Most of this is summarized from https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/bc061915ac2cf395e4d1f021cb565f495edfa24a/doc/stdenv/cross-compilation.chapter.md.
In Nixpkgs, dependency offsets are the relative positioning of dependencies in the build process with respect to the build, host, and target platforms. In the case we're not doing cross-compilation, the build, host, and target platforms are the same, and none of this really matters. (Although, with strictDeps = true
it can be important as you're telling Nix to enforce separation between build-time and run-time dependencies.)
Some key points: