diff --git a/gnu/packages/base.scm b/gnu/packages/base.scm
index 3979dbc2e7..bd352319a1 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/base.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/base.scm
@@ -1335,11 +1335,9 @@ (define-public libiconv
               (snippet
                ;; Work around "declared gets" error on glibc systems (fixed by
                ;; Gnulib commit 66712c23388e93e5c518ebc8515140fa0c807348.)
-               '(begin
-                  (substitute* "srclib/stdio.in.h"
-                    (("^#undef gets") "")
-                    (("^_GL_WARN_ON_USE \\(gets.*") ""))
-                  #t))))
+               '(substitute* "srclib/stdio.in.h"
+                  (("^#undef gets") "")
+                  (("^_GL_WARN_ON_USE \\(gets.*") "")))))
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
     (synopsis "Character set conversion library")
     (description
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gcc.scm b/gnu/packages/gcc.scm
index 4d5aaa7070..4e01a7af61 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gcc.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gcc.scm
@@ -378,15 +378,13 @@ (define-public gcc-4.8
               ;; This is required for building with glibc-2.26.
               ;; https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=81712
               (snippet
-               '(begin
-                  (for-each
-                   (lambda (dir)
-                     (substitute* (string-append "libgcc/config/"
-                                                 dir "/linux-unwind.h")
-                       (("struct ucontext") "ucontext_t")))
-                   '("aarch64" "alpha" "bfin" "i386" "m68k"
-                     "pa" "sh" "tilepro" "xtensa"))
-                  #t))))
+               '(for-each
+                 (lambda (dir)
+                   (substitute* (string-append "libgcc/config/"
+                                               dir "/linux-unwind.h")
+                     (("struct ucontext") "ucontext_t")))
+                 '("aarch64" "alpha" "bfin" "i386" "m68k"
+                   "pa" "sh" "tilepro" "xtensa")))))
     (supported-systems %supported-systems)
     (inputs
      `(("isl" ,isl-0.11)
@@ -414,15 +412,13 @@ (define-public gcc-4.9
               ;; This is required for building with glibc-2.26.
               ;; https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=81712
               (snippet
-               '(begin
-                  (for-each
-                   (lambda (dir)
-                     (substitute* (string-append "libgcc/config/"
-                                                 dir "/linux-unwind.h")
-                       (("struct ucontext") "ucontext_t")))
-                   '("aarch64" "alpha" "bfin" "i386" "m68k" "nios2"
-                     "pa" "sh" "tilepro" "xtensa"))
-                  #t))))
+               '(for-each
+                 (lambda (dir)
+                   (substitute* (string-append "libgcc/config/"
+                                               dir "/linux-unwind.h")
+                     (("struct ucontext") "ucontext_t")))
+                 '("aarch64" "alpha" "bfin" "i386" "m68k" "nios2"
+                   "pa" "sh" "tilepro" "xtensa")))))
     ;; Override inherited texinfo-5 with latest version.
     (native-inputs `(("perl" ,perl)   ;for manpages
                      ("texinfo" ,texinfo)))
@@ -483,11 +479,9 @@ (define-public gcc-5
                ;;
                ;;   https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=67590
                ;;   http://cgit.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/commit/?id=f6e47aa9b12f9ab61530c40e0343f451699d9077
-               '(begin
-                  (substitute* "libcc1/configure"
-                    (("\\$gcc_cv_objdump -T")
-                     "$OBJDUMP_FOR_TARGET -T"))
-                  #t))))
+               '(substitute* "libcc1/configure"
+                  (("\\$gcc_cv_objdump -T")
+                   "$OBJDUMP_FOR_TARGET -T")))))
     (inputs
      `(;; GCC5 needs <isl/band.h> which is removed in later versions.
        ("isl" ,isl-0.18)