Restructuring the Nix manual

23 files changed, 6028 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/command-ref.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/command-ref.xml
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+<part 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='part-command-ref'>
+
+<title>Command Reference</title>
+
+<partintro>
+<para>This section lists commands and options that you can use when you
+work with Nix.</para>
+</partintro>
+
+<xi:include href="opt-common.xml" />
+<xi:include href="env-common.xml" />
+<xi:include href="main-commands.xml" />
+<xi:include href="utilities.xml" />
+<xi:include href="files.xml" />
+
+</part>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e420d1ed6c34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/conf-file.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,538 @@
+<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+          xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+          xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+          xml:id="sec-conf-file">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix.conf</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix.conf</refname>
+  <refpurpose>Nix configuration file</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>A number of persistent settings of Nix are stored in the file
+<filename><replaceable>sysconfdir</replaceable>/nix/nix.conf</filename>.
+This file is a list of <literal><replaceable>name</replaceable> =
+<replaceable>value</replaceable></literal> pairs, one per line.
+Comments start with a <literal>#</literal> character.  Here is an example
+configuration file:</para>
+
+<programlisting>
+gc-keep-outputs = true       # Nice for developers
+gc-keep-derivations = true   # Idem
+env-keep-derivations = false
+</programlisting>
+
+<para>You can override settings using the <option>--option</option>
+flag, e.g. <literal>--option gc-keep-outputs false</literal>.</para>
+
+<para>The following settings are currently available:
+
+<variablelist>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-gc-keep-outputs"><term><literal>gc-keep-outputs</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If <literal>true</literal>, the garbage collector
+    will keep the outputs of non-garbage derivations.  If
+    <literal>false</literal> (default), outputs will be deleted unless
+    they are GC roots themselves (or reachable from other roots).</para>
+
+    <para>In general, outputs must be registered as roots separately.
+    However, even if the output of a derivation is registered as a
+    root, the collector will still delete store paths that are used
+    only at build time (e.g., the C compiler, or source tarballs
+    downloaded from the network).  To prevent it from doing so, set
+    this option to <literal>true</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-gc-keep-derivations"><term><literal>gc-keep-derivations</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If <literal>true</literal> (default), the garbage
+    collector will keep the derivations from which non-garbage store
+    paths were built.  If <literal>false</literal>, they will be
+    deleted unless explicitly registered as a root (or reachable from
+    other roots).</para>
+
+    <para>Keeping derivation around is useful for querying and
+    traceability (e.g., it allows you to ask with what dependencies or
+    options a store path was built), so by default this option is on.
+    Turn it off to safe a bit of disk space (or a lot if
+    <literal>gc-keep-outputs</literal> is also turned on).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>env-keep-derivations</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If <literal>false</literal> (default), derivations
+    are not stored in Nix user environments.  That is, the derivation
+    any build-time-only dependencies may be garbage-collected.</para>
+
+    <para>If <literal>true</literal>, when you add a Nix derivation to
+    a user environment, the path of the derivation is stored in the
+    user environment.  Thus, the derivation will not be
+    garbage-collected until the user environment generation is deleted
+    (<command>nix-env --delete-generations</command>).  To prevent
+    build-time-only dependencies from being collected, you should also
+    turn on <literal>gc-keep-outputs</literal>.</para>
+
+    <para>The difference between this option and
+    <literal>gc-keep-derivations</literal> is that this one is
+    “sticky”: it applies to any user environment created while this
+    option was enabled, while <literal>gc-keep-derivations</literal>
+    only applies at the moment the garbage collector is
+    run.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-max-jobs"><term><literal>build-max-jobs</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This option defines the maximum number of jobs
+    that Nix will try to build in parallel.  The default is
+    <literal>1</literal>.  You should generally set it to the number
+    of CPUs in your system (e.g., <literal>2</literal> on an Athlon 64
+    X2).  It can be overridden using the <option
+    linkend='opt-max-jobs'>--max-jobs</option> (<option>-j</option>)
+    command line switch.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-cores"><term><literal>build-cores</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Sets the value of the
+    <envar>NIX_BUILD_CORES</envar> environment variable in the
+    invocation of builders.  Builders can use this variable at their
+    discretion to control the maximum amount of parallelism.  For
+    instance, in Nixpkgs, if the derivation attribute
+    <varname>enableParallelBuilding</varname> is set to
+    <literal>true</literal>, the builder passes the
+    <option>-j<replaceable>N</replaceable></option> flag to GNU Make.
