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authorValentin Gagarin <valentin.gagarin@tweag.io>2022-08-04 11:36:32 +0200
committerValentin Gagarin <valentin.gagarin@tweag.io>2022-08-04 11:59:25 +0200
commit499ed265088948e823c83cc95d1097a6362d205b (patch)
tree166e7120f577381fdddb5396c1881aae5e1a3bd0 /doc/manual/src
parent075bf6e5565aff9fba0ea02f3333c82adf4dccee (diff)
manual: remove "Writing Nix Expressions" chapter
it is out of date, all over the place in level of detail, is really about `nixpkgs`, and in general instructions should not be part of a reference manual. also: - update redirects and internal links - use "Nix language" consistently
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual/src')
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in23
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-env.md2
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-instantiate.md4
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-store.md2
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/opt-common.md4
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/arguments-variables.md80
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/build-script.md70
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/expression-syntax.md93
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/generic-builder.md66
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md61
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-expression.md23
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/writing-nix-expressions.md12
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/glossary.md2
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/advanced-attributes.md)0
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/builtin-constants.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/builtin-constants.md)0
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/builtins-prefix.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/builtins-prefix.md)0
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/builtins-suffix.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/builtins-suffix.md)0
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/constructs.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/language-constructs.md)0
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/derivations.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/derivations.md)0
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/index.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/expression-language.md)5
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/operators.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/language-operators.md)2
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/values.md (renamed from doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md)0
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/package-management/package-management.md3
23 files changed, 20 insertions, 432 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in b/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
index c8cb72fc0..084c8f442 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
+++ b/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
@@ -26,21 +26,14 @@
- [Copying Closures via SSH](package-management/copy-closure.md)
- [Serving a Nix store via SSH](package-management/ssh-substituter.md)
- [Serving a Nix store via S3](package-management/s3-substituter.md)
-- [Writing Nix Expressions](expressions/writing-nix-expressions.md)
- - [A Simple Nix Expression](expressions/simple-expression.md)
- - [Expression Syntax](expressions/expression-syntax.md)
- - [Build Script](expressions/build-script.md)
- - [Arguments and Variables](expressions/arguments-variables.md)
- - [Building and Testing](expressions/simple-building-testing.md)
- - [Generic Builder Syntax](expressions/generic-builder.md)
- - [Nix Expression Language](expressions/expression-language.md)
- - [Data Types](expressions/language-values.md)
- - [Language Constructs](expressions/language-constructs.md)
- - [Operators](expressions/language-operators.md)
- - [Derivations](expressions/derivations.md)
- - [Advanced Attributes](expressions/advanced-attributes.md)
- - [Built-in Constants](expressions/builtin-constants.md)
- - [Built-in Functions](expressions/builtins.md)
+- [Nix Language](language/index.md)
+ - [Data Types](language/values.md)
+ - [Language Constructs](language/constructs.md)
+ - [Operators](language/operators.md)
+ - [Derivations](language/derivations.md)
+ - [Advanced Attributes](language/advanced-attributes.md)
+ - [Built-in Constants](language/builtin-constants.md)
+ - [Built-in Functions](language/builtins.md)
- [Advanced Topics](advanced-topics/advanced-topics.md)
- [Remote Builds](advanced-topics/distributed-builds.md)
- [Tuning Cores and Jobs](advanced-topics/cores-vs-jobs.md)
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-env.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-env.md
index a372c5eae..a5df35d77 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-env.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-env.md
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ a number of possible ways:
another.
- If `--from-expression` is given, *args* are Nix
- [functions](../expressions/language-constructs.md#functions)
+ [functions](../language/constructs.md#functions)
that are called with the active Nix expression as their single
argument. The derivations returned by those function calls are
installed. This allows derivations to be specified in an
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-instantiate.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-instantiate.md
index 2e198daed..8f143729e 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-instantiate.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-instantiate.md
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ standard input.
- `--strict`\
When used with `--eval`, recursively evaluate list elements and
attributes. Normally, such sub-expressions are left unevaluated
- (since the Nix expression language is lazy).
+ (since the Nix language is lazy).
> **Warning**
>
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ standard input.
When used with `--eval`, print the resulting value as an XML
representation of the abstract syntax tree rather than as an ATerm.
The schema is the same as that used by the [`toXML`
- built-in](../expressions/builtins.md).
