diff options
| author | Adam Joseph <adam@westernsemico.com> | 2022-08-05 10:33:48 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Adam Joseph <adam@westernsemico.com> | 2022-08-05 10:33:48 -0700 |
| commit | 4de95f7f565df71d8ebddb7434e2b0feb49a833b (patch) | |
| tree | f9eb4eb44a055be10e4566078fc331647d31e44d | |
| parent | d5506aa71200425b65cc1777077478f5ff8d2aff (diff) | |
gesture at explanation of why binary caches exist
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/src/package-management/terminology.md | 10 |
1 files changed, 6 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/package-management/terminology.md b/doc/manual/src/package-management/terminology.md index b3e9ea040..493f5f03e 100644 --- a/doc/manual/src/package-management/terminology.md +++ b/doc/manual/src/package-management/terminology.md @@ -18,10 +18,12 @@ commands from the `NixOS/nix` implementation.</sup> directory on another machine, accessed via `ssh` or served by the `nix-serve` Perl script. -A *binary cache* is a specialized Nix store whose metadata and -signatures are kept in `.narinfo` files rather than in the Nix -database. Examples of binary caches include S3 buckets and the -[NixOS binary cache](https://cache.nixos.org). +A *binary cache* is a Nix store which uses a different format: its +metadata and signatures are kept in `.narinfo` files rather than in a +Nix database. This different format simplifies serving store objects +over the network, but cannot host builds. Examples of binary caches +include S3 buckets and the [NixOS binary +cache](https://cache.nixos.org). A *substituter* is a store other than `/nix/store` from which Nix will copy a store path instead of building it. Nix will not copy a store |