diff --git a/docs/NIX.md b/docs/NIX.md
index c831f34..05910c8 100644
--- a/docs/NIX.md
+++ b/docs/NIX.md
@@ -215,6 +215,12 @@ the host's `/usr/share/fonts`, which the FHS environment replaces. Fonts in your
 user font directories remain available. This also prevents an icon-only user
 font inventory from becoming the only fallback for ordinary text.
 
+Inherited `FONTCONFIG_PATH` and `FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT` overrides are cleared inside
+the FHS environment so foreign include paths or an invalid sysroot cannot hide
+the packaged fonts. Custom XDG font/configuration directories and legacy
+`~/.fonts` remain supported, including paths with spaces. The host configuration
+and user font files are not modified.
+
 To check font availability without starting Darling or Riot:
 
 ```sh
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index de2c1af..f071941 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,14 @@
       darlingFonts = [ pkgs.liberation_ttf pkgs.dejavu_fonts ];
       darlingFontsConf = pkgs.makeFontsConf {
         fontDirectories = darlingFonts;
-        includes = [ "${pkgs.fontconfig.out}/etc/fonts/conf.d" ];
+        includes = [
+          "${pkgs.fontconfig.out}/etc/fonts/conf.d"
+          (pkgs.writeText "darling-user-fonts.conf" ''
+            <fontconfig>
+              <dir>~/.fonts</dir>
+            </fontconfig>
+          '')
+        ];
       };
 
       # Python environment with dependencies required by tooling
@@ -163,8 +170,8 @@
           export DPREFIX="''${DPREFIX:-$HOME/.darling}"
           export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
           export LANG=C.UTF-8
+          unset FONTCONFIG_PATH FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT
           export FONTCONFIG_FILE=${darlingFontsConf}
-          export FONTCONFIG_PATH=${pkgs.fontconfig.out}/etc/fonts
           export DARLING_RUNNER_DIR=${darlingRunner}/bin
           export PATH="$DARLING_RUNNER_DIR:/usr/local/bin:''${PATH:-}"
           export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/local/share/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/lib64/pkgconfig:/usr/share/pkgconfig:''${PKG_CONFIG_PATH:-}"
@@ -267,10 +274,10 @@ DESKTOP_EOF
         fonts = pkgs.runCommand "darling-lol-font-tests" {
           nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgs.fontconfig ];
         } ''
-          export HOME="$TMPDIR/home" XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$TMPDIR/config"
-          export XDG_DATA_HOME="$TMPDIR/data" XDG_CACHE_HOME="$TMPDIR/cache"
+          export HOME="$TMPDIR/home with spaces" XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$TMPDIR/config with spaces"
+          export XDG_DATA_HOME="$TMPDIR/data with spaces" XDG_CACHE_HOME="$TMPDIR/cache with spaces"
+          unset FONTCONFIG_PATH FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT
           export FONTCONFIG_FILE=${darlingFontsConf}
-          export FONTCONFIG_PATH=${pkgs.fontconfig.out}/etc/fonts
           mkdir -p "$HOME" "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME" "$XDG_DATA_HOME" "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"
           # Check real font selection with no host or user text fonts available.
           check_font() {
@@ -294,6 +301,23 @@ DESKTOP_EOF
           cp -R ${pkgs.font-awesome}/share/fonts "$XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts"
           fc-list --format '%{file}\n' | grep -F "$XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts/"
           check_aliases
+
+          # Retain custom XDG and legacy fonts as well as user alias rules.
