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Nix

From NixOS Wiki
Introduction to Nix

Tools and applications

While not immediately apparent, the name Nix refers to a number of different tools and concepts:

  • Nix (package manager): tooling for managing packages and build processes using the Nix language;
  • Nix (language): a declarative language used for defining expressions that are evaluated by the various Nix tools;
  • Nix (command): the new experimental CLI interface that aims to unify the various Nix commands;
  • Nix (command line utilities): a set of CLI tools that evaluate Nix expressions with the goal of producing various builds;
  • Nix store: a place that can store file system data (such as packages), in particular, the Nix store found at /nix/store;
  • The Nix ecosystem, a set of tools and programs built upon the Nix language.

There are other related concepts that might also be relevant:

  • Nixpkgs: a repository of Nix packages;
  • NixOS: the Linux distribution built on top of the Nix package manager and Nixpkgs repository;
  • NixOS (command line utilities): a set of CLI tools used in managing a NixOS installation.