Unfree software: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:25, 6 April 2024

Hydra does not test or build unfree software by policy. Most unfree licenses have restrictions on software distribution.

Per-package (Ideal)

This method works for NixOS system level configuration and Home-Manager standalone

{lib, ...}: {
  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfreePredicate = pkg:
    builtins.elem (lib.getName pkg) [
      # Add additional package names here
      "hello-unfree"
    ];
}

For all packages

This method works for NixOS system-level configuration:

/etc/nixos/configuration.nix

{
  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;
}

Command Line

You won't be able to install or search for an unfree package as a user unless you explicitly enable it:

~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix

{
  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;
}

Temporary allowing

For temporary allowing unfree packages, you can use an environment variable:

$ NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix-shell -p vscode

Note for the new nix3-style commands, you need to pass --impure as well:

$ NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix run --impure "nixpkgs#vscode"

More precision

For whitelisting only specific unfree licenses see the "Installing unfree packages" section of the Nixpkgs manual.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+Hydra does not test or build unfree software by policy. Most unfree licenses have restrictions on software distribution.
 === Per-package (Ideal) ===
 This method works for NixOS system level configuration and Home-Manager standalone
 <syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
 {lib, ...}: {
@@ Line 11: / Line 13: @@
 }
 </syntaxhighlight>
 === For all packages ===
 This method works for NixOS system-level configuration:
-<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
+{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|<nowiki>
 {
    nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;
 }
-</syntaxhighlight>
+</nowiki>}}
-If you use standalone Home-Manager, and you are on the stable (23.05) branch or any commit before [https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/commit/b2a2133c9a0b0aa4d06d72b5891275f263ee08df this commit], use the following instead:
-<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
-{
-  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfreePredicate = _: true;
-}
-</syntaxhighlight>
 === Command Line ===
-You won't be able to install or search for an unfree package as a user, unless you explicitly enable it in <code>~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix</code> (the file and folder may need to be created):
+You won't be able to install or search for an unfree package as a user unless you explicitly enable it:
-<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
+{{file|~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix|nix|<nowiki>
 {
-   allowUnfree = true;
+   nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;
 }
-</syntaxhighlight>
+</nowiki>}}
+=== Temporary allowing ===
-=== Temporary allowing ===
+For temporary allowing unfree packages, you can use an environment variable:
-For temporary allowing unfree packages you can set the environment variable <code>NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE</code>, e.g.
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
+$ NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix-shell -p vscode
+</syntaxhighlight>
-<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">$ NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix-shell</syntaxhighlight>
+Note for the new nix3-style commands, you need to pass <code>--impure</code> as well:
-Note for nix3 commands you need to pass <code>--impure</code> as well
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
+$ NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix run --impure "nixpkgs#vscode"
+</syntaxhighlight>
 === More precision ===
@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 see the [https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#sec-allow-unfree "Installing unfree packages" section]
 of the Nixpkgs manual.
-Note that we are not able to test or build unfree software on Hydra
-due to policy. Most unfree licenses prohibit us from either executing or
-distributing the software.