nimforum mirror - Nimble v0.22.0 Released

jmgomez (orginal) [2026-02-12T12:21:48+01:00] view original

This is a major release that makes vnext the default mode. This is an intermediate release on the road to Nimble 1.0.0 - the legacy code path is still available via the --legacy flag for retrocompatibility, but it will be removed in the next release.

What is vnext?

The previous Nimble was designed around a greedy dependency solver, which caused fundamental design issues when the SAT solver was added later. vnext is a complete redesign of the dependency resolution pipeline that properly integrates:

SAT-based dependency resolution as the primary solver

Declarative parser for faster, more reliable nimble file parsing

Automatic Nim version management - Nimble can download and manage Nim versions

Improved lock file support with Nim version tracking

New Features

Nim Version Management

Automatic Nim downloads - When no system Nim is present, Nimble downloads from nim-lang.org/releases.json (#1525, #1516)

File Path Dependencies

Local path requires - Reference local packages directly in your nimble file: requires "file://./libs/mypackage" (#1452)

Features Flag (Declarative Parser)

`--features` - Activate optional features when using the declarative parser (#1562)

Improvements

SAT Solver

Proper handling of special versions (#head, #devel) - no longer incorrectly replaced by tagged versions (#1553)

Fixed Nim requirements being filtered during SAT selection pass (#1554)

Prefers tagged versions over #head when both satisfy requirements (#1546)

Better Nim version selection with stricter constraints for system Nim (#1480)

Additional SAT pass to prefer current system Nim when compatible (#1433)

Declarative Parser

Atomic parser fallback - if declarative parsing fails, seamlessly falls back to VM parser (#1517)

Uses git show for faster version enumeration without full checkout (#1552)

Warnings filtered to only show for packages actually in the solution (#1544)

Performance

Package version cache loaded on startup for faster dependency resolution (#1547)

Cache expansion for faster repeated operations (#1471)

Internal function optimizations for faster execution

Optimized solver functions for better performance

Benchmark Results (nimlangserver)

Test	v0.20	v0.22	Speedup
Cold start	5m 26s	3m 0s	1.8x faster
Warm cache, fresh deps	2m 25s	24s	6x faster
Regular run	9s	8s	~same

Cold start: Full workflow with empty cache (download packages, resolve, compile)

Warm cache, fresh deps: Packages cached in ~/.nimble, fresh nimbledeps

Regular run: Everything cached, just dependency verification

Note: v0.22 expands all package versions during resolution, while v0.20 was limited to 4 tagged versions per package. Despite doing more work, v0.22 is significantly faster due to cache expansion and other optimizations.

Other Improvements

`--extra-requires` - Specify additional dependencies from the command line (#1431)

Buildtemp pipeline - Binary packages are now built in a temporary directory and only the necessary files are installed. The package cache is never mutated by build operations, submodule fetches, or before-install hooks, preventing broken cache states that previously required manual cleanup (#1592)

Track git errors during package discovery and show when dependencies are missing (#1542)

Improvements for large dependency trees (#1532)

Prefer tagged releases over HEAD revision

Backwards compatibility with existing Nim lock files (#1559)

Automatic Nim version management. Nimble can download and manage Nim versions

Legacy Mode Deprecation

The previous code path is still available via the --legacy flag for retrocompatibility:


nimble install --legacy

This allows you to fall back to the old behavior if you encounter any issues with the new default mode. The `--legacy` flag will be removed in the next release, so please report any issues you find so they can be addressed before 1.0.0.

What's Coming in 1.0.0

Removal of the legacy code path - The --legacy flag will no longer be available

Redesigned develop workflow - A full rewrite of nimble develop

Local dependencies by default - Projects will use local nimbledeps/ by default, keeping your global environment clean and ensuring reproducible builds

Full Changelog

https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble/compare/v0.20.1...v0.22.0

We extend our gratitude to the Nim team for their hard work on these improvements, the community for their feedback, the contributors for their contributions, and special thanks to Status for sponsoring the development.

doublefreepointer (orginal) [2026-02-12T12:46:38+01:00] view original


nimble install nimble

is failing for me (on Debian 12).

