622 lines
20 KiB
XML
622 lines
20 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0"?>
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<!DOCTYPE book
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PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
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"http://www.docbook.org/xml/4.3/docbook-xml-4.3.zip"
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[
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]>
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<article><title>Nix Release Notes</title>
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<section><title>Release 0.10 (TBA)</title>
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<note><para>This version of Nix uses Berkeley DB 4.4 instead of 4.3.
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The database is upgraded automatically, but you should be careful not
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to use old versions of Nix that still use Berkeley DB 4.3. In
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particular, if you use a Nix installed through Nix, you should run
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<screen>
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$ nix-store --clear-substitutes</screen>
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first.</para></note>
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<warning><para>Also, the database schema has changed slighted to fix a
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performance issue (see below). When you run any Nix 0.10 command for
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the first time, the database will be upgraded automatically. This is
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irreversible.</para></warning>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>An option <option>--compare-versions</option> (or
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<option>-c</option>) has been added to <command>nix-env
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--query</command> to allow you to compare installed versions of
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packages to available versions, or vice versa. An easy way to see
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if you are up to date with what’s in the channel is <literal>nix-env
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-qc</literal>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>TODO: shared stores.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>A performance issue has been fixed with the
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<literal>referer</literal> table, which stores the inverse of the
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<literal>references</literal> table (i.e., it tells you what store
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paths refer to a given path). Maintaining this table could take a
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quadratic amount of time, as well as a quadratic amount of Berkeley
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DB log file space (in particular when running the garbage
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collector).</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Nix now catches the <literal>TERM</literal> and
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<literal>HUP</literal> signals in addition to the
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<literal>INT</literal> signal. So you can now do a <literal>killall
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nix-store</literal> without triggering a database
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recovery.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Reference scanning (which happens after each build)
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is much faster.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>TODO: string interpolation</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>TODO: string concatenations involving
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derivations</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>TODO: function argument default values can refer to
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other function arguments</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>TODO: proxy support.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>TODO: nix-pack-closure and
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nix-unpack-closure.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section><title>Release 0.9.2 (September 21, 2005)</title>
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<para>This bug fix release fixes two problems on Mac OS X:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>If Nix was linked against statically linked versions
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of the ATerm or Berkeley DB library, there would be dynamic link
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errors at runtime.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>nix-pull</command> and
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<command>nix-push</command> intermittently failed due to race
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conditions involving pipes and child processes with error messages
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such as <literal>open2: open(GLOB(0x180b2e4), >&=9) failed: Bad
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file descriptor at /nix/bin/nix-pull line 77</literal> (issue
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<literal>NIX-14</literal>).</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</section>
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<section><title>Release 0.9.1 (September 20, 2005)</title>
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<para>This bug fix release addresses a problem with the ATerm library
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when the <option>--with-aterm</option> flag in
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<command>configure</command> was <emphasis>not</emphasis> used.</para>
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</section>
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<section><title>Release 0.9 (September 16, 2005)</title>
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<para>NOTE: this version of Nix uses Berkeley DB 4.3 instead of 4.2.
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The database is upgraded automatically, but you should be careful not
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to use old versions of Nix that still use Berkeley DB 4.2. In
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particular, if you use a Nix installed through Nix, you should run
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<screen>
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$ nix-store --clear-substitutes</screen>
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first.</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Unpacking of patch sequences is much faster now
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since we no longer do redundant unpacking and repacking of
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intermediate paths.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Nix now uses Berkeley DB 4.3.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>The <function>derivation</function> primitive is
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lazier. Attributes of dependent derivations can mutually refer to
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each other (as long as there are no data dependencies on the
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<varname>outPath</varname> and <varname>drvPath</varname> attributes
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computed by <function>derivation</function>).</para>
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<para>For example, the expression <literal>derivation
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attrs</literal> now evaluates to (essentially)
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<programlisting>
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attrs // {
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type = "derivation";
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outPath = derivation! attrs;
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drvPath = derivation! attrs;
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}</programlisting>
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where <function>derivation!</function> is a primop that does the
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actual derivation instantiation (i.e., it does what
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<function>derivation</function> used to do). The advantage is that
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it allows commands such as <command>nix-env -qa</command> and
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<command>nix-env -i</command> to be much faster since they no longer
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need to instantiate all derivations, just the
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<varname>name</varname> attribute.</para>
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<para>Also, it allows derivations to cyclically reference each
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other, for example,
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<programlisting>
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webServer = derivation {
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...
