R""(
Examples
Show one path through the dependency graph leading from Hello to Glibc:
# nix why-depends nixpkgs#hello nixpkgs#glibc
/nix/store/v5sv61sszx301i0x6xysaqzla09nksnd-hello-2.10
└───bin/hello: …...................../nix/store/9l06v7fc38c1x3r2iydl15ksgz0ysb82-glibc-2.32/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.…
→ /nix/store/9l06v7fc38c1x3r2iydl15ksgz0ysb82-glibc-2.32
Show all files and paths in the dependency graph leading from Thunderbird to libX11:
# nix why-depends --all nixpkgs#thunderbird nixpkgs#xorg.libX11
/nix/store/qfc8729nzpdln1h0hvi1ziclsl3m84sr-thunderbird-78.5.1
├───lib/thunderbird/libxul.so: …6wrw-libxcb-1.14/lib:/nix/store/adzfjjh8w25vdr0xdx9x16ah4f5rqrw5-libX11-1.7.0/lib:/nix/store/ssf…
│ → /nix/store/adzfjjh8w25vdr0xdx9x16ah4f5rqrw5-libX11-1.7.0
├───lib/thunderbird/libxul.so: …pxyc-libXt-1.2.0/lib:/nix/store/1qj29ipxl2fyi2b13l39hdircq17gnk0-libXdamage-1.1.5/lib:/nix/store…
│ → /nix/store/1qj29ipxl2fyi2b13l39hdircq17gnk0-libXdamage-1.1.5
│ ├───lib/libXdamage.so.1.1.0: …-libXfixes-5.0.3/lib:/nix/store/adzfjjh8w25vdr0xdx9x16ah4f5rqrw5-libX11-1.7.0/lib:/nix/store/9l0…
│ │ → /nix/store/adzfjjh8w25vdr0xdx9x16ah4f5rqrw5-libX11-1.7.0
…
Show why Glibc depends on itself:
# nix why-depends nixpkgs#glibc nixpkgs#glibc
/nix/store/9df65igwjmf2wbw0gbrrgair6piqjgmi-glibc-2.31
└───lib/ld-2.31.so: …che Do not use /nix/store/9df65igwjmf2wbw0gbrrgair6piqjgmi-glibc-2.31/etc/ld.so.cache. --…
→ /nix/store/9df65igwjmf2wbw0gbrrgair6piqjgmi-glibc-2.31
Show why Geeqie has a build-time dependency on systemd
:
# nix why-depends --derivation nixpkgs#geeqie nixpkgs#systemd
/nix/store/drrpq2fqlrbj98bmazrnww7hm1in3wgj-geeqie-1.4.drv
└───/: …atch.drv",["out"]),("/nix/store/qzh8dyq3lfbk3i1acbp7x9wh3il2imiv-gtk+3-3.24.21.drv",["dev"]),("/…
→ /nix/store/qzh8dyq3lfbk3i1acbp7x9wh3il2imiv-gtk+3-3.24.21.drv
└───/: …16.0.drv",["dev"]),("/nix/store/8kp79fyslf3z4m3dpvlh6w46iaadz5c2-cups-2.3.3.drv",["dev"]),("/nix…
→ /nix/store/8kp79fyslf3z4m3dpvlh6w46iaadz5c2-cups-2.3.3.drv
└───/: ….3.1.drv",["out"]),("/nix/store/yd3ihapyi5wbz1kjacq9dbkaq5v5hqjg-systemd-246.4.drv",["dev"]),("/…
→ /nix/store/yd3ihapyi5wbz1kjacq9dbkaq5v5hqjg-systemd-246.4.drv
Description
Nix automatically determines potential runtime dependencies between store paths by scanning for the hash parts of store paths. For instance, if there exists a store path /nix/store/9df65igwjmf2wbw0gbrrgair6piqjgmi-glibc-2.31
, and a file inside another store path contains the string 9df65igw…
, then the latter store path refers to the former, and thus might need it at runtime. Nix always maintains the existence of the transitive closure of a store path under the references relationship; it is therefore not possible to install a store path without having all of its references present.
Sometimes Nix packages end up with unexpected runtime dependencies; for instance, a reference to a compiler might accidentally end up in a binary, causing the former to be in the latter's closure. This kind of closure size bloat is undesirable.
nix why-depends
allows you to diagnose the cause of such issues. It shows why the store path package depends on the store path dependency, by showing a shortest sequence in the references graph from the former to the latter. Also, for each node along this path, it shows a file fragment containing a reference to the next store path in the sequence.
To show why derivation package has a build-time rather than runtime dependency on derivation dependency, use --derivation
.
)""