246 lines
8.6 KiB
XML
246 lines
8.6 KiB
XML
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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version="5.0"
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xml:id="ch-relnotes-0.8">
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<title>Release 0.8 (2005-04-11)</title>
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<para>NOTE: the hashing scheme in Nix 0.8 changed (as detailed below).
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As a result, <command>nix-pull</command> manifests and channels built
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for Nix 0.7 and below will not work anymore. However, the Nix
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expression language has not changed, so you can still build from
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source. Also, existing user environments continue to work. Nix 0.8
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will automatically upgrade the database schema of previous
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installations when it is first run.</para>
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<para>If you get the error message
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<screen>
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you have an old-style manifest `/nix/var/nix/manifests/[...]'; please
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delete it</screen>
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you should delete previously downloaded manifests:
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<screen>
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$ rm /nix/var/nix/manifests/*</screen>
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If <command>nix-channel</command> gives the error message
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<screen>
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manifest `http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/[channel]/MANIFEST'
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is too old (i.e., for Nix <= 0.7)</screen>
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then you should unsubscribe from the offending channel
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(<command>nix-channel --remove
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<emphasis>URL</emphasis></command>; leave out
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<literal>/MANIFEST</literal>), and subscribe to the same URL, with
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<literal>channels</literal> replaced by <literal>channels-v3</literal>
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(e.g., <link
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xlink:href='http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels-v3/nixpkgs-unstable'
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/>).</para>
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<para>Nix 0.8 has the following improvements:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>The cryptographic hashes used in store paths are now
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160 bits long, but encoded in base-32 so that they are still only 32
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characters long (e.g.,
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<filename>/nix/store/csw87wag8bqlqk7ipllbwypb14xainap-atk-1.9.0</filename>).
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(This is actually a 160 bit truncation of a SHA-256
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hash.)</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Big cleanups and simplifications of the basic store
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semantics. The notion of “closure store expressions” is gone (and
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so is the notion of “successors”); the file system references of a
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store path are now just stored in the database.</para>
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<para>For instance, given any store path, you can query its closure:
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
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... lots of paths ...</screen>
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Also, Nix now remembers for each store path the derivation that
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built it (the “deriver”):
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -qR $(which firefox)
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/nix/store/4b0jx7vq80l9aqcnkszxhymsf1ffa5jd-firefox-1.0.1.drv</screen>
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So to see the build-time dependencies, you can do
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -qR $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))</screen>
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or, in a nicer format:
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -q --tree $(nix-store -qd $(which firefox))</screen>
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</para>
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<para>File system references are also stored in reverse. For
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instance, you can query all paths that directly or indirectly use a
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certain Glibc:
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<screen>
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$ nix-store -q --referrers-closure \
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/nix/store/8lz9yc6zgmc0vlqmn2ipcpkjlmbi51vv-glibc-2.3.4</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><para>The concept of fixed-output derivations has been
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formalised. Previously, functions such as
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<function>fetchurl</function> in Nixpkgs used a hack (namely,
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explicitly specifying a store path hash) to prevent changes to, say,
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the URL of the file from propagating upwards through the dependency
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graph, causing rebuilds of everything. This can now be done cleanly
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by specifying the <varname>outputHash</varname> and
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<varname>outputHashAlgo</varname> attributes. Nix itself checks
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that the content of the output has the specified hash. (This is
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important for maintaining certain invariants necessary for future
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work on secure shared stores.)</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>One-click installation :-) It is now possible to
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install any top-level component in Nixpkgs directly, through the web
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— see, e.g., <link
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xlink:href='http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nixpkgs-0.8/' />.
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All you have to do is associate
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<filename>/nix/bin/nix-install-package</filename> with the MIME type
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<literal>application/nix-package</literal> (or the extension
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<filename>.nixpkg</filename>), and clicking on a package link will
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cause it to be installed, with all appropriate dependencies. If you
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just want to install some specific application, this is easier than
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subscribing to a channel.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>nix-store -r
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<emphasis>PATHS</emphasis></command> now builds all the
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derivations PATHS in parallel. Previously it did them sequentially
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(though exploiting possible parallelism between subderivations).
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This is nice for build farms.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>nix-channel</command> has new operations
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<option>--list</option> and
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<option>--remove</option>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>New ways of installing components into user
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environments:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Copy from another user environment:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -i --from-profile .../other-profile firefox</screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Install a store derivation directly (bypassing the
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Nix expression language entirely):
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -i /nix/store/z58v41v21xd3...-aterm-2.3.1.drv</screen>
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(This is used to implement <command>nix-install-package</command>,
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which is therefore immune to evolution in the Nix expression
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language.)</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Install an already built store path directly:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -i /nix/store/hsyj5pbn0d9i...-aterm-2.3.1</screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Install the result of a Nix expression specified
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as a command-line argument:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -f .../i686-linux.nix -i -E 'x: x.firefoxWrapper'</screen>
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The difference with the normal installation mode is that
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<option>-E</option> does not use the <varname>name</varname>
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attributes of derivations. Therefore, this can be used to
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disambiguate multiple derivations with the same
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name.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist></para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>A hash of the contents of a store path is now stored
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in the database after a successful build. This allows you to check
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whether store paths have been tampered with: <command>nix-store
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--verify --check-contents</command>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Implemented a concurrent garbage collector. It is now
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always safe to run the garbage collector, even if other Nix
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operations are happening simultaneously.</para>
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<para>However, there can still be GC races if you use
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<command>nix-instantiate</command> and <command>nix-store
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--realise</command> directly to build things. To prevent races,
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use the <option>--add-root</option> flag of those commands.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><para>The garbage collector now finally deletes paths in
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the right order (i.e., topologically sorted under the “references”
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relation), thus making it safe to interrupt the collector without
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risking a store that violates the closure
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invariant.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Likewise, the substitute mechanism now downloads
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files in the right order, thus preserving the closure invariant at
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all times.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>The result of <command>nix-build</command> is now
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registered as a root of the garbage collector. If the
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<filename>./result</filename> link is deleted, the GC root
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disappears automatically.</para></listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>The behaviour of the garbage collector can be changed
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globally by setting options in
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<filename>/nix/etc/nix/nix.conf</filename>.
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para><literal>gc-keep-derivations</literal> specifies
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whether deriver links should be followed when searching for live
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paths.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><literal>gc-keep-outputs</literal> specifies
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whether outputs of derivations should be followed when searching
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for live paths.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><literal>env-keep-derivations</literal>
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specifies whether user environments should store the paths of
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derivations when they are added (thus keeping the derivations
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alive).</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>New <command>nix-env</command> query flags
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<option>--drv-path</option> and
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<option>--out-path</option>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><command>fetchurl</command> allows SHA-1 and SHA-256
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in addition to MD5. Just specify the attribute
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<varname>sha1</varname> or <varname>sha256</varname> instead of
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<varname>md5</varname>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Manual updates.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</section>
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