+    It can be overridden using the <option
+    linkend='opt-cores'>--cores</option> command line switch and
+    defaults to <literal>1</literal>.  The value <literal>0</literal>
+    means that the builder should use all available CPU cores in the
+    system.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-max-silent-time"><term><literal>build-max-silent-time</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>This option defines the maximum number of seconds that a
+      builder can go without producing any data on standard output or
+      standard error.  This is useful (for instance in an automated
+      build system) to catch builds that are stuck in an infinite
+      loop, or to catch remote builds that are hanging due to network
+      problems.  It can be overridden using the <option
+      linkend="opt-max-silent-time">--max-silent-time</option> command
+      line switch.</para>
+
+      <para>The value <literal>0</literal> means that there is no
+      timeout.  This is also the default.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-timeout"><term><literal>build-timeout</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>This option defines the maximum number of seconds that a
+      builder can run.  This is useful (for instance in an automated
+      build system) to catch builds that are stuck in an infinite loop
+      but keep writing to their standard output or standard error.  It
+      can be overridden using the <option
+      linkend="opt-timeout">--timeout</option> command line
+      switch.</para>
+
+      <para>The value <literal>0</literal> means that there is no
+      timeout.  This is also the default.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-max-log-size"><term><literal>build-max-log-size</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>This option defines the maximum number of bytes that a
+      builder can write to its stdout/stderr.  If the builder exceeds
+      this limit, it’s killed.  A value of <literal>0</literal> (the
+      default) means that there is no limit.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-users-group"><term><literal>build-users-group</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This options specifies the Unix group containing
+    the Nix build user accounts.  In multi-user Nix installations,
+    builds should not be performed by the Nix account since that would
+    allow users to arbitrarily modify the Nix store and database by
+    supplying specially crafted builders; and they cannot be performed
+    by the calling user since that would allow him/her to influence
+    the build result.</para>
+
+    <para>Therefore, if this option is non-empty and specifies a valid
+    group, builds will be performed under the user accounts that are a
+    member of the group specified here (as listed in
+    <filename>/etc/group</filename>).  Those user accounts should not
+    be used for any other purpose!</para>
+
+    <para>Nix will never run two builds under the same user account at
+    the same time.  This is to prevent an obvious security hole: a
+    malicious user writing a Nix expression that modifies the build
+    result of a legitimate Nix expression being built by another user.
+    Therefore it is good to have as many Nix build user accounts as
+    you can spare.  (Remember: uids are cheap.)</para>
+
+    <para>The build users should have permission to create files in
+    the Nix store, but not delete them.  Therefore,
+    <filename>/nix/store</filename> should be owned by the Nix
+    account, its group should be the group specified here, and its
+    mode should be <literal>1775</literal>.</para>
+
+    <para>If the build users group is empty, builds will be performed
+    under the uid of the Nix process (that is, the uid of the caller
+    if <envar>NIX_REMOTE</envar> is empty, the uid under which the Nix
+    daemon runs if <envar>NIX_REMOTE</envar> is
+    <literal>daemon</literal>).  Obviously, this should not be used in
+    multi-user settings with untrusted users.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>build-use-chroot</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal>, builds will be
+    performed in a <emphasis>chroot environment</emphasis>, i.e., the
+    build will be isolated from the normal file system hierarchy and
+    will only see its dependencies in the Nix store, the temporary
+    build directory, private versions of <filename>/proc</filename>,
+    <filename>/dev</filename>, <filename>/dev/shm</filename> and
+    <filename>/dev/pts</filename>, and the paths configured with the
+    <link linkend='conf-build-chroot-dirs'><literal>build-chroot-dirs</literal>
+    option</link>. This is useful to prevent undeclared dependencies
+    on files in directories such as
+    <filename>/usr/bin</filename>.</para>
+
+    <para>The use of a chroot requires that Nix is run as root (so you
+    should use the <link linkend='conf-build-users-group'>“build
+    users” feature</link> to perform the actual builds under different
+    users than root).  Currently, chroot builds only work on Linux
+    because Nix uses “bind mounts” to make the Nix store and other
+    directories available inside the chroot.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-chroot-dirs"><term><literal>build-chroot-dirs</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A list of paths bind-mounted into Nix chroot
+    environments.  Contrary to what the name suggests, the specified
+    paths do not have to be directories; you can bind-mount other
+    types of files as well.  You can use the syntax
+    <literal><replaceable>target</replaceable>=<replaceable>source</replaceable></literal>
+    to mount a path in a different location in the chroot; for
+    instance, <literal>/bin=/nix-bin</literal> will mount the path
+    <literal>/nix-bin</literal> as <literal>/bin</literal> inside the
+    chroot.</para>
+
+    <para>Depending on how Nix was built, the default value for this option
+    may be empty or provide <filename>/bin/sh</filename> as a
+    bind-mount of <command>bash</command>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-build-extra-chroot-dirs"><term><literal>build-extra-chroot-dirs</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A list of additional paths appended to
+    <option>build-chroot-dirs</option>. Useful if you want to extend
+    its default value.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>build-use-substitutes</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal> (default), Nix
+    will use binary substitutes if available.  This option can be
+    disabled to force building from source.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>build-fallback</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal>, Nix will fall
+    back to building from source if a binary substitute fails.  This
+    is equivalent to the <option>--fallback</option> flag.  The
+    default is <literal>false</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>build-cache-failures</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal>, Nix will
+    “cache” build failures, meaning that it will remember (in its
+    database) that a derivation previously failed.  If you then try to
+    build the derivation again, Nix will immediately fail rather than
+    perform the build again.  Failures in fixed-output derivations
+    (such as <function>fetchurl</function> calls) are never cached.
