From 8133fed255aba4975a3c933962091b46826d8c05 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Vincent Ambo Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2021 13:44:22 +0300 Subject: feat(web/tvl/blog): Write Tvix introduction blog post This post is intended to just let people know about the existence of Tvix, tell them a bit about the background and how to follow along. Change-Id: Ib5194d3aa385a0e30b4768ba28cb063784f6e0a3 --- web/tvl/blog/rewriting-nix.md | 79 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 79 insertions(+) create mode 100644 web/tvl/blog/rewriting-nix.md (limited to 'web/tvl/blog/rewriting-nix.md') diff --git a/web/tvl/blog/rewriting-nix.md b/web/tvl/blog/rewriting-nix.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..9c62fc496f --- /dev/null +++ b/web/tvl/blog/rewriting-nix.md @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@ +Evaluating the Nix programming language, used by the Nix package +manager, is currently very slow. This becomes apparent in all projects +written in Nix that are not just simple package definitions, for +example: + +* the NixOS module system +* TVL projects like + [`//nix/yants`](https://at.tvl.fyi/?q=%2F%2Fnix%2Fyants) and + [`//web/bubblegum`](https://at.tvl.fyi/?q=%2F%2Fweb%2Fbubblegum). +* the code that [generates build + instructions](https://at.tvl.fyi/?q=%2F%2Fops%2Fpipelines) for TVL's + [CI setup](https://tvl.fyi/builds) + +Whichever project you pick, they all suffer from issues with the +language implementation. At TVL, it takes us close to a minute to +create the CI instructions for our monorepo at the moment - despite it +being a plain Nix evaluation. Running our Nix-native build systems for +[Go](https://code.tvl.fyi/about/nix/buildGo) and [Common +Lisp](https://code.tvl.fyi/about/nix/buildLisp) takes much more time +than we would like. + +Some time last year a few of us got together and started investigating +ways to modernise the current architecture of Nix and figure out how +to improve the speed of some of the components. We created over [250 +commits](https://cl.tvl.fyi/q/topic:tvix) in our fork of the Nix 2.3 +codebase at the time, tried [performance +experiments](https://cl.tvl.fyi/c/depot/+/1123/) aimed at improving +the current evaluator and fought [gnarly +bugs](https://cl.tvl.fyi/c/depot/+/1504). + +After a while we realised that we are treading water: Some of our +ideas are too architecturally divergent from Nix to be done on top of +the existing codebase, and the memory model of Nix causes significant +headaches when trying to do any kind of larger change. + +We needed an alternative approach and started brainstorming on a bent +whiteboard in a small flat in Hurghada, Egypt. + +![flokli & tazjin brainstorming](https://static.tvl.fyi/latest/flokli_tazjin_tvix.webp) + + + +Half a year later we are now ready to announce our new project: +**Tvix**, a re-imagined Nix with full nixpkgs compatibility. Tvix is +generously funded [by NLNet](https://nlnet.nl/project/Tvix/) (thanks!) +and we are ready to start implementing it. + +The [Tvix +architecture](https://code.tvl.fyi/about/tvix/docs/components.md) is +designed to be modular: It should be possible to write an evaluator +that plugs in the Guix language, to use arbitrary builders, and to +replace the store implementation. + +Tvix has these high-level goals: + +* Creating an alternative implementation of Nix that is **fully + compatible with nixpkgs**, as we believe that most of the value of + Nix currently lives in the massive amount of community contributions + to nixpkgs. +* A new Nix language implementation with a more efficient interpreter, + and without the strict separation between evaluation and build + phases +* Well-defined interaction protocols for how the three different + components (evaluator, builder, store) interact. +* A builder implementation using OCI instead of custom sandboxing + code. + +Tvix is not intended to *replace* Nix, instead we want to improve the +ecosystem by offering a diversity of implementations. However, we do +not intend to support experimental features. + +As things ramp up we will be posting more information on this blog, +for now you can keep an eye on +[`//tvix`](https://cs.tvl.fyi/depot/-/tree/tvix) in the TVL monorepo, +subscribe to [our feed](https://tvl.fyi/feed.atom). + +Stay tuned! -- cgit 1.4.1