Initial release | June 15, 2003 |
---|---|
Stable release | |
Repository | |
Written in | C++, [2] Perl, [2] shell script, [2] Nix, [2] make, [2] Autoconf, [2] Rust, [2] C, [2] Extensible Markup Language [2] |
Platform | Linux, Unix-like |
Type | purely functional package manager, free software, programming language |
License | GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 [3] |
Website | nixos |
Nix is a cross-platform package manager for Unix-like systems.
The Nix package manager employs a model in which software packages are each installed into unique directories with immutable contents. These directory names correspond to cryptographic hashes that take into account all dependencies of a package, including other packages managed by Nix. As a result, Nix package names are content identifying since packages with the same name will have had the same inputs including build platform and therefore the same build result. [4]
Package recipes for Nix are written in the purpose-built "Nix language", a declarative, purely functional, lazily evaluated, dynamically typed programming language. [5] Distinguishing features of the Nix language are strings with "context", string interpolation, first-class file system paths, and "indented strings", which in combination allow concisely expressing dependencies between file system data when specifying the contents of new files.
Dependencies between files, as declared in the Nix language, are automatically tracked and persisted in the "Nix store". [6] New files in the Nix store are created through "derivations". A derivation is a persistent data structure that specifies an executable, arguments and environment variables for its invocation (see execve
), and other files to be read from the Nix store. The executable is then run in a sandbox that prohibits access to anything but the explicitly specified input files and only allows writing to the designated output path. Nix preserves dependency information in output files by scanning for the distinctive hashes used for package directory names. [4]
Automatic reference tracking ensures integrity of packages, even when they are transferred across machines. It also enables garbage collection of unused packages when no other package depends on them. At the cost of greater storage requirements, all upgrades in Nix are guaranteed to be both atomic and capable of efficient rollback. Unique directory names allow installing many packages with differing versions of shared libraries, and is claimed to eliminate so-called dependency hell. [7] This also lets multiple users safely install software on the same system without administrator privileges. As a result, the Nix package management and deployment model advertises more reliable, reproducible, and portable packages. [4] [8]
Nix has full support for Linux, macOS, and WSL, and can safely be installed side-by-side with another package manager.
Nixpkgs is the package repository built upon the Nix package manager. According to Repology , as of March 2023 it contains more than 80,000 packages [9] and has a higher number of up-to-date packages than any other package repository. [10] Architectures supported by Nixpkgs are x86_64-linux, aarch64-linux, x86_64-darwin and aarch64-darwin. Packages for these architectures are built regularly, using a continuous integration service called Hydra, [11] and the results of these builds are uploaded to a public binary cache. [12] When Nix installs a package, it checks this cache and downloads the binary package to avoid building it locally.
Nixpkgs is developed in a single Git repository on GitHub. [13] Beside packages, it also contains the source code for NixOS.
NixOS [14] is a Linux distribution that uses Nix for managing the entire system configuration, including the Linux kernel. [15]
Nix is used for software packaging and distribution in CERN's LHCb experiment. [16] Nix underlies the distributed software development platforms Replit [17] and Google IDX. [18]
The original implementation of Nix by Eelco Dolstra, written in C++, is referred to as CppNix for disambiguity. [19]
In 2021, a total reimplementation by the name Tvix was announced, [20] with the goals of modularity, full compatibility with Nixpkgs, and improved evaluator performance. As of 2024, Tvix has an evaluator [21] and a store implementation, [22] though the authors do not consider the project yet stable or ready for use in production. [23] [ non-primary source needed ] Tvix is written primarily in Rust. [24]
In 2024, a team of volunteers released the first version of Lix, [25] [ non-primary source needed ] a fork of CppNix focused on correctness and compatibility that uses the Meson build automation system. The project intends to gradually rewrite parts of itself in Rust. [25]
A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner.
Advanced package tool, or APT, is a free-software user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on Debian and Debian-based Linux distributions. APT simplifies the process of managing software on Unix-like computer systems by automating the retrieval, configuration and installation of software packages, either from precompiled files or by compiling source code.
dpkg is the software at the base of the package management system in the free operating system Debian and its numerous derivatives. dpkg
is used to install, remove, and provide information about .deb packages.
