solnix is a distribution of illumos built with the Nix package manager and the NixOS module system: declarative machines, ZFS boot environments as generations, SMF instead of systemd. Atomic upgrades, instant rollback — the illumos analog of NixOS.
It's early. There's no bootable image yet. What works today: a signed
binary cache for x86_64-solaris and aarch64-solaris, full-text
package search, and a handbook that's further along than the code.
or search packages · follow along · architecture support
Coming from Linux? Here's the whole translation table → — systemd→SMF, Docker→zones, ext4→ZFS, strace→DTrace, apt→Nix, and the differences that actually bite.
illumos already boots and runs production machines. solnix will let you describe one declaratively in Nix and rebuild it reproducibly. How it will work →
illumos already gives every machine atomic upgrade and instant rollback through
beadm boot environments. solnix will map each Nix generation onto one.
How it will work →
illumos already runs services under SMF and svc.startd. solnix will render
SMF manifests from an smf.services.* module. How it will work →
who want declarative, rollback-safe machines without hand-rolling SMF manifests and IPS packages.
who need a target that isn't Linux or Darwin, and want the same module system on a ZFS-native kernel.
who'd rather their OS upgrades were boot environments than a package transaction.
What solnix is not: not Linux (different kernel, libc, and init); not NixOS (same Nix, different target OS); not Oracle Solaris (the open illumos branch, not Oracle's closed product).
Point nix at the solnix cache and pull prebuilt store paths for every
supported architecture. Every path is signed with the cache.solnix.io-1
key and verified before use.
# /etc/nix/nix.conf substituters = https://cache.solnix.io https://cache.nixos.org trusted-public-keys = cache.solnix.io-1:8UNrVAOSOrI9PGHc8/pD2Yqp265ZeYb3OId+gv4+wm8=
Nix already trusts
cache.nixos.org by default, so you only add the solnix key above.
Does it work? Ask the cache directly — no config needed:
nix store info --store https://cache.solnix.io
Cache objects will also be distributed over BitTorrent, so bandwidth scales with the community instead of one origin's egress bill. not yet enabled — HTTP works today and always stays the fallback. How it will work →
| Arch | Platform tuple | Status | Cache | Packages | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x86_64 (amd64) | x86_64-solaris | Primary target | live | … | 1 |
| aarch64 | aarch64-solaris | Out-of-tree illumos port exists; integrating | live | … | 3 |
| SPARC v9 (sun4v) | sparcv9-solaris | Bit-rotting in-gate; reviving with fork patches | planned | … | 4 |
| RISC-V | riscv64-solaris | Planned | planned | … | 5 |
announce@ and hackers@ have public archives you can
read now at lists.solnix.io (web, NNTP,
and git). Subscribing by email opens once inbound mail is up — see
community.
Patches by email to hackers@ (a PR bridge is coming), or the
issue tracker.
See the contributing guide.
If you turn it on, your browser can share the site's static files with other visitors over WebRTC while the tab is open — origin load drops as the community grows. Off by default; peers see your IP. How it works.
aarch64 and sparcv9 cross-build artifacts in the cache 2026-07-28
The binary cache now carries cross-built store paths for non-primary architectures alongside x86_64. Read more →
Binary cache online, distributed on B2 + Cloudflare 2026-07-24
Add cache.solnix.io as a substituter and skip the recompilation tax. Objects are served from Backblaze B2 fronted by Cloudflare. Read more →
Package search is live 2026-07-20
Browse the solnix package registry with full-text search at search.solnix.io. Read more →
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