Restructuring the Nix manual

18 files changed, 3043 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/advanced-attributes.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/advanced-attributes.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..40a5a80ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/advanced-attributes.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="sec-advanced-attributes">
+
+<title>Advanced Attributes</title>
+
+<para>Derivations can declare some infrequently used optional
+attributes.</para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><varname>allowedReferences</varname></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The optional attribute
+    <varname>allowedReferences</varname> specifies a list of legal
+    references (dependencies) of the output of the builder.  For
+    example,
+
+<programlisting>
+allowedReferences = [];
+</programlisting>
+
+    enforces that the output of a derivation cannot have any runtime
+    dependencies on its inputs.  To allow an output to have a runtime
+    dependency on itself, use <literal>"out"</literal> as a list item.
+    This is used in NixOS to check that generated files such as
+    initial ramdisks for booting Linux don’t have accidental
+    dependencies on other paths in the Nix store.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><varname>exportReferencesGraph</varname></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This attribute allows builders access to the
+    references graph of their inputs.  The attribute is a list of
+    inputs in the Nix store whose references graph the builder needs
+    to know.  The value of this attribute should be a list of pairs
+    <literal>[ <replaceable>name1</replaceable>
+    <replaceable>path1</replaceable> <replaceable>name2</replaceable>
+    <replaceable>path2</replaceable> <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+    ]</literal>.  The references graph of each
+    <replaceable>pathN</replaceable> will be stored in a text file
+    <replaceable>nameN</replaceable> in the temporary build directory.
+    The text files have the format used by <command>nix-store
+    --register-validity</command> (with the deriver fields left
+    empty).  For example, when the following derivation is built:
+
+<programlisting>
+derivation {
+  ...
+  exportReferencesGraph = [ "libfoo-graph" libfoo ];
+};
+</programlisting>
+
+    the references graph of <literal>libfoo</literal> is placed in the
+    file <filename>libfoo-graph</filename> in the temporary build
+    directory.</para>
+
+    <para><varname>exportReferencesGraph</varname> is useful for
+    builders that want to do something with the closure of a store
+    path.  Examples include the builders in NixOS that generate the
+    initial ramdisk for booting Linux (a <command>cpio</command>
+    archive containing the closure of the boot script) and the
+    ISO-9660 image for the installation CD (which is populated with a
+    Nix store containing the closure of a bootable NixOS
+    configuration).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="fixed-output-drvs">
+    <term><varname>outputHash</varname></term>
+    <term><varname>outputHashAlgo</varname></term>
+    <term><varname>outputHashMode</varname></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>These attributes declare that the derivation is a
+    so-called <emphasis>fixed-output derivation</emphasis>, which
+    means that a cryptographic hash of the output is already known in
+    advance.  When the build of a fixed-output derivation finishes,
+    Nix computes the cryptographic hash of the output and compares it
+    to the hash declared with these attributes.  If there is a
+    mismatch, the build fails.</para>
+
+    <para>The rationale for fixed-output derivations is derivations
+    such as those produced by the <function>fetchurl</function>
+    function.  This function downloads a file from a given URL.  To
+    ensure that the downloaded file has not been modified, the caller
+    must also specify a cryptographic hash of the file.  For example,
+
+<programlisting>
+fetchurl {
+  url = http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.1.1.tar.gz;
+  md5 = "70c9ccf9fac07f762c24f2df2290784d";
+}
+</programlisting>
+
+    It sometimes happens that the URL of the file changes, e.g.,
+    because servers are reorganised or no longer available.  We then
+    must update the call to <function>fetchurl</function>, e.g.,
+
+<programlisting>
+fetchurl {
+  url = ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.1.1.tar.gz;
+  md5 = "70c9ccf9fac07f762c24f2df2290784d";
+}
+</programlisting>
+
+    If a <function>fetchurl</function> derivation was treated like a
+    normal derivation, the output paths of the derivation and
+    <emphasis>all derivations depending on it</emphasis> would change.
+    For instance, if we were to change the URL of the Glibc source
+    distribution in Nixpkgs (a package on which almost all other
+    packages depend) massive rebuilds would be needed.  This is
+    unfortunate for a change which we know cannot have a real effect
+    as it propagates upwards through the dependency graph.</para>
+
+    <para>For fixed-output derivations, on the other hand, the name of
+    the output path only depends on the <varname>outputHash*</varname>
+    and <varname>name</varname> attributes, while all other attributes
+    are ignored for the purpose of computing the output path.  (The
+    <varname>name</varname> attribute is included because it is part
+    of the path.)</para>
+
+    <para>As an example, here is the (simplified) Nix expression for
+    <varname>fetchurl</varname>:
+
+<programlisting>
+{ stdenv, curl }: # The <command>curl</command> program is used for downloading.
+
+{ url, md5 }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = baseNameOf (toString url);
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+  buildInputs = [ curl ];
+
+  # This is a fixed-output derivation; the output must be a regular
+  # file with MD5 hash <varname>md5</varname>.
+  outputHashMode = "flat";
+  outputHashAlgo = "md5";
+  outputHash = md5;
+
+  inherit url;
+}
+</programlisting>
+
+    </para>
+
+    <para>The <varname>outputHashAlgo</varname> attribute specifies
+    the hash algorithm used to compute the hash.  It can currently be
+    <literal>"md5"</literal>, <literal>"sha1"</literal> or
+    <literal>"sha256"</literal>.</para>
+
+    <para>The <varname>outputHashMode</varname> attribute determines
+    how the hash is computed.  It must be one of the following two
+    values:
+
+    <variablelist>
+
+      <varlistentry><term><literal>"flat"</literal></term>
+
+        <listitem><para>The output must be a non-executable regular
+        file.  If it isn’t, the build fails.  The hash is simply
+        computed over the contents of that file (so it’s equal to what
+        Unix commands like <command>md5sum</command> or
+        <command>sha1sum</command> produce).</para>
+
+        <para>This is the default.</para></listitem>
+
+      </varlistentry>
+
+      <varlistentry><term><literal>"recursive"</literal></term>
+
+        <listitem><para>The hash is computed over the NAR archive dump
+        of the output (i.e., the result of <link
+        linkend="refsec-nix-store-dump"><command>nix-store
+        --dump</command></link>).  In this case, the output can be
+        anything, including a directory tree.</para></listitem>
+
+      </varlistentry>
+
+    </variablelist>
+
+    </para>
+
+    <para>The <varname>outputHash</varname> attribute, finally, must
+    be a string containing the hash in either hexadecimal or base-32
+    notation.  (See the <link
+    linkend="sec-nix-hash"><command>nix-hash</command> command</link>
+    for information about converting to and from base-32
+    notation.)</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><varname>impureEnvVars</varname></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This attribute allows you to specify a list of
+    environment variables that should be passed from the environment
+    of the calling user to the builder.  Usually, the environment is
+    cleared completely when the builder is executed, but with this
+    attribute you can allow specific environment variables to be
+    passed unmodified.  For example, <function>fetchurl</function> in
+    Nixpkgs has the line
+
+<programlisting>
+impureEnvVars = [ "http_proxy" "https_proxy" <replaceable>...</replaceable> ];
+</programlisting>
+
+    to make it use the proxy server configuration specified by the
+    user in the environment variables <envar>http_proxy</envar> and
+    friends.</para>
+
+    <para>This attribute is only allowed in <link
+    linkend="fixed-output-drvs">fixed-output derivations</link>, where
+    impurities such as these are okay since (the hash of) the output
+    is known in advance.  It is ignored for all other
+    derivations.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><varname>preferLocalBuild</varname></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If this attribute is set to
+    <literal>true</literal>, it has two effects.  First, the
+    derivation will always be built, not substituted, even if a
+    substitute is available.  Second, if <link
+    linkend="chap-distributed-builds">distributed building is
+    enabled</link>, then, if possible, the derivaton will be built
+    locally instead of forwarded to a remote machine.  This is
+    appropriate for trivial builders where the cost of doing a
+    download or remote build would exceed the cost of building
+    locally.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/arguments-variables.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/arguments-variables.xml
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+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/arguments-variables.xml
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+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='sec-arguments'>
+
+<title>Arguments and Variables</title>
+
+<example xml:id='ex-hello-composition'>
+
+<title>Composing GNU Hello
+(<filename>all-packages.nix</filename>)</title>
+<programlisting>
+...
+
+rec { <co xml:id='ex-hello-composition-co-1' />
+
+  hello = import ../applications/misc/hello/ex-1 <co xml:id='ex-hello-composition-co-2' /> { <co xml:id='ex-hello-composition-co-3' />
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv perl;
+  };
+
+  perl = import ../development/interpreters/perl { <co xml:id='ex-hello-composition-co-4' />
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+  };
+
+  fetchurl = import ../build-support/fetchurl {
+    inherit stdenv; ...
+  };
+
+  stdenv = ...;
+
+}
+</programlisting>
+</example>
+
+<para>The Nix expression in <xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' /> is a
+function; it is missing some arguments that have to be filled in
+somewhere.  In the Nix Packages collection this is done in the file
+<filename>pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix</filename>, where all
+Nix expressions for packages are imported and called with the
+appropriate arguments.  <xref linkend='ex-hello-composition' /> shows
+some fragments of
+<filename>all-packages.nix</filename>.</para>
+
+<calloutlist>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-composition-co-1'>
+
+    <para>This file defines a set of attributes, all of which are
+    concrete derivations (i.e., not functions).  In fact, we define a
+    <emphasis>mutually recursive</emphasis> set of attributes.  That
+    is, the attributes can refer to each other.  This is precisely
+    what we want since we want to <quote>plug</quote> the
+    various packages into each other.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-composition-co-2'>
+
+    <para>Here we <emphasis>import</emphasis> the Nix expression for
+    GNU Hello.  The import operation just loads and returns the
+    specified Nix expression. In fact, we could just have put the
+    contents of <xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' /> in
+    <filename>all-packages.nix</filename> at this point.  That
+    would be completely equivalent, but it would make the file rather
+    bulky.</para>
+
+    <para>Note that we refer to
+    <filename>../applications/misc/hello/ex-1</filename>, not
+    <filename>../applications/misc/hello/ex-1/default.nix</filename>.
+    When you try to import a directory, Nix automatically appends
+    <filename>/default.nix</filename> to the file name.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-composition-co-3'>
+
+    <para>This is where the actual composition takes place.  Here we
+    <emphasis>call</emphasis> the function imported from
+    <filename>../applications/misc/hello/ex-1</filename> with a set
+    containing the things that the function expects, namely
+    <varname>fetchurl</varname>, <varname>stdenv</varname>, and
+    <varname>perl</varname>.  We use inherit again to use the
+    attributes defined in the surrounding scope (we could also have
+    written <literal>fetchurl = fetchurl;</literal>, etc.).</para>
+
+    <para>The result of this function call is an actual derivation
+    that can be built by Nix (since when we fill in the arguments of
+    the function, what we get is its body, which is the call to
+    <varname>stdenv.mkDerivation</varname> in <xref
+    linkend='ex-hello-nix' />).</para>
+
+    <note><para>Nixpkgs has a convenience function
+    <function>callPackage</function> that imports and calls a
+    function, filling in any missing arguments by passing the
+    corresponding attribute from the Nixpkgs set, like this:
+
+<programlisting>
+hello = callPackage ../applications/misc/hello/ex-1 { };
+</programlisting>
+
+    If necessary, you can set or override arguments:
+
+<programlisting>
+hello = callPackage ../applications/misc/hello/ex-1 { stdenv = myStdenv; };
+</programlisting>
+
+    </para></note>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-composition-co-4'>
+
+    <para>Likewise, we have to instantiate Perl,
+    <varname>fetchurl</varname>, and the standard environment.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+</calloutlist>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/build-script.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/build-script.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7bad8f808
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/build-script.xml
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+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='sec-build-script'>
+
+<title>Build Script</title>
+
+<example xml:id='ex-hello-builder'><title>Build script for GNU Hello
+(<filename>builder.sh</filename>)</title>
+<programlisting>
+source $stdenv/setup <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-1' />
+
+PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-2' />
+
+tar xvfz $src <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-3' />
+cd hello-*
+./configure --prefix=$out <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-4' />
+make <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-5' />
+make install</programlisting>
+</example>
+
+<para><xref linkend='ex-hello-builder' /> shows the builder referenced
+from Hello's Nix expression (stored in
+<filename>pkgs/applications/misc/hello/ex-1/builder.sh</filename>).