The output:


Downloading https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble using git
   Building nimble/nimble using c backend
      Info: compiling nim package using /home/doublefreepointer/.nimble/pkgs2/nim-2.0.8-46333e8f4bda41dd6d3852a3f5fa4975b96b66a2/bin/nim
 Nim Output /home/doublefreepointer/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble/src/nimblepkg/compat/sequtils.nim(18, 24) Error: cannot move 'x', passing 'x' to a sink parameter introduces an implicit copy
Downloading https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble using git
   Building nimble/nimble using c backend
      Info: compiling nim package using /home/doublefreepointer/.nimble/pkgs2/nim-2.0.8-46333e8f4bda41dd6d3852a3f5fa4975b96b66a2/bin/nim
 Nim Output /home/doublefreepointer/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble_#head/src/nimblepkg/compat/sequtils.nim(18, 24) Error: cannot move 'x', passing 'x' to a sink parameter introduces an implicit copy
       Tip: 16 messages have been suppressed, use --verbose to show them.
nimble.nim(419)          buildFromDir
    
    Error:  Build failed for the package: nimble

lou15b (orginal) [2026-02-12T16:07:29+01:00] view original

One minor quibble - nimble's reported version (at least for the downloaded linux_x64 binary) seems to be wrong:


[~]$ nimble -v
nimble v0.99.0 compiled at 2026-02-12 10:39:46
git hash: 31b262c559e2b0360a82996cc71a4f0931b48dee

jmgomez (orginal) [2026-02-12T17:27:37+01:00] view original

Likely you are trying to update from an old nimble version that picks the wrong nim. You may get around it with --useSystemNim That said, it should compile with any reasonable recent nim. We will make sure this is the case.

@lou15b thats quite strange indeed as the binaries are autogen when pushing the tags and other platforms seem to be correct. We will look into it

moigagoo (orginal) [2026-02-12T17:35:25+01:00] view original

Congrats on the long awaited release!

When Nimble fetches a Nim version, does it fetch a binary of builds Nim from source?

With Nimble being able to install Nim's, could it become the Nim version management tool that replaces choosenim and grabnim?

jmgomez (orginal) [2026-02-12T18:08:46+01:00] view original

Thanks!

It fetches prebuilt binaries from nim-lang.org when available. If a binary isn't available for your platform/version, it falls back to downloading source from GitHub and compiling it. You can use --disableNimBinaries to force source compilation. Downloaded Nim versions are cached in ~/.nimble/nimbinaries/ and reused across projects.

And yes, nimble install nim (or nimble install [email protected]) installs Nim into pkgs2 and symlinks it to ~/.nimble/bin/nim, so if that's in your PATH it effectively becomes your system Nim. It can already serve as a choosenim/grabnim replacement for version management. Just make sure to be in global mode.

ThomasTJdev (orginal) [2026-02-12T18:10:39+01:00] view original

Wonderful! Congrats!

Love the idea by @moigagoo - making Nimble the Nim-manager as default would be full circle. And really looking forward to the nimbledeps/ in v1.0!

Keep up the good work @jmgomez and Nim team!

moigagoo (orginal) [2026-02-12T18:25:06+01:00] view original

I'm seeing the same error in Windows 11. Interestingly, on WSL the installation runs fine.

moigagoo (orginal) [2026-02-12T19:20:50+01:00] view original

Awesome!

I've just tested this flow:

removed Nim, nimble, grabnim—everything, start with a clean slate

downloaded nimble binary, extracted to PATH

downloaded dlls.zip from nim-lang.org, extracted to PATH

run nimble --version. - weirdly, Nim 2.2.6 downloaded but not placed in ~/.nimble/bin - run `nimble --version again, it worked as intended

run nimble install -g nim it installed Nim in seconds. Awesome!

run nimble install -g nph nimlangserver and got a fully working dev environment in a couple of minutes. Awesome!
- I think nimble install -g foo bar installs only bar but I'll have to verify that

In general, I can say that this way of installing Nim looks like the best one out of everything offered so far. If we just put it in .sh/.ps1 scripts, that could very well become the official way to install Nim.

