TWIN: This week, sparked from a discussion to prompt the removal of scripted initrd networking where a call for feedback has been made in https://discourse.nixos.org/t/seeking-feedback-on-the-removal-of-scripted-initrd-networking-in-nixos/39457, we discussed with contributors in #dev:nixos.org at message https://matrix.to/#/!kjdutkOsheZdjqYmqp:nixos.org/$6e30z5pwbKIKXLTHs1eZwWkddMNrXgyoYc5NEIsW5zA?via=nixos.org&via=matrix.org&via=nixos.dev

A summary is that we notice that we don't have formal policies for deprecations in nixpkgs, we do not want to discuss tools or implementations of such things as we know plenty of them: RFC127 (unimplemented), NixOS module systems, lib.warn and more. We would like to focus and steer things towards a policy, we described our state of knowledge in https://pad.lassul.us/nixos-deprecation-cycle-theory.

Once we collect enough, we will move to a proposal in a PR and enact such a policy with the approval of contributors.

TWIN: This week, sparked from a discussion in the contribution channel https://matrix.to/#/!kjdutkOsheZdjqYmqp:nixos.org/$TyVnavWN3waTSaNOm0dT8V0q9Xmef0x1Tin-roaD_hU?via=nixos.org&via=matrix.org&via=nixos.dev about Musl https://musl.libc.org/, an alternative libc to glibc and its support in Nixpkgs.

I proposed as a takeaway https://matrix.to/#/!kjdutkOsheZdjqYmqp:nixos.org/$7lx9_zRf1xXuKv812u7ouhHLr0psuT3R-i7NEPvdQm8?via=nixos.org&via=matrix.org&via=nixos.dev that it would be interesting to see more CI checks in the form of passthru.tests.* on various relevant packages to https://spectrum-os.org/ which is a Nix-derivative operating system using Musl.

In addition to that, if troubles arise while supporting a package due to Musl tests, the group of folks in @NixOS/static could intervene and provide guidance on how to proceed.

Note that static builds in Nixpkgs are offered via static musl builds, this could be done using glibc but this infrastructure for static builds does not exist in nixpkgs. Moreover, according to the appendix in RFC 046 (https://github.com/NixOS/rfcs/blob/master/rfcs/0046-platform-support-tiers.md), x86_64-linux + musl + gcc is a tier 3 platform. Static musl is a tier 4 platform on x86_64-linux.

If you want to see this change, please chime in the discussion and offer your help to the people working on musl in nixpkgs.

TWIN: Enhanced FreeBSD support for nix and nixpkgs is on its way thanks to rhelmot and artemist! As of this week, nix support for sandboxed building with FreeBSD jails is an open pull request, along with a fully fledged stdenv for native use of nix on FreeBSD. Progress is ongoing to support desktop environments and a full FreeBSD-based nixos platform.

Due to a review of the FreeBSD backwards compatibility capabilities, the platform tuple was able to change to drop the major version number. Packages will be built by default for the lowest supported version of FreeBSD (14 at present), but can be built to take advantage of newer features by specifying build parameters.

For more information, check out https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/254801#issuecomment-1937118809

In reply to @twin:nixos.paris
✅ Thanks for the report raitobezarius, I'll store your update!

In reply to @twin:nixos.paris
✅ Thanks for the report raitobezarius, I'll store your update!