···

       
27
       
27
       
 
       
Packages, including the Nix packages collection, are distributed through

     

       
28
       
28
       
 
       
[channels](https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sec-channels). The collection is

     

       
29
       
29
       
 
       
distributed for users of Nix on non-NixOS distributions through the channel

     

       
30
       
30
       
-
       
`nixpkgs`. Users of NixOS generally use one of the `nixos-*` channels, e.g.

     

       
31
       
31
       
-
       
`nixos-22.11`, which includes all packages and modules for the stable NixOS

     

       
30
       
30
       
+
       
`nixpkgs-unstable`. Users of NixOS generally use one of the `nixos-*` channels,

     

       
31
       
31
       
+
       
e.g. `nixos-22.11`, which includes all packages and modules for the stable NixOS

     

       
32
       
32
       
 
       
22.11. Stable NixOS releases are generally only given

     

       
33
       
33
       
 
       
security updates. More up to date packages and modules are available via the

     

       
34
       
34
       
 
       
`nixos-unstable` channel.

     

       
35
       
35
       
 
       


     

       
36
       
36
       
-
       
Both `nixos-unstable` and `nixpkgs` follow the `master` branch of the Nixpkgs

     

       
37
       
37
       
-
       
repository, although both do lag the `master` branch by generally

     

       
36
       
36
       
+
       
Both `nixos-unstable` and `nixpkgs-unstable` follow the `master` branch of the

     

       
37
       
37
       
+
       
nixpkgs repository, although both do lag the `master` branch by generally

     

       
38
       
38
       
 
       
[a couple of days](https://status.nixos.org/). Updates to a channel are

     

       
39
       
39
       
 
       
distributed as soon as all tests for that channel pass, e.g.

     

       
40
       
40
       
 
       
[this table](https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nixpkgs/trunk/unstable#tabs-constituents)

     

       
41
       
41
       
-
       
shows the status of tests for the `nixpkgs` channel.

     

       
41
       
41
       
+
       
shows the status of tests for the `nixpkgs-unstable` channel.

     

       
42
       
42
       
 
       


     

       
43
       
43
       
 
       
The tests are conducted by a cluster called [Hydra](https://nixos.org/hydra/),

     

       
44
       
44
       
 
       
which also builds binary packages from the Nix expressions in Nixpkgs for

     
···

       
46
       
46
       
 
       
The binaries are made available via a [binary cache](https://cache.nixos.org).

     

       
47
       
47
       
 
       


     

       
48
       
48
       
 
       
The current Nix expressions of the channels are available in the

     

       
49
       
49
       
-
       
[`nixpkgs`](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs) repository in branches

     

       
49
       
49
       
+
       
[nixpkgs repository](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs) in branches

     

       
50
       
50
       
 
       
that correspond to the channel names (e.g. `nixos-22.11-small`).