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The `sheevaplug` kernel configuration was added a very long time ago and has not been adjusted for years. `pogoplug4` was identical to `sheevaplug` except for an even more stripped‐down kernel configuration, no device tree support, and a different load address for the uImage. These days, the stock kernel configuration builds and there has been an upstream device tree for the Pogoplug Series 4 for years; unify `sheevaplug` and `pogoplug4` into an `armv5tel-multiplatform` that uses the standard configuration. ARMv5 was also the only platform that defaulted to uImage, the [legacy U‐Boot image format] that is deprecated upstream. Our bootloader machinery in NixOS does not handle these images in any special way and even the original ARMv6 Raspberry Pi platform defaults to the standard zImage. We switch `armv5tel-multiplatform` to zImage to match. [legacy U‐Boot image format]: https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/usage/cmd/bootm.html#legacy-boot It is of course natural to worry about backwards compatibility here: this switches to a different kernel image format and drops support for root on NFS along with random oddities like KGDB and LatencyTOP. Renaming the platform is intended to help mitigate this risk. The reality, however, is that it is currently very difficult to build a configuration for ARMv5. I found <https://github.com/thefloweringash/sheevaplug-nix> online as an example configuration from many years ago; it already set `autoModules`, and builds U‐Boot using `CONFIG_DISTRO_DEFAULTS`, which should work out of the box without requiring the legacy U‐Boot image format. Even then, however, I confirmed with the author that it hasn’t been used in years, and I could barely get it to build with a modern Nixpkgs: OpenSSH is broken, Nix is broken, multiple default `environment.systemPackages` in the SD image profile are broken, `boot.initrd.includeDefaultModules` is broken, and `hardware.enableAllHardware` is broken. I conclude that if anyone is actively building systems on ARMv5, they have a forked Nixpkgs or a very custom setup. Given our general move to standard boot chains and no platform‐specific hacks, and the decaying state of our unofficial support for 32‐bit ARM, I think it is not worth maintaining support for the legacy image format for this one ancient platform. If anyone is running a heavily stripped‐down NixOS configuration on mission‐critical SheevaPlugs using a custom Nix‐free deployment setup relying on the legacy U‐Boot image format and somehow none of these kernel changes manage to loudly break their build, hopefully they’ll at least notice the release notes entry! Otherwise there’s always JTAG…
Nixpkgs is a collection of over 120,000 software packages that can be installed with the Nix package manager. It also implements NixOS, a purely-functional Linux distribution.
Manuals
- NixOS Manual - how to install, configure, and maintain a purely-functional Linux distribution
- Nixpkgs Manual - contributing to Nixpkgs and using programming-language-specific Nix expressions
- Nix Package Manager Manual - how to write Nix expressions (programs), and how to use Nix command line tools
Community
- Discourse Forum
- Matrix Chat
- Official wiki
- Community-maintained list of ways to get in touch (Discord, Telegram, IRC, etc.)
Other Project Repositories
The sources of all official Nix-related projects are in the NixOS organization on GitHub. Here are some of the main ones:
- Nix - the purely functional package manager
- NixOps - the tool to remotely deploy NixOS machines
- nixos-hardware - NixOS profiles to optimize settings for different hardware
- Nix RFCs - the formal process for making substantial changes to the community
- NixOS homepage - the NixOS.org website
- hydra - our continuous integration system
- NixOS Branding - NixOS branding
Continuous Integration and Distribution
Nixpkgs and NixOS are built and tested by our continuous integration system, Hydra.
- Continuous package builds for unstable/master
- Continuous package builds for the NixOS 25.11 release
- Tests for unstable/master
- Tests for the NixOS 25.11 release
Artifacts successfully built with Hydra are published to cache at https://cache.nixos.org/. When successful build and test criteria are met, the Nixpkgs expressions are distributed via Nix channels.
Contributing
Nixpkgs is among the most active projects on GitHub. While thousands of open issues and pull requests might seem like a lot at first, it helps to consider it in the context of the scope of the project. Nixpkgs describes how to build tens of thousands of pieces of software and implements a Linux distribution. The GitHub Insights page gives a sense of the project activity.
Community contributions are always welcome through GitHub Issues and Pull Requests.
For more information about contributing to the project, please visit the contributing page.
Donations
The infrastructure for NixOS and related projects is maintained by a nonprofit organization, the NixOS Foundation. To ensure the continuity and expansion of the NixOS infrastructure, we are looking for donations to our organization.
You can donate to the NixOS Foundation through SEPA bank transfers or by using Open Collective:
License
Nixpkgs is licensed under the MIT License.
Note
MIT license does not apply to the packages built by Nixpkgs, merely to the files in this repository (the Nix expressions, build scripts, NixOS modules, etc.). It also might not apply to patches included in Nixpkgs, which may be derivative works of the packages to which they apply. The aforementioned artifacts are all covered by the licenses of the respective packages.