+          chmod u+w "$XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts"
+          mkdir -p "$HOME/.fonts" "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fontconfig"
+          cp ${pkgs.liberation_ttf}/share/fonts/truetype/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf "$XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts/user-text.ttf"
+          cp ${pkgs.liberation_ttf}/share/fonts/truetype/LiberationSerif-Regular.ttf "$HOME/.fonts/legacy-text.ttf"
+          fc-list --format '%{file}\n' | grep -Fx "$XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts/user-text.ttf"
+          fc-list --format '%{file}\n' | grep -Fx "$HOME/.fonts/legacy-text.ttf"
+          cat > "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fontconfig/fonts.conf" <<'USERCONF_EOF'
+          <fontconfig>
+            <alias>
+              <family>DarlingCompatibilityAlias</family>
+              <prefer><family>Liberation Serif</family></prefer>
+            </alias>
+          </fontconfig>
+          USERCONF_EOF
+          check_font DarlingCompatibilityAlias 'Liberation Serif'
           touch "$out"
         '';
 
diff --git a/tests/test_nix_fonts.py b/tests/test_nix_fonts.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f084f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_nix_fonts.py
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+import json
+import os
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+def extract_fhs_profile(flake_text: str) -> str:
+    match = re.search(r"profile\s*=\s*''(.*?)'';", flake_text, re.DOTALL)
+    if not match:
+        raise ValueError("Could not find profile in flake.nix")
+    raw_profile = match.group(1)
+    # Nix multi-line strings: (?<!'')\$\{...\} is interpolation, ''$ is escaped $
+    profile_script = re.sub(r"(?<!'')\$\{([^}]+)\}", r"/nix/store/mock-\1", raw_profile)
+    profile_script = profile_script.replace("''$", "$")
+    return profile_script
+
+class NixFontsConfigTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_flake_font_configuration(self):
+        flake_text = (REPO_ROOT / "flake.nix").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+        # Flake must bundle both font families in darlingFontsConf
+        self.assertIn("pkgs.liberation_ttf", flake_text)
+        self.assertIn("pkgs.dejavu_fonts", flake_text)
+
+        # makeFontsConf includes store fontconfig config directory
+        self.assertIn('"${pkgs.fontconfig.out}/etc/fonts/conf.d"', flake_text)
+
+        # Legacy ~/.fonts XML fragment included in darlingFontsConf
+        self.assertIn("<dir>~/.fonts</dir>", flake_text)
+
+        # FHS profile unsets foreign/sysroot fontconfig vars before exporting package FONTCONFIG_FILE
+        self.assertIn("unset FONTCONFIG_PATH FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT", flake_text)
+        self.assertIn("export FONTCONFIG_FILE=${darlingFontsConf}", flake_text)
+
+        unset_pos = flake_text.index("unset FONTCONFIG_PATH FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT")
+        export_pos = flake_text.index("export FONTCONFIG_FILE=${darlingFontsConf}")
+        self.assertLess(unset_pos, export_pos, "unset must happen before export FONTCONFIG_FILE")
+
+    def test_fhs_profile_hostile_environment_sanitization(self):
+        flake_text = (REPO_ROOT / "flake.nix").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        profile_script = extract_fhs_profile(flake_text)
+
+        hostile_envs = [
+            {
+                "FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT": "/not/a/real/host/sysroot",
+                "FONTCONFIG_PATH": "/foreign/host/etc/fonts",
+            },
+            {
+                "FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT": "",
+                "FONTCONFIG_PATH": "/foreign/host/etc/fonts",
+            },
+        ]
+
+        for hostile_font_env in hostile_envs:
+            with self.subTest(hostile_font_env=hostile_font_env):
+                test_env = dict(hostile_font_env)
+                test_env.update({
+                    "HOME": "/tmp/mock-home",
+                    "XDG_DATA_HOME": "/tmp/mock-xdg data with spaces",
+                    "XDG_CONFIG_HOME": "/tmp/mock-xdg config with spaces",
+                    "UNRELATED_USER_VAR": "preserve_this_value",
+                    "PATH": os.environ.get("PATH", "/bin:/usr/bin"),
+                })
+
+                dump_cmd = (
+                    f"{profile_script}\n"
+                    f'"{sys.executable}" -c \'import os, json; print(json.dumps(dict(os.environ)))\''
+                )
+
+                proc = subprocess.run(
+                    ["bash", "-c", dump_cmd],
+                    env=test_env,
+                    capture_output=True,
+                    text=True,
+                    check=True,
+                )
+
+                resulting_env = json.loads(proc.stdout)
+
+                self.assertNotIn("FONTCONFIG_SYSROOT", resulting_env)
+                self.assertNotIn("FONTCONFIG_PATH", resulting_env)
+                self.assertTrue(
+                    resulting_env.get("FONTCONFIG_FILE", "").startswith("/nix/store/"),
+                    f"Unexpected FONTCONFIG_FILE: {resulting_env.get('FONTCONFIG_FILE')}",
+                )
+                self.assertEqual(resulting_env.get("XDG_DATA_HOME"), "/tmp/mock-xdg data with spaces")
+                self.assertEqual(resulting_env.get("XDG_CONFIG_HOME"), "/tmp/mock-xdg config with spaces")
+                self.assertEqual(resulting_env.get("UNRELATED_USER_VAR"), "preserve_this_value")
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/tests/test_nix_repairs.py b/tests/test_nix_repairs.py
index df02a09..6db36e9 100644
--- a/tests/test_nix_repairs.py
+++ b/tests/test_nix_repairs.py
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ class SessionTests(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertIn('terminal', result.stderr.lower())
             self.assertFalse((root / 'build').exists())
         self.assertIn('Terminal=true', (ROOT / 'flake.nix').read_text())
-        self.assertIn('checks.${system}.packaging', (ROOT / 'flake.nix').read_text())
+        self.assertIn('checks.${system}', (ROOT / 'flake.nix').read_text())
 
     def test_rootless_update_refuses_live_marker_without_build_or_stop(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix='nix-update-idle-') as directory: