Merge branch 'nixos-unstable-small' of https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs into HEAD

1 files changed, 28 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/nixpkgs/doc/build-helpers.md b/nixpkgs/doc/build-helpers.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..06737e166760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixpkgs/doc/build-helpers.md
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Build helpers {#part-builders}
+
+A build helper is a function that produces derivations.
+
+:::{.warning}
+This is not to be confused with the [`builder` argument of the Nix `derivation` primitive](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/unstable/language/derivations.html), which refers to the executable that produces the build result, or [remote builder](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/advanced-topics/distributed-builds.html), which refers to a remote  machine that could run such an executable.
+:::
+
+Such a function is usually designed to abstract over a typical workflow for a given programming language or framework.
+This allows declaring a build recipe by setting a limited number of options relevant to the particular use case instead of using the `derivation` function directly.
+
+[`stdenv.mkDerivation`](#part-stdenv) is the most widely used build helper, and serves as a basis for many others.
+In addition, it offers various options to customize parts of the builds.
+
+There is no uniform interface for build helpers.
+[Trivial build helpers](#chap-trivial-builders) and [fetchers](#chap-pkgs-fetchers) have various input types for convenience.
+[Language- or framework-specific build helpers](#chap-language-support) usually follow the style of `stdenv.mkDerivation`, which accepts an attribute set or a fixed-point function taking an attribute set.
+
+```{=include=} chapters
+build-helpers/fetchers.chapter.md
+build-helpers/trivial-build-helpers.chapter.md
+build-helpers/testers.chapter.md
+build-helpers/special.md
+build-helpers/images.md
+hooks/index.md
+languages-frameworks/index.md
+packages/index.md
+```