diff --git a/doc/manual/conf-file.xml b/doc/manual/conf-file.xml
index ae167fb787..82bc025bcd 100644
--- a/doc/manual/conf-file.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/conf-file.xml
@@ -323,8 +323,8 @@ build-use-chroot = /dev /proc /bin</programlisting>
   <varlistentry><term><literal>binary-caches</literal></term>
 
     <listitem><para>A list of URLs of binary caches, separated by
-    whitespace.  The default is
-    <literal>http://nixos.org/binary-cache</literal>.</para></listitem>
+    whitespace.  The default is empty.<!-- The default is
+    <literal>http://nixos.org/binary-cache</literal>. --></para></listitem>
 
   </varlistentry>
 
diff --git a/scripts/download-from-binary-cache.pl.in b/scripts/download-from-binary-cache.pl.in
index e65e2d5b36..335d7d9706 100644
--- a/scripts/download-from-binary-cache.pl.in
+++ b/scripts/download-from-binary-cache.pl.in
@@ -171,9 +171,8 @@ sub getAvailableCaches {
         return map { s/\/+$//; $_ } split(/ /, $s);
     }
 
-    my @urls = strToList
-        ($Nix::Config::config{"binary-caches"}
-         // ($Nix::Config::storeDir eq "/nix/store" ? "http://nixos.org/binary-cache" : ""));
+    my @urls = strToList ($Nix::Config::config{"binary-caches"} // "");
+    # // ($Nix::Config::storeDir eq "/nix/store" ? "http://nixos.org/binary-cache" : ""));
 
     my $urlsFiles = $Nix::Config::config{"binary-cache-files"}
         // "/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/binary-caches/*";