Restructuring the Nix manual

1 files changed, 190 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-build.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-build.xml
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+<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+      version="5.0"
+      xml:id="sec-nix-build">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-build</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-build</refname>
+  <refpurpose>build a Nix expression</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-build</command>
+    <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="opt-common-syn.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(/db:nop/*)" />
+    <arg><option>--arg</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>value</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--argstr</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>value</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg>
+      <group choice='req'>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>--attr</option></arg>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>-A</option></arg>
+      </group>
+      <replaceable>attrPath</replaceable>
+    </arg>
+    <arg><option>--drv-link</option> <replaceable>drvlink</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--add-drv-link</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--no-out-link</option></arg>
+    <arg>
+      <group choice='req'>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>--out-link</option></arg>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>-o</option></arg>
+      </group>
+      <replaceable>outlink</replaceable>
+    </arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The <command>nix-build</command> command builds the derivations
+described by the Nix expressions in <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.
+If the build succeeds, it places a symlink to the result in the
+current directory.  The symlink is called <filename>result</filename>.
+If there are multiple Nix expressions, or the Nix expressions evaluate
+to multiple derivations, multiple sequentially numbered symlinks are
+created (<filename>result</filename>, <filename>result-2</filename>,
+and so on).</para>
+
+<para>If no <replaceable>paths</replaceable> are specified, then
+<command>nix-build</command> will use <filename>default.nix</filename>
+in the current directory, if it exists.</para>
+
+<para><command>nix-build</command> is essentially a wrapper around
+<link
+linkend="sec-nix-instantiate"><command>nix-instantiate</command></link>
+(to translate a high-level Nix expression to a low-level store
+derivation) and <link
+linkend="rsec-nix-store-realise"><command>nix-store
+--realise</command></link> (to build the store derivation).</para>
+
+<warning><para>The result of the build is automatically registered as
+a root of the Nix garbage collector.  This root disappears
+automatically when the <filename>result</filename> symlink is deleted
+or renamed.  So don’t rename the symlink.</para></warning>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Options</title>
+
+<para>All options not listed here are passed to <command>nix-store
+--realise</command>, except for <option>--arg</option> and
+<option>--attr</option> / <option>-A</option> which are passed to
+<command>nix-instantiate</command>.  <phrase condition="manual">See
+also <xref linkend="sec-common-options" />.</phrase></para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--drv-link</option> <replaceable>drvlink</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Add a symlink named
+    <replaceable>drvlink</replaceable> to the store derivation
+    produced by <command>nix-instantiate</command>.  The derivation is
+    a root of the garbage collector until the symlink is deleted or
+    renamed.  If there are multiple derivations, numbers are suffixed
+    to <replaceable>drvlink</replaceable> to distinguish between
+    them.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--add-drv-link</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Shorthand for <option>--drv-link</option>
+    <filename>./derivation</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--no-out-link</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Do not create a symlink to the output path.  Note
+    that as a result the output does not become a root of the garbage
+    collector, and so might be deleted by <command>nix-store
+    --gc</command>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id='opt-out-link'><term><option>--out-link</option> /
+  <option>-o</option> <replaceable>outlink</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Change the name of the symlink to the output path
+    created from <filename>result</filename> to
+    <replaceable>outlink</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+<para>The following common options are supported:</para>
+
+<variablelist condition="manpage">
+  <xi:include href="opt-common.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(//db:variablelist[@xml:id='opt-common']/*)" />
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A firefox
+store derivation is /nix/store/qybprl8sz2lc...-firefox-1.5.0.7.drv
+/nix/store/d18hyl92g30l...-firefox-1.5.0.7
+
+$ ls -l result
+lrwxrwxrwx  <replaceable>...</replaceable>  result -> /nix/store/d18hyl92g30l...-firefox-1.5.0.7
+
+$ ls ./result/bin/
+firefox  firefox-config</screen>
+
+<para>If a derivation has multiple outputs,
+<command>nix-build</command> will build the default (first) output.
+You can also build all outputs:
+<screen>
+$ nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A openssl.all
+</screen>
+This will create a symlink for each output named
+<filename>result-<replaceable>outputname</replaceable></filename>.
+The suffix is omitted if the output name is <literal>out</literal>.
+So if <literal>openssl</literal> has outputs <literal>out</literal>,
+<literal>bin</literal> and <literal>man</literal>,
+<command>nix-build</command> will create symlinks
+<literal>result</literal>, <literal>result-bin</literal> and
+<literal>result-man</literal>.  It’s also possible to build a specific
+output:
+<screen>
+$ nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A openssl.man
+</screen>
+This will create a symlink <literal>result-man</literal>.</para>
+
+<para>Build a Nix expression given on the command line:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-build -E 'with import &lt;nixpkgs> { }; runCommand "foo" { } "echo bar > $out"'
+$ cat ./result
+bar
+</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection condition="manpage"><title>Environment variables</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+  <xi:include href="env-common.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(//db:variablelist[@xml:id='env-common']/*)" />
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refentry>