diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/avahi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/avahi/default.nix
index ac3db3650e76f..95f82d8def2b1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/avahi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/avahi/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 { fetchurl
 , fetchpatch
 , lib
+, config
 , stdenv
 , pkg-config
 , libdaemon
@@ -21,6 +22,9 @@
 , withPython ? false
 }:
 
+# Added 2024-09-03. Drop this assertion after 24.11 is released.
+assert lib.assertMsg (config.avahi or {} == {}) "config.avahi has been removed; please use an overlay or services.avahi.package to configure the avahi package.";
+
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "avahi${lib.optionalString withLibdnssdCompat "-compat"}";
   version = "0.8";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 41fc3050b5b90..fa1a6a2616e8c 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -4029,11 +4029,11 @@ with pkgs;
 
   autorandr = callPackage ../tools/misc/autorandr { };
 
-  avahi = callPackage ../development/libraries/avahi (config.avahi or {});
+  avahi = callPackage ../development/libraries/avahi { };
 
-  avahi-compat = callPackage ../development/libraries/avahi ((config.avahi or {}) // {
+  avahi-compat = callPackage ../development/libraries/avahi {
     withLibdnssdCompat = true;
-  });
+  };
 
   avro-c = callPackage ../development/libraries/avro-c { };