+The builder can actually be made a lot shorter by using the
+<emphasis>generic builder</emphasis> functions provided by
+<varname>stdenv</varname>, but here we write out the build steps to
+elucidate what a builder does.  It performs the following
+steps:</para>
+
+<calloutlist>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-1'>
+
+    <para>When Nix runs a builder, it initially completely clears the
+    environment (except for the attributes declared in the
+    derivation).  For instance, the <envar>PATH</envar> variable is
+    empty<footnote><para>Actually, it's initialised to
+    <filename>/path-not-set</filename> to prevent Bash from setting it
+    to a default value.</para></footnote>.  This is done to prevent
+    undeclared inputs from being used in the build process.  If for
+    example the <envar>PATH</envar> contained
+    <filename>/usr/bin</filename>, then you might accidentally use
+    <filename>/usr/bin/gcc</filename>.</para>
+
+    <para>So the first step is to set up the environment.  This is
+    done by calling the <filename>setup</filename> script of the
+    standard environment.  The environment variable
+    <envar>stdenv</envar> points to the location of the standard
+    environment being used.  (It wasn't specified explicitly as an
+    attribute in <xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' />, but
+    <varname>mkDerivation</varname> adds it automatically.)</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-2'>
+
+    <para>Since Hello needs Perl, we have to make sure that Perl is in
+    the <envar>PATH</envar>.  The <envar>perl</envar> environment
+    variable points to the location of the Perl package (since it
+    was passed in as an attribute to the derivation), so
+    <filename><replaceable>$perl</replaceable>/bin</filename> is the
+    directory containing the Perl interpreter.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-3'>
+
+    <para>Now we have to unpack the sources.  The
+    <varname>src</varname> attribute was bound to the result of
+    fetching the Hello source tarball from the network, so the
+    <envar>src</envar> environment variable points to the location in
+    the Nix store to which the tarball was downloaded.  After
+    unpacking, we <command>cd</command> to the resulting source
+    directory.</para>
+
+    <para>The whole build is performed in a temporary directory
+    created in <varname>/tmp</varname>, by the way.  This directory is
+    removed after the builder finishes, so there is no need to clean
+    up the sources afterwards.  Also, the temporary directory is
+    always newly created, so you don't have to worry about files from
+    previous builds interfering with the current build.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-4'>
+
+    <para>GNU Hello is a typical Autoconf-based package, so we first
+    have to run its <filename>configure</filename> script.  In Nix
+    every package is stored in a separate location in the Nix store,
+    for instance
+    <filename>/nix/store/9a54ba97fb71b65fda531012d0443ce2-hello-2.1.1</filename>.
+    Nix computes this path by cryptographically hashing all attributes
+    of the derivation.  The path is passed to the builder through the
+    <envar>out</envar> environment variable.  So here we give
+    <filename>configure</filename> the parameter
+    <literal>--prefix=$out</literal> to cause Hello to be installed in
+    the expected location.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-5'>
+
+    <para>Finally we build Hello (<literal>make</literal>) and install
+    it into the location specified by <envar>out</envar>
+    (<literal>make install</literal>).</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+</calloutlist>
+
+<para>If you are wondering about the absence of error checking on the
+result of various commands called in the builder: this is because the
+shell script is evaluated with Bash's <option>-e</option> option,
+which causes the script to be aborted if any command fails without an
+error check.</para>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/builder-syntax.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/builder-syntax.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e51bade44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/builder-syntax.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='sec-builder-syntax'>
+
+<title>Builder Syntax</title>
+
+<example xml:id='ex-hello-builder'><title>Build script for GNU Hello
+(<filename>builder.sh</filename>)</title>
+<programlisting>
+source $stdenv/setup <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-1' />
+
+PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-2' />
+
+tar xvfz $src <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-3' />
+cd hello-*
+./configure --prefix=$out <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-4' />
+make <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-5' />
+make install</programlisting>
+</example>
+
+<para><xref linkend='ex-hello-builder' /> shows the builder referenced
+from Hello's Nix expression (stored in
+<filename>pkgs/applications/misc/hello/ex-1/builder.sh</filename>).
+The builder can actually be made a lot shorter by using the
+<emphasis>generic builder</emphasis> functions provided by
+<varname>stdenv</varname>, but here we write out the build steps to
+elucidate what a builder does.  It performs the following
+steps:</para>
+
+<calloutlist>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-1'>
+
+    <para>When Nix runs a builder, it initially completely clears the
+    environment (except for the attributes declared in the
+    derivation).  For instance, the <envar>PATH</envar> variable is
+    empty<footnote><para>Actually, it's initialised to
+    <filename>/path-not-set</filename> to prevent Bash from setting it
+    to a default value.</para></footnote>.  This is done to prevent
+    undeclared inputs from being used in the build process.  If for
+    example the <envar>PATH</envar> contained
+    <filename>/usr/bin</filename>, then you might accidentally use
+    <filename>/usr/bin/gcc</filename>.</para>
+
+    <para>So the first step is to set up the environment.  This is
+    done by calling the <filename>setup</filename> script of the
+    standard environment.  The environment variable
+    <envar>stdenv</envar> points to the location of the standard
+    environment being used.  (It wasn't specified explicitly as an
+    attribute in <xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' />, but
+    <varname>mkDerivation</varname> adds it automatically.)</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-2'>
+
+    <para>Since Hello needs Perl, we have to make sure that Perl is in
+    the <envar>PATH</envar>.  The <envar>perl</envar> environment
+    variable points to the location of the Perl package (since it
+    was passed in as an attribute to the derivation), so
+    <filename><replaceable>$perl</replaceable>/bin</filename> is the
+    directory containing the Perl interpreter.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-3'>
+
+    <para>Now we have to unpack the sources.  The
+    <varname>src</varname> attribute was bound to the result of
+    fetching the Hello source tarball from the network, so the
+    <envar>src</envar> environment variable points to the location in
+    the Nix store to which the tarball was downloaded.  After
+    unpacking, we <command>cd</command> to the resulting source
+    directory.</para>
+
+    <para>The whole build is performed in a temporary directory
+    created in <varname>/tmp</varname>, by the way.  This directory is
+    removed after the builder finishes, so there is no need to clean
+    up the sources afterwards.  Also, the temporary directory is
+    always newly created, so you don't have to worry about files from
+    previous builds interfering with the current build.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-4'>
+
+    <para>GNU Hello is a typical Autoconf-based package, so we first
+    have to run its <filename>configure</filename> script.  In Nix
+    every package is stored in a separate location in the Nix store,
+    for instance
+    <filename>/nix/store/9a54ba97fb71b65fda531012d0443ce2-hello-2.1.1</filename>.
+    Nix computes this path by cryptographically hashing all attributes
+    of the derivation.  The path is passed to the builder through the
+    <envar>out</envar> environment variable.  So here we give
+    <filename>configure</filename> the parameter
+    <literal>--prefix=$out</literal> to cause Hello to be installed in
+    the expected location.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-5'>
+
+    <para>Finally we build Hello (<literal>make</literal>) and install
+    it into the location specified by <envar>out</envar>
+    (<literal>make install</literal>).</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+</calloutlist>
+
+<para>If you are wondering about the absence of error checking on the
+result of various commands called in the builder: this is because the
+shell script is evaluated with Bash's <option>-e</option> option,
+which causes the script to be aborted if any command fails without an
+error check.</para>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4edb3a1a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/builtins.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,950 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='ssec-builtins'>
+
+<title>Built-in Functions</title>
+
+<para>This section lists the functions and constants built into the
+Nix expression evaluator.  (The built-in function
+<function>derivation</function> is discussed above.)  Some built-ins,
+such as <function>derivation</function>, are always in scope of every
+Nix expression; you can just access them right away.  But to prevent
+polluting the namespace too much, most built-ins are not in scope.
+Instead, you can access them through the <varname>builtins</varname>
+built-in value, which is a set that contains all built-in functions
+and values.  For instance, <function>derivation</function> is also
+available as <function>builtins.derivation</function>.</para>
+
+
+<variablelist>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>abort</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Abort Nix expression evaluation, print error
+    message <replaceable>s</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.add</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the sum of the integers
+    <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
+    <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.attrNames</function>
+  <replaceable>set</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the names of the attributes in the set
+    <replaceable>set</replaceable> in a sorted list.  For instance,
+    <literal>builtins.attrNames { y = 1; x = "foo"; }</literal>
+    evaluates to <literal>[ "x" "y" ]</literal>.  There is no built-in
+    function <function>attrValues</function>, but you can easily
+    define it yourself:
+
+<programlisting>
+attrValues = set: map (name: builtins.getAttr name set) (builtins.attrNames set);</programlisting>
+
+    </para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>baseNameOf</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the <emphasis>base name</emphasis> of the
+    string <replaceable>s</replaceable>, that is, everything following
+    the final slash in the string.  This is similar to the GNU
+    <command>basename</command> command.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><varname>builtins</varname></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The set <varname>builtins</varname> contains all
+    the built-in functions and values.  You can use
+    <varname>builtins</varname> to test for the availability of
+    features in the Nix installation, e.g.,
+
+<programlisting>
+if builtins ? getEnv then builtins.getEnv "PATH" else ""</programlisting>
+
+    This allows a Nix expression to fall back gracefully on older Nix
+    installations that don’t have the desired built-in
+    function.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.compareVersions</function>
+  <replaceable>s1</replaceable> <replaceable>s2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Compare two strings representing versions and
+    return <literal>-1</literal> if version
+    <replaceable>s1</replaceable> is older than version
+    <replaceable>s2</replaceable>, <literal>0</literal> if they are
+    the same, and <literal>1</literal> if
+    <replaceable>s1</replaceable> is newer than
+    <replaceable>s2</replaceable>.  The version comparison algorithm
+    is the same as the one used by <link
+    linkend="ssec-version-comparisons"><command>nix-env
+    -u</command></link>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.concatLists</function>
+  <replaceable>lists</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Concatenate a list of lists into a single
+    list.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry
+  xml:id='builtin-currentSystem'><term><varname>builtins.currentSystem</varname></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The built-in value <varname>currentSystem</varname>
+    evaluates to the Nix platform identifier for the Nix installation
+    on which the expression is being evaluated, such as
+    <literal>"i686-linux"</literal> or
+    <literal>"powerpc-darwin"</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <!--
+  <varlistentry><term><function>currentTime</function></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The built-in value <varname>currentTime</varname>
+    returns the current system time in seconds since 00:00:00 1/1/1970
+    UTC.  Due to the evaluation model of Nix expressions
+    (<emphasis>maximal laziness</emphasis>), it always yields the same
+    value within an execution of Nix.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+  -->
+
+
+  <!--
+  <varlistentry><term><function>dependencyClosure</function></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>TODO</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+  -->
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>derivation</function>
+  <replaceable>attrs</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para><function>derivation</function> is described in
+    <xref linkend='ssec-derivation' />.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>dirOf</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the directory part of the string
+    <replaceable>s</replaceable>, that is, everything before the final
+    slash in the string.  This is similar to the GNU
+    <command>dirname</command> command.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.div</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the quotient of the integers
+    <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
+    <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.elem</function>
+  <replaceable>x</replaceable> <replaceable>xs</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if a value equal to
+    <replaceable>x</replaceable> occurs in the list
+    <replaceable>xs</replaceable>, and <literal>false</literal>
+    otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.elemAt</function>
+  <replaceable>xs</replaceable> <replaceable>n</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return element <replaceable>n</replaceable> from
+    the list <replaceable>xs</replaceable>.  Elements are counted
+    starting from 0.  A fatal error occurs in the index is out of
+    bounds.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.filter</function>
+  <replaceable>f</replaceable> <replaceable>xs</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return a list consisting of the elements of
+    <replaceable>xs</replaceable> for which the function
+    <replaceable>f</replaceable> returns
+    <literal>true</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.filterSource</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>This function allows you to copy sources into the Nix
+      store while filtering certain files.  For instance, suppose that
+      you want to use the directory <filename>source-dir</filename> as
+      an input to a Nix expression, e.g.