+    The “failed” status of a derivation can be cleared using
+    <command>nix-store --clear-failed-paths</command>.  By default,
+    failure caching is disabled.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>build-keep-log</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal> (the default),
+    Nix will write the build log of a derivation (i.e. the standard
+    output and error of its builder) to the directory
+    <filename>/nix/var/log/nix/drvs</filename>.  The build log can be
+    retrieved using the command <command>nix-store -l
+    <replaceable>path</replaceable></command>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>build-compress-log</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal> (the default),
+    build logs written to <filename>/nix/var/log/nix/drvs</filename>
+    will be compressed on the fly using bzip2.  Otherwise, they will
+    not be compressed.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>use-binary-caches</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal> (the default),
+    Nix will check the binary caches specified by
+    <option>binary-caches</option> and related options to obtain
+    binary substitutes.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>binary-caches</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A list of URLs of binary caches, separated by
+    whitespace.  The default is
+    <literal>http://cache.nixos.org</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>binary-caches-files</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A list of names of files that will be read to
+    obtain additional binary cache URLs.  The default is
+    <literal>/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/<replaceable>username</replaceable>/channels/binary-caches/*</literal>.
+    Note that when you’re using the Nix daemon,
+    <replaceable>username</replaceable> is always equal to
+    <literal>root</literal>, so Nix will only use the binary caches
+    provided by the channels installed by root.  Do not set this
+    option to read files created by untrusted users!</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>trusted-binary-caches</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A list of URLs of binary caches, separated by
+    whitespace.  These are not used by default, but can be enabled by
+    users of the Nix daemon by specifying <literal>--option
+    binary-caches <replaceable>urls</replaceable></literal> on the
+    command line.  Unprivileged users are only allowed to pass a
+    subset of the URLs listed in <literal>binary-caches</literal> and
+    <literal>trusted-binary-caches</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>extra-binary-caches</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Additional binary caches appended to those
+    specified in <option>binary-caches</option> and
+    <option>binary-caches-files</option>.  When used by unprivileged
+    users, untrusted binary caches (i.e. those not listed in
+    <option>trusted-binary-caches</option>) are silently
+    ignored.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>binary-caches-parallel-connections</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The maximum number of parallel HTTP connections
+    used by the binary cache substituter to get NAR info files.  This
+    number should be high to minimise latency.  It defaults to
+    150.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>force-manifest</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If this option is set to <literal>false</literal>
+    (default) and a Nix channel provides both a manifest and a binary
+    cache, only the binary cache will be used.  If set to
+    <literal>true</literal>, the manifest will be fetched as well.
+    This is useful if you want to use binary patches (which are
+    currently not supported by binary caches).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>system</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This option specifies the canonical Nix system
+    name of the current installation, such as
+    <literal>i686-linux</literal> or
+    <literal>powerpc-darwin</literal>.  Nix can only build derivations
+    whose <literal>system</literal> attribute equals the value
+    specified here.  In general, it never makes sense to modify this
+    value from its default, since you can use it to ‘lie’ about the
+    platform you are building on (e.g., perform a Mac OS build on a
+    Linux machine; the result would obviously be wrong).  It only
+    makes sense if the Nix binaries can run on multiple platforms,
+    e.g., ‘universal binaries’ that run on <literal>powerpc-darwin</literal> and
+    <literal>i686-darwin</literal>.</para>
+
+    <para>It defaults to the canonical Nix system name detected by
+    <filename>configure</filename> at build time.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>fsync-metadata</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal>, changes to the
+    Nix store metadata (in <filename>/nix/var/nix/db</filename>) are
+    synchronously flushed to disk.  This improves robustness in case
+    of system crashes, but reduces performance.  The default is
+    <literal>true</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>auto-optimise-store</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If set to <literal>true</literal>, Nix
+    automatically detects files in the store that have identical
+    contents, and replaces them with hard links to a single copy.
