NixOS

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NixOS is a functional Linux distribution based on the Nix package manager. It uses a functional script language to maintain the overall Linux host as which is also the basis of the package manager, in a realized solution of the Unix update problem.

NixOS
NixOS logo
Nixos-kde42-1-small.png
Screenshot caption
Company / developer Universities of Delft and Utrecht
OS family Unix-like
Working state Current
Source model Free and open source software
Initial release MM DD, 2006
Latest stable release Rolling release
Update method Package (re)Derivation
Package manager Nix
Supported platforms IA-32, x86-64,
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)
Userland GNU
Default user interface tty
License GNU General Public License, others
Official website http://nixos.org

Organization

NixOS uses a declarative approach to 'Nix host and package managment on the bare bones of a Unix implementation. BSD and other Unices are targetted but practically Linux is the only significantly supported OS.

Relation to LSB

NixOS is perforce, given its basic design principles, a unique Linux system. While there are some elements of commonality with various standards and in practice there currently at this writing over 3,000 working packages showing the abstraction of "Nix" can be realized, NixOS does not conform to common layout standards such as are common to most Linux distributions.

In particular, there is no /usr directory.

Nix

Most package managers center around the file format of packager and a set of command line and GUI frontends for managing the install of the package files. There is no such file format for Nix, the corresponding thing being the framework for capturing software configurations and the functional scripting language in which it is implemented. Command line utilities are the reference means of working with Nix packages and Nixos and there are derivative systems with GUIs.

The Expression Language

Figure 1: BNF of the Nix Expression language

Figure 1 shows the syntax of the Nix expression languages. The scripting which declaratively captures the elements of a given Nix configuration item so that it can be manipulated in operations is called that package's expression[1]

Package Derivation

Upstart

NixOS uniformly uses the Upstart asynchronous, event-driven alternative to the standard Sys V initctl mechanism for management of processes as jobs.

Features

The distinctive features of Nix/NixOS include:

  1. Continuous integration
  2. Rollback
  3. User/Package Isolation

History

Project Organization

Installation of Software Packages

See Also

Notes

External Links