diff --git a/slides.tex b/slides.tex
index 52824040c9d01d9f229168624d2babcc2f452fad..07c390ce2b9ed8c73d87b71f0e73ed74255790dd 100644
--- a/slides.tex
+++ b/slides.tex
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
\usepackage{array,booktabs}
\usepackage{pgfpages}
\usepackage{listings}
-\setbeameroption{show notes on second screen=right}
+%\setbeameroption{show notes on second screen=right}
\lstset{language=Bash}
\definecolor{identifiercolor}{rgb}{0,0,0}
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
\definecolor{stringcolor}{rgb}{0.5,0.6,0.9}
\lstdefinelanguage{Nix}{
- % Anything between $ becomes LaTeX math mode
+ % Anything between $ becomes LaTeX math modse
mathescape=false,
% Comments may or not include Latex commands
texcl=false,
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
\setbeamertemplate{footline}[frame number]
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
-\title{\textbf{A Way Toward Reproducible Experiment Environment with Nix}}
+\title{\textbf{A Way Towards Reproducible Experiment Environments with Nix}}
\date{Rennes 2019, \today}
\author{
\underline{Adrien Faure}, Millian Poquet\\
@@ -98,219 +98,117 @@
\section{Experimentation From a Software Point of View}
-\begin{frame}{Experimentation Codes}
-\begin{itemize}
- \item Experimentations codes are often \emph{ad hoc}.
+\begin{frame}{Experimentations}
+Experimentation Codes:
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item \emph{ad hoc} experimentation code
\note{Publish and perish\\}
- \item Few or no indications describing how to build them
- \note{Relevant compilation options, dependencies...}
- \item Few informations about the execution.
- \note{Read scripts, runtime dependencies etc}
+ \item No documentations
+ \note{Relevant compilation options, dependencies...\\}
+ \note{Read scripts, runtime dependencies etc\\}
\end{itemize}
-\end{frame}
-
-\begin{frame}{The Problem}
+ \vspace{1em}
+The Problem:
\begin{itemize}
- \item Hinder the repeatability of the experimentations.
+ \item Difficult replay
\note{Hard to verify what you did, for reviewer for instance.}
- \item Hard to continue someone else work.
+ \item Hard to maintain
\note{Trying other inputs, fixing bugs etc}
\note{Encourage restarting from scratch}
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
-\section{Nix}
-\begin{frame}{How can it be Improved ?}
- The experimentation code should be documented:
+\begin{frame}{How to improve it?}
+ More documentation:
\begin{itemize}
- \item Documenting the building procedures.
- \note{How to build it, relevant compilation flags etc\\}
- \item What are the dependencies of the project.
+ \item Build process
\note{Which libraries etc\\}
+ \item Dependencies, requirements
+ \note{How to run, inputs etc\\}
% \item the dependencies.
% \item Using literate programming ?
\end{itemize}
\vspace{1em}
-\pause
-The running environment should be explicit:
+ Running environments:
\begin{itemize}
- \item Which runtime is used?
- \note{
- How(had-hoc script, complex runtime etc), \\
- Where(your laptop, your old laptop etc) you run you experiment.\\}
- \item How you did your final data analysis,
- \item How the visualisations are constructed.
-
- % \item Using literate programming ?
+ \item Runtime, libraries
+ \item Data analysis scripts
+ \item Visualisation scripts
\end{itemize}
-\end{frame}
-
-\begin{frame}
-
-% What does Nix offer to Experimenters ?
- We propose to use Nix :)
-% Why not using Nix ?
-% \begin{itemize}
-% \item Explicit build process,
-% \note{Every deps need to be stated\\}
-% \note{The building process is explicit in Nix\\}
-% \item reconstructible environment.
-% \note{Build Once, build twice (six month later)\\}
-% \note{Possibility to describing full software environment\\}
-% \note{From building environment, to runtime and data analysis.\\}
-% \item Application Portability
-% \note{Run on my laptop, run on g5k}
-% \end{itemize}
\end{frame}
+\section{Nix}
+
\begin{frame}{What is Nix ?}
\only<1>{%
- Nix is a Package Manager with a lot of good properties. \\
- % Why for experimentations ?
- \vspace{1em}
- \begin{itemize}
- \item Reproducibility,
- \note{Reproducibility of software\\}
- % \item Portability,
- \note{Run on my laptop, run of g5k\\}
- \item Multiple version cohabitations,
- % \item Composability,
- \note{why\\}
- \item Decentralized package repository,
- \note{Packages can come from different places, thus you can have yours.\\}
- \item Explicit build process,
- \note{Every deps need to be stated\\}
- \note{The building process is explicit in Nix\\}
- \item Define reconstructible software environments,
- \note{Build Once, build twice (six month later)\\}
- \note{Possibility to describing full software environment\\}
- \note{From building environment, to runtime and data analysis.\\}
- \item Application portability
- \note{build on my laptop, run on g5k}
- \end{itemize}
+ Nix is a Package Manager: \\
+ % Why for experimentations ?
