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NixOS
EntityQ21998874· pop 21· linked from 348 articles

NixOS is a Linux distribution built around the Nix package manager. Unlike traditional Linux distributions, NixOS is configured using a functional language that describes the system configuration. It generates complete system profiles, enabling reproducible deployments, atomic upgrades, and system rollbacks.

Key facts

OS.name
NixOS
OS.logo alt
NixOS stylized geometric snowflake logotype
OS.developer
NixOS contributors NixOS Foundation
OS.source model
Open source
OS.kernel type
Monolithic (Linux kernel)
OS.supported platforms
fully supported: x86-64, AArch64; limited support (must be built from source): i686
OS.family
Linux (Unix-like)
OS.latest release version
25.11
OS.latest preview version
26.05-pre
OS.working state
Current
OS.license
MIT
OS.marketing target
General purpose
OS.programmed in
Nix expression language
OS.package manager
Nix
OS.userland
GNU

via Wikipedia infobox

Source code

Nixpkgs is a collection of over 140,000 software packages that can be installed with the Nix package manager. It also implements NixOS, a purely-functional Linux distribution. Discourse Forum Matrix Chat Official wiki Community-maintained list of ways to get in touch (Discord, Telegram, IRC, etc.) The sources of all official Nix-related projects are in the NixOS organization on GitHub. Here are some of the main ones: Nix - the purely functional package manager NixOps - the tool to remotely deploy NixOS machines nixos-hardware - NixOS profiles to optimize settings for different hardware Nix RFCs - the formal process for making substantial changes to the community NixOS homepage - the NixOS.org website hydra - our continuous integration system NixOS Branding - NixOS branding Nixpkgs and NixOS are built and tested by our continuous integration system, Hydra. Continuous package builds for unstable/master Continuous package builds for the NixOS 26.05 release Tests for unstable/master Tests for the NixOS 26.05 release Artifacts successfully built with Hydra are published to cache at When successful build and test criteria are met, the Nixpkgs expressions are distributed via Nix channels. For more information about contributing to the project, please visit the contributing page. The infrastructure for NixOS and related projects is maintained by a nonprofit organization, the NixOS Foundation. To ensure the continuity and expansion of the NixOS infrastructure, we are looking for donations to our organization. MIT license does not apply to the packages built by Nixpkgs, merely to the files in this repository (the Nix expressions, build scripts, NixOS modules, etc.). It also might not apply to patches included in Nixpkgs, which may be derivative works of the packages to which they apply. The aforementioned artifacts are all covered by the licenses of the respective packages.

Excerpt from the source-code README · 5,199 chars · not written by Vinony

Wikidata facts

Official website
nixos.org
Image
NixOS 21.11 GNOME main menu - English.png
Show 15 more facts
source code repository URL
github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs
software version identifier
25.11
social media followers
4068
Stack Exchange tag
superuser.com/tags/nixos
inception
2003-00-00
Commons category
NixOS
official forum URL
discourse.nixos.org
hashtag
NixOS
official wiki URL
wiki.nixos.org
IRC channel URL
ircs://irc.libera.chat/nixos
official blog URL
nixos.org/blog
download URL
nixos.org/download
Sources (9)

via Wikidata · CC0

~11 min read

Article

21 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Release version history
  • Features
  • Declarative configuration model
  • Atomic upgrades and rollbacks
  • Reproducible system configurations
  • Multi-user package management
  • Nix-shell
  • Experimental features
  • Nix command
  • Flakes
  • Implementation
  • The Nix store
  • Source-based model with binary cache
  • Reception
  • Community
  • Wiki
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • External links

NixOS is a Linux distribution built around the Nix package manager. Unlike traditional Linux distributions, NixOS is configured using a functional language that describes the system configuration. It generates complete system profiles, enabling reproducible deployments, atomic upgrades, and system rollbacks.

NixOS relies on the Nixpkgs collection of package definitions and the Nix expression language for declaring packages and system options. It is free and open-source software under the MIT License.

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