* Preliminary NEWS for 0.8.
This commit is contained in:
Eelco Dolstra
parent
536f324177
commit
012b812698
1 changed files with 142 additions and 0 deletions
142
NEWS
142
NEWS
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,145 @@
|
||||||
|
Version 0.8
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
NOTE: the hashing scheme in Nix 0.8 changed (as detailed below). As a
|
||||||
|
result, `nix-pull' manifests and channels built for Nix 0.7 and below
|
||||||
|
will now work anymore. However, the Nix expression language has not
|
||||||
|
changed, so you can still build from source. Also, existing user
|
||||||
|
environments continue to work. Nix 0.8 will automatically upgrade the
|
||||||
|
database schema of previous installations when it is first run.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* The cryptographic hashes used in store paths are now 160 bits long,
|
||||||
|
but encoded in base-32 so that they are still only 32 characters
|
||||||
|
long (e.g., /nix/store/csw87wag8bqlqk7ipllbwypb14xainap-atk-1.9.0).
|
||||||
|
(This is actually a 160 bit truncation of a SHA-256 hash.)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* Big cleanups and simplifications of the basic store semantics. The
|
||||||
|
notion of "closure store expressions" is gone (and so is the notion
|
||||||
|
of "successors"); the file system references of a store path are now
|
||||||
|
just stored in the database.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
For instance, given any store path, you can query its closure:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
|
||||||
|
... lots of paths ...
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Also, Nix now remembers for each store path the derivation that
|
||||||
|
built it (the "deriver"):
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
|
||||||
|
/nix/store/4b0jx7vq80l9aqcnkszxhymsf1ffa5jd-firefox-1.0.1.drv
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
So to see the build-time dependencies, you can do
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-store -qR $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
or, in a nicer format:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-store -q --tree $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
File system references are also stored in reverse. For instance,
|
||||||
|
you can query all paths that directly or indirectly use a certain
|
||||||
|
Glibc:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-store -q --referers-closure \
|
||||||
|
/nix/store/8lz9yc6zgmc0vlqmn2ipcpkjlmbi51vv-glibc-2.3.4
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* The concept of fixed-output derivations has been formalised.
|
||||||
|
Previously, functions such as `fetchurl' in Nixpkgs used a hack
|
||||||
|
(namely, explicitly specifying a store path hash) to prevent changes
|
||||||
|
to, say, the URL of the file from propagating upwards through the
|
||||||
|
dependency graph, causing rebuilds of everything. This can now be
|
||||||
|
done cleanly by specifying the `outputHash' and `outputHashAlgo'
|
||||||
|
attributes. Nix itself checks that the content of the output has
|
||||||
|
the specified hash. (This is important for maintaining certain
|
||||||
|
invariants necessary for future work on secure shared stores.)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* One-click installation :-) It is now possible to install any
|
||||||
|
top-level component in Nixpkgs directly, through the web - see,
|
||||||
|
e.g., http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nixpkgs-0.8/. All you
|
||||||
|
have to do is associate `/nix/bin/nix-install-package' with
|
||||||
|
`application/nix-package' (or the extension `.nixpkg'), and clicking
|
||||||
|
on a package link will cause it to be installed, with all
|
||||||
|
appropriate dependencies. If you just want to install some specific
|
||||||
|
application, this is easier than subscribing to a channel.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* `nix-store -r PATHS' now builds all the derivations PATHS in
|
||||||
|
parallel. Previously it did them sequentially (though exploiting
|
||||||
|
possible parallelism between subderivations). This is nice for
|
||||||
|
build farms.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* `nix-channel' has new operations `--list' and `--remove'.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* New ways of installing components into user environments:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- Copy from another user environment:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-env -i --from-profile .../other-profile firefox
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- Install a store derivation directly (bypassing the Nix expression
|
||||||
|
language entirely):
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-env -i /nix/store/z58v41v21xd3...-aterm-2.3.1.drv
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
(This is used to implement `nix-install-package', which is
|
||||||
|
therefore immune to evolution in the Nix expression language.)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- Install an already built store path directly:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-env -i /nix/store/hsyj5pbn0d9i...-aterm-2.3.1
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- Install the result of a Nix expression specified as a command-line
|
||||||
|
argument:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
$ nix-env -f .../i686-linux.nix -i -E 'x: x.firefoxWrapper'
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The difference with the normal installation mode is that `-E' does
|
||||||
|
not use the `name' attributes of derivations. Therefore, this can
|
||||||
|
be used to disambiguate multiple derivations with the same name.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* A hash of the contents of a store path is now stored in the database
|
||||||
|
after a succesful build. This allows you to check whether store
|
||||||
|
paths have been tampered with: `nix-store --verify --check-contents'.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* Implemented a concurrent garbage collector. It is now always safe
|
||||||
|
to run the garbage collector, even if other Nix operations are
|
||||||
|
happening simultaneously.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
However, there can still be GC races if you use `nix-instantiate'
|
||||||
|
and `nix-store -r' directly to build things. To prevent races, use
|
||||||
|
the `--add-root' flag of those commands.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* The garbage collector now finally deletes paths in the right order
|
||||||
|
(i.e., topologically sorted under the `references' relation), thus
|
||||||
|
making it safe to interrupt the collector without risking a store
|
||||||
|
that violates the closure invariant.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* Likewise, the substitute mechanism now downloads files in the right
|
||||||
|
order, thus preserving the closure invariant at all times.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* The result of `nix-build' is now registered as a root of the garbage
|
||||||
|
collector. If the `./result' link is deleted, the GC root
|
||||||
|
disappears automatically.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* The behaviour of the garbage collector can be changed globally by
|
||||||
|
setting options in `/nix/etc/nix/nix.conf'.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- `gc-keep-derivations' specifies whether deriver links should be
|
||||||
|
followed when searching for live paths.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- `gc-keep-outputs' specifies whether outputs of derivations should
|
||||||
|
be followed when searching for live paths.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- `env-keep-derivations' specifies whether user environments should
|
||||||
|
store the paths of derivations when they are added (thus keeping
|
||||||
|
the derivations alive).
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* New `nix-env' query flags `--drv-path' and `--out-path'.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
* `fetchurl' allows SHA-1 and SHA-256 in addition to MD5. Just use
|
||||||
|
`sha1 = ' or `sha256 = ' instead of `md5 = '. Of course, they're
|
||||||
|
all unsafe, really ;-)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Version 0.7
|
Version 0.7
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
* Binary patching. When upgrading components using pre-built binaries
|
* Binary patching. When upgrading components using pre-built binaries
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
Loading…
Reference in a new issue