+ \vspace{1em}
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Reproducible packages
+ \item Reproducible software environments
+ \item Multiple versions
+ \item Decentralized package repositories
+ \note{Packages can come from different places, thus you can have yours.\\}
+ \item Explicit build process
+ \note{Every deps need to be stated\\
+ The building process is explicit in Nix\\
+ Build Once, build twice (six month later)\\
+ Possibility to describing full software environment\\
+ From building environment, to runtime and data analysis\\}
+ \item Portable packages
+ \note{build on my laptop, run on g5k}
+ \end{itemize}
}
% \center\Large\sc The Nix Ecosystem. {\url{https://nixos.org}}
\end{frame}
-\begin{frame}{Nix Ecosystem}
-
- Core projects:
-
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- Nix - The Expression Language (2003)
- \end{tcolorbox}
-
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- Nix - The Nix package manager (2003)
- \end{tcolorbox}
-
- Satellites:
- \only<1>{
-
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- NixOS - The Purely Functional Linux Distribution
- \end{tcolorbox}
-
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- Hydra - Nix-based continuous build system (2008)
- \end{tcolorbox}
-
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- NixOps - The NixOS Deployment Tool (2011)
- \end{tcolorbox}
-}
- \only<2>{
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=gray!50,colback=gray!1,coltext=gray!100]
- NixOS - The Purely Functional Linux Distribution
- \end{tcolorbox}
-
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=gray!50,colback=gray!1,coltext=gray!100]
- Hydra - Nix-based continuous build system (2008)
- \end{tcolorbox}
-
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=gray!50,colback=gray!1,coltext=gray!100]
- NixOps - The NixOS Deployment Tool (2011)
- \end{tcolorbox}
-}
-\end{frame}
-
-
\subsection{Expression Language}
-\begin{frame}{Nix - Language}
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- {Nix - The Expression Language }
- \end{tcolorbox}
- What?
- \begin{itemize}
- \item Is a Domain Specific Language (DSL)
- \item Functional, Turing complete language.
- \item Dynamically typed. int, bool, path, string, set, list, lambda.
- \item Large built-in and standard lib. \texttt{stdenv, fetchTarball, fromJson, fromGitHub, assert, test..}
- \end{itemize}
-\end{frame}
-
-\begin{frame}{Nix - Language}
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- {Nix - The Expression Language }
- \end{tcolorbox}
- Why?
- \begin{itemize}
- \item Packaging is complex.
- \item Abstraction layers.
- \item Better reusability, factorization.
- \item (Readable and Maintainable)
- \end{itemize}
-\end{frame}
-
-\subsection{Package Manager}
-
-\begin{frame}{Nix}
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- {Nix - The Package Manager }
- \end{tcolorbox}
- \begin{itemize}
- \item Packages are defined in Nix expressions,
- % \item Independent of the system,
- \item Atomic upgrades and rollbacks
- \item Several version of the same package on the same system,
- \item Unprivileged package installation,
- \item Provides isolated build \& runtime environments,
- \item Reproducible build from source,
- \item Binary cache,
- \item Garbage collection,
- % \item Declarative \& Imperative use.
- \end{itemize}
-\end{frame}
+% \begin{frame}{Nix - Programming Language}
+%
+% What?
+% \begin{itemize}
+% \item Is a Domain Specific Language (DSL)
+% \item Functional, Turing complete language.
+% \item Dynamically typed. int, bool, path, string, set, list, lambda.
+% \item Large built-in and standard lib. \texttt{stdenv, fetchTarball, fromJson, fromGitHub, assert, test..}
+% \end{itemize}
+% \end{frame}
+%
+% \begin{frame}{Nix - Language}
+% \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
+% {Nix - The Expression Language }
+% \end{tcolorbox}
+% Why?
+% \begin{itemize}
+% \item Packaging is complex.
+% \item Abstraction layers.
+% \item Better reusability, factorization.
+% \item (Readable and Maintainable)
+% \end{itemize}
+% \end{frame}
-\begin{frame}{}
- \center
- How does it work?
-\end{frame}
-\section{Nix Structure}
+\section{Nix Concepts}
\begin{frame}{Main Concepts}
% Nix borrows its concept from Functional Languages. \\
- \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- Nix applies the concept of functional programming languages to package management.
- \end{tcolorbox}
- \vspace{1em}
-
- Each software building action is described through functions.
- \note{Function from a functional paradigm point of view}
-
- \vspace{1em}
- Package dependencies are also functions given as inputs.
+ \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
+ Functional paradigm applied to package management
+ \end{tcolorbox}
\vspace{1em}
- Such functions are called \textbf{Derivations}
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Functions build packages
+ \item Functions inputs are package dependencies
+ \end{itemize}
\end{frame}
@@ -323,18 +221,16 @@ The running environment should be explicit:
\begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
A derivation is a Nix build action.