+
+<programlisting>
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  ...
+  src = ./source-dir;
+}
+</programlisting>
+
+      However, if <filename>source-dir</filename> is a Subversion
+      working copy, then all those annoying <filename>.svn</filename>
+      subdirectories will also be copied to the store.  Worse, the
+      contents of those directories may change a lot, causing lots of
+      spurious rebuilds.  With <function>filterSource</function> you
+      can filter out the <filename>.svn</filename> directories:
+
+<programlisting>
+  src = builtins.filterSource
+    (path: type: type != "directory" || baseNameOf path != ".svn")
+    ./source-dir;
+</programlisting>
+
+      </para>
+
+      <para>Thus, the first argument <replaceable>e1</replaceable>
+      must be a predicate function that is called for each regular
+      file, directory or symlink in the source tree
+      <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.  If the function returns
+      <literal>true</literal>, the file is copied to the Nix store,
+      otherwise it is omitted.  The function is called with two
+      arguments.  The first is the full path of the file.  The second
+      is a string that identifies the type of the file, which is
+      either <literal>"regular"</literal>,
+      <literal>"directory"</literal>, <literal>"symlink"</literal> or
+      <literal>"unknown"</literal> (for other kinds of files such as
+      device nodes or fifos — but note that those cannot be copied to
+      the Nix store, so if the predicate returns
+      <literal>true</literal> for them, the copy will fail).</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.fromJSON</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Convert a JSON string to a Nix
+    value. For example,
+
+<programlisting>
+builtins.fromJSON ''{"x": [1, 2, 3], "y": null}''
+</programlisting>
+
+    returns the value <literal>{ x = [ 1 2 3 ]; y = null;
+    }</literal>. Floating point numbers are not
+    supported.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.getAttr</function>
+  <replaceable>s</replaceable> <replaceable>set</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para><function>getAttr</function> returns the attribute
+    named <replaceable>s</replaceable> from
+    <replaceable>set</replaceable>.  Evaluation aborts if the
+    attribute doesn’t exist.  This is a dynamic version of the
+    <literal>.</literal> operator, since <replaceable>s</replaceable>
+    is an expression rather than an identifier.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.getEnv</function>
+  <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para><function>getEnv</function> returns the value of
+    the environment variable <replaceable>s</replaceable>, or an empty
+    string if the variable doesn’t exist.  This function should be
+    used with care, as it can introduce all sorts of nasty environment
+    dependencies in your Nix expression.</para>
+
+    <para><function>getEnv</function> is used in Nix Packages to
+    locate the file <filename>~/.nixpkgs/config.nix</filename>, which
+    contains user-local settings for Nix Packages.  (That is, it does
+    a <literal>getEnv "HOME"</literal> to locate the user’s home
+    directory.)</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.hasAttr</function>
+  <replaceable>s</replaceable> <replaceable>set</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para><function>hasAttr</function> returns
+    <literal>true</literal> if <replaceable>set</replaceable> has an
+    attribute named <replaceable>s</replaceable>, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.  This is a dynamic version of
+    the <literal>?</literal>  operator, since
+    <replaceable>s</replaceable> is an expression rather than an
+    identifier.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.hashString</function>
+  <replaceable>type</replaceable> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return a base-16 representation of the
+    cryptographic hash of string <replaceable>s</replaceable>.  The
+    hash algorithm specified by <replaceable>type</replaceable> must
+    be one of <literal>"md5"</literal>, <literal>"sha1"</literal> or
+    <literal>"sha256"</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.head</function>
+  <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the first element of a list; abort
+    evaluation if the argument isn’t a list or is an empty list.  You
+    can test whether a list is empty by comparing it with
+    <literal>[]</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>import</function>
+  <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Load, parse and return the Nix expression in the
+    file <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  If <replaceable>path
+    </replaceable> is a directory, the file <filename>default.nix
+    </filename> in that directory is loaded.  Evaluation aborts if the
+    file doesn’t exist or contains an incorrect Nix expression.
+    <function>import</function> implements Nix’s module system: you
+    can put any Nix expression (such as a set or a function) in a
+    separate file, and use it from Nix expressions in other
+    files.</para>
+
+    <para>A Nix expression loaded by <function>import</function> must
+    not contain any <emphasis>free variables</emphasis> (identifiers
+    that are not defined in the Nix expression itself and are not
+    built-in).  Therefore, it cannot refer to variables that are in
+    scope at the call site.  For instance, if you have a calling
+    expression
+
+<programlisting>
+rec {
+  x = 123;
+  y = import ./foo.nix;
+}</programlisting>
+
+    then the following <filename>foo.nix</filename> will give an
+    error:
+
+<programlisting>
+x + 456</programlisting>
+
+    since <varname>x</varname> is not in scope in
+    <filename>foo.nix</filename>.  If you want <varname>x</varname>
+    to be available in <filename>foo.nix</filename>, you should pass
+    it as a function argument:
+
+<programlisting>
+rec {
+  x = 123;
+  y = import ./foo.nix x;
+}</programlisting>
+
+    and
+
+<programlisting>
+x: x + 456</programlisting>
+
+    (The function argument doesn’t have to be called
+    <varname>x</varname> in <filename>foo.nix</filename>; any name
+    would work.)</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.intersectAttrs</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return a set consisting of the attributes in the
+    set <replaceable>e2</replaceable> that also exist in the set
+    <replaceable>e1</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isAttrs</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a set, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isList</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a list, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isFunction</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a function, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isString</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a string, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isInt</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to an int, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isBool</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a bool, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>isNull</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to <literal>null</literal>,
+    and <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para>
+
+    <warning><para>This function is <emphasis>deprecated</emphasis>;
+    just write <literal>e == null</literal> instead.</para></warning>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.length</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the length of the list
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.lessThan</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the integer
+    <replaceable>e1</replaceable> is less than the integer
+    <replaceable>e2</replaceable>, and <literal>false</literal>
+    otherwise.  Evaluation aborts if either
+    <replaceable>e1</replaceable> or <replaceable>e2</replaceable>
+    does not evaluate to an integer.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.listToAttrs</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Construct a set from a list specifying the names
+    and values of each attribute.  Each element of the list should be
+    a set consisting of a string-valued attribute
+    <varname>name</varname> specifying the name of the attribute, and
+    an attribute <varname>value</varname> specifying its value.
+    Example:
+
+<programlisting>
+builtins.listToAttrs
+  [ { name = "foo"; value = 123; }
+    { name = "bar"; value = 456; }
+  ]
+</programlisting>
+
+    evaluates to
+
+<programlisting>
+{ foo = 123; bar = 456; }
+</programlisting>
+
+    </para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>map</function>
+  <replaceable>f</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Apply the function <replaceable>f</replaceable> to
+    each element in the list <replaceable>list</replaceable>.  For
+    example,
+
+<programlisting>
+map (x: "foo" + x) [ "bar" "bla" "abc" ]</programlisting>
+
+    evaluates to <literal>[ "foobar" "foobla" "fooabc"
+    ]</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.mul</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the product of the integers
+    <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
+    <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.parseDrvName</function>
+  <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Split the string <replaceable>s</replaceable> into
+    a package name and version.  The package name is everything up to
+    but not including the first dash followed by a digit, and the
+    version is everything following that dash.  The result is returned
+    in a set <literal>{ name, version }</literal>.  Thus,
+    <literal>builtins.parseDrvName "nix-0.12pre12876"</literal>
+    returns <literal>{ name = "nix"; version = "0.12pre12876";
+    }</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.pathExists</function>
+  <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the path
+    <replaceable>path</replaceable> exists, and
+    <literal>false</literal> otherwise.  One application of this
+    function is to conditionally include a Nix expression containing
+    user configuration:
+
+<programlisting>
+let
+  fileName = builtins.getEnv "CONFIG_FILE";
+  config =
+    if fileName != "" &amp;&amp; builtins.pathExists (builtins.toPath fileName)
+    then import (builtins.toPath fileName)
+    else { someSetting = false; }; <lineannotation># default configuration</lineannotation>
+in config.someSetting</programlisting>
+
+    (Note that <envar>CONFIG_FILE</envar> must be an absolute path for
+    this to work.)</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <!--
+  <varlistentry><term><function>relativise</function></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>TODO</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+  -->
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.readFile</function>
+  <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the contents of the file
+    <replaceable>path</replaceable> as a string.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>removeAttrs</function>
+  <replaceable>set</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Remove the attributes listed in
+    <replaceable>list</replaceable> from
+    <replaceable>set</replaceable>.  The attributes don’t have to
+    exist in <replaceable>set</replaceable>. For instance,
+
+<screen>
+removeAttrs { x = 1; y = 2; z = 3; } [ "a" "x" "z" ]</screen>
+
+    evaluates to <literal>{ y = 2; }</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.stringLength</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the length of the string
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable>.  If <replaceable>e</replaceable> is
+    not a string, evaluation is aborted.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.sub</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the difference between the integers
+    <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
+    <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.substring</function>
+  <replaceable>start</replaceable> <replaceable>len</replaceable>
+  <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the substring of
+    <replaceable>s</replaceable> from character position
+    <replaceable>start</replaceable> (zero-based) up to but not
+    including <replaceable>start + len</replaceable>.  If
+    <replaceable>start</replaceable> is greater than the length of the
+    string, an empty string is returned, and if <replaceable>start +
+    len</replaceable> lies beyond the end of the string, only the
+    substring up to the end of the string is returned.