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hostName = "svn.cs.uu.nl";
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services = [svnService];
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};
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svnService = derivation {
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...
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hostName = webServer.hostName;
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};</programlisting>
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Previously, this would yield a black hole (infinite recursion).</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>nix-build</command> now defaults to using
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<filename>./default.nix</filename> if no Nix expression is
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specified.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>nix-instantiate</command>, when applied to
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a Nix expression that evaluates to a function, will call the
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function automatically if all its arguments have
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defaults.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Nix now uses libtool to build dynamic libraries.
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This reduces the size of executables.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>A new list concatenation operator
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<literal>++</literal>. For example, <literal>[1 2 3] ++ [4 5
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6]</literal> evaluates to <literal>[1 2 3 4 5
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6]</literal>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Some currently undocumented primops to support
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low-level build management using Nix (i.e., using Nix as a Make
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replacement). See the commit messages for <literal>r3578</literal>
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and <literal>r3580</literal>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Various bug fixes and performance
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improvements.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section><title>Release 0.8.1 (April 13, 2005)</title>
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<para>This is a bug fix release.</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Patch downloading was broken.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>The garbage collector would not delete paths that
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had references from invalid (but substitutable)
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paths.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section><title>Release 0.8 (April 11, 2005)</title>
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<para>NOTE: the hashing scheme in Nix 0.8 changed (as detailed below).
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As a result, <command>nix-pull</command> manifests and channels built
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for Nix 0.7 and below will now work anymore. However, the Nix
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expression language has not changed, so you can still build from
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source. Also, existing user environments continue to work. Nix 0.8
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will automatically upgrade the database schema of previous
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installations when it is first run.</para>
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<para>If you get the error message
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<screen>
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you have an old-style manifest `/nix/var/nix/manifests/[...]'; please
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delete it</screen>
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you should delete previously downloaded manifests:
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<screen>
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$ rm /nix/var/nix/manifests/*</screen>
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If <command>nix-channel</command> gives the error message
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<screen>
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manifest `http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/[channel]/MANIFEST'
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is too old (i.e., for Nix <= 0.7)</screen>
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then you should unsubscribe from the offending channel
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(<command>nix-channel --remove
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<replaceable>URL</replaceable></command>; leave out
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<literal>/MANIFEST</literal>), and subscribe to the same URL, with
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<literal>channels</literal> replaced by <literal>channels-v3</literal>
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(e.g.,
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http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels-v3/nixpkgs-unstable).</para>
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<para>Nix 0.8 has the following improvements:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>The cryptographic hashes used in store paths are now
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160 bits long, but encoded in base-32 so that they are still only 32
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characters long (e.g.,
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/nix/store/csw87wag8bqlqk7ipllbwypb14xainap-atk-1.9.0). (This is
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actually a 160 bit truncation of a SHA-256 hash.)</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Big cleanups and simplifications of the basic store
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semantics. The notion of "closure store expressions" is gone (and
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so is the notion of "successors"); the file system references of a
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store path are now just stored in the database.</para>
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<para>For instance, given any store path, you can query its closure:
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
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... lots of paths ...</screen>
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Also, Nix now remembers for each store path the derivation that
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built it (the "deriver"):
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
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/nix/store/4b0jx7vq80l9aqcnkszxhymsf1ffa5jd-firefox-1.0.1.drv</screen>
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So to see the build-time dependencies, you can do
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -qR $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))</screen>
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or, in a nicer format:
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -q --tree $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))</screen>
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</para>
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<para>File system references are also stored in reverse. For
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instance, you can query all paths that directly or indirectly use a
