Emily
56dea6da87
The Rust `switch-to-configuration-ng` rewrite was carefully written to be compatible with the original Perl script, has been checked against NixOS VM tests, and has been available on an opt‐in basis for testing for the 24.05 release cycle. The next step towards replacing the Perl script entirely is to switch it on by default so that we can get real‐world testing from a much greater number of users. Maintaining two implementations in parallel is becoming a burden; we are having to adjust the systemd service activation behaviour slightly to fix a long‐standing bug, and backporting the changes to the Perl script is an unpleasant process. We will do it anyway to ensure that the Rust and Perl implementations keep parity with each other throughout the 24.11 release cycle, but we think the time has come to flip the switch. Taking this step now will give us two to three months to test this in the wild before the 24.11 release and gain confidence that there are no regressions. If any non‐trivial problems arise before the final release, we will revert to the Perl implementation by default. Doing this switch ASAP will help to disentangle any problems that might arise from the Rust implementation from problems that arise from the systemd service activation changes, or the upcoming switch to using systemd in stage 1 by default. The main concern that was raised about replacing the Perl script in the PR that added `switch-to-configuration-ng` was that it is currently possible to run NixOS on systems that cannot natively host a Rust compiler. This does not apply to any platforms that have official support from NixOS, and as far as I know we do not know of any such systems with users that are not cross‐compiling anyway. My understanding is that these systems are already broken by default anyway, as `systemd.shutdownRamfs.enable` is on by default and uses `make-initrd-ng`, which is also written in Rust. Switching the default while keeping the Perl implementation around will give us at least an entire release cycle to find out if there are any users that will be affected by this and decide what to do about it if so. There is currently one known inconsistency between the Perl and Rust implementations, as documented in <https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/312297>; the Rust implementation has more accurate handling of failed systemd units. We slightly adjust the semantics of `system.switch.enable{,Ng}` to not conflict with each other, so that `system.switch.enableNg` is on by default, but turning off `system.switch.enable` still results in no `switch-to-configuration` implementation being used. This won’t break the configuration of anyone who already opted in to `system.switch.enableNg` and is probably how the option should have worked to begin with.
Nixpkgs is a collection of over 100,000 software packages that can be installed with the Nix package manager. It also implements NixOS, a purely-functional Linux distribution.
Manuals
- NixOS Manual - how to install, configure, and maintain a purely-functional Linux distribution
- Nixpkgs Manual - contributing to Nixpkgs and using programming-language-specific Nix expressions
- Nix Package Manager Manual - how to write Nix expressions (programs), and how to use Nix command line tools
Community
- Discourse Forum
- Matrix Chat
- NixOS Weekly
- Official wiki
- Community-maintained list of ways to get in touch (Discord, Telegram, IRC, etc.)
Other Project Repositories
The sources of all official Nix-related projects are in the NixOS organization on GitHub. Here are some of the main ones:
- Nix - the purely functional package manager
- NixOps - the tool to remotely deploy NixOS machines
- nixos-hardware - NixOS profiles to optimize settings for different hardware
- Nix RFCs - the formal process for making substantial changes to the community
- NixOS homepage - the NixOS.org website
- hydra - our continuous integration system
- NixOS Artwork - NixOS artwork
Continuous Integration and Distribution
Nixpkgs and NixOS are built and tested by our continuous integration system, Hydra.
- Continuous package builds for unstable/master
- Continuous package builds for the NixOS 24.05 release
- Tests for unstable/master
- Tests for the NixOS 24.05 release
Artifacts successfully built with Hydra are published to cache at https://cache.nixos.org/. When successful build and test criteria are met, the Nixpkgs expressions are distributed via Nix channels.
Contributing
Nixpkgs is among the most active projects on GitHub. While thousands of open issues and pull requests might seem a lot at first, it helps consider it in the context of the scope of the project. Nixpkgs describes how to build tens of thousands of pieces of software and implements a Linux distribution. The GitHub Insights page gives a sense of the project activity.
Community contributions are always welcome through GitHub Issues and Pull Requests.
For more information about contributing to the project, please visit the contributing page.
Donations
The infrastructure for NixOS and related projects is maintained by a nonprofit organization, the NixOS Foundation. To ensure the continuity and expansion of the NixOS infrastructure, we are looking for donations to our organization.
You can donate to the NixOS foundation through SEPA bank transfers or by using Open Collective:
License
Nixpkgs is licensed under the MIT License.
Note: MIT license does not apply to the packages built by Nixpkgs, merely to the files in this repository (the Nix expressions, build scripts, NixOS modules, etc.). It also might not apply to patches included in Nixpkgs, which may be derivative works of the packages to which they apply. The aforementioned artifacts are all covered by the licenses of the respective packages.