+    <replaceable>start</replaceable> must be
+    non-negative.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.tail</function>
+  <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return the second to last elements of a list;
+    abort evaluation if the argument isn’t a list or is an empty
+    list.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>throw</function>
+  <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Throw an error message
+    <replaceable>s</replaceable>.  This usually aborts Nix expression
+    evaluation, but in <command>nix-env -qa</command> and other
+    commands that try to evaluate a set of derivations to get
+    information about those derivations, a derivation that throws an
+    error is silently skipped (which is not the case for
+    <function>abort</function>).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry
+  xml:id='builtin-toFile'><term><function>builtins.toFile</function>
+  <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Store the string <replaceable>s</replaceable> in a
+    file in the Nix store and return its path.  The file has suffix
+    <replaceable>name</replaceable>.  This file can be used as an
+    input to derivations.  One application is to write builders
+    “inline”.  For instance, the following Nix expression combines
+    <xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' /> and <xref
+    linkend='ex-hello-builder' /> into one file:
+
+<programlisting>
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "hello-2.1.1";
+
+  builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
+    source $stdenv/setup
+
+    PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH
+
+    tar xvfz $src
+    cd hello-*
+    ./configure --prefix=$out
+    make
+    make install
+  ";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = http://nix.cs.uu.nl/dist/tarballs/hello-2.1.1.tar.gz;
+    md5 = "70c9ccf9fac07f762c24f2df2290784d";
+  };
+  inherit perl;
+}</programlisting>
+
+    </para>
+
+    <para>It is even possible for one file to refer to another, e.g.,
+
+<programlisting>
+  builder = let
+    configFile = builtins.toFile "foo.conf" "
+      # This is some dummy configuration file.
+      <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+    ";
+  in builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
+    source $stdenv/setup
+    <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+    cp ${configFile} $out/etc/foo.conf
+  ";</programlisting>
+
+    Note that <literal>${configFile}</literal> is an antiquotation
+    (see <xref linkend='ssec-values' />), so the result of the
+    expression <literal>configFile</literal> (i.e., a path like
+    <filename>/nix/store/m7p7jfny445k...-foo.conf</filename>) will be
+    spliced into the resulting string.</para>
+
+    <para>It is however <emphasis>not</emphasis> allowed to have files
+    mutually referring to each other, like so:
+
+<programlisting>
+let
+  foo = builtins.toFile "foo" "...${bar}...";
+  bar = builtins.toFile "bar" "...${foo}...";
+in foo</programlisting>
+
+    This is not allowed because it would cause a cyclic dependency in
+    the computation of the cryptographic hashes for
+    <varname>foo</varname> and <varname>bar</varname>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.toJSON</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return a string containing a JSON representation
+    of <replaceable>e</replaceable>.  Strings, integers, booleans,
+    nulls and lists are mapped to their JSON equivalents.  Sets
+    (except derivations) are represented as objects.  Derivations are
+    translated to a JSON string containing the derivation’s output
+    path.  Paths are copied to the store and represented as a JSON
+    string of the resulting store path.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.toPath</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Convert the string value
+    <replaceable>s</replaceable> into a path value.  The string
+    <replaceable>s</replaceable> must represent an absolute path
+    (i.e., must start with <literal>/</literal>).  The path need not
+    exist.  The resulting path is canonicalised, e.g.,
+    <literal>builtins.toPath "//foo/xyzzy/../bar/"</literal> returns
+    <literal>/foo/bar</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>toString</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Convert the expression
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> to a string.
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> can be a string (in which case
+    <function>toString</function> is a no-op) or a path (e.g.,
+    <literal>toString /foo/bar</literal> yields
+    <literal>"/foo/bar"</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-toXML'><term><function>builtins.toXML</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return a string containing an XML representation
+    of <replaceable>e</replaceable>.  The main application for
+    <function>toXML</function> is to communicate information with the
+    builder in a more structured format than plain environment
+    variables.</para>
+
+    <!-- TODO: more formally describe the schema of the XML
+    representation -->
+
+    <para><xref linkend='ex-toxml' /> shows an example where this is
+    the case.  The builder is supposed to generate the configuration
+    file for a <link xlink:href='http://jetty.mortbay.org/'>Jetty
+    servlet container</link>.  A servlet container contains a number
+    of servlets (<filename>*.war</filename> files) each exported under
+    a specific URI prefix.  So the servlet configuration is a list of
+    sets containing the <varname>path</varname> and
+    <varname>war</varname> of the servlet (<xref
+    linkend='ex-toxml-co-servlets' />).  This kind of information is
+    difficult to communicate with the normal method of passing
+    information through an environment variable, which just
+    concatenates everything together into a string (which might just
+    work in this case, but wouldn’t work if fields are optional or
+    contain lists themselves).  Instead the Nix expression is
+    converted to an XML representation with
+    <function>toXML</function>, which is unambiguous and can easily be
+    processed with the appropriate tools.  For instance, in the
+    example an XSLT stylesheet (<xref linkend='ex-toxml-co-stylesheet'
+    />) is applied to it (<xref linkend='ex-toxml-co-apply' />) to
+    generate the XML configuration file for the Jetty server.  The XML
+    representation produced from <xref linkend='ex-toxml-co-servlets'
+    /> by <function>toXML</function> is shown in <xref
+    linkend='ex-toxml-result' />.</para>
+
+    <para>Note that <xref linkend='ex-toxml' /> uses the <function
+    linkend='builtin-toFile'>toFile</function> built-in to write the
+    builder and the stylesheet “inline” in the Nix expression.  The
+    path of the stylesheet is spliced into the builder at
+    <literal>xsltproc ${stylesheet}
+    <replaceable>...</replaceable></literal>.</para>
+
+    <example xml:id='ex-toxml'><title>Passing information to a builder
+    using <function>toXML</function></title>
+
+<programlisting><![CDATA[
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, libxslt, jira, uberwiki }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
+  name = "web-server";
+
+  buildInputs = [ libxslt ];
+
+  builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
+    source $stdenv/setup
+    mkdir $out
+    echo $servlets | xsltproc ${stylesheet} - > $out/server-conf.xml]]> <co xml:id='ex-toxml-co-apply' /> <![CDATA[
+  ";
+
+  stylesheet = builtins.toFile "stylesheet.xsl"]]> <co xml:id='ex-toxml-co-stylesheet' /> <![CDATA[
+   "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
+    <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform' version='1.0'>
+      <xsl:template match='/'>
+        <Configure>
+          <xsl:for-each select='/expr/list/attrs'>
+            <Call name='addWebApplication'>
+              <Arg><xsl:value-of select=\"attr[@name = 'path']/string/@value\" /></Arg>
+              <Arg><xsl:value-of select=\"attr[@name = 'war']/path/@value\" /></Arg>
+            </Call>
+          </xsl:for-each>
+        </Configure>
+      </xsl:template>
+    </xsl:stylesheet>
+  ";
+
+  servlets = builtins.toXML []]> <co xml:id='ex-toxml-co-servlets' /> <![CDATA[
+    { path = "/bugtracker"; war = jira + "/lib/atlassian-jira.war"; }
+    { path = "/wiki"; war = uberwiki + "/uberwiki.war"; }
+  ];
+})]]></programlisting>
+
+    </example>
+
+    <example xml:id='ex-toxml-result'><title>XML representation produced by
+    <function>toXML</function></title>
+
+<programlisting><![CDATA[<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
+<expr>
+  <list>
+    <attrs>
+      <attr name="path">
+        <string value="/bugtracker" />
+      </attr>
+      <attr name="war">
+        <path value="/nix/store/d1jh9pasa7k2...-jira/lib/atlassian-jira.war" />
+      </attr>
+    </attrs>
+    <attrs>
+      <attr name="path">
+        <string value="/wiki" />
+      </attr>
+      <attr name="war">
+        <path value="/nix/store/y6423b1yi4sx...-uberwiki/uberwiki.war" />
+      </attr>
+    </attrs>
+  </list>
+</expr>]]></programlisting>
+
+    </example>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.trace</function>
+  <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Evaluate <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and print its
+    abstract syntax representation on standard error.  Then return
+    <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.  This function is useful for
+    debugging.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.typeOf</function>
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Return a string representing the type of the value
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable>, namely <literal>"int"</literal>,
+    <literal>"bool"</literal>, <literal>"string"</literal>,
+    <literal>"path"</literal>, <literal>"null"</literal>,
+    <literal>"set"</literal>, <literal>"list"</literal> or
+    <literal>"lambda"</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+</variablelist>
+
+
+</section>
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/custom-builder.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/custom-builder.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c26deac40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/custom-builder.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="sec-custom-builder">
+
+<title>Customizing the Generic Builder</title>
+
+<para>The operation of the generic builder can be modified in many
+places by setting certain variables.  These <emphasis>hook
+variables</emphasis> are typically set to the name of some shell
+function defined by you.  For instance, to perform some additional
+steps after <command>make install</command> you would set the
+<varname>postInstall</varname> variable:
+
+<programlisting>
+postInstall=myPostInstall
+
+myPostInstall() {
+    mkdir $out/share/extra
+    cp extrafiles/* $out/share/extra
+}</programlisting>
+
+</para>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/debug-build.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/debug-build.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..508cb2c19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/debug-build.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="sec-debug-build">
+
+<title>Debugging Build Failures</title>
+
+<para>At the beginning of each phase, the set of all shell variables
+is written to the file <filename>env-vars</filename> at the top-level
+build directory.  This is useful for debugging: it allows you to
+recreate the environment in which a build was performed.  For
+instance, if a build fails, then assuming you used the
+<option>-K</option> flag, you can go to the output directory and
+<quote>switch</quote> to the environment of the builder:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-build -K ./foo.nix
+... fails, keeping build directory `/tmp/nix-1234-0'
+
+$ cd /tmp/nix-1234-0
+
+$ source env-vars
+
+<lineannotation>(edit some files...)</lineannotation>
+
+$ make
+
+<lineannotation>(execution continues with the same GCC, make, etc.)</lineannotation></screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b57c33f4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,211 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="ssec-derivation">
+
+<title>Derivations</title>
+
+<para>The most important built-in function is
+<function>derivation</function>, which is used to describe a single
+derivation (a build action).  It takes as input a set, the attributes
+of which specify the inputs of the build.</para>
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+  <listitem xml:id="attr-system"><para>There must be an attribute named
+  <varname>system</varname> whose value must be a string specifying a
+  Nix platform identifier, such as <literal>"i686-linux"</literal> or
+  <literal>"powerpc-darwin"</literal><footnote><para>To figure out
+  your platform identifier, look at the line <quote>Checking for the
+  canonical Nix system name</quote> in the output of Nix's
+  <filename>configure</filename> script.</para></footnote> The build
+  can only be performed on a machine and operating system matching the
+  platform identifier.  (Nix can automatically forward builds for
+  other platforms by forwarding them to other machines; see <xref
+  linkend='chap-distributed-builds' />.)</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>There must be an attribute named
+  <varname>name</varname> whose value must be a string.  This is used
+  as a symbolic name for the package by <command>nix-env</command>,
+  and it is appended to the output paths of the
+  derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>There must be an attribute named
+  <varname>builder</varname> that identifies the program that is
+  executed to perform the build.  It can be either a derivation or a
+  source (a local file reference, e.g.,
+  <filename>./builder.sh</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>Every attribute is passed as an environment variable
+  to the builder.  Attribute values are translated to environment
+  variables as follows:
+
+    <itemizedlist>
+
+      <listitem><para>Strings and integers are just passed
+      verbatim.</para></listitem>
+
+      <listitem><para>A <emphasis>path</emphasis> (e.g.,
+      <filename>../foo/sources.tar</filename>) causes the referenced
+      file to be copied to the store; its location in the store is put
+      in the environment variable.  The idea is that all sources
+      should reside in the Nix store, since all inputs to a derivation
+      should reside in the Nix store.</para></listitem>
+
+      <listitem><para>A <emphasis>derivation</emphasis> causes that
+      derivation to be built prior to the present derivation; its
+      default output path is put in the environment
+      variable.</para></listitem>
+
+      <listitem><para>Lists of the previous types are also allowed.
