Nix@NGI Team

Mission

Our main mission is to deliver on the promise of Nix: make open source software easy to run, both now and in the long term.

The NixOS Foundation is a partner in the NGI Zero consortium led by NLnet.

We are tasked with supporting authors of NGI-funded software by running three editions of Summer of Nix and getting as many as possible of the more than 1200 NLnet-funded software projects to work smoothly with the Nix ecosystem by building a comprehensive collection of

  • Development environments
  • Libraries or plugins
  • Standalone executables
  • Networked or system services
  • Tested configuration or usage examples

updated regularly until at least mid 2027. As a side effect, we intend our work to benefit all contributors to NixOS by improving tools and simplifying processes as we go.

Background

NGI Zero is a consortium advancing open technology commons, funded by the European Commission’s Next Generation Internet initiative that channels resources into free and open source software projects.

While EU funding is often associated with building physical infrastructure like roads and bridges, it also plays a critical role in filling gaps in digital infrastructure, such as supporting the development of foundational free and open source software.

Stakeholders

These are the people we work for and with:

  • Project authors: Their work is at the core of the NGI software ecosystem. Our main task is to support and amplify it.
  • Volunteer contributors: Most of the Nix ecosystem is built by volunteers, who donate their time to the community by making useful contributions. This is you! Your expertise and attention are our most valuable collective resources, and we owe it to you to help strengthen and grow the universe you’re tending to.
  • End users: Open source software is built for people, the users. The result of our work should be that more NGI-funded software is accessible to all users of NixOS.
  • European Commission: Funds the entire operation. We have to make the aggregate outcomes tangible for program coordinators and auditors and ensure tax money is spent effectively and efficiently.
  • NLnet: Leads the NGI Zero consortium, distributes grants to project authors, and coordinates the work of partners. They set our mid-term and strategic priorities, such as which (types of) projects to focus on with regards to packaging. We need to be able to provide detailed reports on our deliverables so they can more easily steer the program at large.
  • NixOS Foundation: The fiscal host for this project, and legally accountable in the NGI Zero consortium. The team thus represents the interests of the Nix community, and we have to ensure that what we do is transparent and beneficial to the ecosystem.
  • Paid contributors: Not all the necessary work gets done by volunteers, and the idea behind NGI Zero is to make source software development sustainable. Part of that is paying people to stick around and do what needs to be done, even if it’s not fun or exciting. In order to make that possible and repeatable, we want to be an exemplary business partner for our contractors.

How to participate

For questions or comments, please contact the team.