Visualizing Nix closures

fzakaria · September 16, 2026, 3:38am

Disclaimer: AI used for the software not the writing

bitbloxhub · September 16, 2026, 4:37pm

Cool visualization!
Looking at the GNOME desktop example…
Surely mesa-26.2.2 can’t depend on ALL of llvm-21.1.8-lib? Does it need lib/libLLVMPowerPCCodeGen.a? Could there be any ways we could split LLVM up?
Also, it’s hard to inspect specific subpaths of the store path (for example, I had to type that path out by hand as there was no way to copy).

anandsuresh · September 16, 2026, 5:03pm

This is absolutely brilliant!!! What a fun project and write up!!! Love it.

bitbloxhub · September 23, 2026, 10:12pm

Found some relevant issues:

github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs

Separate static libraries to dev outputs automatically

opened 05:32PM - 14 Mar 22 UTC

ilya-fedin

0.kind: bug 6.topic: closure size 2.status: stale

### Describe the bug Looking at space used by nix packages, it seems there's a …lot of packages that used Nx space due to having static libraries in out/lib outputs. The first such package I found is llvm.lib used by mesa: it consumes ~300 MB while most of the space is used by static libraries that are helpful only while building something, shared libraries in the package are only around ~100 MB, so it's grown around 3x by that issue. Then, when I started looking at all static libraries in /nix/store with `find`, rav1e stands out from all other packages. Entire consumed space by rav1e is 89M, librav1e.a is 81M while librav1e.so.0.5.1 is only 3,2M. The package is around 10X bigger than if static libraries were separated and 25X bigger than if there was a lib output with only shared library. ### Steps To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior: 1. `nix-store -qR /run/current-system | xargs -I [] find [] -name '*.a' -exec du -h {} \; | sort -h` ### Expected behavior Static libraries are in dev output ### Additional context My /nix/store (and `nix-store -qR /run/current-system | xargs du -csh | sort -h`) is 12GB after `nix-collect-garbage -d` and I'm trying to understand why it's so big while a similar configuration with other distros would consume a way less space... ### Notify maintainers @lovek323 @7c6f434c @dtzWill @primeos for LLVM, it seems rav1e has no maintainers and I don't know who to mention for a generic solution across all the packages... ### Metadata ```console - system: `"x86_64-linux"` - host os: `Linux 5.16.11-zen1, NixOS, 22.05 (Quokka)` - multi-user?: `yes` - sandbox: `no` - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.7.0pre20220221_caf5172` - channels(root): `"nixos-22.05pre338578.a2e281f5770"` - nixpkgs: `/etc/nixpkgs` ```

github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs

llvmPackages: how to include dynamic libraries only? (in a closure)

opened 05:50AM - 08 May 23 UTC

inclyc

0.kind: enhancement 0.kind: question 6.topic: closure size 2.status: stale 6.topic: llvm/clang

