One would think that `localSystem` and `crossSystem` overlap horribly with the three `*Platforms` (`buildPlatform`, `hostPlatform,` and `targetPlatform`; see `stage.nix` or the manual). Actually, those identifiers are purposefully not used here to draw a subtle but important distinction: While the granularity of having 3 platforms is necessary to properly *build* packages, it is overkill for specifying the user's *intent* when making a build plan or package set. A simple "build vs deploy" dichotomy is adequate: the sliding window principle described in the previous section shows how to interpolate between the these two "end points" to get the 3 platform triple for each bootstrapping stage. That means for any package a given package set, even those not bound on the top level but only reachable via dependencies or `buildPackages`, the three platforms will be defined as one of `localSystem` or `crossSystem`, with the former replacing the latter as one traverses build-time dependencies. A last simple difference is that `crossSystem` should be null when one doesn't want to cross-compile, while the `*Platform`s are always non-null. `localSystem` is always non-null.

## Cross-compilation infrastructure {#sec-cross-infra}

### Implementation of dependencies {#ssec-cross-dependency-implementation}

The categories of dependencies developed in [](#ssec-cross-dependency-categorization) are specified as lists of derivations given to `mkDerivation`, as documented in [](#ssec-stdenv-dependencies). In short, each list of dependencies for "host → target" is called `deps<host><target>` (where `host`, and `target` values are either `build`, `host`, or `target`), with exceptions for backwards compatibility that `depsBuildHost` is instead called `nativeBuildInputs` and `depsHostTarget` is instead called `buildInputs`. Nixpkgs is now structured so that each `deps<host><target>` is automatically taken from `pkgs<host><target>`. (These `pkgs<host><target>`s are quite new, so there is no special case for `nativeBuildInputs` and `buildInputs`.) For example, `pkgsBuildHost.gcc` should be used at build-time, while `pkgsHostTarget.gcc` should be used at run-time.

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.