Move `lib` to a separate repository

> [!Important] > This is a long thread, so before making a comment, please read the full proposal and discussion, and only post what hasn't been brought up before. Thanks! I've previously suggested this [on Discourse](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/monorepos-dont-map-to-our-social-structure/44162/12) (and again [here](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/any-interest-in-separating-out-nixpkgs-lib-into-its-own-repo-flake/39374/4)), which has garnered a surprising number of likes, so let's consider this! Here's a first draft proposal to discuss ## Motivation `lib` (note: not everything, see the plan below) is arguably the most independent part of Nixpkgs, it has effectively no dependency on anything other than itself (and Nix) and virtually no PRs touch both `lib` and non-`lib` (which is also in the [lib PR guidelines](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/lib#pr-guidelines)). - The vast majority of Nixpkgs issues and PRs are unrelated to `lib`, which makes `lib` development hard to track. Yes there's [a label](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pulls?q=%226.topic%3A+lib%22), but e.g. people can't just watch the entire repo. - Also, the label can't be applied to issues automatically. - Having a separate repo allows more granular repo permissions (though for the start let's keep the status quo) - A separate repo allows avoiding the dependency on the rest of Nixpkgs for those who don't need it. - Although this point is kind of moot, because https://github.com/nix-community

Posted by infinisil on Feb 13, 2025, 9:31 PM

Tags

• ux (Software)

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