nix-how / hypercore-nixos

Using Hypercores and Hyperdrives to distribute NAR files from cache.nixos.org

hypercore-nixos

In order to get hyperspace-cli, with Nix, use this nix shell command:

nix shell github:nixos/nixpkgs/8b1ff65#hyperspace-cli

The hash 8b1ff65 comes from this pull request, where the hyperspace-cli was merged. NixOS/nixpkgs#130063

Example Usage

1. Make a Hyperdrive:

   hyp create drive

2. Mirror all of the NARs from cache.nixos.org to your new Hyperdrive url via the mirror.sh script:

   ./mirror.sh hyper://<your-hyperdrive-identifier>

3. See that your Hyperdrive is now populated with NARs, which anyone in the world can now download and mirror via the hyp cli. Anyone in the world can run this command and see the same results as you:

   hyp ls hyper://<your-hyperdrive-identifier>/nar

   Example Output

   user: matthew hypercore-nixos on  main 
   ❯ hyp ls hyper://acc6dea56bca988267502d7d6892a27c1dc209fd3824f8305077d7d3ad52566b/nar
   0s8qgcw024wvgrah5dzz5ca9ngkwjbir244wxy60i89pjy326r4a.nar.xz
   0cmvjpqdp61gfq3xddcsliprykpg62ybjbq7cvw473bx5xl7nd2c.nar.xz
   1hbdf4x6magyf1iibrq7wfb3ai7v1az20ynfyba6z3pljq2paxyk.nar.xz
   1vd218wpqwi94m753cjszjrszvai1ip69ji1k7fg9wh1vlikjcs1.nar.xz
   1qmxmgfxnv53v2hhab6a9igah5k79mwwix4ar9nx2ih0nxgk8izj.nar.xz
   1ai6sa578wiki7qgjidl1vp34105ljp0lxvxh0i22rmlzfbkqqgk.nar.xz
   

Basic Idea

This distributes the NixOS binary cache via a Hyperdrive, which is a data structure on top of Hypercore. Users who want to help others to mirror popular signed NARs from cache.nixos.org can do so via this method.

The NAR binary archives are not unpacked or rebuilt, they are unmodified, preserving hash integrity. They can be checked for authenticity via the .narinfo file supplied by cache.nixos.org.

Tooling

The Nix builder, must understand hyper://, or this can be redistributed via http://:

• http://localhost:8080/nar/zzzbs5nj3wr59phi0ck9w5f2mnfhzdcj-a-nixos-package-2.18.4
• hyper://1234../nar/zzzbs5nj3wr59phi0ck9w5f2mnfhzdcj-a-nixos-package-2.18.4

Notes

To mirror a complete NixOS package set is quite a task, however, a minimal set of NARs such as nixos-minimal can be used for testing.