Packages outside nixpkgs

Some programs installed by the framework do not exist in nixpkgs 🡕. Their build recipes live in dnf/pkgs/, and are exposed to all hosts like any other package, under pkgs.<name>.

Where to put what

Three locations exist for a package that is out of the ordinary, with three different intents.

Location	Purpose	Lifetime
dnf/pkgs/	Not in nixpkgs, installed by hosts or users.	Until published in nixpkgs.
dnf/lib/overlays/	Patch on an existing nixpkgs package (broken build, pending PR).	Temporary, removed as soon as the upstream fix lands.
inputs of dnf/flake.nix	What the framework machinery needs (dnf-generator, colmena).	Permanent.

Why not a flake input

An input is downloaded on every evaluation, on every consumer, even on a host that does not install the tool. A package from dnf/pkgs/ is only downloaded at the build of its derivation.

Directory structure

dnf/pkgs/
├── default.nix          <-- package set, discovered from subdirectories
├── overlay.nix          <-- the same set as an overlay -> pkgs.<name>
└── <name>/package.nix   <-- the derivation

One folder = one package. default.nix scans subdirectories, so there is no registry to maintain. The overlay, on the other hand, is applied once and for all by dnf/lib/mk-configuration.nix, on every host.

nixpkgs shape from the start

<name>/package.nix follows the by-name 🡕 layout of nixpkgs: a later publication simply amounts to moving the folder.

Adding a package

1. Create dnf/pkgs/<name>/package.nix using the classic callPackage form, with a complete meta block (description, homepage, license, mainProgram, platforms). Pin the stable version, not a branch.

2. git add the folder: flakes ignore untracked files.

3. Build once to freeze the hashes, which Nix displays in its error message :

   nix build .#<name>

4. just clean then commit.

Nothing else to wire up. The package is now usable in any NixOS module or Home Manager module, just like a nixpkgs package :

dnf/home/modules/advanced.nix

(lib.mkIf cfg.enableEssentials rename-simple)

ISO images and SD cards

Installation media receive their pkgs fully built (nixpkgs.pkgs), without this overlay: pkgs.<name> is not available there. Making it visible requires applying the overlay to that instance, in dnf/lib/mk-configuration.nix.

Updating a package

Run it in dnf/ or at the root of a co-development project : a dnf/ linked to the Nix store is read-only.

just pkg-update <nom>

nix-update 🡕 looks up the latest release published upstream, then rewrites the version and the hashes in package.nix. Then check the upstream changelog, rebuild, and commit.

Package-specific arguments

pkg-update reuses the arguments of passthru.updateScript (nix-update-script { extraArgs = [ … ]; }), like nixpkgs. Example : fleet-update (Bun) declares --subpackage node_modules there, to recompute the hash of its dependencies along with the one of the sources.

Publishing to nixpkgs

The end goal, for every package of general interest :

1. Move the folder into a nixpkgs clone, under the two-letter shard of the name (pkgs/by-name/re/rename-simple/).
2. Add the maintainers entry, open the pull request.
3. Once the PR is merged and made it into nixos-unstable, remove the folder from dnf/pkgs/.

pkgs.<name> keeps resolving, this time from nixpkgs: no module needs to be updated.