* Release notes.
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		|  | @ -26,7 +26,10 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> | |||
| 
 | ||||
| <itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|    | ||||
|   <!-- Usability / features --> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|    | ||||
|   <listitem><para><command>nix-env</command> usability improvements: | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     <itemizedlist> | ||||
|  | @ -66,26 +69,6 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> | |||
|   </para></listitem> | ||||
|    | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Berkeley DB 4.4’s process registry feature is used | ||||
|   to recover from crashed Nix processes.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <!--  <listitem><para>TODO: shared stores.</para></listitem> --> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>A performance issue has been fixed with the | ||||
|   <literal>referer</literal> table, which stores the inverse of the | ||||
|   <literal>references</literal> table (i.e., it tells you what store | ||||
|   paths refer to a given path).  Maintaining this table could take a | ||||
|   quadratic amount of time, as well as a quadratic amount of Berkeley | ||||
|   DB log file space (in particular when running the garbage collector) | ||||
|   (<literal>NIX-23</literal>).</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Nix now catches the <literal>TERM</literal> and | ||||
|   <literal>HUP</literal> signals in addition to the | ||||
|   <literal>INT</literal> signal.  So you can now do a <literal>killall | ||||
|   nix-store</literal> without triggering a database | ||||
|   recovery.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>New language features: | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     <itemizedlist> | ||||
|  | @ -111,13 +94,13 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> | |||
|       <listitem><para>Multi-line string literals.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>String concatenations can now involve | ||||
|       derivations, as in the example above — | ||||
|       <code>"--with-freetype2-library=" + freetype + "/lib"</code>. | ||||
|       This was not previously possible because we need to register | ||||
|       that a derivation that uses such a string is dependent on | ||||
|       <literal>freetype</literal>.  The evaluator now properly | ||||
|       propagates this information.  Consequently, the subpath operator | ||||
|       (<literal>~</literal>) has been deprecated.</para></listitem> | ||||
|       derivations, as in the example <code>"--with-freetype2-library=" | ||||
|       + freetype + "/lib"</code>.  This was not previously possible | ||||
|       because we need to register that a derivation that uses such a | ||||
|       string is dependent on <literal>freetype</literal>.  The | ||||
|       evaluator now properly propagates this information. | ||||
|       Consequently, the subpath operator (<literal>~</literal>) has | ||||
|       been deprecated.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>Default values of function arguments can now | ||||
|       refer to other function arguments; that is, all arguments are in | ||||
|  | @ -128,10 +111,62 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> | |||
|       <listitem><para>TODO: domain checks (r5895).</para></listitem> | ||||
|       --> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>Lots of new builtin primitives, such as | ||||
|       functions for list manipulation and integer arithmetic.  See the | ||||
|       manual for a complete list.  All primops are now available in | ||||
|       the set <varname>builtins</varname>, allowing one to test for | ||||
|       the availability of primop in a backwards-compatible | ||||
|       way.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     </itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   </para></listitem> | ||||
|      | ||||
| 
 | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>New commands <command>nix-pack-closure</command> and | ||||
|   <command>nix-unpack-closure</command> than can be used to easily | ||||
|   transfer a store path with all its dependencies to another machine. | ||||
|   Very convenient whenever you have some package on your machine and | ||||
|   you want to copy it somewhere else.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|    | ||||
|   <listitem><para>XML support: | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     <itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para><literal>nix-env -q --xml</literal> prints the | ||||
|       installed or available packages in an XML representation for | ||||
|       easy processing by other tools.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para><literal>nix-instantiate --eval-only | ||||
|       --xml</literal> prints an XML representation of the resulting | ||||
|       term.  (The new flag <option>--strict</option> forces ‘deep’ | ||||
|       evaluation of the result, i.e., list elements and attributes are | ||||
|       evaluated recursively.)</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>In Nix expressions, the primop | ||||
|       <function>builtins.toXML</function> converts a term to an XML | ||||
|       representation.  This is primarily useful for passing structured | ||||
|       information to builders.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     </itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   </para></listitem> | ||||
|    | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>You can now unambigously specify which derivation to | ||||
|   build or install in <command>nix-env</command>, | ||||
|   <command>nix-instantiate</command> and <command>nix-build</command> | ||||
|   using the <option>--attr</option> / <option>-A</option> flags, which | ||||
|   takes an attribute name as argument.  (Unlike symbolic package names | ||||
|   such as <literal>subversion-1.4.0</literal>, attribute names in an | ||||
|   attribute set are unique.)  For instance, a quick way to perform a | ||||
|   test build of a package in Nixpkgs is <literal>nix-build | ||||
|   pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix -A | ||||
|   <replaceable>foo</replaceable></literal>.  <literal>nix-env -q | ||||
|   --attr</literal> shows the attribute names corresponding to each | ||||
|   derivation.</para></listitem> | ||||
|    | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>If the top-level Nix expression used by | ||||
|   <command>nix-env</command>, <command>nix-instantiate</command> or | ||||
|  | @ -142,26 +177,53 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> | |||
|   <replaceable>value</replaceable></option> can be used to specify | ||||
|   function arguments on the command line.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>TODO: proxy support.</para></listitem> | ||||
|    | ||||
|   <listitem><para><literal>nix-install-package --url | ||||
|   <replaceable>URL</replaceable></literal> allows a package to be | ||||
|   installed directly from the given URL.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>New commands <command>nix-pack-closure</command> and | ||||
|   <command>nix-unpack-closure</command> than can be used to easily | ||||
|   transfer a store path with all its dependencies to another machine. | ||||
|   Very convenient whenever you have some package on your machine and | ||||
