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doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-1.6.md

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+# Release 1.6 (2013-09-10)
+
+In addition to the usual bug fixes, this release has several new
+features:
+
+  - The command `nix-build --run-env` has been renamed to `nix-shell`.
+
+  - `nix-shell` now sources `$stdenv/setup` *inside* the interactive
+    shell, rather than in a parent shell. This ensures that shell
+    functions defined by `stdenv` can be used in the interactive shell.
+
+  - `nix-shell` has a new flag `--pure` to clear the environment, so you
+    get an environment that more closely corresponds to the “real” Nix
+    build.
+
+  - `nix-shell` now sets the shell prompt (PS1) to ensure that Nix
+    shells are distinguishable from your regular shells.
+
+  - `nix-env` no longer requires a `*` argument to match all packages,
+    so `nix-env -qa` is equivalent to `nix-env
+                    -qa '*'`.
+
+  - `nix-env -i` has a new flag `--remove-all` (`-r`) to remove all
+    previous packages from the profile. This makes it easier to do
+    declarative package management similar to NixOS’s
+    `environment.systemPackages`. For instance, if you have a
+    specification `my-packages.nix` like this:
+    
+        with import <nixpkgs> {};
+        [ thunderbird
+          geeqie
+          ...
+        ]
+    
+    then after any change to this file, you can run:
+    
+        $ nix-env -f my-packages.nix -ir
+    
+    to update your profile to match the specification.
+
+  - The ‘`with`’ language construct is now more lazy. It only evaluates
+    its argument if a variable might actually refer to an attribute in
+    the argument. For instance, this now works:
+    
+        let
+          pkgs = with pkgs; { foo = "old"; bar = foo; } // overrides;
+          overrides = { foo = "new"; };
+        in pkgs.bar
+    
+    This evaluates to `"new"`, while previously it gave an “infinite
+    recursion” error.
+
+  - Nix now has proper integer arithmetic operators. For instance, you
+    can write `x + y` instead of `builtins.add x y`, or `x <
+                    y` instead of `builtins.lessThan x y`. The comparison operators also
+    work on strings.
+
+  - On 64-bit systems, Nix integers are now 64 bits rather than 32 bits.
+
+  - When using the Nix daemon, the `nix-daemon` worker process now runs
+    on the same CPU as the client, on systems that support setting CPU
+    affinity. This gives a significant speedup on some systems.
+
+  - If a stack overflow occurs in the Nix evaluator, you now get a
+    proper error message (rather than “Segmentation fault”) on some
+    systems.
+
+  - In addition to directories, you can now bind-mount regular files in
+    chroots through the (now misnamed) option `build-chroot-dirs`.
+
+This release has contributions from Domen Kožar, Eelco Dolstra, Florian
+Friesdorf, Gergely Risko, Ivan Kozik, Ludovic Courtès and Shea Levy.