Nix Pills

1. Why You Should Give it a Try

1.1. Introduction
1.2. Rationale for this series
1.3. Not being purely functional
1.4. Being purely functional
1.5. Mutable vs. immutable
1.6. Conclusion
1.7. Next pill...

2. Install on Your Running System

2.1. Installation
2.2. The beginnings of the Nix store
2.3. The Nix database
2.4. The first profile
2.5. Nixpkgs expressions
2.6. FAQ: Can I change /nix to something else?
2.7. Conclusion
2.8. Next pill...

3. Enter the Environment

3.1. Enter the environment
3.2. Install something
3.3. Path merging
3.4. Rolling back and switching generation
3.5. Querying the store
3.6. Closures
3.7. Dependency resolution
3.8. Recovering the hard way
3.9. Channels
3.10. Conclusion
3.11. Next pill

4. The Basics of the Language

4.1. Value types
4.2. Identifier
4.3. Strings
4.4. Lists
4.5. Attribute sets
4.6. If expressions
4.7. Let expressions
4.8. With expression
4.9. Laziness
4.10. Next pill

5. Functions and Imports

5.1. Nameless and single parameter
5.2. More than one parameter
5.3. Arguments set
5.4. Default and variadic attributes
5.5. Imports
5.6. Next pill

6. Our First Derivation

6.1. The derivation function
6.2. Digression about .drv files
6.3. What's in a derivation set
6.4. Referring to other derivations
6.5. An almost working derivation
6.6. When is the derivation built
6.7. Conclusion
6.8. Next pill

7. Working Derivation

7.1. Introduction
7.2. Using a script as a builder
7.3. The builder environment
7.4. The .drv contents
7.5. Packaging a simple C program
7.6. Explanation
7.7. Enough of nix repl
7.8. Next pill

8. Generic Builders

8.1. Packaging GNU hello world
8.2. A generic builder
8.3. A more convenient derivation function
8.4. Conclusion
8.5. Next pill

9. Automatic Runtime Dependencies

9.1. Build dependencies
9.2. Digression about NAR files
9.3. Runtime dependencies
9.4. Another phase in the builder
9.5. Conclusion
9.6. Next pill

10. Developing with nix-shell

10.1. What's nix-shell
10.2. A builder for nix-shell
10.3. Conclusion
10.4. Next pill

11. Garbage Collector

11.1. How does it work
11.2. Playing with the GC
11.3. Indirect roots
11.4. Cleanup everything
11.5. Conclusion
11.6. Next pill

12. Inputs Design Pattern

12.1. Repositories in Nix
12.2. The single repository pattern
12.3. Packaging graphviz
12.4. Digression about gcc and ld wrappers
12.5. Completing graphviz with gd
12.6. The repository expression
12.7. The inputs pattern
12.8. Conclusion
12.9. Next pill

13. Callpackage Design Pattern

13.1. The callPackage convenience
13.2. Implementing callPackage
13.3. Use callPackage to simplify the repository
13.4. Conclusion
13.5. Next pill

14. Override Design Pattern

14.1. About composability
14.2. The override pattern
14.3. The override implementation
14.4. Conclusion
14.5. Next pill

15. Nix Search Paths

15.1. The NIX_PATH
15.2. Fake it a little
15.3. The path to repository
15.4. A big word about nix-env
15.5. Conclusion
15.6. Next pill

16. Nixpkgs Parameters

16.1. The default.nix expression
16.2. The system parameter
16.3. The config parameter
16.4. About .nix functions
16.5. Conclusion
16.6. Next pill

17. Nixpkgs Overriding Packages

17.1. Overriding a package

17.2. In an imperative world...

17.3. Fixed point

17.3.1. Overriding a set with fixed point

17.4. Overriding nixpkgs packages

17.5. The ~/.nixpkgs/config.nix file

17.6. Conclusion

17.7. Next pill

18. Nix Store Paths

18.1. Source paths

18.1.1. Step 1, compute the hash of the file
18.1.2. Step 2, build the string description
18.1.3. Step 3, compute the final hash

18.2. Output paths

18.3. Fixed-output paths

18.4. Conclusion

18.5. Next pill

19. Fundamentals of Stdenv

19.1. What is stdenv
19.2. The setup file
19.3. How is the setup file built
19.4. The stdenv.mkDerivation builder
19.5. Conclusion
19.6. Next pill...

20. Basic Dependencies and Hooks

20.1. The buildInputs Attribute
20.2. The propagatedBuildInputs Attribute
20.3. Setup Hooks
20.4. Environment Hooks
20.5. Next pill...