[Nix-dev] Non-root packaging system + stdenvNative and replace-literal

[Dag Sverre Seljebotn]

Hi list,

(Feel free to skip to the technical question further down...)

I'm currently looking into using nix to manage scientific
libraries. I'd like a non-root package management system in order to
use the same package system on my laptop and our cluster (without
pestering cluster administrators daily). Nix appears to be a very nice
foundation to build on for distributing scientific libraries
(reproducability etc.)

For that purpose, while having the option of building the entire
tool-chain (binutils, gcc, ...) is certainly nice, it'd be great if a
lighter approach was more easily available.

I've been hacking around in that direction but need some assistance to
get going. First thing I tried was to play with patching
pkgs/stdenv/default.nix so that stdenv=stdenvNative or stdenvNix,
however I get

/home/dagss/nix/store/fhi1l63zy9fal45mybxri4f6glk4v8qs-stdenv-native/setup:
line 358: replace-literal: command not found

I'm unable to figure out exactly how the different stdenv's bootstrap
themselves from the system and why the replace package is built and
installed at the right time with stdenvLinux but not with
stdenvNative. Any hints welcome.

This is with nixpkgs-0.14pre25932.

Dag Sverre Seljebotn