+    This saves disk space.  If set to <literal>false</literal> (the
+    default), you can still run <command>nix-store
+    --optimise</command> to get rid of duplicate
+    files.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-connect-timeout"><term><literal>connect-timeout</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>The timeout (in seconds) for establishing connections in
+      the binary cache substituter.  It corresponds to
+      <command>curl</command>’s <option>--connect-timeout</option>
+      option.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-log-servers"><term><literal>log-servers</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>A list of URL prefixes (such as
+      <literal>http://hydra.nixos.org/log</literal>) from which
+      <command>nix-store -l</command> will try to fetch build logs if
+      they’re not available locally.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-trusted-users"><term><literal>trusted-users</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>A list of names of users (separated by whitespace) that
+      have additional rights when connecting to the Nix daemon, such
+      as the ability to specify additional binary caches, or to import
+      unsigned NARs. You can also specify groups by prefixing them
+      with <literal>@</literal>; for instance,
+      <literal>@wheel</literal> means all users in the
+      <literal>wheel</literal> group. The default is
+      <literal>root</literal>.</para>
+
+      <warning><para>The users listed here have the ability to
+      compromise the security of a multi-user Nix store. For instance,
+      they could install Trojan horses subsequently executed by other
+      users. So you should consider carefully whether to add users to
+      this list.</para></warning>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="conf-allowed-users"><term><literal>allowed-users</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+      <para>A list of names of users (separated by whitespace) that
+      are allowed to connect to the Nix daemon. As with the
+      <option>trusted-users</option> option, you can specify groups by
+      prefixing them with <literal>@</literal>. Also, you can allow
+      all users by specifying <literal>*</literal>. The default is
+      <literal>*</literal>.</para>
+
+      <para>Note that trusted users are always allowed to connect.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/env-common.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/env-common.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c501d1c011c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/env-common.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,340 @@
+<chapter 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-common-env">
+
+<title>Common Environment Variables</title>
+
+
+<para>Most Nix commands interpret the following environment variables:</para>
+
+<variablelist xml:id="env-common">
+
+  
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_PATH</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem>
+
+    <para>A colon-separated list of directories used to look up Nix
+    expressions enclosed in angle brackets (i.e.,
+    <literal>&lt;<replaceable>path</replaceable>></literal>).  For
+    instance, the value
+
+    <screen>
+/home/eelco/Dev:/etc/nixos</screen>
+
+    will cause Nix to look for paths relative to
+    <filename>/home/eelco/Dev</filename> and
+    <filename>/etc/nixos</filename>, in that order.  It is also
+    possible to match paths against a prefix.  For example, the value
+    
+    <screen>
+nixpkgs=/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch:/etc/nixos</screen>
+
+    will cause Nix to search for
+    <literal>&lt;nixpkgs/<replaceable>path</replaceable>></literal> in
+    <filename>/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch/<replaceable>path</replaceable></filename>
+    and
+    <filename>/etc/nixos/nixpkgs/<replaceable>path</replaceable></filename>.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>The search path can be extended using the
+    <option>-I</option> option, which takes precedence over
+    <envar>NIX_PATH</envar>.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+    
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_IGNORE_SYMLINK_STORE</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem>
+
+  <para>Normally, the Nix store directory (typically
+  <filename>/nix/store</filename>) is not allowed to contain any
+  symlink components.  This is to prevent “impure” builds.  Builders
+  sometimes “canonicalise” paths by resolving all symlink components.
+  Thus, builds on different machines (with
+  <filename>/nix/store</filename> resolving to different locations)
+  could yield different results.  This is generally not a problem,
+  except when builds are deployed to machines where
+  <filename>/nix/store</filename> resolves differently.  If you are
+  sure that you’re not going to do that, you can set
+  <envar>NIX_IGNORE_SYMLINK_STORE</envar> to <envar>1</envar>.</para>
+
+  <para>Note that if you’re symlinking the Nix store so that you can
+  put it on another file system than the root file system, on Linux
+  you’re better off using <literal>bind</literal> mount points, e.g.,
+
+  <screen>
+$ mkdir /nix   
+$ mount -o bind /mnt/otherdisk/nix /nix</screen>
+
+  Consult the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>mount</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> manual page for details.</para>
+
+  </listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_STORE_DIR</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix store (default
+  <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/store</filename>).</para></listitem>
+  
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_DATA_DIR</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix static data
+  directory (default
+  <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/share</filename>).</para></listitem>
+  
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_LOG_DIR</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix log directory
+  (default <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/log/nix</filename>).</para></listitem>
+  
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_STATE_DIR</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix state directory
+  (default <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/var/nix</filename>).</para></listitem>
+  
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_DB_DIR</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix database (default
+  <filename><replaceable>$NIX_STATE_DIR</replaceable>/db</filename>, i.e.,
+  <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/var/nix/db</filename>).</para></listitem>
+  
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_CONF_DIR</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix configuration
+  directory (default
+  <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/etc/nix</filename>).</para></listitem>
+  
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>TMPDIR</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Use the specified directory to store temporary
+  files.  In particular, this includes temporary build directories;
+  these can take up substantial amounts of disk space.  The default is
+  <filename>/tmp</filename>.</para></listitem>
+  
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="envar-build-hook"><term><envar>NIX_BUILD_HOOK</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem>
+
+  <para>Specifies the location of the <emphasis>build hook</emphasis>,
+  which is a program (typically some script) that Nix will call
+  whenever it wants to build a derivation.  This is used to implement
+  distributed builds<phrase condition="manual"> (see <xref
+  linkend="chap-distributed-builds" />)</phrase>.</para>
+
+  <!--
+  The protocol by
+  which the calling Nix process and the build hook communicate is as
+  follows.
