Reproducibility Glossary

Browse 8 reproducibility terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

8 Reproducibility Terms

Build Environment: The machine or container context in which source code is compiled, tested, and packaged, including OS details, installed tools, environment variables, and...
Guix: A package management and system configuration approach from the GNU ecosystem focused on reproducibility, declarative state, and transactional upgrades. In...
Lock File: A file generated by a package manager — such as `package-lock.json` (npm), `yarn.lock`, `Gemfile.lock`, or `poetry.lock` — that records the exact resolved...
Nix: A package manager and ecosystem centered on reproducible builds, declarative environments, and isolated dependency management. In engineering culture, Nix is...
Nix Package Manager: A package manager built around functional, reproducible software installation with isolated dependency trees.
Nixpkgs: The primary package repository for the Nix package manager, containing over 100,000 package definitions written as Nix expressions that declaratively describe...
Package Lock: A file (typically `package-lock.json` for npm, `yarn.lock` for Yarn, or `pnpm-lock.yaml` for pnpm) that records the exact resolved version, integrity hash, and...
Scratch Build: A build performed from a clean state without relying on previous artifacts, caches, or incremental leftovers. It is often used to confirm whether a problem...