* Release notes in Docbook; ASCII release notes (i.e., the `NEWS'

file) is now generated from that using `w3m' and some XSL hackery.
This commit is contained in:
Eelco Dolstra 2005-09-14 18:50:45 +00:00
parent ed1db42915
commit 025086edea
6 changed files with 581 additions and 332 deletions

327
NEWS
View file

@ -1,327 +0,0 @@
Version 0.9
NOTE: this version of Nix uses Berkeley DB 4.3 instead of 4.2. The
database is upgraded automatically, but you should be careful not to
use old versions of Nix that still use Berkeley DB 4.2. In
particular, if you use a Nix installed through Nix, you should run
nix-store --clear-substitutes
first.
* Unpacking of patch sequences is much faster now since we no longer
do redundant unpacking and repacking of intermediate paths.
* Nix now uses Berkeley DB 4.3.
* The `derivation' primitive is lazier. Attributes of dependent
derivations can mutually refer to each other (as long as there are
no data dependencies on the `outPath' and `drvPath' attributes
computed by `derivation').
For example, the expression `derivation attrs' now evaluates to
(essentially)
attrs // {
type = "derivation";
outPath = derivation! attrs;
drvPath = derivation! attrs;
}
where `derivation!' is a primop that does the actual derivation
instantiation (i.e., it does what `derivation' used to do). The
advantage is that it allows commands such as `nix-env -qa' and
`nix-env -i' to be much faster since they no longer need to
instantiate all derivations, just the `name' attribute.
Also, it allows derivations to cyclically reference each other, for
example,
webServer = derivation {
...
hostName = "svn.cs.uu.nl";
services = [svnService];
};
svnService = derivation {
...
hostName = webServer.hostName;
};
Previously, this would yield a black hole (infinite recursion).
* `nix-build' now defaults to using `./default.nix' if no Nix
expression is specified.
* `nix-instantiate', when applied to a Nix expression that evaluates
to a function, will call the function automatically if all its
arguments have defaults.
* Nix now uses libtool to build dynamic libraries. This reduces the
size of executables.
* A new list concatenation operator `++'. For example, `[1 2 3] ++ [4
5 6]' evaluates to `[1 2 3 4 5 6]'.
* Some currently undocumented primops to support low-level build
management using Nix (i.e., using Nix as a Make replacement). See
the commit message for r3578 and r3580.
* Various bug fixes and performance improvements.
Version 0.8 (April 11, 2005)
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.
If you get the error message
you have an old-style manifest `/nix/var/nix/manifests/[...]';
please delete it
you should delete previously downloaded manifests:
$ rm /nix/var/nix/manifests/*
If `nix-channel' gives the error message
manifest `http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/[channel]/MANIFEST'
is too old (i.e., for Nix <= 0.7)
then you should unsubscribe from the offending channel (`nix-channel
--remove URL'; leave out `/MANIFEST'), and subscribe to the same URL,
with `channels' replaced by `channels-v3' (e.g.,
http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels-v3/nixpkgs-unstable).
Nix 0.8 has the following improvements:
* 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 the MIME
type `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
specify the attribute `sha1' or `sha256' instead of `md5'.
* Manual updates.
Version 0.7 (January 12, 2005)
* Binary patching. When upgrading components using pre-built binaries
(through nix-pull / nix-channel), Nix can automatically download and
apply binary patches to already installed components instead of full
downloads. Patching is "smart": if there is a *sequence* of patches
to an installed component, Nix will use it. Patches are currently
generated automatically between Nixpkgs (pre-)releases.
* Simplifications to the substitute mechanism.
* Nix-pull now stores downloaded manifests in /nix/var/nix/manifests.
* Metadata on files in the Nix store is canonicalised after builds:
the last-modified timestamp is set to 0 (00:00:00 1/1/1970), the
mode is set to 0444 or 0555 (readable and possibly executable by
all; setuid/setgid bits are dropped), and the group is set to the
default. This ensures that the result of a build and an
installation through a substitute is the same; and that timestamp
dependencies are revealed.
Version 0.6 (November 14, 2004)
Major changes include the following:
* Rewrite of the normalisation engine.
* Multiple builds can now be performed in parallel (option `-j').
* Distributed builds. Nix can now call a shell script to forward
builds to Nix installations on remote machines, which may or may
not be of the same platform type.
* Option `--fallback' allows recovery from broken substitutes.
* Option `--keep-going' causes building of other (unaffected)
derivations to continue if one failed.
* Improvements to the garbage collector (i.e., it should actually work
now).
* Setuid Nix installations allow a Nix store to be shared among
multiple users.
* Substitute registration is much faster now.
* A utility `nix-build' to build a Nix expression and create a symlink
to the result int the current directory; useful for testing Nix
derivations.
* Manual updates.
* `nix-env' changes:
* Derivations for other platforms are filtered out (which can be
overriden using `--system-filter').
* `--install' by default now uninstall previous derivations with the
same name.
* `--upgrade' allows upgrading to a specific version.
* New operation `--delete-generations' to remove profile
generations (necessary for effective garbage collection).
* Nicer output (sorted, columnised).
* More sensible verbosity levels all around (builder output is now
shown always, unless `-Q' is given).
* Nix expression language changes:
* New language construct: `with E1; E2' brings all attributes
defined in the attribute set E1 in scope in E2.
* Added a `map' function.
* Various new operators (e.g., string concatenation).
* Expression evaluation is much faster.
* An Emacs mode for editing Nix expressions (with syntax highlighting
and indentation) has been added.
* Many bug fixes.
Version 0.5 and earlier
Please refer to the Subversion commit log messages.

