Nixpkgs: 20.09 Release notes

[jonringer]

This thread is for any release-worthy notes which may have not have made their way into https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml yet.

Please leave a summary and any relevant links to the items. I will try and go through them before the release to ensure the notes are in order.

List to make items easier to track:

• [x] Python35 was removed
• [x] Agda changes
• [x] Amdvlk can be added to hardware.opengl.extraPackages
• [x] Cinnamon desktop was added
• [x] Fontconfig was bumped, and reworked on NixOS
• [x] Nvidia Optimus/Prime is fully usable now
• [ ] Core changes (gcc, glibc, linux kernel, mesa, openssl) #101444
• [ ] Desktop changes (plasma, kdeApplications, gnome, pantheon) #101444
  
  
  
  • [ ] Maybe include some others? (cinnamon, xfce, lxqt)? #101444
  
  
• [ ] Capture signifcant changes https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-search/pull/206 #101444

[jonringer]

Python35 was removed https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/95305

[alexarice]

agda infrastructure was reworked quite heavily https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/76653 . This has some documentation but I'm not sure if it needs release notes as well.

[jonringer]

@alexarice I'm sure agda users would appreciate it

[alexarice]

@jonringer did you want me to make a pull request?

[jonringer]

@alexarice That would be great :+1:, if you're feeling up to it

[alexarice]

@jonringer have no idea how to use docbook but I'll give it a go

[jonringer]

That makes two of us, but I wouldn't expect it would take very long to learn enough to create release notes. Plus there's already many commits which demonstrate how to do additions.

[danieldk]

I should probably add a blurb to other notable changes about the addition of part of the AMD ROCm stack. @Flakebi do you think it is worthwhile adding something about amdvlk as well? If so, I can add an item summarizing all new features on the AMD GPU front.

[Flakebi]

A short mention that amdvlk can now be added to hardware.opengl.extraPackages is probably worth it. Thanks!

[worldofpeace]

We updated fontconfig https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/73795 and changed an integral way in how fontconfig is setup on nixos https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/95358. The latter PR isn't merged yet but I believe it's going to be.

[mkg20001]

If not already added, a note about cinnamon desktop 4.6 now being available

[jonringer]

Release notes are able to be added even after branch-off, however, they will need to follow backporting conventions and first be merged into master

[deliciouslytyped]

It's the source of this is not immediately clear, but if it's introduced in this release I think it warrants a note: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/96753#issuecomment-696019991 "Deprecate boot.cleanTmpDir?"

(Maybe we should just start pasting the systemd release notes in the release too? :P)

[alexarice]

Not sure if this the right place to ask this as this isn't technically release notes but would be good to get #98084 merged and backported as it has fixes for agda part of the manual

[jonringer]

I plan to write the release notes this weekend.

Unpinning to give "spotlight" to release blocking discussion in #95475

[Jiehong]

• Some packages have changed names (ex: source-han fonts are no longer split by language).
• Emacs 25Packages dropped

Is there a migration guide/tool usually, or are people supposed to find out from the release note + updating their channel, and trying to build their environment manually?

[jonringer]

It should be available on the website, not sure in which way people typically consume the manual

[jtojnar]

Fontconfig in https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/100103

[copyread]

Nvidia Optimus/Prime is fully usable now, might be worth adding.

[worldofpeace]

Nvidia Optimus/Prime is fully usable now, might be worth adding.

Could you link the PR that did this? (and maybe ping the author as well)

[copyread]

Nvidia Optimus/Prime is fully usable now, might be worth adding.

Could you link the PR that did this? (and maybe ping the author as well)

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/66601

@eadwu

[jonringer]

all items have been marked as done

[worldofpeace]

Was plasma noted and notable updates?

[jonringer]

-_- you're right, we should have core and desktop changes like we had for 20.03