Now, for most of Nixpkgs's history, there were no `pkgs<host><target>` attributes, and most packages have not been refactored to use it explicitly. Prior to those, there were just `buildPackages`, `pkgs`, and `targetPackages`. Those are now redefined as aliases to `pkgsBuildHost`, `pkgsHostTarget`, and `pkgsTargetTarget`. It is acceptable, even recommended, to use them for libraries to show that the host platform is irrelevant.

But before that, there was just `pkgs`, even though both `buildInputs` and `nativeBuildInputs` existed. \[Cross barely worked, and those were implemented with some hacks on `mkDerivation` to override dependencies.\] What this means is the vast majority of packages do not use any explicit package set to populate their dependencies, just using whatever `callPackage` gives them even if they do correctly sort their dependencies into the multiple lists described above. And indeed, asking that users both sort their dependencies, _and_ take them from the right attribute set, is both too onerous and redundant, so the recommended approach (for now) is to continue just categorizing by list and not using an explicit package set.

To make this work, we "splice" together the six `pkgsFooBar` package sets and have `callPackage` actually take its arguments from that. This is currently implemented in `pkgs/top-level/splice.nix`. `mkDerivation` then, for each dependency attribute, pulls the right derivation out from the splice. This splicing can be skipped when not cross-compiling as the package sets are the same, but still is a bit slow for cross-compiling. We'd like to do something better, but haven't come up with anything yet.

### Bootstrapping {#ssec-bootstrapping}

Each of the package sets described above come from a single bootstrapping stage. While `pkgs/top-level/default.nix`, coordinates the composition of stages at a high level, `pkgs/top-level/stage.nix` "ties the knot" (creates the fixed point) of each stage. The package sets are defined per-stage however, so they can be thought of as edges between stages (the nodes) in a graph. Compositions like `pkgsBuildTarget.targetPackages` can be thought of as paths to this graph.

While there are many package sets, and thus many edges, the stages can also be arranged in a linear chain. In other words, many of the edges are redundant as far as connectivity is concerned. This hinges on the type of bootstrapping we do. Currently for cross it is:

1.  `(native, native, native)`

2.  `(native, native, foreign)`

3.  `(native, foreign, foreign)`

In each stage, `pkgsBuildHost` refers to the previous stage, `pkgsBuildBuild` refers to the one before that, and `pkgsHostTarget` refers to the current one, and `pkgsTargetTarget` refers to the next one. When there is no previous or next stage, they instead refer to the current stage. Note how all the invariants regarding the mapping between dependency and depending packages' build host and target platforms are preserved. `pkgsBuildTarget` and `pkgsHostHost` are more complex in that the stage fitting the requirements isn't always a fixed chain of "prevs" and "nexts" away (modulo the "saturating" self-references at the ends). We just special case each instead. All the primary edges are implemented is in `pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix`, and secondarily aliases in `pkgs/top-level/stage.nix`.

::: {.note}
The native stages are bootstrapped in legacy ways that predate the current cross implementation. This is why the bootstrapping stages leading up to the final stages are ignored in the previous paragraph.