Update the release notes

1 files changed, 82 insertions, 12 deletions

diff --git a/doc/manual/release-notes.xml b/doc/manual/release-notes.xml
index 7ef25401beaa..4c88a8ceda83 100644
--- a/doc/manual/release-notes.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/release-notes.xml
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 
 <section xml:id="ssec-relnotes-1.0"><title>Release 1.0 (TBA)</title>
 
-<para>This release has the following improvements:</para>
+<para>There have been numerous improvements and bug fixes since the
+previous release.  Here are the most significant:</para>
 
 <itemizedlist>
 
@@ -23,29 +24,98 @@
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
-    <para>The option <option>--timeout</option> (corresponding to the
-    configuration setting <literal>build-timeout</literal>) allows you
-    to set an absolute timeout on builds — if a build runs for more than
-    the given number of seconds, it is terminated.  This is useful for
-    recovering automatically from builds that are stuck in an infinite
-    loop but keep producing output, and for which
-    <literal>--max-silent-time</literal> is ineffective.</para>
+    <para>Nix now uses SQLite for its database.  This is faster and
+    more flexible than the old <emphasis>ad hoc</emphasis> format.
+    SQLite is also used to cache the manifests in
+    <filename>/nix/var/nix/manifests</filename>, resulting in a
+    significant speedup.</para>
+  </listitem>
+    
+  <listitem>
+    <para>Nix now has an search path for expressions.  The search path
+    is set using the environment variable <envar>NIX_PATH</envar> and
+    the <option>-I</option> command line option.  In Nix expressions,
+    paths between angle brackets are used to specify files that must
+    be looked up in the search path.  For instance, the expression
+    <literal>&lt;nixpkgs/default.nix></literal> looks for a file
+    <filename>nixpkgs/default.nix</filename> relative to every element
+    in the search path.</para>
+  </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>The new command <command>nix-build --run-env</command>
+    builds all dependencies of a derivation, then starts a shell in an
+    environment containing all variables from the derivation.  This is
+    useful for reproducing the environment of a derivation for
+    development.</para>
+  </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>The new command <command>nix-store --verify-path</command>
+    verifies that the contents of a store path have not
+    changed.</para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
-    <para>TODO: “or” keyword.</para>
+    <para>The new command <command>nix-store --print-env</command>
+    prints out the environment of a derivation in a format that can be
+    evaluated by a shell.</para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
-    <para>TODO: Nix expression search path (<literal>import &lt;foo/bar.nix></literal>).</para>
+    <para>Attribute names can now be arbitrary strings.  For instance,
+    you can write <literal>{ "foo-1.2" = …; "bla bla" = …; }."bla
+    bla"</literal>.</para>
+  </listitem>
+    
+  <listitem>
+    <para>Attribute selection can now provide a default value using
+    the <literal>or</literal> operator.  For instance, the expression
+    <literal>x.y.z or e</literal> evaluates to the attribute
+    <literal>x.y.z</literal> if it exists, and <literal>e</literal>
+    otherwise.</para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
-    <para>TODO: <command>nix-store --verify-path</command> command.</para>
+    <para>The right-hand side of the <literal>?</literal> operator can
+    now be an attribute path, e.g., <literal>attrs ?
+    a.b.c</literal>.</para>
+  </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>On Linux, Nix will now make files in the Nix store immutable
+    on filesystems that support it.  This prevents accidental
+    modification of files in the store by the root user.</para>
+  </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>Nix has preliminary support for derivations with multiple
+    outputs.  This is useful because it allows parts of a package to
+    be deployed and garbage-collected separately.  For instance,
+    development parts of a package such as header files or static
+    libraries would typically not be part of the closure of an
+    application, resulting in reduced disk usage and installation
+    time.</para>
+  </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>The Nix store garbage collector is faster and holds the
+    global lock for a shorter amount of time.</para>
+  </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>The option <option>--timeout</option> (corresponding to the
+    configuration setting <literal>build-timeout</literal>) allows you
+    to set an absolute timeout on builds — if a build runs for more than
+    the given number of seconds, it is terminated.  This is useful for
+    recovering automatically from builds that are stuck in an infinite
+    loop but keep producing output, and for which
+    <literal>--max-silent-time</literal> is ineffective.</para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
-    <para>TODO: <command>nix-store --print-env</command> command.</para>
+    <para>Nix development has moved to GitHub (<link
+    xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nix" />).</para>
   </listitem>
 
 </itemizedlist>