nix-build in under 100 lines
Summary
The article demystifies nix-build by showing that turning a derivation into a store path is an exec with a clean environment. It provides a minimal Go implementation to realise derivations, including how inputs, environment, and outputs are wired, and why Nix's complexity is largely bookkeeping and security. It also covers missing features like sandboxing and binary caches and why the derivation is a pure function.