+
+  <para>The build hook is called with the following command-line
+  arguments:
+
+  <orderedlist>
+
+    <listitem><para>A boolean value <literal>0</literal> or
+    <literal>1</literal> specifying whether Nix can locally execute
+    more builds, as per the <link
+    linkend="opt-max-jobs"><option>- -max-jobs</option> option</link>.
+    The purpose of this argument is to allow the hook to not have to
+    maintain bookkeeping for the local machine.</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para>The Nix platform identifier for the local machine
+    (e.g., <literal>i686-linux</literal>).</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para>The Nix platform identifier for the derivation,
+    i.e., its <link linkend="attr-system"><varname>system</varname>
+    attribute</link>.</para></listitem>
+
+    <listitem><para>The store path of the derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </orderedlist>
+
+  </para>
+
+  <para>On the basis of this information, and whatever persistent
+  state the build hook keeps about other machines and their current
+  load, it has to decide what to do with the build.  It should print
+  out on standard error one of the following responses (terminated by
+  a newline, <literal>"\n"</literal>):
+
+  <variablelist>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><literal># decline</literal></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>The build hook is not willing or able to perform
+      the build; the calling Nix process should do the build itself,
+      if possible.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><literal># postpone</literal></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>The build hook cannot perform the build now, but
+      can do so in the future (e.g., because all available build slots
+      on remote machines are in use).  The calling Nix process should
+      postpone this build until at least one currently running build
+      has terminated.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><literal># accept</literal></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>The build hook has accepted the
+      build.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+  </variablelist>
+
+  </para>
+
+  <para>After sending <literal># accept</literal>, the hook should
+  read one line from standard input, which will be the string
+  <literal>okay</literal>.  It can then proceed with the build.
+  Before sending <literal>okay</literal>, Nix will store in the hook’s
+  current directory a number of text files that contain information
+  about the derivation:
+
+  <variablelist>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><filename>inputs</filename></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>The set of store paths that are inputs to the
+      build process (one per line).  These have to be copied
+      <emphasis>to</emphasis> the remote machine (in addition to the
+      store derivation itself).</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+  
+    <varlistentry><term><filename>outputs</filename></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>The set of store paths that are outputs of the
+      derivation (one per line).  These have to be copied
+      <emphasis>from</emphasis> the remote machine if the build
+      succeeds.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><filename>references</filename></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>The reference graph of the inputs, in the format
+      accepted by the command <command>nix-store
+      - -register-validity</command>.  It is necessary to run this
+      command on the remote machine after copying the inputs to inform
+      Nix on the remote machine that the inputs are valid
+      paths.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+  </variablelist>
+
+  </para>
+
+  <para>The hook should copy the inputs to the remote machine,
+  register the validity of the inputs, perform the remote build, and
+  copy the outputs back to the local machine.  An exit code other than
+  <literal>0</literal> indicates that the hook has failed.  An exit
+  code equal to 100 means that the remote build failed (as opposed to,
+  e.g., a network error).</para>
+  -->
+
+  </listitem>
+
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="envar-remote"><term><envar>NIX_REMOTE</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>This variable should be set to
+  <literal>daemon</literal> if you want to use the Nix daemon to
+  execute Nix operations. This is necessary in <link
+  linkend="ssec-multi-user">multi-user Nix installations</link>.
+  Otherwise, it should be left unset.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+    
+<varlistentry xml:id="envar-other-stores"><term><envar>NIX_OTHER_STORES</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>This variable contains the paths of remote Nix
+  installations from which packages can be copied, separated by colons.
+  <phrase condition="manual">See <xref linkend="sec-sharing-packages"
+  /> for details.</phrase>  Each path should be the
+  <filename>/nix</filename> directory of a remote Nix installation
+  (i.e., not the <filename>/nix/store</filename> directory).  The
+  paths are subject to globbing, so you can set it so something like
+  <literal>/var/run/nix/remote-stores/*/nix</literal> and mount
+  multiple remote filesystems in
+  <literal>/var/run/nix/remote-stores</literal>.</para>
+
+  <para>Note that if you’re building through the <link
+  linkend="sec-nix-daemon">Nix daemon</link>, the only setting for
+  this variable that matters is the one that the
+  <command>nix-daemon</command> process uses.  So if you want to
+  change it, you have to restart the daemon.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_SHOW_STATS</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>If set to <literal>1</literal>, Nix will print some
+  evaluation statistics, such as the number of values
+  allocated.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_COUNT_CALLS</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>If set to <literal>1</literal>, Nix will print how
+  often functions were called during Nix expression evaluation.  This
+  is useful for profiling your Nix expressions.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>GC_INITIAL_HEAP_SIZE</envar></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>If Nix has been configured to use the Boehm garbage
+  collector, this variable sets the initial size of the heap in bytes.
