nix-olde is a tool to show details about outdated packages in your NixOS system using https://repology.org/ database.

It can use both default <nixpkgs> or custom URL or path specified via --nixpkgs / -n parameter.

I usually use the tool to see what I could update in nixpkgs that my system currently uses.

Dependencies

At runtime nix-olde uses 2 external packages and expects them in PATH:

• curl to fetch repology.org reports
• nix to query locally installed and available packages

To build nix-olde you will need rustc and cargo. Cargo.tml contains more detailed description of dependencies.

Running it

There is no Cargo.lock package or uploaded crate just yet. I'm not sure if such a small tool warrants it. Thus you need to clone and build it using cargo build tool:

$ git clone https://github.com/trofi/nix-olde.git
$ cd nix-olde
$ cargo build

Now you should be ready to run it.

Diff against current system:

$ ./target/debug/nix-olde

Diff against latest staging:

$ ./target/debug/nix-olde -n https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/refs/heads/staging.tar.gz

Or against local checkout:

$ ./target/debug/nix-olde -n ./nixpkgs

I usually use small shell wrapper to build-and-run against local staging checkout:

$ ./mkrun.bash -n $(realpath ~/n)

Typical output

$ cargo build && target/debug/nix-olde
...
Fetching 'repology'
Fetching 'available'
Fetching 'installed'
'installed' done, took 6.10 s.
'available' done, took 12.22 s.
'repology' done, took 75.38 s.

repology a52dec "0.8.0" | nixpkgs {"0.7.4"} {"nixos.a52dec"}
repology alsa-lib "1.2.8" | nixpkgs {"1.2.7.2"} {"nixos.alsa-lib"}
repology alsa-ucm-conf "1.2.8" | nixpkgs {"1.2.7.1"} {"nixos.alsa-ucm-conf"}
repology appstream "0.15.6" | nixpkgs {"0.15.5"} {"nixos.appstream"}
repology atomicparsley "20221229" | nixpkgs {"20210715.151551.e7ad03a"} {"nixos.atomicparsley"}
repology audit "3.0.9" | nixpkgs {"2.8.5"} {"nixos.audit"}
repology autogen "5.19.96" | nixpkgs {"5.18.16"} {"nixos.autogen"}
...
repology xrandr "1.5.2" | nixpkgs {"1.5.1"} {"nixos.xorg.xrandr"}
repology xset "1.2.5" | nixpkgs {"1.2.4"} {"nixos.xorg.xset"}
repology xsetroot "1.1.3" | nixpkgs {"1.1.2"} {"nixos.xorg.xsetroot"}
repology xterm "378" | nixpkgs {"377"} {"nixos.xterm"}
repology xz "5.4.1" | nixpkgs {"5.4.0"} {"nixos.xz"}
repology zxing-cpp-nu-book "2.0.0" | nixpkgs {"1.4.0"} {"nixos.zxing-cpp"}

388 of 1518 (25.56%) installed packages are outdated according to https://repology.org.

Some installed packages are missing in available list: 68
  Add '--verbose' to get it's full list.

Other options

There are a few options:

$ ./mkrun.bash --help

A tool to show outdated packages in current system according to repology.org database

Usage: nix-olde [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -n, --nixpkgs <NIXPKGS>  Alternative path to <nixpkgs> location
  -v, --verbose            Enable extra verbosity to report unexpected events, fetch progress and so on
  -h, --help               Print help
  -V, --version            Print version

--nixpkgs / -n is most useful when you are looking for packages that were not yet updated in a particular development branch of nixpkgs repository (usually staging or master).

How nix-olde works

The theory is simple: fetch data from various data sources and join them together. Each data source returns a tuple of package name, package version and possibly a bit of metadata around it (name in other systems, possible status).

Currently used data sources are:

• installed packages: uses nix-instantiate / nix show-derivation. Provides fields:
  • name (example: python3.10-networkx-2.8.6)
  • version (example: 2.8.6)
• available packages: uses nix-env -qa --json tool, memory hungry. Provides fields:
  • [keyed from installed packages] name (example: python3.10-networkx-2.8.6)
  • attribute: nixpkgs attribute path (example: nixos.python310Packages.networkx)
  • pname: name with version component dropped (example: nixos.python310Packages.networkx)
  • version (example: 2.8.6)
• https://repology.org/ json database: uses https://repology.org/api/v1/projects/ HTTP endpoint. Provides fields:
  • repo: package repository (example: "nix_unstable")
  • [keyed from available] name: with version component dropped (example: nixos.python310Packages.networkx).
  • version (example: 2.8.6)
  • status: package status in repository (examples: "newest", "outdared").

License

nix-olde is distributed under MIT license.