[Nix-dev] Using nix under debian stable

[Pjotr Prins]

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 12:11:31AM +0300, Michael Raskin wrote:
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> Pjotr Prins wrote:
> > Ask him to make a hard link. You can also do away with the
> > pre-compiled packages. I find it is no problem and you can share
> > precompiled binaries with other systems as long as the path is the
> > same. BTW current server farm pre-compiled packages are useless if you
> > are compiling against other kernel headers (like I do).
> 
> 1. Directory hardlink - even if supported by FS - may be regarded with
> even more suspicion..

I think it is in the manual somewhere. I am certain I read it.

> 2. Actually, you can get a lot without using old headers. Stdenv branch
> currently contains a coreutils patch (trunk contains the patch but
> doesn't apply it) to use newer kernel headers with an older kernel. It
> allowed me to build and run CLisp and TeXLive, for example .

Well, problem is that the time patch does not guarantee a consistent
system (I have seen runtime errors come up with that patch). Building
without errors does not prevent libraries to depend on 'missing'
functionality. And there may be more subtle problems. Building against
the wrong headers is just not recommended.  The Linux kernel interface
is usually quite stable, but I would never be confident running older
headers with a production system.

Pj.