View file

@ -37,7 +37,24 @@ manual.html: $(MANUAL_SRCS) manual.is-valid images
$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --xinclude --output manual.html \
$(docbookxsl)/html/docbook.xsl manual.xml
all-local: manual.html
NEWS_OPTS = \
--stringparam generate.toc "article nop" \
--stringparam section.autolabel.max.depth 0 \
--stringparam header.rule 0
NEWS.html: release-notes.xml
$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --xinclude --output $@ $(NEWS_OPTS) \
$(docbookxsl)/html/docbook.xsl release-notes.xml
NEWS.txt: release-notes.xml
$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --xinclude quote-literals.xsl release-notes.xml | \
$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --output $@.tmp.html $(NEWS_OPTS) \
$(docbookxsl)/html/docbook.xsl -
w3m -dump $@.tmp.html > $@
all-local: manual.html NEWS.html NEWS.txt
install-data-local: manual.html
$(INSTALL) -d $(DESTDIR)$(datadir)/nix/manual

View file

@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ collection. It also discusses some advanced topics, such as setting
up a Nix-based build farm, and doing service deployment using
Nix.</para>
<note><para>Some background information on Nix can be found in three
papers. The ICSE 2004 paper <ulink
<note><para>Some background information on Nix can be found in a
number of papers. The ICSE 2004 paper <ulink
url='http://www.cs.uu.nl/~eelco/pubs/immdsd-icse2004-final.pdf'><citetitle>Imposing
a Memory Management Discipline on Software
Deployment</citetitle></ulink> discusses the hashing mechanism used to
@ -144,7 +144,10 @@ Deployment</citetitle></ulink> gives a more general discussion of Nix
from a system-administration perspective. The CBSE 2005 paper <ulink
url='http://www.cs.uu.nl/~eelco/pubs/eupfcdm-cbse2005-final.pdf'><citetitle>Efficient
Upgrading in a Purely Functional Component Deployment Model
</citetitle></ulink> is about transparent patch deployment in
Nix.</para></note>
</citetitle></ulink> is about transparent patch deployment in Nix.
Finally, the SCM-12 paper <ulink
url='http://www.cs.uu.nl/~eelco/pubs/servicecm-scm12-final.pdf'>
Service Configuration Management</ulink> shows how services (e.g., web
servers) can be deployed and managed through Nix.</para></note>
</chapter>