+  It defaults to 384 MiB.  Setting it to a low value reduces memory
+  consumption, but will increase runtime due to the overhead of
+  garbage collection.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+    
+</variablelist>
+
+
+</chapter>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/files.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/files.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7bbc96e89982
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/files.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+<chapter 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='ch-files'>
+
+<title>Files</title>
+
+<para>This section lists configuration files that you can use when you
+work with Nix.</para>
+
+<xi:include href="conf-file.xml" />
+
+</chapter>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/main-commands.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/main-commands.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0f4169243ca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/main-commands.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<chapter 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='ch-main-commands'>
+
+<title>Main Commands</title>
+
+<para>This section lists commands and options that you can use when you
+work with Nix.</para>
+
+<xi:include href="nix-env.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-build.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-shell.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-store.xml" />
+
+</chapter>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-build.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-build.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..669a48f8c3ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-build.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+<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>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e13394c7d9fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+<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-channel">
+  
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-channel</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-channel</refname>
+  <refpurpose>manage Nix channels</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-channel</command>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--add</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable> <arg choice='opt'><replaceable>name</replaceable></arg></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--remove</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--list</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--update</option> <arg rep='repeat'><replaceable>names</replaceable></arg></arg>
+    </group>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>A Nix channel is mechanism that allows you to automatically stay
+up-to-date with a set of pre-built Nix expressions.  A Nix channel is
+just a URL that points to a place containing a set of Nix expressions
+and a <command>nix-push</command> manifest.  <phrase
+condition="manual">See also <xref linkend="sec-channels"
+/>.</phrase></para>
+
+<para>This command has the following operations:
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--add</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable> [<replaceable>name</replaceable>]</term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Adds a channel named
+    <replaceable>name</replaceable> with URL
+    <replaceable>url</replaceable> to the list of subscribed channels.
+    If <replaceable>name</replaceable> is omitted, it defaults to the
+    last component of <replaceable>url</replaceable>, with the
+    suffixes <literal>-stable</literal> or
+    <literal>-unstable</literal> removed.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--remove</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Removes the channel named
+    <replaceable>name</replaceable> from the list of subscribed
+    channels.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--list</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the names and URLs of all subscribed
+    channels on standard output.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--update</option> [<replaceable>names</replaceable>…]</term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Downloads the Nix expressions of all subscribed
+    channels (or only those included in
+    <replaceable>names</replaceable> if specified), makes them the
+    default for <command>nix-env</command> operations (by symlinking
+    them from the directory <filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename>), and
+    performs a <command>nix-pull</command> on the manifests of all
+    channels to make pre-built binaries available.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Note that <option>--add</option> does not automatically perform
+an update.</para>
+
+<para>The list of subscribed channels is stored in
+<filename>~/.nix-channels</filename>.</para>
+
+<para>A channel consists of two elements: a bzipped Tar archive
+containing the Nix expressions, and a manifest created by
+<command>nix-push</command>.  These must be stored under
+<literal><replaceable>url</replaceable>/nixexprs.tar.bz2</literal> and
+<literal><replaceable>url</replaceable>/MANIFEST</literal>,
+respectively.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>To subscribe to the Nixpkgs channel and install the GNU Hello package:</para>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-channel --add http://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
+$ nix-channel --update
+$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.hello</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-collect-garbage.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-collect-garbage.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f2009dcbd767
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-collect-garbage.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+<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-collect-garbage">
+  
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-collect-garbage</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-collect-garbage</refname>
+  <refpurpose>delete unreachable store paths</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-collect-garbage</command>
+    <arg><option>--delete-old</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>-d</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--delete-older-than</option> <replaceable>period</replaceable></arg>
+    <group choice='opt'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-roots</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-live</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-dead</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--delete</option></arg>
+    </group>
+    <arg><option>--dry-run</option></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-collect-garbage</command> is mostly an
+alias of <link linkend="rsec-nix-store-gc"><command>nix-store
+--gc</command></link>, that is, it deletes all unreachable paths in
+the Nix store to clean up your system.  However, it provides two
+additional options: <option>-d</option> (<option>--delete-old</option>),
+which deletes all old generations of all profiles in
+<filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles</filename> by invoking
+<literal>nix-env --delete-generations old</literal> on all profiles
+(of course, this makes rollbacks to previous configurations
+impossible); and
+<option>--delete-older-than</option> <replaceable>period</replaceable>,
+where period is a value such as <literal>30d</literal>, which deletes
+all generations older than the specified number of days in all profiles
+in <filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles</filename> (except for the generations
+that were active at that point in time).
