# Nix derivations

Date: 2021-07-18 23:16:39 +08:00Date modified: 2021-12-28 00:16:07 +08:00

Derivations are recipes for the Nix build daemon how to build the package. At a glance, this is the equivalent to manifests from Flatpak packages or Guix packages.

The following code block shows what a derivation looks like.

    nix show-derivation nixpkgs#hello

{ "/nix/store/vvb4wxmnjixmrkhmj2xb75z62hrr41i7-hello-2.10.drv": { "outputs": { "out": { "path": "/nix/store/xcp9cav49dmsjbwdjlmkjxj10gkpx553-hello-2.10" } }, "inputSrcs": [ "/nix/store/9krlzvny65gdc8s7kpb6lkx8cd02c25b-default-builder.sh" ], "inputDrvs": { "/nix/store/127p1886lb1q7x02wyy77ib9ghhc324v-hello-2.10.tar.gz.drv": [ "out" ], "/nix/store/4lzwc3wzbqjq973psxkph8jjq4g6cssr-stdenv-linux.drv": [ "out" ], "/nix/store/js6ib8zv84knb7kwnjdrqgwf86djjblk-bash-5.1-p12.drv": [ "out" ] }, "system": "x86_64-linux", "builder": "/nix/store/a54wrar1jym1d8yvlijq0l2gghmy8szz-bash-5.1-p12/bin/bash", "args": [ "-e", "/nix/store/9krlzvny65gdc8s7kpb6lkx8cd02c25b-default-builder.sh" ], "env": { "buildInputs": "", "builder": "/nix/store/a54wrar1jym1d8yvlijq0l2gghmy8szz-bash-5.1-p12/bin/bash", "configureFlags": "", "depsBuildBuild": "", "depsBuildBuildPropagated": "", "depsBuildTarget": "", "depsBuildTargetPropagated": "", "depsHostHost": "", "depsHostHostPropagated": "", "depsTargetTarget": "", "depsTargetTargetPropagated": "", "doCheck": "1", "doInstallCheck": "", "name": "hello-2.10", "nativeBuildInputs": "", "out": "/nix/store/xcp9cav49dmsjbwdjlmkjxj10gkpx553-hello-2.10", "outputs": "out", "patches": "", "pname": "hello", "propagatedBuildInputs": "", "propagatedNativeBuildInputs": "", "src": "/nix/store/3x7dwzq014bblazs7kq20p9hyzz0qh8g-hello-2.10.tar.gz", "stdenv": "/nix/store/xcmlbsqabmckx42p8w18ri5zq8v2iiav-stdenv-linux", "strictDeps": "", "system": "x86_64-linux", "version": "2.10" } } }

While we can create derivations with the `derivations` builtin from the Nix language, in practice you'll use `stdenv.mkDerivation` from nixpkgs standard library.

- nixpkgs also comes with several convenient functions/environments for several programming languages and frameworks including Python, Rust, Go, and Nim

- it also includes environments for common setups such as for clang compiler

## Backlinks

- Nix language
- Nix packages
- Nix package manager