Alternative Package Sets

Nixpkgs replacements

Even though nixpkgs is currently the standard package set for nix and NixOS it is possible with medium effort to replace and rewrite the functionality. These Nixpkgs alternatives may build upon certain aspects of nixpkgs but most of the time serve a distinct purpose. This is a list of Nixpkgs alternatives.

• Triton - differences between Nixpkgs and Triton
• Nixcrpkgs Focused on cross-compiling

Overlays

Since NixOS-17.03 Nixpkgs provides the overlay feature which can be used to extend the Nixpkgs package set (see the chapter about overlays in the Nixpkgs manual).

This is an non-exhaustive list of overlays:

• Rust-nightly overlay - details in Nixpkgs manual

NixOS enhancements

Some external modules provide extra functionality to the nixpkgs module system. You can include these modules after extracting them onto the system by using imports = [ `path to module`] or add them to your NIX_PATH via NIX_PATH=$NIX_PATH:musnix=/path/to/musnix and import them by including imports = [ <musnix> ] in your configuration.nix<code..

• Nixsap - allows to run multiple instances of a service without containers.
• musnix - real-time audio in NixOS.
• [1] - full-featured mail server module
• X-Truder Nix-profiles - modules for Nix to quickly configure your system based on application profiles.