nixpkgs-rules.org

Proposed Nixpkgs Rules

• Mission statement: to package the latest, stable version of all of the world’s open source software with a living maintainer.
• Other software is allowed on a case by case basis. Possible exceptions include, but not limited to:
  • Popular closed-source applications without a good alternative.
  • Older software that is required as a dependency of other packages.
  • Unstable versions of software
    • commonly used and packaged by other package sets.
    • where no stable version exists.
    • where the stable version is over 18 months old.
    • that is depended on by another package and no stable version will work.
• Standard environment should include the minimum amount of software required to build directly or transitively all other software.
  • Some software needs its own bootstrap tools. This should be limited to the self-hosted compilers specifically listed:
    • JDK
    • GHC
    • Rustc
    • OCaml
    • SML
    • ?
  • Bootstrapping should not be exceptional. It should be as close to ordinary compilation as possible.
• Limit checked in code to the absolute minimum. Use as much upstream patches and source code as possible. If you author a patch, it must be made available to upstream first. Leave a comment on whether the patch is accepted or not by upstream.
  • Patches should be unconditional and upstreamable.
• Limit the difference between platforms as much as possible.
• Every package should have a unique source.
• Packages should assume dependencies have no enabled features, but permit all to be enabled.
• Make every feature configurable, but enable all of them by default.
• All software should be built from source, unless source code is unavailable or no way to build from source currently exists.
• No merging of your own pull requests.