+      They are simply concatenated, separated by
+      spaces.</para></listitem>
+
+      <listitem><para><literal>true</literal> is passed as the string
+      <literal>1</literal>, <literal>false</literal> and
+      <literal>null</literal> are passed as an empty string.
+      </para></listitem>
+    </itemizedlist>
+
+  </para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>The optional attribute <varname>args</varname>
+  specifies command-line arguments to be passed to the builder.  It
+  should be a list.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>The optional attribute <varname>outputs</varname>
+  specifies a list of symbolic outputs of the derivation.  By default,
+  a derivation produces a single output path, denoted as
+  <literal>out</literal>.  However, derivations can produce multiple
+  output paths.  This is useful because it allows outputs to be
+  downloaded or garbage-collected separately.  For instance, imagine a
+  library package that provides a dynamic library, header files, and
+  documentation.  A program that links against the library doesn’t
+  need the header files and documentation at runtime, and it doesn’t
+  need the documentation at build time.  Thus, the library package
+  could specify:
+<programlisting>
+outputs = [ "lib" "headers" "doc" ];
+</programlisting>
+  This will cause Nix to pass environment variables
+  <literal>lib</literal>, <literal>headers</literal> and
+  <literal>doc</literal> to the builder containing the intended store
+  paths of each output.  The builder would typically do something like
+<programlisting>
+./configure --libdir=$lib/lib --includedir=$headers/include --docdir=$doc/share/doc
+</programlisting>
+  for an Autoconf-style package.  You can refer to each output of a
+  derivation by selecting it as an attribute, e.g.
+<programlisting>
+buildInputs = [ pkg.lib pkg.headers ];
+</programlisting>
+  The first element of <varname>output</varname> determines the
+  <emphasis>default output</emphasis>.  Thus, you could also write
+<programlisting>
+buildInputs = [ pkg pkg.headers ];
+</programlisting>
+  since <literal>pkg</literal> is equivalent to
+  <literal>pkg.lib</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+<para>The function <function>mkDerivation</function> in the standard
+environment is a wrapper around <function>derivation</function> that
+adds a default value for <varname>system</varname> and always uses
+Bash as the builder, to which the supplied builder is passed as a
+command-line argument.  See <xref linkend='sec-standard-environment'
+/>.</para>
+
+<para>The builder is executed as follows:
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+  <listitem><para>A temporary directory is created under the directory
+  specified by <envar>TMPDIR</envar> (default
+  <filename>/tmp</filename>) where the build will take place.  The
+  current directory is changed to this directory.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>The environment is cleared and set to the derivation
+  attributes, as specified above.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>In addition, the following variables are set:
+
+  <itemizedlist>
+
+    <listitem><para><envar>NIX_BUILD_TOP</envar> contains the path of
+    the temporary directory for this build.</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para>Also, <envar>TMPDIR</envar>,
+    <envar>TEMPDIR</envar>, <envar>TMP</envar>, <envar>TEMP</envar>
+    are set to point to the temporary directory.  This is to prevent
+    the builder from accidentally writing temporary files anywhere
+    else.  Doing so might cause interference by other
+    processes.</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para><envar>PATH</envar> is set to
+    <filename>/path-not-set</filename> to prevent shells from
+    initialising it to their built-in default value.</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para><envar>HOME</envar> is set to
+    <filename>/homeless-shelter</filename> to prevent programs from
+    using <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> or the like to find the
+    user's home directory, which could cause impurity.  Usually, when
+    <envar>HOME</envar> is set, it is used as the location of the home
+    directory, even if it points to a non-existent
+    path.</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para><envar>NIX_STORE</envar> is set to the path of the
+    top-level Nix store directory (typically,
+    <filename>/nix/store</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para>For each output declared in
+    <varname>outputs</varname>, the corresponding environment variable
+    is set to point to the intended path in the Nix store for that
+    output.  Each output path is a concatenation of the cryptographic
+    hash of all build inputs, the <varname>name</varname> attribute
+    and the output name.  (The output name is omitted if it’s
+    <literal>out</literal>.)</para></listitem>
+
+  </itemizedlist>
+
+  </para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If an output path already exists, it is removed.
+  Also, locks are acquired to prevent multiple Nix instances from
+  performing the same build at the same time.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>A log of the combined standard output and error is
+  written to <filename>/nix/var/log/nix</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>The builder is executed with the arguments specified
+  by the attribute <varname>args</varname>.  If it exits with exit
+  code 0, it is considered to have succeeded.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>The temporary directory is removed (unless the
+  <option>-K</option> option was specified).</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If the build was successful, Nix scans each output
+  path for references to input paths by looking for the hash parts of
+  the input paths.  Since these are potential runtime dependencies,
+  Nix registers them as dependencies of the output
+  paths.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>After the build, Nix sets the last-modified
+  timestamp on all files in the build result to 1 (00:00:01 1/1/1970
+  UTC), sets the group to the default group, and sets the mode of the
+  file to 0444 or 0555 (i.e., read-only, with execute permission
+  enabled if the file was originally executable).  Note that possible
+  <literal>setuid</literal> and <literal>setgid</literal> bits are
+  cleared.  Setuid and setgid programs are not currently supported by
+  Nix.  This is because the Nix archives used in deployment have no
+  concept of ownership information, and because it makes the build
+  result dependent on the user performing the build.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+<xi:include href="advanced-attributes.xml" />
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/expression-language.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/expression-language.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..240ef80f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/expression-language.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="ch-expression-language">
+
+<title>Nix Expression Language</title>
+
+<para>The Nix expression language is a pure, lazy, functional
+language.  Purity means that operations in the language don't have
+side-effects (for instance, there is no variable assignment).
+Laziness means that arguments to functions are evaluated only when
+they are needed.  Functional means that functions are
+<quote>normal</quote> values that can be passed around and manipulated
+in interesting ways.  The language is not a full-featured, general
+purpose language.  Its main job is to describe packages,
+compositions of packages, and the variability within
+packages.</para>
+
+<para>This section presents the various features of the
+language.</para>
+
+<xi:include href="language-values.xml" />
+<xi:include href="language-constructs.xml" />
+<xi:include href="language-operators.xml" />
+<xi:include href="derivations.xml" />
+<xi:include href="builtins.xml" />
+
+
+</chapter>
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/expression-syntax.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/expression-syntax.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f1a3a10c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/expression-syntax.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='sec-expression-syntax'>
+
+<title>Expression Syntax</title>
+
+<example xml:id='ex-hello-nix'><title>Nix expression for GNU Hello
+(<filename>default.nix</filename>)</title>
+<programlisting>
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl }: <co xml:id='ex-hello-nix-co-1' />
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation { <co xml:id='ex-hello-nix-co-2' />
+  name = "hello-2.1.1"; <co xml:id='ex-hello-nix-co-3' />
+  builder = ./builder.sh; <co xml:id='ex-hello-nix-co-4' />
+  src = fetchurl { <co xml:id='ex-hello-nix-co-5' />
+    url = ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.1.1.tar.gz;
+    md5 = "70c9ccf9fac07f762c24f2df2290784d";
+  };
+  inherit perl; <co xml:id='ex-hello-nix-co-6' />
+}</programlisting>
+</example>
+
+<para><xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' /> shows a Nix expression for GNU
+Hello.  It's actually already in the Nix Packages collection in
+<filename>pkgs/applications/misc/hello/ex-1/default.nix</filename>.
+It is customary to place each package in a separate directory and call
+the single Nix expression in that directory
+<filename>default.nix</filename>.  The file has the following elements
+(referenced from the figure by number):
+
+<calloutlist>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-nix-co-1'>
+
+    <para>This states that the expression is a
+    <emphasis>function</emphasis> that expects to be called with three
+    arguments: <varname>stdenv</varname>, <varname>fetchurl</varname>,
+    and <varname>perl</varname>.  They are needed to build Hello, but
+    we don't know how to build them here; that's why they are function
+    arguments.  <varname>stdenv</varname> is a package that is used
+    by almost all Nix Packages packages; it provides a
+    <quote>standard</quote> environment consisting of the things you
+    would expect in a basic Unix environment: a C/C++ compiler (GCC,
+    to be precise), the Bash shell, fundamental Unix tools such as
+    <command>cp</command>, <command>grep</command>,
+    <command>tar</command>, etc.  <varname>fetchurl</varname> is a
+    function that downloads files.  <varname>perl</varname> is the
+    Perl interpreter.</para>
+
+    <para>Nix functions generally have the form <literal>{ x, y, ...,
+    z }: e</literal> where <varname>x</varname>, <varname>y</varname>,
+    etc. are the names of the expected arguments, and where
+    <replaceable>e</replaceable> is the body of the function.  So
+    here, the entire remainder of the file is the body of the
+    function; when given the required arguments, the body should
+    describe how to build an instance of the Hello package.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-nix-co-2'>
+
+    <para>So we have to build a package.  Building something from
+    other stuff is called a <emphasis>derivation</emphasis> in Nix (as
+    opposed to sources, which are built by humans instead of
+    computers).  We perform a derivation by calling
+    <varname>stdenv.mkDerivation</varname>.
+    <varname>mkDerivation</varname> is a function provided by
+    <varname>stdenv</varname> that builds a package from a set of
+    <emphasis>attributes</emphasis>.  A set is just a list of
+    key/value pairs where each key is a string and each value is an
+    arbitrary Nix expression.  They take the general form <literal>{
+    <replaceable>name1</replaceable> =
+    <replaceable>expr1</replaceable>; <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+    <replaceable>nameN</replaceable> =
+    <replaceable>exprN</replaceable>; }</literal>.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-nix-co-3'>
+
+    <para>The attribute <varname>name</varname> specifies the symbolic
+    name and version of the package.  Nix doesn't really care about
+    these things, but they are used by for instance <command>nix-env
+    -q</command> to show a <quote>human-readable</quote> name for
+    packages.  This attribute is required by
+    <varname>mkDerivation</varname>.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-nix-co-4'>
+
+    <para>The attribute <varname>builder</varname> specifies the
+    builder.  This attribute can sometimes be omitted, in which case
+    <varname>mkDerivation</varname> will fill in a default builder
+    (which does a <literal>configure; make; make install</literal>, in
+    essence).  Hello is sufficiently simple that the default builder
+    would suffice, but in this case, we will show an actual builder
+    for educational purposes.  The value
+    <command>./builder.sh</command> refers to the shell script shown
+    in <xref linkend='ex-hello-builder' />, discussed below.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-nix-co-5'>
+
+    <para>The builder has to know what the sources of the package
+    are.  Here, the attribute <varname>src</varname> is bound to the
+    result of a call to the <command>fetchurl</command> function.