View file

@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet
version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:str="http://exslt.org/strings"
extension-element-prefixes="str">
<xsl:output method="xml"/>
<xsl:template match="function|command|literal|varname|filename|option|quote">`<xsl:apply-templates/>'</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="token"><xsl:text> </xsl:text><xsl:apply-templates /><xsl:text>
</xsl:text></xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="screen|programlisting">
<screen><xsl:apply-templates select="str:split(., '&#xA;')" /></screen>
</xsl:template>
<!--
<xsl:template match="section/title">
<title><xsl:text>FOO&#xA;BAR</xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="." /></title>
</xsl:template>
-->
<xsl:template match="section[following::section]">
<section>
<xsl:apply-templates />
<screen><xsl:text>
</xsl:text></screen>
</section>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="*">
<xsl:element name="{name(.)}" namespace="{namespace-uri(.)}">
<xsl:copy-of select="namespace::*" />
<xsl:for-each select="@*">
<xsl:attribute name="{name(.)}" namespace="{namespace-uri(.)}">
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:attribute>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

View file

@ -0,0 +1,505 @@
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE book
PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
"http://www.docbook.org/xml/4.3/docbook-xml-4.3.zip"
[
]>
<article><title>Nix Release Notes</title>
<section><title>Release 0.9</title>
<para>NOTE: this version of Nix uses Berkeley DB 4.3 instead of 4.2.
The database is upgraded automatically, but you should be careful not
to use old versions of Nix that still use Berkeley DB 4.2. In
particular, if you use a Nix installed through Nix, you should run
<screen>
$ nix-store --clear-substitutes</screen>
first.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Unpacking of patch sequences is much faster now
since we no longer do redundant unpacking and repacking of
intermediate paths.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Nix now uses Berkeley DB 4.3.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The <function>derivation</function> primitive is
lazier. Attributes of dependent derivations can mutually refer to
each other (as long as there are no data dependencies on the
<varname>outPath</varname> and <varname>drvPath</varname> attributes
computed by <function>derivation</function>).</para>
<para>For example, the expression <literal>derivation
attrs</literal> now evaluates to (essentially)
<programlisting>
attrs // {
type = "derivation";
outPath = derivation! attrs;
drvPath = derivation! attrs;
}</programlisting>
where <function>derivation!</function> is a primop that does the
actual derivation instantiation (i.e., it does what
<function>derivation</function> used to do). The advantage is that
it allows commands such as <command>nix-env -qa</command> and
<command>nix-env -i</command> to be much faster since they no longer
need to instantiate all derivations, just the
<varname>name</varname> attribute.</para>
<para>Also, it allows derivations to cyclically reference each
other, for example,
<programlisting>
webServer = derivation {
...
hostName = "svn.cs.uu.nl";
services = [svnService];
};
&#x20;
svnService = derivation {
...
hostName = webServer.hostName;
};</programlisting>
Previously, this would yield a black hole (infinite recursion).</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para><command>nix-build</command> now defaults to using
<filename>./default.nix</filename> if no Nix expression is
specified.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>nix-instantiate</command>, when applied to
a Nix expression that evaluates to a function, will call the
function automatically if all its arguments have
defaults.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Nix now uses libtool to build dynamic libraries.
This reduces the size of executables.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>A new list concatenation operator
<literal>++</literal>. For example, <literal>[1 2 3] ++ [4 5
6]</literal> evaluates to <literal>[1 2 3 4 5
6]</literal>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Some currently undocumented primops to support
low-level build management using Nix (i.e., using Nix as a Make
replacement). See the commit messages for <literal>r3578</literal>
and <literal>r3580</literal>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various bug fixes and performance
improvements.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section><title>Release 0.8 (April 11, 2005)</title>
<para>NOTE: the hashing scheme in Nix 0.8 changed (as detailed below).
As a result, <command>nix-pull</command> 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.</para>
<para>If you get the error message
<screen>
you have an old-style manifest `/nix/var/nix/manifests/[...]'; please
delete it</screen>
you should delete previously downloaded manifests:
<screen>
$ rm /nix/var/nix/manifests/*</screen>
If <command>nix-channel</command> gives the error message
<screen>
manifest `http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/[channel]/MANIFEST'
is too old (i.e., for Nix &lt;= 0.7)</screen>
then you should unsubscribe from the offending channel
(<command>nix-channel --remove
<replaceable>URL</replaceable></command>; leave out
<literal>/MANIFEST</literal>), and subscribe to the same URL, with
<literal>channels</literal> replaced by <literal>channels-v3</literal>
(e.g.,
