Glossary

builder program

The program run in a derivation. Sometimes shortened to “builder”.

derivation

A build step. A description of a program to run — called a builder program — to produce files. Derivations can depend on the results of other derivations. Derivations are created with the derivation() built-in function. See the Derivation Specification for a full reference.

store directory

A collection of build artifacts and source files, each of which is called a store object.

The conventional store directory is:

• /opt/zb/store on Linux and macOS

• C:\zb\store on Windows

store object

A file, directory, or symbolic link that is an immediate child of the store directory.

store path

An absolute filesystem path of a store object.

system value

system triple

The system value of a derivation is used to specify a class of machines that can execute the derivation’s builder. The format is intentionally compatible with LLVM target triples (which are, in turn, similar to GCC target triples). system values are a hyphen-separated collection of architecture, vendor, operating system, and environment components. Common values include:

• x86_64-unknown-linux for Linux running on a 64-bit Intel CPU

• aarch64-apple-macos for macOS running on a 64-bit ARM processor (Apple Silicon)

• x86_64-pc-windows for Windows running on a 64-bit Intel CPU

The full syntax of a system value is defined in system values specification.