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<para>To delete from the Nix store everything that is not used by the
+current generations of each profile, do
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-collect-garbage -d</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-copy-closure.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-copy-closure.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3f8fd8017089
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-copy-closure.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+          xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+          xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+          xml:id="sec-nix-copy-closure">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-copy-closure</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-copy-closure</refname>
+  <refpurpose>copy a closure to or from a remote machine via SSH</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-copy-closure</command>
+    <group>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--to</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--from</option></arg>
+    </group>
+    <arg><option>--sign</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--gzip</option></arg>
+    <!--
+    <arg><option>- -show-progress</option></arg>
+    -->
+    <arg><option>--include-outputs</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--use-substitutes</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>-s</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'>
+      <replaceable>user@</replaceable><replaceable>machine</replaceable>
+    </arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para><command>nix-copy-closure</command> gives you an easy and
+efficient way to exchange software between machines.  Given one or
+more Nix store paths <replaceable>paths</replaceable> on the local
+machine, <command>nix-copy-closure</command> computes the closure of
+those paths (i.e. all their dependencies in the Nix store), and copies
+all paths in the closure to the remote machine via the
+<command>ssh</command> (Secure Shell) command.  With the
+<option>--from</option>, the direction is reversed:
+the closure of <replaceable>paths</replaceable> on a remote machine is
+copied to the Nix store on the local machine.</para>
+
+<para>This command is efficient because it only sends the store paths
+that are missing on the target machine.</para>
+
+<para>Since <command>nix-copy-closure</command> calls
+<command>ssh</command>, you may be asked to type in the appropriate
+password or passphrase.  In fact, you may be asked
+<emphasis>twice</emphasis> because <command>nix-copy-closure</command>
+currently connects twice to the remote machine, first to get the set
+of paths missing on the target machine, and second to send the dump of
+those paths.  If this bothers you, use
+<command>ssh-agent</command>.</para>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Options</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--to</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Copy the closure of
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable> from the local Nix store to the
+    Nix store on <replaceable>machine</replaceable>.  This is the
+    default.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--from</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Copy the closure of
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable> from the Nix store on
+    <replaceable>machine</replaceable> to the local Nix
+    store.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--sign</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Let the sending machine cryptographically sign the
+    dump of each path with the key in
+    <filename><replaceable>sysconfdir</replaceable>/nix/signing-key.sec</filename>.
+    If the user on the target machine does not have direct access to
+    the Nix store (i.e., if the target machine has a multi-user Nix
+    installation), then the target machine will check the dump against
+    <filename><replaceable>sysconfdir</replaceable>/nix/signing-key.pub</filename>
+    before unpacking it in its Nix store.  This allows secure sharing
+    of store paths between untrusted users on two machines, provided
+    that there is a trust relation between the Nix installations on
+    both machines (namely, they have matching public/secret
+    keys).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--gzip</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Enable compression of the SSH
+    connection.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <!--
+  <varlistentry><term><option>- -show-progress</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Show the progress of each path's transfer as it's made.
+    This requires the <command>pv</command> utility to be in <envar>PATH</envar>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+  -->
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--include-outputs</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Also copy the outputs of store derivations
+    included in the closure.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--use-substitutes</option> / <option>-s</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Attempt to download missing paths on the target
+    machine using Nix’s substitute mechanism.  Any paths that cannot
+    be substituted on the target are still copied normally from the
+    source.  This is useful, for instance, if the connection between
+    the source and target machine is slow, but the connection between
+    the target machine and <literal>nixos.org</literal> (the default
+    binary cache server) is fast.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Environment variables</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_SSHOPTS</envar></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Additional options to be passed to
+    <command>ssh</command> on the command line.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>Copy Firefox with all its dependencies to a remote machine:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-copy-closure --to alice@itchy.labs $(type -tP firefox)</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Copy Subversion from a remote machine and then install it into a
+user environment:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-copy-closure --from alice@itchy.labs \
+    /nix/store/0dj0503hjxy5mbwlafv1rsbdiyx1gkdy-subversion-1.4.4
+$ nix-env -i /nix/store/0dj0503hjxy5mbwlafv1rsbdiyx1gkdy-subversion-1.4.4
+</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-daemon.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-daemon.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4311664ed70c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-daemon.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+<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-daemon">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-daemon</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-daemon</refname>
+  <refpurpose>Nix multi-user support daemon</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-daemon</command>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The Nix daemon is necessary in multi-user Nix installations.  It
+performs build actions and other operations on the Nix store on behalf
+of unprivileged users.</para>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..494edc3e502c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-env.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,1301 @@