http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels-v3/nixpkgs-unstable).</para>
<para>Nix 0.8 has the following improvements:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>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.)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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.</para>
<para>For instance, given any store path, you can query its closure:
<screen>
$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
... lots of paths ...</screen>
Also, Nix now remembers for each store path the derivation that
built it (the "deriver"):
<screen>
$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
/nix/store/4b0jx7vq80l9aqcnkszxhymsf1ffa5jd-firefox-1.0.1.drv</screen>
So to see the build-time dependencies, you can do
<screen>
$ nix-store -qR $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))</screen>
or, in a nicer format:
<screen>
$ nix-store -q --tree $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))</screen>
</para>
<para>File system references are also stored in reverse. For
instance, you can query all paths that directly or indirectly use a
certain Glibc:
<screen>
$ nix-store -q --referers-closure \
/nix/store/8lz9yc6zgmc0vlqmn2ipcpkjlmbi51vv-glibc-2.3.4</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>The concept of fixed-output derivations has been
formalised. Previously, functions such as
<function>fetchurl</function> 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 <varname>outputHash</varname> and
<varname>outputHashAlgo</varname> 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.)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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
<filename>/nix/bin/nix-install-package</filename> with the MIME type
<literal>application/nix-package</literal> (or the extension
<filename>.nixpkg</filename>), 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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>nix-store -r
<replaceable>PATHS</replaceable></command> 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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>nix-channel</command> has new operations
<option>--list</option> and
<option>--remove</option>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New ways of installing components into user
environments:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Copy from another user environment:
<screen>
$ nix-env -i --from-profile .../other-profile firefox</screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Install a store derivation directly (bypassing the
Nix expression language entirely):
<screen>
$ nix-env -i /nix/store/z58v41v21xd3...-aterm-2.3.1.drv</screen>
(This is used to implement <command>nix-install-package</command>,
which is therefore immune to evolution in the Nix expression
language.)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Install an already built store path directly:
<screen>
$ nix-env -i /nix/store/hsyj5pbn0d9i...-aterm-2.3.1</screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Install the result of a Nix expression specified
as a command-line argument:
<screen>
$ nix-env -f .../i686-linux.nix -i -E 'x: x.firefoxWrapper'</screen>
The difference with the normal installation mode is that
<option>-E</option> does not use the <varname>name</varname>
attributes of derivations. Therefore, this can be used to
disambiguate multiple derivations with the same
name.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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: <command>nix-store
--verify --check-contents</command>.</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Implemented a concurrent garbage collector. It is now
always safe to run the garbage collector, even if other Nix
operations are happening simultaneously.</para>
<para>However, there can still be GC races if you use
<command>nix-instantiate</command> and <command>nix-store
--realise</command> directly to build things. To prevent races,
use the <option>--add-root</option> flag of those commands.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>The garbage collector now finally deletes paths in
the right order (i.e., topologically sorted under the
<quote>references</quote> relation), thus making it safe to
interrupt the collector without risking a store that violates the
closure invariant.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Likewise, the substitute mechanism now downloads
files in the right order, thus preserving the closure invariant at
all times.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The result of <command>nix-build</command> is now
registered as a root of the garbage collector. If the
<filename>./result</filename> link is deleted, the GC root
disappears automatically.</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The behaviour of the garbage collector can be changed
globally by setting options in
<filename>/nix/etc/nix/nix.conf</filename>.
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><literal>gc-keep-derivations</literal> specifies
whether deriver links should be followed when searching for live
paths.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><literal>gc-keep-outputs</literal> specifies
whether outputs of derivations should be followed when searching
for live paths.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><literal>env-keep-derivations</literal>
specifies whether user environments should store the paths of
derivations when they are added (thus keeping the derivations