### Describe the bug Recently I'm working ### Steps To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior: ```console [user@system:~]$ LLVMPolly.so LLVMgold.so libLLVM-15.0.7.so libLLVM-15.so libLLVM.so libLLVMAArch64AsmParser.a libLLVMAArch64CodeGen.a libLLVMAArch64Desc.a libLLVMAArch64Disassembler.a libLLVMAArch64Info.a libLLVMAArch64Utils.a libLLVMAMDGPUAsmParser.a libLLVMAMDGPUCodeGen.a libLLVMAMDGPUDesc.a libLLVMAMDGPUDisassembler.a libLLVMAMDGPUInfo.a libLLVMAMDGPUTargetMCA.a libLLVMAMDGPUUtils.a libLLVMARMAsmParser.a libLLVMARMCodeGen.a libLLVMARMDesc.a libLLVMARMDisassembler.a libLLVMARMInfo.a libLLVMARMUtils.a libLLVMAVRAsmParser.a libLLVMAVRCodeGen.a libLLVMAVRDesc.a libLLVMAVRDisassembler.a libLLVMAVRInfo.a libLLVMAggressiveInstCombine.a libLLVMAnalysis.a ``` ### Expected behavior Anyway to include ### Notify maintainers @fpletz @Ericson2314 ### Metadata ```console [user@system:~]$ - system: `"x86_64-linux"` - host os: `Linux - multi-user?: `yes` - sandbox: `yes` - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.15.0` - channels(root): `"nixos"` - channels(lyc): `"nixpkgs"` - nixpkgs: `/home/lyc/. ``` on a project depends on llvmPackage…s, and want to package it into a standalone container (to release). However, looks like `llvmPackages_*.llvm.libs` is coupled with dynamic **and** static libraries, which significantly increases the closure size :( . Is there anyway to declare that the derivation only depends on llvm dynamic libraries only? e.g. `libLLVM-15.so`. ls `nix eval --raw nixpkgs#llvmPackages_15.llvm.lib`/lib libLLVMAsmParser.a libLLVMExegesisMips.a libLLVMMCA.a libLLVMPowerPCInfo.a libLLVMVEDisassembler.a libLLVMAsmPrinter.a libLLVMExegesisPowerPC.a libLLVMMCDisassembler.a libLLVMProfileData.a libLLVMVEInfo.a libLLVMBPFAsmParser.a libLLVMExegesisX86.a libLLVMMCJIT.a libLLVMRISCVAsmParser.a libLLVMVectorize.a libLLVMBPFCodeGen.a libLLVMExtensions.a libLLVMMCParser.a libLLVMRISCVCodeGen.a libLLVMWebAssemblyAsmParser.a libLLVMBPFDesc.a libLLVMFileCheck.a libLLVMMIRParser.a libLLVMRISCVDesc.a libLLVMWebAssemblyCodeGen.a libLLVMBPFDisassembler.a libLLVMFrontendOpenACC.a libLLVMMSP430AsmParser.a libLLVMRISCVDisassembler.a libLLVMWebAssemblyDesc.a libLLVMBPFInfo.a libLLVMFrontendOpenMP.a libLLVMMSP430CodeGen.a libLLVMRISCVInfo.a libLLVMWebAssemblyDisassembler.a libLLVMBinaryFormat.a libLLVMFuzzMutate.a libLLVMMSP430Desc.a libLLVMRemarks.a libLLVMWebAssemblyInfo.a libLLVMBitReader.a libLLVMFuzzerCLI.a libLLVMMSP430Disassembler.a libLLVMRuntimeDyld.a libLLVMWebAssemblyUtils.a libLLVMBitWriter.a libLLVMGlobalISel.a libLLVMMSP430Info.a libLLVMScalarOpts.a libLLVMWindowsDriver.a libLLVMBitstreamReader.a libLLVMHexagonAsmParser.a libLLVMMipsAsmParser.a libLLVMSelectionDAG.a libLLVMWindowsManifest.a libLLVMCFGuard.a libLLVMHexagonCodeGen.a libLLVMMipsCodeGen.a libLLVMSparcAsmParser.a libLLVMX86AsmParser.a libLLVMCFIVerify.a libLLVMHexagonDesc.a libLLVMMipsDesc.a libLLVMSparcCodeGen.a libLLVMX86CodeGen.a libLLVMCodeGen.a libLLVMHexagonDisassembler.a libLLVMMipsDisassembler.a libLLVMSparcDesc.a libLLVMX86Desc.a libLLVMCore.a libLLVMHexagonInfo.a libLLVMMipsInfo.a libLLVMSparcDisassembler.a libLLVMX86Disassembler.a libLLVMCoroutines.a libLLVMIRReader.a libLLVMNVPTXCodeGen.a libLLVMSparcInfo.a libLLVMX86Info.a libLLVMCoverage.a libLLVMInstCombine.a libLLVMNVPTXDesc.a libLLVMSupport.a libLLVMX86TargetMCA.a libLLVMDWARFLinker.a libLLVMInstrumentation.a libLLVMNVPTXInfo.a libLLVMSymbolize.a libLLVMXCoreCodeGen.a libLLVMDWP.a libLLVMInterfaceStub.a libLLVMObjCARCOpts.a libLLVMSystemZAsmParser.a libLLVMXCoreDesc.a libLLVMDebugInfoCodeView.a libLLVMInterpreter.a libLLVMObjCopy.a libLLVMSystemZCodeGen.a libLLVMXCoreDisassembler.a libLLVMDebugInfoDWARF.a libLLVMJITLink.a libLLVMObject.a libLLVMSystemZDesc.a libLLVMXCoreInfo.a libLLVMDebugInfoGSYM.a libLLVMLTO.a libLLVMObjectYAML.a libLLVMSystemZDisassembler.a libLLVMXRay.a libLLVMDebugInfoMSF.a libLLVMLanaiAsmParser.a libLLVMOption.a libLLVMSystemZInfo.a libLLVMipo.a libLLVMDebugInfoPDB.a libLLVMLanaiCodeGen.a libLLVMOrcJIT.a libLLVMTableGen.a libLTO.so libLLVMDebuginfod.a libLLVMLanaiDesc.a libLLVMOrcShared.a libLLVMTableGenGlobalISel.a libLTO.so.15 libLLVMDemangle.a libLLVMLanaiDisassembler.a libLLVMOrcTargetProcess.a libLLVMTarget.a libPolly.a libLLVMDiff.a libLLVMLanaiInfo.a libLLVMPasses.a libLLVMTextAPI.a libPollyISL.a libLLVMDlltoolDriver.a libLLVMLibDriver.a libLLVMPowerPCAsmParser.a libLLVMTransformUtils.a libRemarks.so libLLVMExecutionEngine.a libLLVMLineEditor.a libLLVMPowerPCCodeGen.a libLLVMVEAsmParser.a libRemarks.so.15 libLLVMExegesis.a libLLVMLinker.a libLLVMPowerPCDesc.a libLLVMVECodeGen.a libLLVMExegesisAArch64.a libLLVMMC.a libLLVMPowerPCDisassembler.a libLLVMVEDesc.a dynamic libraries only? @sternenseemann @rrbutani nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m" 6.2.13, NixOS, 23.05 (Stoat), 23.05.20230502.1a411f2` nix-defexpr/channels/nixpkgs`