+ built-in](../language/builtins.md).
- `--read-write-mode`\
When used with `--eval`, perform evaluation in read/write mode so
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-store.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-store.md
index dc8faba68..ecd838e8d 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-store.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-store.md
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Special exit codes:
- `102`\
Hash mismatch, the build output was rejected because it does not
match the [`outputHash` attribute of the
- derivation](../expressions/advanced-attributes.md).
+ derivation](../language/advanced-attributes.md).
- `104`\
Not deterministic, the build succeeded in check mode but the
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/opt-common.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/opt-common.md
index 51d7de18a..e612c416f 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/opt-common.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/opt-common.md
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ Most Nix commands accept the following command-line options:
expression evaluator will automatically try to call functions that
it encounters. It can automatically call functions for which every
argument has a [default
- value](../expressions/language-constructs.md#functions) (e.g.,
+ value](../language/constructs.md#functions) (e.g.,
`{ argName ? defaultValue }: ...`). With `--arg`, you can also
call functions that have arguments without a default value (or
override a default value). That is, if the evaluator encounters a
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ Most Nix commands accept the following command-line options:
So if you call this Nix expression (e.g., when you do `nix-env -iA
pkgname`), the function will be called automatically using the
- value [`builtins.currentSystem`](../expressions/builtins.md) for
+ value [`builtins.currentSystem`](../language/builtins.md) for
the `system` argument. You can override this using `--arg`, e.g.,
`nix-env -iA pkgname --arg system \"i686-freebsd\"`. (Note that
since the argument is a Nix string literal, you have to escape the
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/arguments-variables.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/arguments-variables.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 12198c879..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/arguments-variables.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,80 +0,0 @@
-# Arguments and Variables
-
-The [Nix expression for GNU Hello](expression-syntax.md) 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
-`pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix`, where all Nix expressions for
-packages are imported and called with the appropriate arguments. Here
-are some fragments of `all-packages.nix`, with annotations of what
-they mean:
-
-```nix
-...
-
-rec { ①
-
- hello = import ../applications/misc/hello/ex-1 ② { ③
- inherit fetchurl stdenv perl;
- };
-
- perl = import ../development/interpreters/perl { ④
- inherit fetchurl stdenv;
- };
-
- fetchurl = import ../build-support/fetchurl {
- inherit stdenv; ...
- };
-
- stdenv = ...;
-
-}
-```
-
-1. This file defines a set of attributes, all of which are concrete
- derivations (i.e., not functions). In fact, we define a *mutually
- recursive* set of attributes. That is, the attributes can refer to
- each other. This is precisely what we want since we want to “plug”
- the various packages into each other.
-
-2. Here we *import* 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 the Nix expression
- for GNU Hello in `all-packages.nix` at this point. That would be
- completely equivalent, but it would make `all-packages.nix` rather
- bulky.
-
- Note that we refer to `../applications/misc/hello/ex-1`, not
- `../applications/misc/hello/ex-1/default.nix`. When you try to
- import a directory, Nix automatically appends `/default.nix` to the
- file name.
-
-3. This is where the actual composition takes place. Here we *call* the
- function imported from `../applications/misc/hello/ex-1` with a set
- containing the things that the function expects, namely `fetchurl`,
- `stdenv`, and `perl`. We use inherit again to use the attributes
- defined in the surrounding scope (we could also have written
- `fetchurl = fetchurl;`, etc.).
-
- 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 `stdenv.mkDerivation`
- in the [Nix expression for GNU Hello](expression-syntax.md)).
-
- > **Note**
- >
- > Nixpkgs has a convenience function `callPackage` that imports and
- > calls a function, filling in any missing arguments by passing the
- > corresponding attribute from the Nixpkgs set, like this:
- >
- > ```nix
- > hello = callPackage ../applications/misc/hello/ex-1 { };
- > ```
- >
- > If necessary, you can set or override arguments:
- >
- > ```nix
- > hello = callPackage ../applications/misc/hello/ex-1 { stdenv = myStdenv; };
- > ```
-
-4. Likewise, we have to instantiate Perl, `fetchurl`, and the standard
- environment.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/build-script.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/build-script.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b1eacae88..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/build-script.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,70 +0,0 @@
-# Build Script
-
-Here is the builder referenced from Hello's Nix expression (stored in
-`pkgs/applications/misc/hello/ex-1/builder.sh`):
-
-```bash
-source $stdenv/setup ①
-
-PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH ②
-
-tar xvfz $src ③
-cd hello-*
-./configure --prefix=$out ④
-make ⑤
-make install
-```
-
-The builder can actually be made a lot shorter by using the *generic
-builder* functions provided by `stdenv`, but here we write out the build
-steps to elucidate what a builder does. It performs the following steps:
-
-1. When Nix runs a builder, it initially completely clears the
- environment (except for the attributes declared in the derivation).