+    Given a URL and an MD5 hash of the expected contents of the file
+    at that URL, this function builds a derivation that downloads the
+    file and checks its hash.  So the sources are a dependency that
+    like all other dependencies is built before Hello itself is
+    built.</para>
+
+    <para>Instead of <varname>src</varname> any other name could have
+    been used, and in fact there can be any number of sources (bound
+    to different attributes).  However, <varname>src</varname> is
+    customary, and it's also expected by the default builder (which we
+    don't use in this example).</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-nix-co-6'>
+
+    <para>Since the derivation requires Perl, we have to pass the
+    value of the <varname>perl</varname> function argument to the
+    builder.  All attributes in the set are actually passed as
+    environment variables to the builder, so declaring an attribute
+
+    <programlisting>
+perl = perl;</programlisting>
+
+    will do the trick: it binds an attribute <varname>perl</varname>
+    to the function argument which also happens to be called
+    <varname>perl</varname>.  However, it looks a bit silly, so there
+    is a shorter syntax.  The <literal>inherit</literal> keyword
+    causes the specified attributes to be bound to whatever variables
+    with the same name happen to be in scope.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+</calloutlist>
+
+</para>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f8567a042
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='sec-generic-builder'>
+
+<title>Generic Builder Syntax</title>
+
+<para>Recall from <xref linkend='ex-hello-builder' /> that the builder
+looked something like this:
+
+<programlisting>
+PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH
+tar xvfz $src
+cd hello-*
+./configure --prefix=$out
+make
+make install</programlisting>
+
+The builders for almost all Unix packages look like this — set up some
+environment variables, unpack the sources, configure, build, and
+install.  For this reason the standard environment provides some Bash
+functions that automate the build process.  A builder using the
+generic build facilities in shown in <xref linkend='ex-hello-builder2'
+/>.</para>
+
+<example xml:id='ex-hello-builder2'><title>Build script using the generic
+build functions</title>
+<programlisting>
+buildInputs="$perl" <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder2-co-1' />
+
+source $stdenv/setup <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder2-co-2' />
+
+genericBuild <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder2-co-3' /></programlisting>
+</example>
+
+<calloutlist>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder2-co-1'>
+
+    <para>The <envar>buildInputs</envar> variable tells
+    <filename>setup</filename> to use the indicated packages as
+    <quote>inputs</quote>.  This means that if a package provides a
+    <filename>bin</filename> subdirectory, it's added to
+    <envar>PATH</envar>; if it has a <filename>include</filename>
+    subdirectory, it's added to GCC's header search path; and so
+    on.<footnote><para>How does it work? <filename>setup</filename>
+    tries to source the file
+    <filename><replaceable>pkg</replaceable>/nix-support/setup-hook</filename>
+    of all dependencies.  These “setup hooks” can then set up whatever
+    environment variables they want; for instance, the setup hook for
+    Perl sets the <envar>PERL5LIB</envar> environment variable to
+    contain the <filename>lib/site_perl</filename> directories of all
+    inputs.</para></footnote>
+    </para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder2-co-2'>
+
+    <para>The function <function>genericBuild</function> is defined in
+    the file <literal>$stdenv/setup</literal>.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder2-co-3'>
+
+    <para>The final step calls the shell function
+    <function>genericBuild</function>, which performs the steps that
+    were done explicitly in <xref linkend='ex-hello-builder' />.  The
+    generic builder is smart enough to figure out whether to unpack
+    the sources using <command>gzip</command>,
+    <command>bzip2</command>, etc.  It can be customised in many ways;
+    see <xref linkend='sec-standard-environment' />.</para>
+
+  </callout>
+
+</calloutlist>
+
+<para>Discerning readers will note that the
+<envar>buildInputs</envar> could just as well have been set in the Nix
+expression, like this:
+
+<programlisting>
+  buildInputs = [ perl ];</programlisting>
+
+The <varname>perl</varname> attribute can then be removed, and the
+builder becomes even shorter:
+
+<programlisting>
+source $stdenv/setup
+genericBuild</programlisting>
+
+In fact, <varname>mkDerivation</varname> provides a default builder
+that looks exactly like that, so it is actually possible to omit the
+builder for Hello entirely.</para>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/language-constructs.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/language-constructs.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ddb349894
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/language-constructs.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,344 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="sec-constructs">
+
+<title>Language Constructs</title>
+
+<simplesect><title>Recursive sets</title>
+
+<para>Recursive sets are just normal sets, but the attributes can
+refer to each other.  For example,
+
+<programlisting>
+rec {
+  x = y;
+  y = 123;
+}.x
+</programlisting>
+
+evaluates to <literal>123</literal>.  Note that without
+<literal>rec</literal> the binding <literal>x = y;</literal> would
+refer to the variable <varname>y</varname> in the surrounding scope,
+if one exists, and would be invalid if no such variable exists.  That
+is, in a normal (non-recursive) set, attributes are not added to the
+lexical scope; in a recursive set, they are.</para>
+
+<para>Recursive sets of course introduce the danger of infinite
+recursion.  For example,
+
+<programlisting>
+rec {
+  x = y;
+  y = x;
+}.x</programlisting>
+
+does not terminate<footnote><para>Actually, Nix detects infinite
+recursion in this case and aborts (<quote>infinite recursion
+encountered</quote>).</para></footnote>.</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Let-expressions</title>
+
+<para>A let-expression allows you define local variables for an
+expression.  For instance,
+
+<programlisting>
+let
+  x = "foo";
+  y = "bar";
+in x + y</programlisting>
+
+evaluates to <literal>"foobar"</literal>.
+
+</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Inheriting attributes</title>
+
+<para>When defining a set it is often convenient to copy variables
+from the surrounding lexical scope (e.g., when you want to propagate
+attributes).  This can be shortened using the
+<literal>inherit</literal> keyword.  For instance,
+
+<programlisting>
+let x = 123; in
+{ inherit x;
+  y = 456;
+}</programlisting>
+
+evaluates to <literal>{ x = 123; y = 456; }</literal>.  (Note that
+this works because <varname>x</varname> is added to the lexical scope
+by the <literal>let</literal> construct.)  It is also possible to
+inherit attributes from another set.  For instance, in this fragment
+from <filename>all-packages.nix</filename>,
+
+<programlisting>
+  graphviz = (import ../tools/graphics/graphviz) {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv libpng libjpeg expat x11 yacc;
+    inherit (xlibs) libXaw;
+  };
+
+  xlibs = {
+    libX11 = ...;
+    libXaw = ...;
+    ...
+  }
+
+  libpng = ...;
+  libjpg = ...;
+  ...</programlisting>
+
+the set used in the function call to the function defined in
+<filename>../tools/graphics/graphviz</filename> inherits a number of
+variables from the surrounding scope (<varname>fetchurl</varname>
+... <varname>yacc</varname>), but also inherits
+<varname>libXaw</varname> (the X Athena Widgets) from the
+<varname>xlibs</varname> (X11 client-side libraries) set.</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect xml:id="ss-functions"><title>Functions</title>
+
+<para>Functions have the following form:
+
+<programlisting>
+<replaceable>pattern</replaceable>: <replaceable>body</replaceable></programlisting>
+
+The pattern specifies what the argument of the function must look
+like, and binds variables in the body to (parts of) the
+argument.  There are three kinds of patterns:</para>
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+
+  <listitem><para>If a pattern is a single identifier, then the
+  function matches any argument.  Example:
+
+  <programlisting>
+let negate = x: !x;
+    concat = x: y: x + y;
+in if negate true then concat "foo" "bar" else ""</programlisting>
+
+  Note that <function>concat</function> is a function that takes one
+  argument and returns a function that takes another argument.  This
+  allows partial parameterisation (i.e., only filling some of the
+  arguments of a function); e.g.,
+
+  <programlisting>
+map (concat "foo") [ "bar" "bla" "abc" ]</programlisting>
+
+  evaluates to <literal>[ "foobar" "foobla"
+  "fooabc" ]</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+
+  <listitem><para>A <emphasis>set pattern</emphasis> of the form
+  <literal>{ name1, name2, …, nameN }</literal> matches a set
+  containing the listed attributes, and binds the values of those
+  attributes to variables in the function body.  For example, the
+  function
+
+<programlisting>
+{ x, y, z }: z + y + x</programlisting>
+
+  can only be called with a set containing exactly the attributes
+  <varname>x</varname>, <varname>y</varname> and
+  <varname>z</varname>.  No other attributes are allowed.  If you want
+  to allow additional arguments, you can use an ellipsis
+  (<literal>...</literal>):
+
+<programlisting>
+{ x, y, z, ... }: z + y + x</programlisting>
+
+  This works on any set that contains at least the three named
+  attributes.</para>
+
+  <para>It is possible to provide <emphasis>default values</emphasis>
+  for attributes, in which case they are allowed to be missing.  A
+  default value is specified by writing
+  <literal><replaceable>name</replaceable> ?
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable></literal>, where
+  <replaceable>e</replaceable> is an arbitrary expression.  For example,
+
+<programlisting>
+{ x, y ? "foo", z ? "bar" }: z + y + x</programlisting>
+
+  specifies a function that only requires an attribute named
+  <varname>x</varname>, but optionally accepts <varname>y</varname>
+  and <varname>z</varname>.</para></listitem>
+
+
+  <listitem><para>An <literal>@</literal>-pattern provides a means of referring
+  to the whole value being matched:
+
+<programlisting>
+args@{ x, y, z, ... }: z + y + x + args.a</programlisting>
+
+  Here <varname>args</varname> is bound to the entire argument, which
+  is further matched against the pattern <literal>{ x, y, z,
+  ... }</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+<para>Note that functions do not have names.  If you want to give them
+a name, you can bind them to an attribute, e.g.,
+
+<programlisting>
+let concat = { x, y }: x + y;
+in concat { x = "foo"; y = "bar"; }</programlisting>
+
+</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Conditionals</title>
+
+<para>Conditionals look like this:
+
+<programlisting>
+if <replaceable>e1</replaceable> then <replaceable>e2</replaceable> else <replaceable>e3</replaceable></programlisting>
+
+where <replaceable>e1</replaceable> is an expression that should
+evaluate to a Boolean value (<literal>true</literal> or
+<literal>false</literal>).</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Assertions</title>
+
+<para>Assertions are generally used to check that certain requirements
+on or between features and dependencies hold.  They look like this:
+
+<programlisting>
+assert <replaceable>e1</replaceable>; <replaceable>e2</replaceable></programlisting>
+
+where <replaceable>e1</replaceable> is an expression that should
+evaluate to a Boolean value.  If it evaluates to
+<literal>true</literal>, <replaceable>e2</replaceable> is returned;
+otherwise expression evaluation is aborted and a backtrace is printed.</para>
+
+<example xml:id='ex-subversion-nix'><title>Nix expression for Subversion</title>
+<programlisting>
+{ localServer ? false
+, httpServer ? false
+, sslSupport ? false
+, pythonBindings ? false
+, javaSwigBindings ? false
+, javahlBindings ? false
+, stdenv, fetchurl
+, openssl ? null, httpd ? null, db4 ? null, expat, swig ? null, j2sdk ? null
+}:
+
+assert localServer -> db4 != null; <co xml:id='ex-subversion-nix-co-1' />
+assert httpServer -> httpd != null &amp;&amp; httpd.expat == expat; <co xml:id='ex-subversion-nix-co-2' />
+assert sslSupport -> openssl != null &amp;&amp; (httpServer -> httpd.openssl == openssl); <co xml:id='ex-subversion-nix-co-3' />
+assert pythonBindings -> swig != null &amp;&amp; swig.pythonSupport;
+assert javaSwigBindings -> swig != null &amp;&amp; swig.javaSupport;
+assert javahlBindings -> j2sdk != null;
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "subversion-1.1.1";
+  ...