Seems tricky due to what was mentioned here:

github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs

Revert "llvmPackages: do not include static archives when shared…"

staging ← revert-162607-libllvm-drop-static

opened 10:42AM - 17 Jun 22 UTC

sternenseemann

+0 -66

Reverts #162607 / 1748887ff2353a16806a46dc27fb603981a047d5. Reason for revert…: This change caused llvm-config{,-native} to be unable to find static archives bundled with LLVM, as has been [reported]. Ever since #152944 using moveToOutput in LLVM is _evil_ because llvm-config obtains it knowledge about the installation locations from the CMake configure step. Consequently a change like #162607 will need to be implemented by making LLVM itself install the static archives to the correct location or by adding yet another patch which updates llvm-config's knowledge of the location. The latter is not desireable in my opinion, though, since it is just asking for this sort of trouble: Before #152944 we had an outputs.patch that did this sort of things which broke spectacularly in edge cases. Fixes #148117. [reported]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/148117#issuecomment-1158245576 --- Tested with ```console $ ./result-dev/bin/llvm-config --link-static --libs $ ./result-dev/bin/llvm-config --link-static --libnames ``` for the default LLVM version. Note that this PR *will* increase the closure size of LLVM, but reduced closure size is not worth sacrifizing correctness for. There is no trivial way to fix @waldheinz's original patch, so reverting until a better solution is found is the better option. ###### Things done - Built on platform(s) - [x] x86_64-linux - [ ] aarch64-linux - [ ] x86_64-darwin - [ ] aarch64-darwin - [ ] For non-Linux: Is `sandbox = true` set in `nix.conf`? (See [Nix manual](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/conf-file.html)) - [ ] Tested, as applicable: - [NixOS test(s)](https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/unstable/index.html#sec-nixos-tests) (look inside [nixos/tests](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/tests)) - and/or [package tests](https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/unstable/#sec-package-tests) - or, for functions and "core" functionality, tests in [lib/tests](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/lib/tests) or [pkgs/test](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/test) - made sure NixOS tests are [linked](https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/unstable/#ssec-nixos-tests-linking) to the relevant packages - [ ] Tested compilation of all packages that depend on this change using `nix-shell -p nixpkgs-review --run "nixpkgs-review rev HEAD"`. Note: all changes have to be committed, also see [nixpkgs-review usage](https://github.com/Mic92/nixpkgs-review#usage) - [ ] Tested basic functionality of all binary files (usually in `./result/bin/`) - [22.11 Release Notes (or backporting 22.05 Release notes)](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#generating-2211-release-notes) - [ ] (Package updates) Added a release notes entry if the change is major or breaking - [ ] (Module updates) Added a release notes entry if the change is significant - [ ] (Module addition) Added a release notes entry if adding a new NixOS module - [ ] (Release notes changes) Ran `nixos/doc/manual/md-to-db.sh` to update generated release notes - [x] Fits [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).