- This is done to prevent undeclared inputs from being used in the
- build process. If for example the `PATH` contained `/usr/bin`, then
- you might accidentally use `/usr/bin/gcc`.
-
- So the first step is to set up the environment. This is done by
- calling the `setup` script of the standard environment. The
- environment variable `stdenv` points to the location of the
- standard environment being used. (It wasn't specified explicitly
- as an attribute in Hello's Nix expression, but `mkDerivation` adds
- it automatically.)
-
-2. Since Hello needs Perl, we have to make sure that Perl is in the
- `PATH`. The `perl` environment variable points to the location of
- the Perl package (since it was passed in as an attribute to the
- derivation), so `$perl/bin` is the directory containing the Perl
- interpreter.
-
-3. Now we have to unpack the sources. The `src` attribute was bound to
- the result of fetching the Hello source tarball from the network, so
- the `src` environment variable points to the location in the Nix
- store to which the tarball was downloaded. After unpacking, we `cd`
- to the resulting source directory.
-
- The whole build is performed in a temporary directory created in
- `/tmp`, by the way. This directory is removed after the builder
- finishes, so there is no need to clean up the sources afterwards.
- Also, the temporary directory is always newly created, so you don't
- have to worry about files from previous builds interfering with the
- current build.
-
-4. GNU Hello is a typical Autoconf-based package, so we first have to
- run its `configure` script. In Nix every package is stored in a
- separate location in the Nix store, for instance
- `/nix/store/9a54ba97fb71b65fda531012d0443ce2-hello-2.1.1`. Nix
- computes this path by cryptographically hashing all attributes of
- the derivation. The path is passed to the builder through the `out`
- environment variable. So here we give `configure` the parameter
- `--prefix=$out` to cause Hello to be installed in the expected
- location.
-
-5. Finally we build Hello (`make`) and install it into the location
- specified by `out` (`make install`).
-
-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 `-e` option, which causes the script to
-be aborted if any command fails without an error check.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/expression-syntax.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/expression-syntax.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 6b93e692c..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/expression-syntax.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,93 +0,0 @@
-# Expression Syntax
-
-Here is a Nix expression for GNU Hello:
-
-```nix
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl }: ①
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation { ②
- name = "hello-2.1.1"; ③
- builder = ./builder.sh; ④
- src = fetchurl { ⑤
- url = "ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.1.1.tar.gz";
- sha256 = "1md7jsfd8pa45z73bz1kszpp01yw6x5ljkjk2hx7wl800any6465";
- };
- inherit perl; ⑥
-}
-```
-
-This file is actually already in the Nix Packages collection in
-`pkgs/applications/misc/hello/ex-1/default.nix`. It is customary to
-place each package in a separate directory and call the single Nix
-expression in that directory `default.nix`. The file has the following
-elements (referenced from the figure by number):
-
-1. This states that the expression is a *function* that expects to be
- called with three arguments: `stdenv`, `fetchurl`, and `perl`. They
- are needed to build Hello, but we don't know how to build them here;
- that's why they are function arguments. `stdenv` is a package that
- is used by almost all Nix Packages; it provides a
- “standard” 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 `cp`, `grep`, `tar`,
- etc. `fetchurl` is a function that downloads files. `perl` is the
- Perl interpreter.
-
- Nix functions generally have the form `{ x, y, ..., z }: e` where
- `x`, `y`, etc. are the names of the expected arguments, and where
- *e* 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.
-
-2. So we have to build a package. Building something from other stuff
- is called a *derivation* in Nix (as opposed to sources, which are
- built by humans instead of computers). We perform a derivation by
- calling `stdenv.mkDerivation`. `mkDerivation` is a function
- provided by `stdenv` that builds a package from a set of
- *attributes*. 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 `{ name1 = expr1; ...
- nameN = exprN; }`.