Zoom (orginal) [2026-02-12T20:04:53+01:00] view original

Great news!

When no system Nim is present, Nimble downloads from nim-lang.org/releases.json

What if the hosting gets compromised and the links are substituted? Any hardening planned?

igor-sirotin (orginal) [2026-02-12T22:16:01+01:00] view original

@jmgomez, I'm facing and issue upgrading nimble:


> nimble install nimble --verbose
      Info: Package cache path /Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache
  Warning:  Nimble data file "/Users/sirotin/.nimble/nimbledata2.json" is not found.
    Reading official package list
Downloading Official package list
     Trying https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nim-lang/packages/master/packages.json
    Success Package list downloaded.
Downloading https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble using git
    Cloning latest tagged version: v0.22.0
 Attempting to execute hook installBefore in /Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble/nimble.nimble
      Info: Using the 'GITHUB_TOKEN' environment variable for GitHub API Token.
     Info:  Dependency on nim@>= 1.6.20 already satisfied
    Reading official package list
 Installing [email protected]
   Building nimble/nimble using c backend
      Info: compiling nim package using /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/bin/nim
  Executing /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/bin/nim c --colors:on --noNimblePath -d:release -d:NimblePkgVersion=0.22.0 -o:/Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble/nimble /Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble/src/nimble.nim
 Nim Output Hint: used config file '/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/config/nim.cfg' [Conf]
        ... Hint: used config file '/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/config/config.nims' [Conf]
        ... Hint: used config file '/Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble/config.nims' [Conf]
        ... Hint: used config file '/Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble/src/nimble.nim.cfg' [Conf]
        ... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................
        ... /Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble/src/nimblepkg/options.nim(1039, 12) Warning: Provide auth in url instead; newProxy is deprecated [Deprecated]
        ... .................................................
        ... /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/compiler/nimblecmd.nim(19, 39) Error: cannot open file: ../dist/checksums/src/checksums/sha1
    Reading official package list
Downloading https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble using git
 Attempting to execute hook installBefore in /Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble_#head/nimble.nimble
  Verifying dependencies for [email protected]
 Installing [email protected]
   Building nimble/nimble using c backend
      Info: compiling nim package using /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/bin/nim
  Executing /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/bin/nim c --colors:on --noNimblePath -d:release -d:NimblePkgVersion=0.22.0 -o:'/Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble_#head/nimble' '/Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble_#head/src/nimble.nim'
 Nim Output Hint: used config file '/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/config/nim.cfg' [Conf]
        ... Hint: used config file '/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/config/config.nims' [Conf]
        ... Hint: used config file '/Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble_#head/config.nims' [Conf]
        ... Hint: used config file '/Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble_#head/src/nimble.nim.cfg' [Conf]
        ... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................
        ... /Users/sirotin/.nimble/pkgcache/githubcom_nimlangnimble_#head/src/nimblepkg/options.nim(1039, 12) Warning: Provide auth in url instead; newProxy is deprecated [Deprecated]
        ... .................................................
        ... /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nim/2.2.6/nim/compiler/nimblecmd.nim(19, 39) Error: cannot open file: ../dist/checksums/src/checksums/sha1
nimble.nim(419)          buildFromDir
    
    Error:  Build failed for the package: nimble
     Info:  Nimble data file "/Users/sirotin/.nimble/nimbledata2.json" has been saved.

I'm on MacOS. Nim 2.2.6 installed with brew. I've tried clearing nimble cache and reinstalling Nim - no luck 😕

Any suggestions?

Mirror of forum.nim-lang.org

13715 :: Nimble v0.22.0 Released