|   you want to copy it somewhere else.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para><command>bsdiff</command> updated | ||||
|   4.3.</para></listitem> | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Nix now works behind an HTTP proxy server; just set | ||||
|   the standard environment variables <envar>http_proxy</envar>, | ||||
|   <envar>https_proxy</envar>, <envar>ftp_proxy</envar> or | ||||
|   <envar>all_proxy</envar> appropriately.  Functions such as | ||||
|   <function>fetchurl</function> in Nixpkgs also respect these | ||||
|   variables.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>TODO: --attr / -A flags in | ||||
|   nix-env/nix-instantiate/nix-build.  Also nix-env -qa | ||||
|   --attr.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para><literal>nix-build -o | ||||
|   <replaceable>symlink</replaceable></literal> allows the symlink to | ||||
|   the build result to be named something other than | ||||
|   <literal>result</literal>.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <!-- Stability / performance / etc. --> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Platform support: | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     <itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>Support for 64-bit platforms, provided a <link | ||||
|       xlink:href="http://bugzilla.sen.cwi.nl:8080/show_bug.cgi?id=606">suitably | ||||
|       patched ATerm library</link> is used.  Also, files larger than 2 | ||||
|       GiB are now supported.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>Added support for Cygwin (Windows, | ||||
|       <literal>i686-cygwin</literal>), Mac OS X on Intel | ||||
|       (<literal>i686-darwin</literal>) and Linux on PowerPC | ||||
|       (<literal>powerpc-linux</literal>).</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>Users of SMP and multicore machines will | ||||
|       appreciate that the number of builds to be performed in parallel | ||||
|       can now be specified in the configuration file in the | ||||
|       <literal>build-max-jobs</literal> setting.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     </itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   </para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|    | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Garbage collector improvements: | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     <itemizedlist> | ||||
|  | @ -188,14 +250,38 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> | |||
|       --gc</literal>).  This is an easy way to get rid of all old | ||||
|       packages in the Nix store.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para><command>nix-store</command> now has an | ||||
|       operation <option>--delete</option> to delete specific paths | ||||
|       from the Nix store.  It won’t delete reachable (non-garbage) | ||||
|       paths unless <option>--ignore-liveness</option> is | ||||
|       specified.</para></listitem> | ||||
|        | ||||
|     </itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   </para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>New command <literal>nix-store --delete</literal> to | ||||
|   delete specific paths from the Nix store.  It won’t delete reachable | ||||
|   (non-garbage) paths unless <option>--ignore-liveness</option> is | ||||
|   specified.</para></listitem> | ||||
|    | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Berkeley DB 4.4’s process registry feature is used | ||||
|   to recover from crashed Nix processes.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <!--  <listitem><para>TODO: shared stores.</para></listitem> --> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>A performance issue has been fixed with the | ||||
|   <literal>referer</literal> table, which stores the inverse of the | ||||
|   <literal>references</literal> table (i.e., it tells you what store | ||||
|   paths refer to a given path).  Maintaining this table could take a | ||||
|   quadratic amount of time, as well as a quadratic amount of Berkeley | ||||
|   DB log file space (in particular when running the garbage collector) | ||||
|   (<literal>NIX-23</literal>).</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Nix now catches the <literal>TERM</literal> and | ||||
|   <literal>HUP</literal> signals in addition to the | ||||
|   <literal>INT</literal> signal.  So you can now do a <literal>killall | ||||
|   nix-store</literal> without triggering a database | ||||
|   recovery.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para><command>bsdiff</command> updated | ||||
|   4.3.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Substantial performance improvements in expression | ||||
|   evaluation and <literal>nix-env -qa</literal>, all thanks to <link | ||||
|  | @ -225,51 +311,12 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> | |||
| 
 | ||||
|   </para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|    | ||||
|   <listitem><para>XML support: | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     <itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para><literal>nix-env -q --xml</literal> prints the | ||||
|       installed or available packages in an XML representation for | ||||
|       easy processing by other tools.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para><literal>nix-instantiate --eval-only | ||||
|       --xml</literal> prints an XML representation of the resulting | ||||
|       term.  (The new flag <option>--strict</option> forces ‘deep’ | ||||
|       evaluation of the result, i.e., list elements and attributes are | ||||
|       evaluated recursively.)</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|       <listitem><para>In Nix expressions, the primop | ||||
|       <function>builtins.toXML</function> converts a term to an XML | ||||
|       representation.  This is primarily useful for passing structured | ||||
|       information to builders.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|     </itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   </para></listitem> | ||||
|    | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Nix source distributions are a lot smaller now since | ||||
|   we no longer include a full copy of the Berkeley DB source | ||||
|   distribution (but only the bits we need).</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Support for 64-bit platforms, provided <link | ||||
|   xlink:href="http://bugzilla.sen.cwi.nl:8080/show_bug.cgi?id=606">suitably | ||||
|   patched ATerm library</link> is used.  Also, files larger than 2 GiB | ||||
|   are now supported.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Users of SMP and multicore machines will appreciate | ||||
|   that the number of builds to be performed in parallel can now be | ||||
|   specified in the configuration file in the | ||||
|   <literal>build-max-jobs</literal> setting.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Added support for Cygwin (Windows, | ||||
|   <literal>i686-cygwin</literal>) and Mac OS X on Intel | ||||
|   (<literal>i686-darwin</literal>).</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|   <listitem><para>TODO: <literal>nix-push | ||||
|   --target</literal>.</para></listitem> | ||||
|   <listitem><para>Header files are now installed so that external | ||||
|   programs can use the Nix libraries.</para></listitem> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
| </itemizedlist> | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|  |  | |||
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