Discussions are understanding-oriented articles aimed at explaining a particular topic. They are encyclopedic, intended to provide an overview of the subject at hand, illuminating the big picture and various perspectives of it. A discussion article might be read casually for leisure, rather than being used as reference while coding.

Style

Language

Discussion articles should be written in clear, standard and professional language. To this end, the following heuristics apply:

• Vocabulary: use the simplest and most conventional words and expressions you can find to get your point across without oversimplifying.
• Organization: keep your text structured in coherent sentences, paragraphs and sections, each with its own clear themes and topics.
• Citations: citations aren't required, but definitely appreciated; when citing code, hardlink to a particular revision.

Canonical Forms

While in general, discussion articles can take a wide variety of forms, certain types of articles recur in the NixOS wiki and warrant specific formats. For these we provide canonical forms, recommended templates for structuring these types of discussion articles.

Software

Software articles cover a software package, application or library. The following sections are listed from greatest to least importance:

1. Introduction: a general overview
2. Usage: a practical overview of different approaches to installing, configuring and operating the software, linking to more comprehensive guides.
3. Internals: a theoretical overview of the internal architecture of the software, including critical files and directories, processes and objects.
4. Development: a project overview for potential contributors, including an overview of the source-code directory structure, development process, issue tracking and the developer community.
5. History: a historical overview of the software, including an overview of the origins and past development of the software, and the broader historical context, such as precedents and antecedents.