forked from lix-project/lix
167 lines
6.8 KiB
Markdown
167 lines
6.8 KiB
Markdown
# Release 0.8 (2005-04-11)
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NOTE: the hashing scheme in Nix 0.8 changed (as detailed below). As a
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result, `nix-pull` manifests and channels built for Nix 0.7 and below
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will not work anymore. However, the Nix expression language has not
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changed, so you can still build from source. Also, existing user
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environments continue to work. Nix 0.8 will automatically upgrade the
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database schema of previous installations when it is first run.
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If you get the error message
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you have an old-style manifest `/nix/var/nix/manifests/[...]'; please
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delete it
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you should delete previously downloaded manifests:
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$ rm /nix/var/nix/manifests/*
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If `nix-channel` gives the error message
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manifest `http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/[channel]/MANIFEST'
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is too old (i.e., for Nix <= 0.7)
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then you should unsubscribe from the offending channel (`nix-channel
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--remove
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URL`; leave out `/MANIFEST`), and subscribe to the same URL, with
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`channels` replaced by `channels-v3` (e.g.,
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<http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels-v3/nixpkgs-unstable>).
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Nix 0.8 has the following improvements:
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- The cryptographic hashes used in store paths are now 160 bits long,
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but encoded in base-32 so that they are still only 32 characters
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long (e.g.,
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`/nix/store/csw87wag8bqlqk7ipllbwypb14xainap-atk-1.9.0`). (This is
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actually a 160 bit truncation of a SHA-256 hash.)
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- Big cleanups and simplifications of the basic store semantics. The
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notion of “closure store expressions” is gone (and so is the notion
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of “successors”); the file system references of a store path are now
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just stored in the database.
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For instance, given any store path, you can query its closure:
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$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
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... lots of paths ...
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Also, Nix now remembers for each store path the derivation that
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built it (the “deriver”):
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$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
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/nix/store/4b0jx7vq80l9aqcnkszxhymsf1ffa5jd-firefox-1.0.1.drv
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So to see the build-time dependencies, you can do
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$ nix-store -qR $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))
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or, in a nicer format:
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$ nix-store -q --tree $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))
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File system references are also stored in reverse. For instance, you
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can query all paths that directly or indirectly use a certain Glibc:
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$ nix-store -q --referrers-closure \
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/nix/store/8lz9yc6zgmc0vlqmn2ipcpkjlmbi51vv-glibc-2.3.4
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- The concept of fixed-output derivations has been formalised.
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Previously, functions such as `fetchurl` in Nixpkgs used a hack
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(namely, explicitly specifying a store path hash) to prevent changes
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to, say, the URL of the file from propagating upwards through the
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dependency graph, causing rebuilds of everything. This can now be
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done cleanly by specifying the `outputHash` and `outputHashAlgo`
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attributes. Nix itself checks that the content of the output has the
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specified hash. (This is important for maintaining certain
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invariants necessary for future work on secure shared stores.)
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- One-click installation :-) It is now possible to install any
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top-level component in Nixpkgs directly, through the web — see,
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e.g., <http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nixpkgs-0.8/>. All you
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have to do is associate `/nix/bin/nix-install-package` with the MIME
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type `application/nix-package` (or the extension `.nixpkg`), and
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clicking on a package link will cause it to be installed, with all
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appropriate dependencies. If you just want to install some specific
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application, this is easier than subscribing to a channel.
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- `nix-store -r
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PATHS` now builds all the derivations PATHS in parallel. Previously
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it did them sequentially (though exploiting possible parallelism
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between subderivations). This is nice for build farms.
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- `nix-channel` has new operations `--list` and `--remove`.
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- New ways of installing components into user environments:
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- Copy from another user environment:
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$ nix-env -i --from-profile .../other-profile firefox
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- Install a store derivation directly (bypassing the Nix
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expression language entirely):
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$ nix-env -i /nix/store/z58v41v21xd3...-aterm-2.3.1.drv
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(This is used to implement `nix-install-package`, which is
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therefore immune to evolution in the Nix expression language.)
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- Install an already built store path directly:
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$ nix-env -i /nix/store/hsyj5pbn0d9i...-aterm-2.3.1
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- Install the result of a Nix expression specified as a
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command-line argument:
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$ nix-env -f .../i686-linux.nix -i -E 'x: x.firefoxWrapper'
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The difference with the normal installation mode is that `-E`
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does not use the `name` attributes of derivations. Therefore,
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this can be used to disambiguate multiple derivations with the
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same name.
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- A hash of the contents of a store path is now stored in the database
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after a successful build. This allows you to check whether store
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paths have been tampered with: `nix-store
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--verify --check-contents`.
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- Implemented a concurrent garbage collector. It is now always safe to
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run the garbage collector, even if other Nix operations are
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happening simultaneously.
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However, there can still be GC races if you use `nix-instantiate`
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and `nix-store
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--realise` directly to build things. To prevent races, use the
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`--add-root` flag of those commands.
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- The garbage collector now finally deletes paths in the right order
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(i.e., topologically sorted under the “references” relation), thus
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making it safe to interrupt the collector without risking a store
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that violates the closure invariant.
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- Likewise, the substitute mechanism now downloads files in the right
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order, thus preserving the closure invariant at all times.
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- The result of `nix-build` is now registered as a root of the garbage
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collector. If the `./result` link is deleted, the GC root disappears
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automatically.
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- The behaviour of the garbage collector can be changed globally by
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setting options in `/nix/etc/nix/nix.conf`.
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- `gc-keep-derivations` specifies whether deriver links should be
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followed when searching for live paths.
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- `gc-keep-outputs` specifies whether outputs of derivations
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should be followed when searching for live paths.
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- `env-keep-derivations` specifies whether user environments
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should store the paths of derivations when they are added (thus
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keeping the derivations alive).
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- New `nix-env` query flags `--drv-path` and `--out-path`.
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- `fetchurl` allows SHA-1 and SHA-256 in addition to MD5. Just specify
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the attribute `sha1` or `sha256` instead of `md5`.
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- Manual updates.
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