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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/release-notes.xml | 145 |
1 files changed, 132 insertions, 13 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/release-notes.xml b/doc/manual/release-notes.xml index 328853a77370..1ebef331eb6f 100644 --- a/doc/manual/release-notes.xml +++ b/doc/manual/release-notes.xml @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@ -<article xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"> +<article xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" + xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <title>Nix Release Notes</title> @@ -36,6 +37,9 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> derivations, you need to specify <literal>\*</literal>.</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>Berkeley DB 4.4’s process registry feature is used + to recover from crashed Nix processes.</para></listitem> + <!-- <listitem><para>TODO: shared stores.</para></listitem> --> <listitem><para>A performance issue has been fixed with the @@ -52,27 +56,142 @@ irreversible.</para></warning> nix-store</literal> without triggering a database recovery.</para></listitem> - <listitem><para>Reference scanning (which happens after each build) - is much faster.</para></listitem> - <listitem><para>TODO: string interpolation</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>New language features: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>Reference scanning (which happens after each + build) is much faster.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>String interpolation. Expressions like + +<programlisting> +"--with-freetype2-library=" + freetype + "/lib"</programlisting> + + can now be written as + +<programlisting> +"--with-freetype2-library=${freetype}/lib"</programlisting> + + You can write arbitrary expressions within + <literal>${<replaceable>...</replaceable>}</literal>, not just + identifiers.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Multi-line string literals.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>TODO: string concatenations involving + derivations. Consequently, the subpath operator + (<literal>~</literal>) has been deprecated.</para></listitem> - <listitem><para>TODO: string concatenations involving - derivations</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>TODO: function argument default values can refer + to other function arguments</para></listitem> - <listitem><para>TODO: function argument default values can refer to - other function arguments</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>TODO: domain checks (r5895).</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + + <listitem><para>If the top-level Nix expression used by + <command>nix-env</command>, <command>nix-instantiate</command> or + <command>nix-build</command> evaluates to a function whose arguments + all have default values, the function will be called automatically. + Also, the new command-line switch <option>--arg + <replaceable>name</replaceable> + <replaceable>value</replaceable></option> can be used to specify + function arguments on the command line.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>TODO: proxy support.</para></listitem> - <listitem><para>TODO: nix-pack-closure and - nix-unpack-closure.</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>New commands <command>nix-pack-closure</command> and + <command>nix-unpack-closure</command> than can be used to easily + transfer a stire path with all its dependencies to another machine. + Very convenient whenever you have some package on your machine and + you want to copy it somewhere else.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><command>bsdiff</command> updated + 4.3.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>TODO: open files etc. are now used as roots of the - garbage collector.</para></listitem> + garbage collector (r5796).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>TODO: --attr / -A flags in + nix-env/nix-instantiate/nix-build. Also nix-env -qa + --attr.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-build -o + <replaceable>symlink</replaceable></literal> allows the symlink to + the build result to be named something other than + <literal>result</literal>.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-store --gc</literal> + (a.k.a. <command>nix-collect-garbage</command>) prints out the + number of bytes freed on standard output. <literal>nix-store --gc + --print-dead</literal> shows how many bytes would be freed by an + actual garbage collection.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>New command <literal>nix-store --delete</literal> to + delete specific paths from the Nix store. It won’t delete reachable + (non-garbage) paths unless <option>--ignore-liveness</option> is + specified.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Substantial performance improvements in expression + evaluation and <literal>nix-env -qa</literal>, all thanks to <link + xlink:href="http://valgrind.org/">Valgrind</link>. Memory use has + been reduced by a factor 8 or so. Big speedup by memoisation of + path hashing.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Lots of bug fixes, notably: + + <itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>Make sure that the garbage collector can run + succesfully when the disk is full.</para></listitem> + + </itemizedlist> + + </para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>TODO: XML support in <literal>nix-env -q + --xml</literal> and <literal>nix-instantiate --eval-only + --xml</literal>.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env -i + <replaceable>pkgname</replaceable></literal> will now install the + highest available version of <replaceable>pkgname</replaceable>, + rather than installing all available versions (which would probably + give collisions).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env (-i|-u) --dry-run</literal> now + shows exactly which missing paths will be built or + substituted.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><literal>nix-env -qa --description</literal> shows + human-readable descriptions of packages, provided that they have a + <literal>meta.description</literal> attribute (which most packages + in Nixpkgs don’t have yet).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Nix source distributions are a lot smaller now since + we no longer include a full copy of the Berkeley DB source + distribution (but only the bits we need).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Support for 64-bit platforms, provided <link + xlink:href="http://bugzilla.sen.cwi.nl:8080/show_bug.cgi?id=606">suitably + patched ATerm library</link> is used.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Added support for Cygwin (Windows, + <literal>i686-cygwin</literal>) and Mac OS X on Intel + (<literal>i686-darwin</literal>).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para><command>nix-env</command> now locks the profile to + prevent races between concurrent <command>nix-env</command> + operations on the same profile + (<literal>NIX-7</literal>).</para></listitem> - <listitem><para>TODO: --attr / -a flags in - nix-env/nix-instantiate/nix-build.</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>TODO: <literal>nix-push + --target</literal>.</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> |