+  openssl = if sslSupport then openssl else null; <co xml:id='ex-subversion-nix-co-4' />
+  ...
+}</programlisting>
+</example>
+
+<para><xref linkend='ex-subversion-nix' /> show how assertions are
+used in the Nix expression for Subversion.</para>
+
+<calloutlist>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-subversion-nix-co-1'>
+    <para>This assertion states that if Subversion is to have support
+    for local repositories, then Berkeley DB is needed.  So if the
+    Subversion function is called with the
+    <varname>localServer</varname> argument set to
+    <literal>true</literal> but the <varname>db4</varname> argument
+    set to <literal>null</literal>, then the evaluation fails.</para>
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-subversion-nix-co-2'>
+    <para>This is a more subtle condition: if Subversion is built with
+    Apache (<literal>httpServer</literal>) support, then the Expat
+    library (an XML library) used by Subversion should be same as the
+    one used by Apache.  This is because in this configuration
+    Subversion code ends up being linked with Apache code, and if the
+    Expat libraries do not match, a build- or runtime link error or
+    incompatibility might occur.</para>
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-subversion-nix-co-3'>
+    <para>This assertion says that in order for Subversion to have SSL
+    support (so that it can access <literal>https</literal> URLs), an
+    OpenSSL library must be passed.  Additionally, it says that
+    <emphasis>if</emphasis> Apache support is enabled, then Apache's
+    OpenSSL should match Subversion's.  (Note that if Apache support
+    is not enabled, we don't care about Apache's OpenSSL.)</para>
+  </callout>
+
+  <callout arearefs='ex-subversion-nix-co-4'>
+    <para>The conditional here is not really related to assertions,
+    but is worth pointing out: it ensures that if SSL support is
+    disabled, then the Subversion derivation is not dependent on
+    OpenSSL, even if a non-<literal>null</literal> value was passed.
+    This prevents an unnecessary rebuild of Subversion if OpenSSL
+    changes.</para>
+  </callout>
+
+</calloutlist>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+
+<simplesect><title>With-expressions</title>
+
+<para>A <emphasis>with-expression</emphasis>,
+
+<programlisting>
+with <replaceable>e1</replaceable>; <replaceable>e2</replaceable></programlisting>
+
+introduces the set <replaceable>e1</replaceable> into the lexical
+scope of the expression <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.  For instance,
+
+<programlisting>
+let as = { x = "foo"; y = "bar"; };
+in with as; x + y</programlisting>
+
+evaluates to <literal>"foobar"</literal> since the
+<literal>with</literal> adds the <varname>x</varname> and
+<varname>y</varname> attributes of <varname>as</varname> to the
+lexical scope in the expression <literal>x + y</literal>.  The most
+common use of <literal>with</literal> is in conjunction with the
+<function>import</function> function.  E.g.,
+
+<programlisting>
+with (import ./definitions.nix); ...</programlisting>
+
+makes all attributes defined in the file
+<filename>definitions.nix</filename> available as if they were defined
+locally in a <literal>rec</literal>-expression.</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Comments</title>
+
+<para>Comments can be single-line, started with a <literal>#</literal>
+character, or inline/multi-line, enclosed within <literal>/*
+... */</literal>.</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/language-operators.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/language-operators.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a3323ced4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/language-operators.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="sec-language-operators">
+
+<title>Operators</title>
+
+<para><xref linkend='table-operators' /> lists the operators in the
+Nix expression language, in order of precedence (from strongest to
+weakest binding).</para>
+
+<table xml:id='table-operators'>
+  <title>Operators</title>
+  <tgroup cols='3'>
+    <thead>
+      <row>
+        <entry>Syntax</entry>
+        <entry>Associativity</entry>
+        <entry>Description</entry>
+      </row>
+    </thead>
+    <tbody>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e</replaceable> <literal>.</literal>
+        <replaceable>attrpath</replaceable>
+        [ <literal>or</literal> <replaceable>def</replaceable> ]
+        </entry>
+        <entry>none</entry>
+        <entry>Select attribute denoted by the attribute path
+        <replaceable>attrpath</replaceable> from set
+        <replaceable>e</replaceable>.  (An attribute path is a
+        dot-separated list of attribute names.)  If the attribute
+        doesn’t exist, return <replaceable>def</replaceable> if
+        provided, otherwise abort evaluation.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>left</entry>
+        <entry>Call function <replaceable>e1</replaceable> with
+        argument <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e</replaceable> <literal>?</literal>
+        <replaceable>attrpath</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>none</entry>
+        <entry>Test whether set <replaceable>e</replaceable> contains
+        the attribute denoted by <replaceable>attrpath</replaceable>;
+        return <literal>true</literal> or
+        <literal>false</literal>.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>++</literal> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>right</entry>
+        <entry>List concatenation.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>+</literal> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>left</entry>
+        <entry>String or path concatenation.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><literal>!</literal> <replaceable>e</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>left</entry>
+        <entry>Boolean negation.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>//</literal>
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>right</entry>
+        <entry>Return a set consisting of the attributes in
+        <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable> (with the latter taking
+        precedence over the former in case of equally named
+        attributes).</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>==</literal>
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>none</entry>
+        <entry>Equality.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>!=</literal>
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>none</entry>
+        <entry>Inequality.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>&amp;&amp;</literal>
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>left</entry>
+        <entry>Logical AND.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>||</literal>
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>left</entry>
+        <entry>Logical OR.</entry>
+      </row>
+      <row>
+        <entry><replaceable>e1</replaceable> <literal>-></literal>
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable></entry>
+        <entry>none</entry>
+        <entry>Logical implication (equivalent to
+        <literal>!<replaceable>e1</replaceable> ||
+        <replaceable>e2</replaceable></literal>).</entry>
+      </row>
+    </tbody>
+  </tgroup>
+</table>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/language-values.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/language-values.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..519657f15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/language-values.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,268 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='ssec-values'>
+
+<title>Values</title>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Simple Values</title>
+
+<para>Nix has the following basic data types:
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+  <listitem>
+
+    <para><emphasis>Strings</emphasis> can be written in three
+    ways.</para>
+
+    <para>The most common way is to enclose the string between double
+    quotes, e.g., <literal>"foo bar"</literal>.  Strings can span
+    multiple lines.  The special characters <literal>"</literal> and
+    <literal>\</literal> and the character sequence
+    <literal>${</literal> must be escaped by prefixing them with a
+    backslash (<literal>\</literal>).  Newlines, carriage returns and
+    tabs can be written as <literal>\n</literal>,
+    <literal>\r</literal> and <literal>\t</literal>,
+    respectively.</para>
+
+    <para>You can include the result of an expression into a string by
+    enclosing it in
+    <literal>${<replaceable>...</replaceable>}</literal>, a feature
+    known as <emphasis>antiquotation</emphasis>.  The enclosed
+    expression must evaluate to something that can be coerced into a
+    string (meaning that it must be a string, a path, or a
+    derivation).  For instance, rather than writing
+
+<programlisting>
+"--with-freetype2-library=" + freetype + "/lib"</programlisting>
+
+    (where <varname>freetype</varname> is a derivation), you can
+    instead write the more natural
+
+<programlisting>
+"--with-freetype2-library=${freetype}/lib"</programlisting>
+
+    The latter is automatically translated to the former.  A more
+    complicated example (from the Nix expression for <link
+    xlink:href='http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt'>Qt</link>):
+
+<programlisting>
+configureFlags = "
+  -system-zlib -system-libpng -system-libjpeg
+  ${if openglSupport then "-dlopen-opengl
+    -L${mesa}/lib -I${mesa}/include
+    -L${libXmu}/lib -I${libXmu}/include" else ""}
+  ${if threadSupport then "-thread" else "-no-thread"}
+";</programlisting>
+
+    Note that Nix expressions and strings can be arbitrarily nested;
+    in this case the outer string contains various antiquotations that
+    themselves contain strings (e.g., <literal>"-thread"</literal>),
+    some of which in turn contain expressions (e.g.,
+    <literal>${mesa}</literal>).</para>
+
+    <para>The second way to write string literals is as an
+    <emphasis>indented string</emphasis>, which is enclosed between
+    pairs of <emphasis>double single-quotes</emphasis>, like so:
+
+<programlisting>
+''
+  This is the first line.
+  This is the second line.
+    This is the third line.
+''</programlisting>
+
+    This kind of string literal intelligently strips indentation from
+    the start of each line.  To be precise, it strips from each line a
+    number of spaces equal to the minimal indentation of the string as
+    a whole (disregarding the indentation of empty lines).  For
+    instance, the first and second line are indented two space, while
+    the third line is indented four spaces.  Thus, two spaces are
+    stripped from each line, so the resulting string is
+
+<programlisting>
+"This is the first line.\nThis is the second line.\n  This is the third line.\n"</programlisting>
+
+    </para>
+
+    <para>Note that the whitespace and newline following the opening
+    <literal>''</literal> is ignored if there is no non-whitespace
+    text on the initial line.</para>
+
+    <para>Antiquotation
+    (<literal>${<replaceable>expr</replaceable>}</literal>) is
+    supported in indented strings.</para>
+
+    <para>Since <literal>${</literal> and <literal>''</literal> have
+    special meaning in indented strings, you need a way to quote them.
+    <literal>${</literal> can be escaped by prefixing it with
+    <literal>''</literal> (that is, two single quotes), i.e.,
+    <literal>''${</literal>.  <literal>''</literal> can be escaped by
+    prefixing it with <literal>'</literal>, i.e.,
+    <literal>'''</literal>.  Finally, linefeed, carriage-return and
+    tab characters can be written as <literal>''\n</literal>,
+    <literal>''\r</literal>, <literal>''\t</literal>.</para>
+
+    <para>Indented strings are primarily useful in that they allow
+    multi-line string literals to follow the indentation of the
+    enclosing Nix expression, and that less escaping is typically
+    necessary for strings representing languages such as shell scripts
+    and configuration files because <literal>''</literal> is much less
+    common than <literal>"</literal>.  Example:
+
+<programlisting>
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+  postInstall =
+    ''
+      mkdir $out/bin $out/etc
+      cp foo $out/bin
+      echo "Hello World" > $out/etc/foo.conf
+      ${if enableBar then "cp bar $out/bin" else ""}
+    '';
+  <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+}
+</programlisting>
+
+    </para>
+
+    <para>Finally, as a convenience, <emphasis>URIs</emphasis> as
+    defined in appendix B of <link
+    xlink:href='http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt'>RFC 2396</link>
+    can be written <emphasis>as is</emphasis>, without quotes.  For
+    instance, the string
+    <literal>"http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2"</literal>
+    can also be written as
+    <literal>http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2</literal>.</para>
+
+  </listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para><emphasis>Integers</emphasis>, e.g.,
+  <literal>123</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para><emphasis>Paths</emphasis>, e.g.,
+  <filename>/bin/sh</filename> or <filename>./builder.sh</filename>.
