nix-packaging-best-practices

Installation
SKILL.md

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
Related skills
Installs
13
GitHub Stars
2
First Seen
Jan 24, 2026