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diff --git a/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-010.xml b/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-010.xml new file mode 100644 index 000000000..fb55bd24f --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-010.xml @@ -0,0 +1,323 @@ +<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-relnotes-0.10"> + +<title>Release 0.10 (October 6, 2006)</title> + +<note><para>This version of Nix uses Berkeley DB 4.4 instead of 4.3. +The database is upgraded automatically, but you should be careful not +to use old versions of Nix that still use Berkeley DB 4.3. In +particular, if you use a Nix installed through Nix, you should run + +<screen> +$ nix-store --clear-substitutes</screen> + +first.</para></note> + +<warning><para>Also, the database schema has changed slighted to fix a +performance issue (see below). When you run any Nix 0.10 command for +the first time, the database will be upgraded automatically. This is +irreversible.</para></warning> + +<itemizedlist> + + + <!-- Usability / features --> + + + <listitem><para><command>nix-env</command> usability improvements: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>An option <option>--compare-versions</option> + (or <option>-c</option>) has been added to <command>nix-env + --query</command> to allow you to compare installed versions of + packages to available versions, or vice versa. An easy way to + see if you are up to date with what’s in your subscribed + channels is <literal>nix-env -qc \*</literal>.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env --query</literal> now takes as + arguments a list of package names about which to show + information, just like <option>--install</option>, etc.: for + example, <literal>nix-env -q gcc</literal>. Note that to show + all derivations, you need to specify + <literal>\*</literal>.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env -i + <replaceable>pkgname</replaceable></literal> will now install + the highest available version of + <replaceable>pkgname</replaceable>, rather than installing all + available versions (which would probably give collisions) + (<literal>NIX-31</literal>).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env (-i|-u) --dry-run</literal> now + shows exactly which missing paths will be built or + substituted.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env -qa --description</literal> + shows human-readable descriptions of packages, provided that + they have a <literal>meta.description</literal> attribute (which + most packages in Nixpkgs don’t have yet).</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>New language features: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>Reference scanning (which happens after each + build) is much faster and takes a constant amount of + memory.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>String interpolation. Expressions like + +<programlisting> +"--with-freetype2-library=" + freetype + "/lib"</programlisting> + + can now be written as + +<programlisting> +"--with-freetype2-library=${freetype}/lib"</programlisting> + + You can write arbitrary expressions within + <literal>${<replaceable>...</replaceable>}</literal>, not just + identifiers.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Multi-line string literals.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>String concatenations can now involve + derivations, as in the example <code>"--with-freetype2-library=" + + freetype + "/lib"</code>. This was not previously possible + because we need to register that a derivation that uses such a + string is dependent on <literal>freetype</literal>. The + evaluator now properly propagates this information. + Consequently, the subpath operator (<literal>~</literal>) has + been deprecated.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Default values of function arguments can now + refer to other function arguments; that is, all arguments are in + scope in the default values + (<literal>NIX-45</literal>).</para></listitem> + + <!-- + <listitem><para>TODO: domain checks (r5895).</para></listitem> + --> + + <listitem><para>Lots of new built-in primitives, such as + functions for list manipulation and integer arithmetic. See the + manual for a complete list. All primops are now available in + the set <varname>builtins</varname>, allowing one to test for + the availability of primop in a backwards-compatible + way.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Real let-expressions: <literal>let x = ...; + ... z = ...; in ...</literal>.</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>New commands <command>nix-pack-closure</command> and + <command>nix-unpack-closure</command> than can be used to easily + transfer a store path with all its dependencies to another machine. + Very convenient whenever you have some package on your machine and + you want to copy it somewhere else.</para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>XML support: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env -q --xml</literal> prints the + installed or available packages in an XML representation for + easy processing by other tools.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-instantiate --eval-only + --xml</literal> prints an XML representation of the resulting + term. (The new flag <option>--strict</option> forces ‘deep’ + evaluation of the result, i.e., list elements and attributes are + evaluated recursively.)</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>In Nix expressions, the primop + <function>builtins.toXML</function> converts a term to an XML + representation. This is primarily useful for passing structured + information to builders.</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>You can now unambiguously specify which derivation to + build or install in <command>nix-env</command>, + <command>nix-instantiate</command> and <command>nix-build</command> + using the <option>--attr</option> / <option>-A</option> flags, which + takes an attribute name as argument. (Unlike symbolic package names + such as <literal>subversion-1.4.0</literal>, attribute names in an + attribute set are unique.) For instance, a quick way to perform a + test build of a package in Nixpkgs is <literal>nix-build + pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix -A + <replaceable>foo</replaceable></literal>. <literal>nix-env -q + --attr</literal> shows the attribute names corresponding to each + derivation.