Nix ecosystem: Difference between revisions

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The ''Nix Ecosystem'' is a collection of technologies built around the [[Nix Package Manager]] ~~and the~~ purely functional [[Nix Expression Language]]. ''Nix expressions'' are pure functions taking dependencies as arguments and producing ''derivation'' specifying a reproducible build environment for the package. The package is then built the ''Nix store'', receiving a unique address specified by a cryptographic hash of the build's dependency graph followed by the package name and version, for example <code>/nix/store/nawl092prjblbhvv16kxxbk6j9gkgcqm-git-2.14.1</code>. This allows Nix to install ~~side by side~~ different versions of the same package, and even different builds of the same version.

The ''Nix Ecosystem'' is a collection of technologies built around the [[Nix Package Manager]], which uses a purely functional packaging language called the [[Nix Expression Language]] to specify reproducible build processes. Nix stores the results into hashed addresses, allowing multiple versions of the same package to live side by side. This allowed the creation of [[NixOS]], a Linux distribution with ''all'' components built by Nix, and thus supporting reproducible and declarative system-wide configuration management as well as atomic upgrades and rollbacks. A community maintained package repository called [[Nixpkgs]] is the largest Nix package repository, and also hosts the NixOS modules. In addition to these the community developed [[NixOps]], a Nix based deployment and provisioning tool, and [[Hydra]], a Nix based continuous build system.

== The Nix Package Manager & Expression Language ==

''Nix expressions'' are pure functions taking dependencies as arguments and producing ''derivation'' specifying a reproducible build environment for the package. The package is then built the ''Nix store'', receiving a unique address specified by a cryptographic hash of the build's dependency graph followed by the package name and version, for example <code>/nix/store/nawl092prjblbhvv16kxxbk6j9gkgcqm-git-2.14.1</code>. This allows Nix to simultaneously install different versions of the same package, and even different builds of the same version, for example variants built with different compilers.

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-The ''Nix Ecosystem'' is a collection of technologies built around the [[Nix Package Manager]] and the purely functional [[Nix Expression Language]]. ''Nix expressions'' are pure functions taking dependencies as arguments and producing ''derivation'' specifying a reproducible build environment for the package. The package is then built the ''Nix store'', receiving a unique address specified by a cryptographic hash of the build's dependency graph followed by the package name and version, for example <code>/nix/store/nawl092prjblbhvv16kxxbk6j9gkgcqm-git-2.14.1</code>. This allows Nix to install side by side different versions of the same package, and even different builds of the same version.
+The ''Nix Ecosystem'' is a collection of technologies built around the [[Nix Package Manager]], which uses a purely functional packaging language called the [[Nix Expression Language]] to specify reproducible build processes. Nix stores the results into hashed addresses, allowing multiple versions of the same package to live side by side. This allowed the creation of [[NixOS]], a Linux distribution with ''all'' components built by Nix, and thus supporting reproducible and declarative system-wide configuration management as well as atomic upgrades and rollbacks. A community maintained package repository called [[Nixpkgs]] is the largest Nix package repository, and also hosts the NixOS modules. In addition to these the community developed [[NixOps]], a Nix based deployment and provisioning tool, and [[Hydra]], a Nix based continuous build system.
+== The Nix Package Manager & Expression Language ==
+''Nix expressions'' are pure functions taking dependencies as arguments and producing ''derivation'' specifying a reproducible build environment for the package. The package is then built the ''Nix store'', receiving a unique address specified by a cryptographic hash of the build's dependency graph followed by the package name and version, for example <code>/nix/store/nawl092prjblbhvv16kxxbk6j9gkgcqm-git-2.14.1</code>. This allows Nix to simultaneously install different versions of the same package, and even different builds of the same version, for example variants built with different compilers.