alive).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New <command>nix-env</command> query flags
<option>--drv-path</option> and
<option>--out-path</option>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>fetchurl</command> allows SHA-1 and SHA-256
in addition to MD5. Just specify the attribute
<varname>sha1</varname> or <varname>sha256</varname> instead of
<varname>md5</varname>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Manual updates.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</section>
<section><title>Release 0.7 (January 12, 2005)</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Binary patching. When upgrading components using
pre-built binaries (through nix-pull / nix-channel), Nix can
automatically download and apply binary patches to already installed
components instead of full downloads. Patching is "smart": if there
is a *sequence* of patches to an installed component, Nix will use
it. Patches are currently generated automatically between Nixpkgs
(pre-)releases.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Simplifications to the substitute
mechanism.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Nix-pull now stores downloaded manifests in
/nix/var/nix/manifests.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Metadata on files in the Nix store is canonicalised
after builds: the last-modified timestamp is set to 0 (00:00:00
1/1/1970), the mode is set to 0444 or 0555 (readable and possibly
executable by all; setuid/setgid bits are dropped), and the group is
set to the default. This ensures that the result of a build and an
installation through a substitute is the same; and that timestamp
dependencies are revealed.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section><title>Release 0.6 (November 14, 2004)</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Rewrite of the normalisation engine.
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Multiple builds can now be performed in parallel
(option <option>-j</option>).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Distributed builds. Nix can now call a shell
script to forward builds to Nix installations on remote
machines, which may or may not be of the same platform
type.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Option <option>--fallback</option> allows
recovery from broken substitutes.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Option <option>--keep-going</option> causes
building of other (unaffected) derivations to continue if one
failed.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improvements to the garbage collector (i.e., it
should actually work now).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Setuid Nix installations allow a Nix store to be
shared among multiple users.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Substitute registration is much faster
now.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>A utility <command>nix-build</command> to build a
Nix expression and create a symlink to the result int the current
directory; useful for testing Nix derivations.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Manual updates.</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para><command>nix-env</command> changes:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Derivations for other platforms are filtered out
(which can be overriden using
<option>--system-filter</option>).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><option>--install</option> by default now
uninstall previous derivations with the same
name.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><option>--upgrade</option> allows upgrading to a
specific version.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New operation
<option>--delete-generations</option> to remove profile
generations (necessary for effective garbage
collection).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Nicer output (sorted,
columnised).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>More sensible verbosity levels all around (builder
output is now shown always, unless <option>-Q</option> is
given).</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Nix expression language changes:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>New language construct: <literal>with
<replaceable>E1</replaceable>;
<replaceable>E2</replaceable></literal> brings all attributes
defined in the attribute set <replaceable>E1</replaceable> in
scope in <replaceable>E2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Added a <function>map</function>
function.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various new operators (e.g., string
concatenation).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Expression evaluation is much
faster.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>An Emacs mode for editing Nix expressions (with
syntax highlighting and indentation) has been
added.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Many bug fixes.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section><title>Release 0.5 and earlier</title>
<para>Please refer to the Subversion commit log messages.</para>
</section>
</article>

View file

@ -1046,6 +1046,11 @@ weakest binding).</para>
contains an attribute named
<replaceable>id</replaceable>.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> ++ <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
<entry>right</entry>
<entry>List concatenation.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> + <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
<entry>left</entry>