</para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>If the top-level Nix expression used by + <command>nix-env</command>, <command>nix-instantiate</command> or + <command>nix-build</command> evaluates to a function whose arguments + all have default values, the function will be called automatically. + Also, the new command-line switch <option>--arg + <replaceable>name</replaceable> + <replaceable>value</replaceable></option> can be used to specify + function arguments on the command line.</para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-install-package --url + <replaceable>URL</replaceable></literal> allows a package to be + installed directly from the given URL.</para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>Nix now works behind an HTTP proxy server; just set + the standard environment variables <envar>http_proxy</envar>, + <envar>https_proxy</envar>, <envar>ftp_proxy</envar> or + <envar>all_proxy</envar> appropriately. Functions such as + <function>fetchurl</function> in Nixpkgs also respect these + variables.</para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-build -o + <replaceable>symlink</replaceable></literal> allows the symlink to + the build result to be named something other than + <literal>result</literal>.</para></listitem> + + + <!-- Stability / performance / etc. --> + + + <listitem><para>Platform support: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>Support for 64-bit platforms, provided a <link + xlink:href="http://bugzilla.sen.cwi.nl:8080/show_bug.cgi?id=606">suitably + patched ATerm library</link> is used. Also, files larger than 2 + GiB are now supported.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Added support for Cygwin (Windows, + <literal>i686-cygwin</literal>), Mac OS X on Intel + (<literal>i686-darwin</literal>) and Linux on PowerPC + (<literal>powerpc-linux</literal>).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Users of SMP and multicore machines will + appreciate that the number of builds to be performed in parallel + can now be specified in the configuration file in the + <literal>build-max-jobs</literal> setting.</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>Garbage collector improvements: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>Open files (such as running programs) are now + used as roots of the garbage collector. This prevents programs + that have been uninstalled from being garbage collected while + they are still running. The script that detects these + additional runtime roots + (<filename>find-runtime-roots.pl</filename>) is inherently + system-specific, but it should work on Linux and on all + platforms that have the <command>lsof</command> + utility.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-store --gc</literal> + (a.k.a. <command>nix-collect-garbage</command>) prints out the + number of bytes freed on standard output. <literal>nix-store + --gc --print-dead</literal> shows how many bytes would be freed + by an actual garbage collection.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-collect-garbage -d</literal> + removes all old generations of <emphasis>all</emphasis> profiles + before calling the actual garbage collector (<literal>nix-store + --gc</literal>). This is an easy way to get rid of all old + packages in the Nix store.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><command>nix-store</command> now has an + operation <option>--delete</option> to delete specific paths + from the Nix store. It won’t delete reachable (non-garbage) + paths unless <option>--ignore-liveness</option> is + specified.</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>Berkeley DB 4.4’s process registry feature is used + to recover from crashed Nix processes.</para></listitem> + + <!-- <listitem><para>TODO: shared stores.</para></listitem> --> + + <listitem><para>A performance issue has been fixed with the + <literal>referer</literal> table, which stores the inverse of the + <literal>references</literal> table (i.e., it tells you what store + paths refer to a given path). Maintaining this table could take a + quadratic amount of time, as well as a quadratic amount of Berkeley + DB log file space (in particular when running the garbage collector) + (<literal>NIX-23</literal>).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Nix now catches the <literal>TERM</literal> and + <literal>HUP</literal> signals in addition to the + <literal>INT</literal> signal. So you can now do a <literal>killall + nix-store</literal> without triggering a database + recovery.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><command>bsdiff</command> updated to version + 4.3.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Substantial performance improvements in expression + evaluation and <literal>nix-env -qa</literal>, all thanks to <link + xlink:href="http://valgrind.org/">Valgrind</link>. Memory use has + been reduced by a factor 8 or so. Big speedup by memoisation of + path hashing.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Lots of bug fixes, notably: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>Make sure that the garbage collector can run + successfully when the disk is full + (<literal>NIX-18</literal>).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><command>nix-env</command> now locks the profile + to prevent races between concurrent <command>nix-env</command> + operations on the same profile + (<literal>NIX-7</literal>).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Removed misleading messages from + <literal>nix-env -i</literal> (e.g., <literal>installing + `foo'</literal> followed by <literal>uninstalling + `foo'</literal>) (<literal>NIX-17</literal>).</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Nix source distributions are a lot smaller now since + we no longer include a full copy of the Berkeley DB source + distribution (but only the bits we need).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Header files are now installed so that external + programs can use the Nix libraries.</para></listitem> + +</itemizedlist> + +</chapter>
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