-
-3. The attribute `name` specifies the symbolic name and version of
- the package. Nix doesn't really care about these things, but they
- are used by for instance `nix-env -q` to show a “human-readable”
- name for packages. This attribute is required by `mkDerivation`.
-
-4. The attribute `builder` specifies the builder. This attribute can
- sometimes be omitted, in which case `mkDerivation` will fill in a
- default builder (which does a `configure; make; make install`, 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 `./builder.sh` refers to the
- shell script shown in the [next section](build-script.md),
- discussed below.
-
-5. The builder has to know what the sources of the package are. Here,
- the attribute `src` is bound to the result of a call to the
- `fetchurl` function. Given a URL and a SHA-256 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.
-
- Instead of `src` any other name could have been used, and in fact
- there can be any number of sources (bound to different attributes).
- However, `src` is customary, and it's also expected by the default
- builder (which we don't use in this example).
-
-6. Since the derivation requires Perl, we have to pass the value of the
- `perl` function argument to the builder. All attributes in the set
- are actually passed as environment variables to the builder, so
- declaring an attribute
-
- ```nix
- perl = perl;
- ```
-
- will do the trick: it binds an attribute `perl` to the function
- argument which also happens to be called `perl`. However, it looks a
- bit silly, so there is a shorter syntax. The `inherit` keyword
- causes the specified attributes to be bound to whatever variables
- with the same name happen to be in scope.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/generic-builder.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/generic-builder.md
deleted file mode 100644
index cf26b5f82..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/generic-builder.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,66 +0,0 @@
-# Generic Builder Syntax
-
-Recall that the [build script for GNU Hello](build-script.md) looked
-something like this:
-
-```bash
-PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH
-tar xvfz $src
-cd hello-*
-./configure --prefix=$out
-make
-make install
-```
-
-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. Here is what a builder using
-the generic build facilities looks like:
-
-```bash
-buildInputs="$perl" ①
-
-source $stdenv/setup ②
-
-genericBuild ③
-```
-
-Here is what each line means:
-
-1. The `buildInputs` variable tells `setup` to use the indicated
- packages as “inputs”. This means that if a package provides a `bin`
- subdirectory, it's added to `PATH`; if it has a `include`
- subdirectory, it's added to GCC's header search path; and so on.
- (This is implemented in a modular way: `setup` tries to source the
- file `pkg/nix-support/setup-hook` of all dependencies. These “setup
- hooks” can then set up whatever environment variables they want; for
- instance, the setup hook for Perl sets the `PERL5LIB` environment
- variable to contain the `lib/site_perl` directories of all inputs.)
-
-2. The function `genericBuild` is defined in the file `$stdenv/setup`.
-
-3. The final step calls the shell function `genericBuild`, which
- performs the steps that were done explicitly in the previous build
- script. The generic builder is smart enough to figure out whether
- to unpack the sources using `gzip`, `bzip2`, etc. It can be
- customised in many ways; see the Nixpkgs manual for details.
-
-Discerning readers will note that the `buildInputs` could just as well
-have been set in the Nix expression, like this:
-
-```nix
- buildInputs = [ perl ];
-```
-
-The `perl` attribute can then be removed, and the builder becomes even
-shorter:
-
-```bash
-source $stdenv/setup
-genericBuild
-```
-
-In fact, `mkDerivation` provides a default builder that looks exactly
-like that, so it is actually possible to omit the builder for Hello
-entirely.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f0d8f841..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,61 +0,0 @@
-# Building and Testing
-
-You can now try to build Hello. Of course, you could do `nix-env -f . -iA
-hello`, but you may not want to install a possibly broken package just
-yet. The best way to test the package is by using the command
-`nix-build`, which builds a Nix expression and creates a symlink named
-`result` in the current directory:
-
-```console
-$ nix-build -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
-...
-
-$ ls -l result
-lrwxrwxrwx ... 2006-09-29 10:43 result -> /nix/store/632d2b22514d...-hello-2.1.1
-
-$ ./result/bin/hello
-Hello, world!
-```
-
-The `-A` option selects the `hello` attribute. This is faster than
-using the symbolic package name specified by the `name` attribute
-(which also happens to be `hello`) and is unambiguous (there can be
-multiple packages with the symbolic name `hello`, but there can be
-only one attribute in a set named `hello`).
