path: root/doc/manual/quick-start.xml

<chapter><title>Quick Start</title>

<para>This chapter is for impatient people who don't like reading
documentation.  For more in-depth information you are kindly referred
to the following chapters.</para>

<orderedlist>

<listitem><para>Download a source tarball or RPM from <ulink
url='http://www.cs.uu.nl/groups/ST/Trace/Nix'/>.  Build source
distributions using the regular sequence:
        
<screen>
$ tar xvfj nix-<replaceable>version</replaceable>.tar.bz2
$ ./configure
$ make
$ make install <lineannotation>(as root)</lineannotation></screen>

This will install Nix in <filename>/nix</filename>.  You shouldn't
change the prefix if at all possible since that will make it
impossible to use our pre-built components.  Alternatively, you could
grab an RPM if you're on an RPM-based system.  You should also add
<filename>/nix/etc/profile.d/nix.sh</filename> to your
<filename>~/.bashrc</filename> (or some other login
file).</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Subscribe to the Nix Packages channel.

<screen>
$ nix-channel --add http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/nixpkgs-unstable</screen>

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Download the latest Nix expressions available in the channel.
<screen>
$ nix-channel --update</screen>

Note that this in itself doesn't download any components, it just
downloads the Nix expressions that build them and stores them
somewhere (under <filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename>, in case you're
curious).  Also, it registers the fact that pre-built binaries are
available remotely.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>See what installable components are currently
available in the channel:

<screen>
$ nix-env -qa
docbook-xml-4.2
firefox-1.0pre-PR-0.10.1
hello-2.1.1
libxslt-1.1.0
<replaceable>...</replaceable></screen>

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Install some components from the channel:
        
<screen>
$ nix-env -i hello firefox <replaceable>...</replaceable> </screen>

This should download the pre-built components; it should not build
them locally (if it does, something went wrong).</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Test that they work:

<screen>
$ which hello
/home/eelco/.nix-profile/bin/hello
$ hello
Hello, world!
$ firefox
<lineannotation>(read Slashdot or something)</lineannotation></screen>

</para></listitem>
    
<listitem><para>Uninstall a package:

<screen>
$ nix-env -e hello</screen>

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>To keep up-to-date with the channel, do:

<screen>
$ nix-channel --update
$ nix-env -u '*'</screen>

The latter command will upgrade each installed component for which
there is a “newer” version (as determined by comparing the version
numbers).</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>If you're unhappy with the result of a
<command>nix-env</command> action (e.g., an upgraded component turned
out not to work properly), you can go back:

<screen>
$ nix-env --rollback</screen>

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>You should periodically run the Nix garbage collector
to get rid of unused packages, since uninstalls or upgrades don't
actually delete them:

<screen>
$ nix-env --delete-generations old
$ nix-store --gc</screen>

The first command deletes old “generations” of your profile (making
rollbacks impossible, but also making the components in those old
generations available for garbage collection), while the second
command actually deletes them.</para></listitem>

</orderedlist>

</chapter>