Package Inclusion Considerations and Adding a Package to Nixpkgs (Continued)

* transparent public disclosure of security issues when they are found or fixed * These aspects are sometimes hard to verify, in which case an upstream that is not known to be irresponsible should be considered as responsible. * Source-available software should be built from source where possible. Binary blobs risk supply chain attacks and vendored outdated libraries. This section describes a general framework of understanding and exceptions might apply. Luckily it's pretty easy to maintain your own package set with Nix, which can then be added to the [Nix User Repository](https://github.com/nix-community/nur) project. --- Now that this is out of the way. To add a package to Nixpkgs: 1. Checkout the Nixpkgs source tree: ```ShellSession $ git clone https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs $ cd nixpkgs ``` 2. Create a package directory `pkgs/by-name/so/some-package` where `some-package` is the package name and `so` is the lowercased 2-letter prefix of the package name: ```ShellSession $ mkdir -p pkgs/by-name/so/some-package ``` For more detailed information, see [here](./by-name/README.md). 3. Create a `package.nix` file in the package directory, containing a Nix expression — a piece of code that describes how to build the package. In this case, it should be a _function_ that is called with the package dependencies as arguments, and returns a build of the package in the Nix store. ```ShellSession $ emacs pkgs/by-name/so/some-package/package.nix $ git add pkgs/by-name/so/some-package/package.nix ``` If the package is written in a language other than C, you should use [the corresponding language framework](https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#chap-language-support). You can have a look at the existing Nix expressions under `pkgs/` to see how it’s done, some of which are also using the [category hierarchy](#category-hierarchy). Here are some good ones: - GNU Hello: [`pkgs/by-name/he/hello/package.nix`](./by-name/he/hello/package.nix). Trivial package, which specifies some `meta` attributes which is good practice. - GNU cpio: [`pkgs/by-name/cp/cpio/package.nix`](./by-name/cp/cpio/package.nix). Also a simple package. The generic builder in `stdenv` does everything for you. It has no dependencies beyond `stdenv`. - GNU Multiple Precision arithmetic library (GMP): [`pkgs/development/libraries/gmp`](development/libraries/gmp). Also done by the generic builder, but has a dependency on `m4`. - Pan, a GTK-based newsreader: [`pkgs/by-name/pa/pan/package.nix`](./by-name/pa/pan/package.nix). Has an optional dependency on `gtkspell`, which is only built if `spellCheck` is `true`. - Apache HTTPD: [`pkgs/servers/http/apache-httpd/2.4.nix`](servers/http/apache-httpd/2.4.nix). A bunch of optional features, variable substitutions in the configure flags, a post-install hook, and miscellaneous hackery. - buildMozillaMach: [`pkgs/applications/networking/browser/firefox/common.nix`](applications/networking/browsers/firefox/common.nix). A reusable build function for Firefox, Thunderbird and Librewolf. - JDiskReport, a Java utility: [`pkgs/by-name/jd/jdiskreport/package.nix`](./by-name/jd/jdiskreport/package.nix). Nixpkgs doesn’t have a decent `stdenv` for Java yet so this is pretty ad-hoc. - XML::Simple, a Perl module: [`pkgs/top-level/perl-packages.nix`](top-level/perl-packages.nix) (search for the `XMLSimple` attribute). Most Perl modules are so simple to build that they are defined directly in `perl-packages.nix`; no need to make a separate file for them. - Discord Game SDK: [`pkgs/by-name/di/discord-gamesdk/package.nix`](./by-name/di/discord-gamesdk/package.nix). Shows how binary-only packages can be supported. In particular, the `autoPatchelfHook` is used to set the RUNPATH and ELF interpreter of the executables so that the right libraries are found at runtime. Some notes: - Add yourself as the maintainer of the package. - If this is your first time contributing (welcome!), [add yourself to the maintainers list](../maintainers/README.md#how-to-become-a-maintainer) in a separate commit.

Source-available software should be built from source to avoid supply chain risks. If the package meets criteria, add it to Nixpkgs by cloning the repository, creating a directory named after the package under `pkgs/by-name`, and creating a `package.nix` file with a Nix expression describing how to build the package. Examples of existing packages in `pkgs/` are provided as references. New contributors should add themselves to the maintainers list.