Changes between Nix and Determinate Nix

This section lists the differences between upstream Nix 2.31 and Determinate Nix 3.10.1.

• In Determinate Nix, flakes are stable. You no longer need to enable the flakes experimental feature.

• In Determinate Nix, the new Nix CLI (i.e. the nix command) is stable. You no longer need to enable the nix-command experimental feature.

• Determinate Nix has a setting json-log-path to send a copy of all Nix log messages (in JSON format) to a file or Unix domain socket.

• Determinate Nix has made nix profile install an alias to nix profile add, a more symmetrical antonym of nix profile remove.

• nix-channel and channel: url syntax (like channel:nixos-24.11) is deprecated, see: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-src/issues/34

• Using indirect flake references and implicit inputs is deprecated, see: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-src/issues/37

• Warnings around "dirty trees" are updated to reduce "dirty" jargon, and now refers to "uncommitted changes".

• nix upgrade-nix is now inert, and suggests using determinate-nixd upgrade -- DeterminateSystems/nix-src#55

• Initial Lazy Trees support has been merged, but remains off by default. (DeterminateSystems/nix-src#27, DeterminateSystems/nix-src#56)

• Tell users a source is corrupted ("cannot read file from tarball: Truncated tar archive detected while reading data"), improving over the previous 'cannot read file from tarball' error by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#64

• Emit warnings when using import-from-derivation by setting the trace-import-from-derivation option to true by @gustavderdrache in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#70

• Faster nix store copy-sigs by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#80

• Document how to replicate nix-store --query --deriver with the nix cli by @grahamc in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#82

• Garbage collector: Keep going even when encountering an undeletable file by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#83

• nix profile: Replace ε and ∅ with descriptive English words by @grahamc in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#81

• Call out that --keep-failed with remote builders will keep the failed build directory on that builder by @cole-h in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#85

• When remote building with --keep-failed, only show "you can rerun" message if the derivation's platform is supported on this machine by @cole-h in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#87

• Indicate that sandbox-paths specifies a missing file in the corresponding error message. by @cole-h in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#88

• Use 'published' release type to avoid double uploads by @gustavderdrache in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#90

• Render lazy tree paths in messages withouth the/nix/store/hash... prefix in substituted source trees by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#91

• Use FlakeHub inputs by @lucperkins in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#89

• Proactively cache more flake inputs and fetches by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#93

• Fix: register extra builtins just once by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#97

• Fix: Make the S3 test more robust by @gustavderdrache in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#101

• Fix the link to builders-use-substitutes documentation for builders by @lucperkins in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#102

• Improve error messages that use the hypothetical future tense of "will" by @lucperkins in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#92

• Improve caching of inputs in dry-run mode by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#98

• Fix fetchToStore() caching with --impure, improve testing by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#117

• Add lazy-locks setting by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#113

• Sync 2.29.1 by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#124

• Release v3.6.7 by @github-actions in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#126

• Overriding deeply-nested transitive flake inputs now works, by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#108

• nix store delete now explains why deletion fails by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#130

• New command: nix flake prefetch-inputs for improved CI performance, by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#127

• nix flake check: Skip substitutable derivations by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#134

• lockFlake(): When updating a lock, respect the input's lock file by @edolstra in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#137

• Address ifdef problem with macOS/BSD sandboxing by @gustavderdrache in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#142

• ci: don't run the full test suite for x86_64-darwin by @grahamc in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#144

• Try publishing the manual again by @grahamc in DeterminateSystems/nix-src#145

• Add an external-builders experimental feature DeterminateSystems/nix-src#141

• Add support for external builders DeterminateSystems/nix-src#78

• Revert "Use WAL mode for SQLite cache databases" DeterminateSystems/nix-src#155

• Tab completing arguments to Nix avoids network access. DeterminateSystems/nix-src#161

• Nix on ZFS no longer stalls for multiple seconds at a time DeterminateSystems/nix-src#158

• Importing Nixpkgs and other tarballs to the cache 2-4x faster DeterminateSystems/nix-src#149

• Adding paths to the store is significantly faster DeterminateSystems/nix-src#162

• Use WAL mode for SQLite cache databases (2nd attempt) DeterminateSystems/nix-src#167

• Enable parallel marking in boehm-gc DeterminateSystems/nix-src#168

• Build-time flake inputs DeterminateSystems/nix-src#49

• The default nix flake init template is much more useful DeterminateSystems/nix-src#180