Packaging Binary Distributions for Nix

Extract and patch binary packages within Nix builds for reproducibility.

Core Principle

Source from original archive directly, never from pre-extracted directories.

When to Use

• Converting binary packages (.deb, .rpm, .tar.gz, .zip) to Nix derivations
• Packaging proprietary/closed-source software distributed as binaries
• Electron/GUI apps show "library not found" errors
• User provides pre-extracted binary contents
• Binary distributions need library path fixes