\end{tcolorbox}
- \begin{onlyenv}<2>
\vspace{1em}
- It is a Nix attribute set describing how to build a package.
+ A derivation is defined in Nix, as a set of attributes:
+ % It is a Nix attribute set describing how to build a package.
\note{A python dict, or java hashtable\\}
- \end{onlyenv}
\pause
\vspace{-1em}
- \begin{onlyenv}<3>
\begin{lstlisting}[language=Nix,basicstyle=\small]
stdenv.mkDerivation {
@@ -346,13 +242,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
};
buildInputs = [ simgrid boost cmake ];
-
- meta = ..;
}
\end{lstlisting}
-\end{onlyenv}
-
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}[fragile]{Store}
@@ -374,8 +266,8 @@ The result of the build action is automatically placed into the nix store.
\begin{frame}[fragile]{Store}
\begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- Every packages (or derivations) are located into a common place: The store.
-% Nix uses a single directory to store every packages.
+ Every package is located into a common place: The store.
+ % Nix uses a single directory to store every packages.
\end{tcolorbox}
\vspace{1em}
@@ -405,11 +297,11 @@ The result of the build action is automatically placed into the nix store.
\end{tcolorbox}
\begin{lstlisting}[basicstyle=\small]
-/nix/store/hash-packagename/..
- /bin/package
- /lib/package.so
- /share/
- .
+/nix/store/hash-packag/..
+ /bin/package
+ /lib/package.so
+ /share/
+ .
\end{lstlisting}
\end{frame}
@@ -419,7 +311,7 @@ The result of the build action is automatically placed into the nix store.
\begin{column}{0.5\textwidth}
\begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
- Packages can reference/depend on other packages.
+ Package can reference on other packages.
\end{tcolorbox}
\end{column}
@@ -447,26 +339,16 @@ The result of the build action is automatically placed into the nix store.
\end{lstlisting}
\vspace{1em}
- Missing dependencies can be identified and downloaded from a distant store.
+ Missing dependencies can be identified and downloaded from a remote store.
\end{frame}
-\begin{frame}
- A derivation is a build action written in Nix. \\
- \vspace{1em}
- Used to build package. \\
- \vspace{1em}
- The resulting package is stocked in the store, \\
- identified with a unique path. \\
- \vspace{1em}
- In which it can refer to other packages.
- \vspace{1em}
-\end{frame}
+
\begin{frame}[fragile]{Nixpkgs}
- How and where can we get derivations?
+ How and where can we get a derivation?
\pause
\vspace{1em}
@@ -497,8 +379,7 @@ The result of the build action is automatically placed into the nix store.
\end{tcolorbox}
\vspace{1em}
-
- Channels are useful to downloaded latest version of a software.
+ Channels are useful to downloaded latest packaged version of a software. \\
\vspace{1em}
@@ -507,6 +388,10 @@ The result of the build action is automatically placed into the nix store.
\item nixpkgs-19.03 (current stable)
\item nixpkgs-18.09 (outdated)
\end{itemize}
+
+ \vspace{1em}
+ (Channels benefit from binary cache.)
+
}
\only<2>{
@@ -521,14 +406,28 @@ The result of the build action is automatically placed into the nix store.
\end{frame}
+% \begin{frame}{}
+% A derivation is a build action written in Nix. \\
+% \vspace{1em}
+% Used to build package. \\
+% \vspace{1em}
+% The resulting package is stocked in the store, \\
+% identified with a unique path. \\
+% \vspace{1em}
+% In which it can refer to other packages.
+% \vspace{1em}
+% \end{frame}
+
\begin{frame}{Key points}
\begin{enumerate}
\item Applies functional paradigm to package management system.
\item Packages are called derivations, written in Nix lang.
- \item The list of existing packages are into NixPkgs repository.
+ \item Such derivation defines a building process.
\item A built derivation is located to the nix store into a dedicated directory.
- \item The folder name is generated from a hash of its inputs and its nix file.
+ \item The directory name is generated from a hash of its inputs and its nix file.
+ \item Packages can have reference on other packages from the store.
+ \item The list of existing packages are into NixPkgs repository.
\end{enumerate}
\end{frame}
@@ -606,11 +505,25 @@ src = fetgit {
\begin{frame}[fragile]
- With Nix you can define and share complex experiment environment.
+ Pros:
+ \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=black,colback=gray!10,coltext=black]
\begin{itemize}
- \item It will be reconstructible.
- \item The dependencies will be clearly stated.
+ \item Defining and sharing complex environments easily.
+ \item Environments are reconstructible .
+ \item Writing derivations requires to state every dependencies.
\end{itemize}
+ \end{tcolorbox}
+
+ \vspace{1em}
+
+ Cons:
+ \begin{tcolorbox}[colframe=red!37,colback=red!10,coltext=black]
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item The entry cost is high.
+ \item It is contaminating (heavily depends on the nix store).
+ \end{itemize}
+ \end{tcolorbox}
+
% Nix ensures the reproducibility of software environments.
\vspace{1em}