Portage is a package management system originally created for and used by Gentoo Linux and also by ChromeOS, Calculate, Sabayon, and Funtoo Linux among others. Portage is based on the concept of ports collections. Gentoo is sometimes referred to as a meta-distribution due to the extreme flexibility of Portage, which makes it operating-system-independent. The Gentoo/Alt project was concerned with using Portage to manage other operating systems, such as BSDs, macOS and Solaris. The most notable of these implementations is the Gentoo/FreeBSD project.
Dependency hell is a colloquial term for the frustration of some software users who have installed software packages which have dependencies on specific versions of other software packages.
Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.
Ports collections are the sets of makefiles and patches provided by the BSD-based operating systems, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, as a simple method of installing software or creating binary packages. They are usually the base of a package management system, with ports handling package creation and additional tools managing package removal, upgrade, and other tasks. In addition to the BSDs, a few Linux distributions have implemented similar infrastructure, including Gentoo's Portage, Arch's Arch Build System (ABS), CRUX's Ports and Void Linux's Templates.
SageMath is a computer algebra system (CAS) with features covering many aspects of mathematics, including algebra, combinatorics, graph theory, group theory, differentiable manifolds, numerical analysis, number theory, calculus and statistics.
This is a comparison of notable free and open-source configuration management software, suitable for tasks like server configuration, orchestration and infrastructure as code typically performed by a system administrator.
ZYpp is a package manager engine that powers Linux applications like YaST, Zypper and the implementation of PackageKit for openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise. Unlike some more basic package managers, it provides a satisfiability solver to compute package dependencies. It is a free and open-source software project sponsored by SUSE and licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2 or later. ZYpp is implemented mostly in the programming language C++.
NixOS is a free and open source Linux distribution based on the Nix package manager. NixOS uses an immutable design and an atomic update model. Its use of a declarative configuration system allows reproducibility and portability.
Homebrew is a free and open-source software package management system that simplifies the installation of software on Apple's operating system, macOS, as well as Linux. The name is intended to suggest the idea of building software on the Mac depending on the user's taste. Originally written by Max Howell, the package manager has gained popularity in the Ruby on Rails community and earned praise for its extensibility. Homebrew has been recommended for its ease of use as well as its integration into the command-line interface. Homebrew is a member of the Open Source Collective, and is run entirely by unpaid volunteers.
Leafpad is a free and open-source graphical text editor for Linux, Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), and Maemo that is similar to the Microsoft Windows program Notepad. Created with the focus of being a lightweight text editor with minimal dependencies, it is designed to be simple-to-use and easy-to-compile.
GNU Guix is a functional cross-platform package manager and a tool to instantiate and manage Unix-like operating systems, based on the Nix package manager. Configuration and package recipes are written in Guile Scheme. GNU Guix is the default package manager of the GNU Guix System distribution.
Snap is a software packaging and deployment system developed by Canonical for operating systems that use the Linux kernel and the systemd init system. The packages, called snaps, and the tool for using them, snapd, work across a range of Linux distributions and allow upstream software developers to distribute their applications directly to users. Snaps are self-contained applications running in a sandbox with mediated access to the host system. Snap was originally released for cloud applications but was later ported to also work for Internet of Things devices and desktop applications.
Flatpak is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. It is advertised as offering a sandbox environment in which users can run application software in isolation from the rest of the system. Flatpak, in 2016, was known as xdg-app.
Redox is a Unix-like microkernel operating system written in the programming language Rust, which has a focus on safety, stability, and performance. Redox aims to be secure, usable, and free. Redox is inspired by prior kernels and operating systems, such as SeL4, MINIX, Plan 9, and BSD. It is free and open-source software distributed under an MIT License.
GNU Guix System or Guix System is a rolling release, free and open source Linux distribution built around the GNU Guix package manager. It enables a declarative operating system configuration and allows system upgrades which the user can rollback. It uses the GNU Shepherd init system and the Linux-libre kernel, with support of the GNU Hurd kernel under development. On February 3, 2015, the Free Software Foundation added the distribution to its list of endorsed free Linux distributions. The Guix package manager and the Guix System drew inspiration from and were based on the Nix package manager and NixOS respectively.