           '("./var/guix")
-                           '())
-
-                   ,(string-append "." (%store-directory))
-
-                   ,@(reduce-directories
-                      (filter-map (match-lambda
-                                    (('directory directory)
-                                     (string-append "." directory))
-                                    ((source '-> _)
-                                     (string-append "." source))
-                                    (_ #f))
-                                  directives))))))))
+          ;; GNU Tar recurses directories by default.  Simply add the whole
+          ;; current directory, which contains all the generated files so far.
+          ;; This avoids creating duplicate files in the archives that would
+          ;; be stored as hard links by GNU Tar.
+          (apply invoke tar "-cvf" #$output "."
+                 (tar-base-options
+                  #:tar tar
+                  #:compressor '#+(and=> compressor compressor-command)))))))
 
 (define* (self-contained-tarball name profile
                                  #:key target
diff --git a/tests/file-systems.scm b/tests/file-systems.scm
index 80acb6d5b9..7f7c373884 100644
--- a/tests/file-systems.scm
+++ b/tests/file-systems.scm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
 ;;; Copyright © 2015, 2017 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
-;;; Copyright © 2020, 2021 Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com>
+;;; Copyright © 2020 Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -50,11 +50,6 @@
                    (device "/foo")
                    (flags '(bind-mount read-only)))))))))
 
-(test-equal "reduce-directories"
-  '("./opt/gnu/" "./opt/gnuism" "a/b/c")
-  (reduce-directories '("./opt/gnu/etc" "./opt/gnu/" "./opt/gnu/bin"
-                        "./opt/gnu/lib/debug" "./opt/gnuism" "a/b/c" "a/b/c")))
-
 (test-assert "does not pull (guix config)"
   ;; This module is meant both for the host side and "build side", so make
   ;; sure it doesn't pull in (guix config), which depends on the user's