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Would it be possible to backport it to 20.09? I can try when i have some spare time...

I'm not sure what the policy on backporting new packages is. You can mix packages from different channels though (see this discourse thread), so you could still install this on a 20.09 setup. Is that good enough for you?

@timokau , it would be easier for me to use everything from one channel, i am not a very advanced user.

According to this old message of Vladimír Čunát about stabilising NixOS 18.03, backporting new pacakges seems ok:

What should be cherry-picked?

• [...]
• Optionally, new package additions, as that won't break anything.

The most recent maintainers wiki entry says we should probably hold off on backporting the package.

Adding a new channel to nix-env install packages is super easy, though:

nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable unstable
nix-env -iA unstable.marker

And that should do it. You don't even need to be root.

@trepetti, this didn't work for me:

$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable unstable
$ nix-env -iA unstable.marker

error: attribute 'unstable' in selection path 'unstable.marker' not found

Then try nix-env -i unstable.marker. You may not be in the nix.allowedUsers list. Also make sure you run nix-channel --update--forgot to mention that.

@trepetti, yes it was nix-channel --update that was missing, thanks. I said i was not a very advanced user :).

@trepetti, the problem with having two channels for me is that now i cannot check for upgraded packages in the stable channel with

$ nix-env -u --dry-run

-- it shows everything from the unstable too.

If you are on NixOS, you can have nix-env only upgrade packages using derivations from the default (stable) channel by providing that channel's file:

nix-env -u --dry-run -f ~/.nix-defexpr/channels_root/nixos/default.nix

@trepetti , thanks. I am on NixOS indeed.

@timokau , it would be easier for me to use everything from one channel, i am not a very advanced user.

According to this old message of Vladimír Čunát about stabilising NixOS 18.03, backporting new pacakges seems ok:

That's a good find! Its a little old to base a decision on though. The current guidelines that @alexeymuranov linked don't give any concrete guidance (at least the way I read them). I asked on IRC, but unfortunately didn't get a reply.

@jonringer do you have an opinion on backporting new packages?

I'm okay with it philosophically. But would prefer people to use unstable when they want the latest of something.

@jonringer, in my case i do not want the latest, i want any.