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Merge pull request #12994 from fricklerhandwerk/reword-derivation

glossary: re-introduce "derivation"
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Jörg Thalheim 2025-05-26 14:58:52 +02:00 committed by GitHub
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The industry term for storage and retrieval systems using [content addressing](#gloss-content-address). A Nix store also has [input addressing](#gloss-input-addressed-store-object), and metadata.
- [derivation]{#gloss-derivation}
A derivation can be thought of as a [pure function](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_function) that produces new [store objects][store object] from existing store objects.
Derivations are implemented as [operating system processes that run in a sandbox](@docroot@/store/building.md#builder-execution).
This sandbox by default only allows reading from store objects specified as inputs, and only allows writing to designated [outputs][output] to be [captured as store objects](@docroot@/store/building.md#processing-outputs).
A derivation is typically specified as a [derivation expression] in the [Nix language], and [instantiated][instantiate] to a [store derivation].
There are multiple ways of obtaining store objects from store derivatons, collectively called [realisation][realise].
[derivation]: #gloss-derivation
- [store derivation]{#gloss-store-derivation}
A single build task.
A [derivation] represented as a [store object].
See [Store Derivation](@docroot@/store/derivation/index.md#store-derivation) for details.
[store derivation]: #gloss-store-derivation
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- [derivation expression]{#gloss-derivation-expression}
A description of a [store derivation] in the Nix language.
The output(s) of a derivation are store objects.
Derivations are typically specified in Nix expressions using the [`derivation` primitive](./language/derivations.md).
These are translated into store layer *derivations* (implicitly by `nix-env` and `nix-build`, or explicitly by `nix-instantiate`).
A description of a [store derivation] using the [`derivation` primitive](./language/derivations.md) in the [Nix language].
[derivation expression]: #gloss-derivation-expression

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# Nix Language
The Nix language is designed for conveniently creating and composing *derivations* precise descriptions of how contents of existing files are used to derive new files.
The Nix language is designed for conveniently creating and composing [derivations](@docroot@/glossary.md#gloss-derivation) precise descriptions of how contents of existing files are used to derive new files.
> **Tip**
>