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diff --git a/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-1.7.md b/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-1.7.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..8d49ae54e --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-1.7.md @@ -0,0 +1,140 @@ +# Release 1.7 (2014-04-11) + +In addition to the usual bug fixes, this release has the following new +features: + + - Antiquotation is now allowed inside of quoted attribute names (e.g. + `set."${foo}"`). In the case where the attribute name is just a + single antiquotation, the quotes can be dropped (e.g. the above + example can be written `set.${foo}`). If an attribute name inside of + a set declaration evaluates to `null` (e.g. `{ ${null} = false; }`), + then that attribute is not added to the set. + + - Experimental support for cryptographically signed binary caches. See + [the commit for + details](https://github.com/NixOS/nix/commit/0fdf4da0e979f992db75cc17376e455ddc5a96d8). + + - An experimental new substituter, `download-via-ssh`, that fetches + binaries from remote machines via SSH. Specifying the flags + `--option + use-ssh-substituter true --option ssh-substituter-hosts + user@hostname` will cause Nix to download binaries from the + specified machine, if it has them. + + - `nix-store -r` and `nix-build` have a new flag, `--check`, that + builds a previously built derivation again, and prints an error + message if the output is not exactly the same. This helps to verify + whether a derivation is truly deterministic. For example: + + $ nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A patchelf + … + $ nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A patchelf --check + … + error: derivation `/nix/store/1ipvxs…-patchelf-0.6' may not be deterministic: + hash mismatch in output `/nix/store/4pc1dm…-patchelf-0.6.drv' + + - The `nix-instantiate` flags `--eval-only` and `--parse-only` have + been renamed to `--eval` and `--parse`, respectively. + + - `nix-instantiate`, `nix-build` and `nix-shell` now have a flag + `--expr` (or `-E`) that allows you to specify the expression to be + evaluated as a command line argument. For instance, `nix-instantiate + --eval -E + '1 + 2'` will print `3`. + + - `nix-shell` improvements: + + - It has a new flag, `--packages` (or `-p`), that sets up a build + environment containing the specified packages from Nixpkgs. For + example, the command + + $ nix-shell -p sqlite xorg.libX11 hello + + will start a shell in which the given packages are present. + + - It now uses `shell.nix` as the default expression, falling back + to `default.nix` if the former doesn’t exist. This makes it + convenient to have a `shell.nix` in your project to set up a + nice development environment. + + - It evaluates the derivation attribute `shellHook`, if set. Since + `stdenv` does not normally execute this hook, it allows you to + do `nix-shell`-specific setup. + + - It preserves the user’s timezone setting. + + - In chroots, Nix now sets up a `/dev` containing only a minimal set + of devices (such as `/dev/null`). Note that it only does this if you + *don’t* have `/dev` listed in your `build-chroot-dirs` setting; + otherwise, it will bind-mount the `/dev` from outside the chroot. + + Similarly, if you don’t have `/dev/pts` listed in + `build-chroot-dirs`, Nix will mount a private `devpts` filesystem on + the chroot’s `/dev/pts`. + + - New built-in function: `builtins.toJSON`, which returns a JSON + representation of a value. + + - `nix-env -q` has a new flag `--json` to print a JSON representation + of the installed or available packages. + + - `nix-env` now supports meta attributes with more complex values, + such as attribute sets. + + - The `-A` flag now allows attribute names with dots in them, e.g. + + $ nix-instantiate --eval '<nixos>' -A 'config.systemd.units."nscd.service".text' + + - The `--max-freed` option to `nix-store --gc` now accepts a unit + specifier. For example, `nix-store --gc --max-freed + 1G` will free up to 1 gigabyte of disk space. + + - `nix-collect-garbage` has a new flag `--delete-older-than` *N*`d`, + which deletes all user environment generations older than *N* days. + Likewise, `nix-env + --delete-generations` accepts a *N*`d` age limit. + + - Nix now heuristically detects whether a build failure was due to a + disk-full condition. In that case, the build is not flagged as + “permanently failed”. This is mostly useful for Hydra, which needs + to distinguish between permanent and transient build failures. + + - There is a new symbol `__curPos` that expands to an attribute set + containing its file name and line and column numbers, e.g. `{ file = + "foo.nix"; line = 10; + column = 5; }`. There also is a new builtin function, + `unsafeGetAttrPos`, that returns the position of an attribute. This + is used by Nixpkgs to provide location information in error + messages, e.g. + + $ nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A libreoffice --argstr system x86_64-darwin + error: the package ‘libreoffice-4.0.5.2’ in ‘.../applications/office/libreoffice/default.nix:263’ + is not supported on ‘x86_64-darwin’ + + - The garbage collector is now more concurrent with other Nix + processes because it releases certain locks earlier. + + - The binary tarball installer has been improved. You can now install + Nix by running: + + $ bash <(curl https://nixos.org/nix/install) + + - More evaluation errors include position information. For instance, + selecting a missing attribute will print something like + + error: attribute `nixUnstabl' missing, at /etc/nixos/configurations/misc/eelco/mandark.nix:216:15 + + - The command `nix-setuid-helper` is gone. + + - Nix no longer uses Automake, but instead has a non-recursive, GNU + Make-based build system. + + - All installed libraries now have the prefix `libnix`. In particular, + this gets rid of `libutil`, which could clash with libraries with + the same name from other packages. + + - Nix now requires a compiler that supports C++11. + +This release has contributions from Danny Wilson, Domen Kožar, Eelco +Dolstra, Ian-Woo Kim, Ludovic Courtès, Maxim Ivanov, Petr Rockai, +Ricardo M. Correia and Shea Levy. |