nixpkgs README

The project's README from github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs. As one markdown file: README.md.

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Nixpkgs is a collection of over 140,000 software packages that can be installed with the Nix package manager. It also implements NixOS, a purely-functional Linux distribution.

Manuals

Community

Other Project Repositories

The sources of all official Nix-related projects are in the NixOS organization on GitHub. Here are some of the main ones:

Continuous Integration and Distribution

Nixpkgs and NixOS are built and tested by our continuous integration system, Hydra.

Artifacts successfully built with Hydra are published to cache at https://cache.nixos.org/. When successful build and test criteria are met, the Nixpkgs expressions are distributed via Nix channels.

Contributing

Nixpkgs is among the most active projects on GitHub. While thousands of open issues and pull requests might seem like a lot at first, it helps to consider it in the context of the scope of the project. Nixpkgs describes how to build tens of thousands of pieces of software and implements a Linux distribution. The GitHub Insights page gives a sense of the project activity.

Community contributions are always welcome through GitHub Issues and Pull Requests.

For more information about contributing to the project, please visit the contributing page.

Donations

The infrastructure for NixOS and related projects is maintained by a nonprofit organization, the NixOS Foundation. To ensure the continuity and expansion of the NixOS infrastructure, we are looking for donations to our organization.

You can donate to the NixOS Foundation through SEPA bank transfers or by using Open Collective:

License

Nixpkgs is licensed under the MIT License.

[!Note] MIT license does not apply to the packages built by Nixpkgs, merely to the files in this repository (the Nix expressions, build scripts, NixOS modules, etc.). It also might not apply to patches included in Nixpkgs, which may be derivative works of the packages to which they apply. The aforementioned artifacts are all covered by the licenses of the respective packages.

nixpkgs (NixOS/nixpkgs)

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Nixpkgs
What is this?Nixpkgs is a collection of over 140,000 software packages that can be installed using the Nix package manager, and it also implements NixOS, a purely-functional Linux distribution built on top of those packages.
Is this the Nix package manager itself, or something built on top of it?This repo is not the package manager — it's the giant collection of Nix expressions (package definitions, build scripts, NixOS modules) that the separate Nix package manager uses to actually build and install software, and NixOS is the full Linux distribution assembled from them.
How do I actually install software from Nixpkgs?There's no installer in this repo itself: you install the Nix package manager first (per the Nix Package Manager Manual), then either install NixOS as your OS (per the NixOS Manual) or just pull individual packages from Nixpkgs on top of an existing system.
Do I need the Nix package manager first?Yes — every one of the 140,000+ packages in Nixpkgs is only usable through the Nix package manager, so Nix has to be installed before you can pull anything from this repo.
Does the MIT license cover the packages I install through this?No. The MIT license only applies to the files in this repository (the Nix expressions, build scripts, NixOS modules); the actual built packages are covered by each upstream project's own license.
What is the difference between Nix, Nixpkgs, and NixOS?Nix is the purely-functional package manager itself; Nixpkgs (this repo) is the collection of over 140,000 package definitions it builds from; NixOS is the full Linux distribution assembled on top of both.
How are packages tested before they're released?Hydra, the project's continuous integration system, builds and tests packages for the unstable/master branch and for each NixOS release, publishing successful artifacts to a binary cache and distributing them via Nix channels.
What are similar projects?home-manager, nix, omnibin, pipx, fpm, talos, reinstall, terraform
Which topics is it in?linux-distribution, scripts, configuration-management, nixos, packaging, nix, declarative, functional-programming, operating-system, infrastructure, package-manager, sysadmin
Creator
NixOS
Size
3.3 GB
Stars
26.5K
Updated
CommitOct 17
Age
14y
Commits · 90 Days