Nix Packaging

Overview

Create new Nix packages or update existing ones, with language-specific examples and guidance.

Workflow: Creating a New Package

1. Identify the software source: internal to this repo or external (e.g., a GitHub repository).
2. Determine the programming language(s) used.
3. Analyze the software structure (build system, dependencies, configuration files).
4. Create the package following language-specific guidance below.
5. Optionally, integrate the package into the current project (e.g., add to overlay and expose via packages in flake.nix).
6. Test iteratively: run nix build .#<package-name>, read errors, fix issues, and rebuild until successful.

Workflow: Updating an Existing Package

Typically, update the version and source fetching attributes (e.g., fetchFromGitHub). The hash field must also be updated using one of these methods:

Method 1: Calculate the new hash directly

# Get the hash
nix-prefetch-url --type sha256 --unpack https://github.com/owner/repo/archive/refs/tags/v<NEW_VERSION>.tar.gz
# Convert to SRI format
nix hash convert --hash-algo sha256 <old-hash>

Method 2: Let Nix tell you the hash Set hash = ""; and run the build. The error message will display the correct hash.

For language-specific update steps, see the references below.

Language-Specific Packaging Skills

• Python - Packaging Python modules
• Rust - Packaging Rust applications
• JavaScript/TypeScript - Packaging npm applications