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certain Glibc:
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -q --referrers-closure \
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/nix/store/8lz9yc6zgmc0vlqmn2ipcpkjlmbi51vv-glibc-2.3.4</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><para>The concept of fixed-output derivations has been
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formalised. Previously, functions such as
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<function>fetchurl</function> in Nixpkgs used a hack (namely,
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explicitly specifying a store path hash) to prevent changes to, say,
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the URL of the file from propagating upwards through the dependency
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graph, causing rebuilds of everything. This can now be done cleanly
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by specifying the <varname>outputHash</varname> and
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<varname>outputHashAlgo</varname> attributes. Nix itself checks
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that the content of the output has the specified hash. (This is
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important for maintaining certain invariants necessary for future
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work on secure shared stores.)</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>One-click installation :-) It is now possible to
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install any top-level component in Nixpkgs directly, through the web
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- see, e.g., http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nixpkgs-0.8/. All
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you have to do is associate
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<filename>/nix/bin/nix-install-package</filename> with the MIME type
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<literal>application/nix-package</literal> (or the extension
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<filename>.nixpkg</filename>), and clicking on a package link will
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cause it to be installed, with all appropriate dependencies. If you
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just want to install some specific application, this is easier than
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subscribing to a channel.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>nix-store -r
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<replaceable>PATHS</replaceable></command> now builds all the
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derivations PATHS in parallel. Previously it did them sequentially
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(though exploiting possible parallelism between subderivations).
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This is nice for build farms.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>nix-channel</command> has new operations
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<option>--list</option> and
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<option>--remove</option>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>New ways of installing components into user
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environments:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Copy from another user environment:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -i --from-profile .../other-profile firefox</screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Install a store derivation directly (bypassing the
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Nix expression language entirely):
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -i /nix/store/z58v41v21xd3...-aterm-2.3.1.drv</screen>
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(This is used to implement <command>nix-install-package</command>,
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which is therefore immune to evolution in the Nix expression
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language.)</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Install an already built store path directly:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -i /nix/store/hsyj5pbn0d9i...-aterm-2.3.1</screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Install the result of a Nix expression specified
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as a command-line argument:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -f .../i686-linux.nix -i -E 'x: x.firefoxWrapper'</screen>
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The difference with the normal installation mode is that
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<option>-E</option> does not use the <varname>name</varname>
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attributes of derivations. Therefore, this can be used to
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disambiguate multiple derivations with the same
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name.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist></para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>A hash of the contents of a store path is now stored
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in the database after a succesful build. This allows you to check
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whether store paths have been tampered with: <command>nix-store
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--verify --check-contents</command>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Implemented a concurrent garbage collector. It is now
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always safe to run the garbage collector, even if other Nix
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operations are happening simultaneously.</para>
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<para>However, there can still be GC races if you use
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<command>nix-instantiate</command> and <command>nix-store
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--realise</command> directly to build things. To prevent races,
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use the <option>--add-root</option> flag of those commands.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><para>The garbage collector now finally deletes paths in
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the right order (i.e., topologically sorted under the
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<quote>references</quote> relation), thus making it safe to
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interrupt the collector without risking a store that violates the
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closure invariant.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Likewise, the substitute mechanism now downloads
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files in the right order, thus preserving the closure invariant at
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all times.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>The result of <command>nix-build</command> is now
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registered as a root of the garbage collector. If the
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<filename>./result</filename> link is deleted, the GC root
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disappears automatically.</para></listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>The behaviour of the garbage collector can be changed
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globally by setting options in
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<filename>/nix/etc/nix/nix.conf</filename>.
