3 files changed, 46 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in b/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
index 69c721b57..cfbb38be8 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
+++ b/doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@
     - [Channels](command-ref/files/channels.md)
     - [Default Nix expression](command-ref/files/default-nix-expression.md)
 - [Architecture](architecture/architecture.md)
+- [Protocols](protocols/protocols.md)
+  - [Serving Tarball Flakes](protocols/tarball-fetcher.md)
 - [Glossary](glossary.md)
 - [Contributing](contributing/contributing.md)
   - [Hacking](contributing/hacking.md)
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/protocols/protocols.md b/doc/manual/src/protocols/protocols.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6bf1d809
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/src/protocols/protocols.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# Protocols
+
+This chapter documents various developer-facing interfaces provided by
+Nix.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/protocols/tarball-fetcher.md b/doc/manual/src/protocols/tarball-fetcher.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1c6c92000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/src/protocols/tarball-fetcher.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Serving Tarball Flakes
+
+Tarball flakes are served as regular tarballs via HTTP or the file
+system (for `file://` URLs).
+
+An HTTP server can return an "immutable" flakeref appropriate for lock
+files. This allows users to specify a tarball flake input in
+`flake.nix` that requests the latest version of a flake
+(e.g. `https://example.org/hello/latest.tar.gz`), while `flake.lock`
+will record a URL whose contents will not change
+(e.g. `https://example.org/hello/<revision>.tar.gz`). To do so, the
+server must return a `Link` header with the `rel` attribute set to
+`immutable`, as follows:
+
+```
+Link: <flakeref>; rel="immutable"
+```
+
+(Note the required `<` and `>` characters around *flakeref*.)
+
+*flakeref* must be a tarball flakeref. It can contain flake attributes
+such as `narHash`, `rev` and `revCount`. If `narHash` is included, its
+value must be the NAR hash of the unpacked tarball (as computed via
+`nix hash path`). Nix checks the contents of the returned tarball
+against the `narHash` attribute. The `rev` and `revCount` attributes
+are useful when the tarball flake is a mirror of a fetcher type that
+has those attributes, such as Git or GitHub. They are not checked by
+Nix.
+
+```
+Link: <https://example.org/hello/442793d9ec0584f6a6e82fa253850c8085bb150a.tar.gz
+  ?rev=442793d9ec0584f6a6e82fa253850c8085bb150a
+  &revCount=835
+  &narHash=sha256-GUm8Uh/U74zFCwkvt9Mri4DSM%2BmHj3tYhXUkYpiv31M%3D>; rel="immutable"
+```
+
+(The linebreaks in this example are for clarity and must not be included in the actual response.)
+
+For tarball flakes, the value of the `lastModified` flake attribute is
+defined as the timestamp of the newest file inside the tarball.