-
-`nix-build` registers the `./result` symlink as a garbage collection
-root, so unless and until you delete the `./result` symlink, the output
-of the build will be safely kept on your system. You can use
-`nix-build`’s `-o` switch to give the symlink another name.
-
-Nix has transactional semantics. Once a build finishes successfully, Nix
-makes a note of this in its database: it registers that the path denoted
-by `out` is now “valid”. 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 `make
-install`) and try again. Note that there is no “negative caching”: 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).
-
-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:
-
-```console
-$ nix-build -A hello
-waiting for lock on `/nix/store/0h5b7hp8d4hqfrw8igvx97x1xawrjnac-hello-2.1.1x'
-```
-
-So it is always safe to run multiple instances of Nix in parallel (which
-isn’t the case with, say, `make`).
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-expression.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-expression.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 857f71b9b..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-expression.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-# A Simple Nix Expression
-
-This section shows how to add and test the [GNU Hello
-package](http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/hello.html) to the Nix
-Packages collection. Hello is a program that prints out the text “Hello,
-world\!”.
-
-To add a package to the Nix Packages collection, you generally need to
-do three things:
-
-1. 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.
-
-2. Write a *builder*. This is a shell script that builds the package
- from the inputs. (In fact, it can be written in any language, but
- typically it's a `bash` shell script.)
-
-3. Add the package to the file `pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix`. The
- Nix expression written in the first step is a *function*; 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.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/writing-nix-expressions.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/writing-nix-expressions.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 5664108e7..000000000
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/writing-nix-expressions.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-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.
-
-> **Note**
->
-> 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 [its
-> manual](http://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/).
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/glossary.md b/doc/manual/src/glossary.md
index 3448b971b..aa0ac78cb 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/glossary.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/glossary.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
- [derivation]{#gloss-derivation}\
A description of a build action. The result of a derivation is a
store object. Derivations are typically specified in Nix expressions
- using the [`derivation` primitive](expressions/derivations.md). These are
+ using the [`derivation` primitive](language/derivations.md). These are
translated into low-level *store derivations* (implicitly by
`nix-env` and `nix-build`, or explicitly by `nix-instantiate`).
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/advanced-attributes.md b/doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md
index 2e7e80ed0..2e7e80ed0 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/advanced-attributes.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/builtin-constants.md b/doc/manual/src/language/builtin-constants.md
index 78d066a82..78d066a82 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/builtin-constants.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/builtin-constants.md
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/builtins-prefix.md b/doc/manual/src/language/builtins-prefix.md
index c631a8453..c631a8453 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/builtins-prefix.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/builtins-prefix.md
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/builtins-suffix.md b/doc/manual/src/language/builtins-suffix.md
index a74db2857..a74db2857 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/builtins-suffix.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/builtins-suffix.md
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-constructs.md b/doc/manual/src/language/constructs.md
index 1c01f2cc7..1c01f2cc7 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-constructs.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/constructs.md
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/derivations.md b/doc/manual/src/language/derivations.md
index 3391ec0d8..3391ec0d8 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/derivations.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/derivations.md
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/expression-language.md b/doc/manual/src/language/index.md
index 267fcb983..c4b3abf75 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/expression-language.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/index.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-# Nix Expression Language
+# Nix Language
-The Nix expression language is a pure, lazy, functional language. Purity
+The Nix 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.
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ full-featured, general purpose language. Its main job is to describe
packages, compositions of packages, and the variability within packages.
This section presents the various features of the language.
+
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-operators.md b/doc/manual/src/language/operators.md
index 268b44f4c..32398189d 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-operators.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/operators.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Operators
-The table below lists the operators in the Nix expression language, in
+The table below lists the operators in the Nix language, in
order of precedence (from strongest to weakest binding).
| Name | Syntax | Associativity | Description | Precedence |
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md b/doc/manual/src/language/values.md
index f09400d02..f09400d02 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/values.md
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/package-management/package-management.md b/doc/manual/src/package-management/package-management.md
index bd26a09ab..d528112e2 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/package-management/package-management.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/package-management/package-management.md
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
This chapter discusses how to do package management with Nix, i.e.,
how to obtain, install, upgrade, and erase packages. This is the
“user’s” perspective of the Nix system — people who want to *create*
-packages should consult the [chapter on writing Nix
-expressions](../expressions/writing-nix-expressions.md).
+packages should consult the chapter on the [Nix language](../language/index.md).