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para><literal>gc-keep-derivations</literal> specifies
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whether deriver links should be followed when searching for live
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paths.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><literal>gc-keep-outputs</literal> specifies
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whether outputs of derivations should be followed when searching
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for live paths.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><literal>env-keep-derivations</literal>
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specifies whether user environments should store the paths of
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derivations when they are added (thus keeping the derivations
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alive).</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>New <command>nix-env</command> query flags
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<option>--drv-path</option> and
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<option>--out-path</option>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>fetchurl</command> allows SHA-1 and SHA-256
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in addition to MD5. Just specify the attribute
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<varname>sha1</varname> or <varname>sha256</varname> instead of
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<varname>md5</varname>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Manual updates.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</section>
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<section><title>Release 0.7 (January 12, 2005)</title>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Binary patching. When upgrading components using
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pre-built binaries (through nix-pull / nix-channel), Nix can
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automatically download and apply binary patches to already installed
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components instead of full downloads. Patching is "smart": if there
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is a *sequence* of patches to an installed component, Nix will use
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it. Patches are currently generated automatically between Nixpkgs
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(pre-)releases.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Simplifications to the substitute
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mechanism.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Nix-pull now stores downloaded manifests in
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/nix/var/nix/manifests.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Metadata on files in the Nix store is canonicalised
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after builds: the last-modified timestamp is set to 0 (00:00:00
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1/1/1970), the mode is set to 0444 or 0555 (readable and possibly
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executable by all; setuid/setgid bits are dropped), and the group is
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set to the default. This ensures that the result of a build and an
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installation through a substitute is the same; and that timestamp
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dependencies are revealed.</para></listitem>
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||
</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section><title>Release 0.6 (November 14, 2004)</title>
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|
||
<itemizedlist>
|
||
|
||
<listitem>
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<para>Rewrite of the normalisation engine.
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|
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<itemizedlist>
|
||
|
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<listitem><para>Multiple builds can now be performed in parallel
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(option <option>-j</option>).</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Distributed builds. Nix can now call a shell
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script to forward builds to Nix installations on remote
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machines, which may or may not be of the same platform
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type.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Option <option>--fallback</option> allows
|
||
recovery from broken substitutes.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Option <option>--keep-going</option> causes
|
||
building of other (unaffected) derivations to continue if one
|
||
failed.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</itemizedlist>
|
||
|
||
</para>
|
||
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Improvements to the garbage collector (i.e., it
|
||
should actually work now).</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Setuid Nix installations allow a Nix store to be
|
||
shared among multiple users.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Substitute registration is much faster
|
||
now.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>A utility <command>nix-build</command> to build a
|
||
Nix expression and create a symlink to the result int the current
|
||
directory; useful for testing Nix derivations.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Manual updates.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
|
||
<para><command>nix-env</command> changes:
|
||
|
||
<itemizedlist>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Derivations for other platforms are filtered out
|
||
(which can be overriden using
|
||
<option>--system-filter</option>).</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para><option>--install</option> by default now
|
||
uninstall previous derivations with the same
|
||
name.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para><option>--upgrade</option> allows upgrading to a
|
||
specific version.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>New operation
|
||
<option>--delete-generations</option> to remove profile
|
||
generations (necessary for effective garbage
|
||
collection).</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Nicer output (sorted,
|
||
columnised).</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</itemizedlist>
|
||
|
||
</para>
|
||
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>More sensible verbosity levels all around (builder
|
||
output is now shown always, unless <option>-Q</option> is
|
||
given).</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
|
||
<para>Nix expression language changes:
|
||
|
||
<itemizedlist>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>New language construct: <literal>with
|
||
<replaceable>E1</replaceable>;
|
||
<replaceable>E2</replaceable></literal> brings all attributes
|
||
defined in the attribute set <replaceable>E1</replaceable> in
|
||
scope in <replaceable>E2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Added a <function>map</function>
|
||
function.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Various new operators (e.g., string
|
||
concatenation).</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</itemizedlist>
|
||
|
||
</para>
|
||
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Expression evaluation is much
|
||
faster.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>An Emacs mode for editing Nix expressions (with
|
||
syntax highlighting and indentation) has been
|
||
added.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Many bug fixes.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</itemizedlist>
|
||
|
||
</section>
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<section><title>Release 0.5 and earlier</title>
|
||
|
||
<para>Please refer to the Subversion commit log messages.</para>
|
||
|
||
</section>
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
</article>
|