+  A path must contain at least one slash to be recognised as such; for
+  instance, <filename>builder.sh</filename> is not a
+  path<footnote><para>It's parsed as an expression that selects the
+  attribute <varname>sh</varname> from the variable
+  <varname>builder</varname>.</para></footnote>.  If the file name is
+  relative, i.e., if it does not begin with a slash, it is made
+  absolute at parse time relative to the directory of the Nix
+  expression that contained it.  For instance, if a Nix expression in
+  <filename>/foo/bar/bla.nix</filename> refers to
+  <filename>../xyzzy/fnord.nix</filename>, the absolute path is
+  <filename>/foo/xyzzy/fnord.nix</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para><emphasis>Booleans</emphasis> with values
+  <literal>true</literal> and
+  <literal>false</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>The null value, denoted as
+  <literal>null</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Lists</title>
+
+<para>Lists are formed by enclosing a whitespace-separated list of
+values between square brackets.  For example,
+
+<programlisting>
+[ 123 ./foo.nix "abc" (f { x = y; }) ]</programlisting>
+
+defines a list of four elements, the last being the result of a call
+to the function <varname>f</varname>.  Note that function calls have
+to be enclosed in parentheses.  If they had been omitted, e.g.,
+
+<programlisting>
+[ 123 ./foo.nix "abc" f { x = y; } ]</programlisting>
+
+the result would be a list of five elements, the fourth one being a
+function and the fifth being a set.</para>
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+<simplesect><title>Sets</title>
+
+<para>Sets are really the core of the language, since ultimately the
+Nix language is all about creating derivations, which are really just
+sets of attributes to be passed to build scripts.</para>
+
+<para>Sets are just a list of name/value pairs (called
+<emphasis>attributes</emphasis>) enclosed in curly brackets, where
+each value is an arbitrary expression terminated by a semicolon.  For
+example:
+
+<programlisting>
+{ x = 123;
+  text = "Hello";
+  y = f { bla = 456; };
+}</programlisting>
+
+This defines a set with attributes named <varname>x</varname>,
+<varname>text</varname>, <varname>y</varname>.  The order of the
+attributes is irrelevant.  An attribute name may only occur
+once.</para>
+
+<para>Attributes can be selected from a set using the
+<literal>.</literal> operator.  For instance,
+
+<programlisting>
+{ a = "Foo"; b = "Bar"; }.a</programlisting>
+
+evaluates to <literal>"Foo"</literal>.  It is possible to provide a
+default value in an attribute selection using the
+<literal>or</literal> keyword.  For example,
+
+<programlisting>
+{ a = "Foo"; b = "Bar"; }.c or "Xyzzy"</programlisting>
+
+will evaluate to <literal>"Xyzzy"</literal> because there is no
+<varname>c</varname> attribute in the set.</para>
+
+<para>You can use arbitrary double-quoted strings as attribute
+names:
+
+<programlisting>
+{ "foo ${bar}" = 123; "nix-1.0" = 456; }."foo ${bar}"
+</programlisting>
+
+This will evaluate to <literal>123</literal> (Assuming
+<literal>bar</literal> is antiquotable). In the case where an
+attribute name is just a single antiquotation, the quotes can be
+dropped:
+
+<programlisting>
+{ foo = 123; }.${bar} or 456 </programlisting>
+
+This will evaluate to <literal>123</literal> if
+<literal>bar</literal> evaluates to <literal>"foo"</literal> when
+coerced to a string and <literal>456</literal> otherwise (again
+assuming <literal>bar</literal> is antiquotable).</para>
+
+<para>In the special case where an attribute name inside of a set declaration
+evaluates to <literal>null</literal> (which is normally an error, as
+<literal>null</literal> is not antiquotable), that attribute is simply not
+added to the set:
+
+<programlisting>
+{ ${if foo then "bar" else null} = true; }</programlisting>
+
+This will evaluate to <literal>{}</literal> if <literal>foo</literal>
+evaluates to <literal>false</literal>.</para>
+
+
+</simplesect>
+
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/simple-building-testing.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-building-testing.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc90409b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-building-testing.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='sec-building-simple'>
+
+<title>Building and Testing</title>
+
+<para>You can now try to build Hello.  Of course, you could do
+<literal>nix-env -f pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix -i hello</literal>,
+but you may not want to install a possibly broken package just yet.
+The best way to test the package is by using the command <command
+linkend="sec-nix-build">nix-build</command>, which builds a Nix
+expression and creates a symlink named <filename>result</filename> in
+the current directory:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-build pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix -A hello
+building path `/nix/store/632d2b22514d...-hello-2.1.1'
+hello-2.1.1/
+hello-2.1.1/intl/
+hello-2.1.1/intl/ChangeLog
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+
+$ ls -l result
+lrwxrwxrwx ... 2006-09-29 10:43 result -> /nix/store/632d2b22514d...-hello-2.1.1
+
+$ ./result/bin/hello
+Hello, world!</screen>
+
+The <link linkend='opt-attr'><option>-A</option></link> option selects
+the <literal>hello</literal> attribute from
+<filename>all-packages.nix</filename>.  This is faster than using the
+symbolic package name specified by the <literal>name</literal>
+attribute (which also happens to be <literal>hello</literal>) and is
+unambiguous (there can be multiple packages with the symbolic name
+<literal>hello</literal>, but there can be only one attribute in a set
+named <literal>hello</literal>).</para>
+
+<para><command>nix-build</command> registers the
+<filename>./result</filename> symlink as a garbage collection root, so
+unless and until you delete the <filename>./result</filename> symlink,
+the output of the build will be safely kept on your system.  You can
+use <command>nix-build</command>’s <option
+linkend='opt-out-link'>-o</option> switch to give the symlink another
+name.</para>
+
+<para>Nix has a transactional semantics.  Once a build finishes
+successfully, Nix makes a note of this in its database: it registers
+that the path denoted by <envar>out</envar> is now
+<quote>valid</quote>.  If you try to build the derivation again, Nix
+will see that the path is already valid and finish immediately.  If a
+build fails, either because it returns a non-zero exit code, because
+Nix or the builder are killed, or because the machine crashes, then
+the output paths will not be registered as valid.  If you try to build
+the derivation again, Nix will remove the output paths if they exist
+(e.g., because the builder died half-way through <literal>make
+install</literal>) and try again.  Note that there is no
+<quote>negative caching</quote>: Nix doesn't remember that a build
+failed, and so a failed build can always be repeated.  This is because
+Nix cannot distinguish between permanent failures (e.g., a compiler
+error due to a syntax error in the source) and transient failures
+(e.g., a disk full condition).</para>
+
+<para>Nix also performs locking.  If you run multiple Nix builds
+simultaneously, and they try to build the same derivation, the first
+Nix instance that gets there will perform the build, while the others
+block (or perform other derivations if available) until the build
+finishes:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-build pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix -A hello
+waiting for lock on `/nix/store/0h5b7hp8d4hqfrw8igvx97x1xawrjnac-hello-2.1.1x'</screen>
+
+So it is always safe to run multiple instances of Nix in parallel
+(which isn’t the case with, say, <command>make</command>).</para>
+
+<para>If you have a system with multiple CPUs, you may want to have
+Nix build different derivations in parallel (insofar as possible).
+Just pass the option <link linkend='opt-max-jobs'><option>-j
+<replaceable>N</replaceable></option></link>, where
+<replaceable>N</replaceable> is the maximum number of jobs to be run
+in parallel, or set.  Typically this should be the number of
+CPUs.</para>
+
+</section>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/simple-expression.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-expression.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a8eb96f5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-expression.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="ch-simple-expression">
+
+<title>Simple Nix Expression Use-Case</title>
+
+<para>This section shows how to add and test the <link
+xlink:href='http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/hello.html'>GNU Hello
+package</link> to the Nix Packages collection.  Hello is a program
+that prints out the text <quote>Hello, world!</quote>.</para>
+
+<para>To add a package to the Nix Packages collection, you generally
+need to do three things:
+
+<orderedlist>
+
+  <listitem><para>Write a Nix expression for the package.  This is a
+  file that describes all the inputs involved in building the package,
+  such as dependencies, sources, and so on.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>Write a <emphasis>builder</emphasis>.  This is a
+  shell script<footnote><para>In fact, it can be written in any
+  language, but typically it's a <command>bash</command> shell
+  script.</para></footnote> that actually builds the package from
+  the inputs.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>Add the package to the file
+  <filename>pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix</filename>.  The Nix
+  expression written in the first step is a
+  <emphasis>function</emphasis>; it requires other packages in order
+  to build it.  In this step you put it all together, i.e., you call
+  the function with the right arguments to build the actual
+  package.</para></listitem>
+
+</orderedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+<xi:include href="expression-syntax.xml" />
+<xi:include href="build-script.xml" />
+<xi:include href="arguments-variables.xml" />
+<xi:include href="simple-building-testing.xml" />
+<xi:include href="generic-builder.xml" />
+
+</chapter>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/standard-env.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/standard-env.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2571f43fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/standard-env.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='sec-standard-environment'>
+
+<title>The Standard Environment</title>
+
+
+<para>The standard environment is used by passing it as an input
+called <envar>stdenv</envar> to the derivation, and then doing
+
+<programlisting>
+source $stdenv/setup</programlisting>
+
+at the top of the builder.</para>
+
+<para>Apart from adding the aforementioned commands to the
+<envar>PATH</envar>, <filename>setup</filename> also does the
+following:
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+  <listitem><para>All input packages specified in the
+  <envar>buildInputs</envar> environment variable have their
+  <filename>/bin</filename> subdirectory added to <envar>PATH</envar>,
+  their <filename>/include</filename> subdirectory added to the C/C++
+  header file search path, and their <filename>/lib</filename>
+  subdirectory added to the linker search path.  This can be extended.
+  For instance, when the <command>pkgconfig</command> package is
+  used, the subdirectory <filename>/lib/pkgconfig</filename> of each
+  input is added to the <envar>PKG_CONFIG_PATH</envar> environment
+  variable.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>The environment variable
+  <envar>NIX_CFLAGS_STRIP</envar> is set so that the compiler strips
+  debug information from object files.  This can be disabled by
+  setting <envar>NIX_STRIP_DEBUG</envar> to
+  <literal>0</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>The <filename>setup</filename> script also exports a function
+called <function>genericBuild</function> that knows how to build
+typical Autoconf-style packages.  It can be customised to perform
+builds for any type of package.  It is advisable to use
+<function>genericBuild</function> since it provides facilities that
+are almost always useful such as unpacking of sources, patching of
+sources, nested logging, etc.</para>
+
+<para>The definitive, up-to-date documentation of the generic builder
+is the source itself, which resides in
+<filename>pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh</filename>.</para>
+
+<xi:include href="custom-builder.xml" />
+<xi:include href="debug-build.xml" />
+
+</chapter>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/writing-nix-expressions.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/writing-nix-expressions.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d64f24cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/writing-nix-expressions.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<part xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id='chap-writing-nix-expressions'>
+
+<title>Nix Expressions</title>
+
+<partintro>
+<para>This chapter shows you how to write Nix expressions, which 
+instruct Nix how to build packages.  It starts with a
+simple example (a Nix expression for GNU Hello), and then moves
+on to a more in-depth look at the Nix expression language.</para>
+
+<note><para>This chapter is mostly about the Nix expression language.
+For more extensive information on adding packages to the Nix Packages
+collection (such as functions in the standard environment and coding
+conventions), please consult <link
+xlink:href="http://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/">its
+manual</link>.</para></note>
+</partintro>
+
+<xi:include href="simple-expression.xml" />
+<xi:include href="expression-language.xml" />
+<xi:include href="standard-env.xml" />
+
+</part>