+<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-env">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-env</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-env</refname>
+  <refpurpose>manipulate or query Nix user environments</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-env</command>
+    <xi:include 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>--file</option></arg>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>-f</option></arg>
+      </group>
+      <replaceable>path</replaceable>
+    </arg>
+    <arg>
+      <group choice='req'>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>--profile</option></arg>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>-p</option></arg>
+      </group>
+      <replaceable>path</replaceable>
+    </arg>
+    <arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--system-filter</option></arg>
+      <replaceable>system</replaceable>
+    </arg>
+    <arg><option>--dry-run</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>operation</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg rep='repeat'><replaceable>options</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg rep='repeat'><replaceable>arguments</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-env</command> is used to manipulate Nix
+user environments.  User environments are sets of software packages
+available to a user at some point in time.  In other words, they are a
+synthesised view of the programs available in the Nix store.  There
+may be many user environments: different users can have different
+environments, and individual users can switch between different
+environments.</para>
+
+<para><command>nix-env</command> takes exactly one
+<emphasis>operation</emphasis> flag which indicates the subcommand to
+be performed.  These are documented below.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Common options</title>
+
+<para>This section lists the options that are common to all
+operations.  These options are allowed for every subcommand, though
+they may not always have an effect.  <phrase condition="manual">See
+also <xref linkend="sec-common-options" />.</phrase></para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--file</option></term>
+    <term><option>-f</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Specifies the Nix expression (designated below as
+    the <emphasis>active Nix expression</emphasis>) used by the
+    <option>--install</option>, <option>--upgrade</option>, and
+    <option>--query --available</option> operations to obtain
+    derivations.  The default is
+    <filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--profile</option></term>
+    <term><option>-p</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Specifies the profile to be used by those
+    operations that operate on a profile (designated below as the
+    <emphasis>active profile</emphasis>).  A profile is a sequence of
+    user environments called <emphasis>generations</emphasis>, one of
+    which is the <emphasis>current
+    generation</emphasis>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--dry-run</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>For the <option>--install</option>,
+    <option>--upgrade</option>, <option>--uninstall</option>,
+    <option>--switch-generation</option>,
+    <option>--delete-generations</option> and
+    <option>--rollback</option> operations, this flag will cause
+    <command>nix-env</command> to print what
+    <emphasis>would</emphasis> be done if this flag had not been
+    specified, without actually doing it.</para>
+
+    <para><option>--dry-run</option> also prints out which paths will
+    be <link linkend="gloss-substitute">substituted</link> (i.e.,
+    downloaded) and which paths will be built from source (because no
+    substitute is available).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--system-filter</option> <replaceable>system</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>By default, operations such as <option>--query
+    --available</option> show derivations matching any platform.  This
+    option allows you to use derivations for the specified platform
+    <replaceable>system</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+<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>Files</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A directory that contains the default Nix
+    expressions used by the <option>--install</option>,
+    <option>--upgrade</option>, and <option>--query
+    --available</option> operations to obtain derivations.  The
+    <option>--file</option> option may be used to override this
+    default.</para>
+
+    <para>The Nix expressions in this directory are combined into a
+    single set, with each file as an attribute that has the name of
+    the file.  Thus, if <filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename> contains
+    two files, <filename>foo</filename> and <filename>bar</filename>,
+    then the default Nix expression will essentially be
+
+<programlisting>
+{
+  foo = import ~/.nix-defexpr/foo;
+  bar = import ~/.nix-defexpr/bar;
+}</programlisting>
+
+    </para>
+
+    <para>The command <command>nix-channel</command> places symlinks
+    to the downloaded Nix expressions from each subscribed channel in
+    this directory.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><filename>~/.nix-profile</filename></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A symbolic link to the user's current profile.  By
+    default, this symlink points to
+    <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/var/nix/profiles/default</filename>.
+    The <envar>PATH</envar> environment variable should include
+    <filename>~/.nix-profile/bin</filename> for the user environment
+    to be visible to the user.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id="rsec-nix-env-install"><title>Operation <option>--install</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--install</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-i</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="opt-inst-syn.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(/db:nop/*)" />
+  <group choice='opt'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--preserve-installed</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-P</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <group choice='opt'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--remove-all</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-r</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>args</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The install operation creates a new user environment, based on
+the current generation of the active profile, to which a set of store
+paths described by <replaceable>args</replaceable> is added.  The
+arguments <replaceable>args</replaceable> map to store paths in a
+number of possible ways:
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+  <listitem><para>By default, <replaceable>args</replaceable> is a set
+  of derivation names denoting derivations in the active Nix
+  expression.  These are realised, and the resulting output paths are
+  installed.  Currently installed derivations with a name equal to the
+  name of a derivation being added are removed unless the option
+  <option>--preserve-installed</option> is
+  specified.</para>
+
+  <para>If there are multiple derivations matching a name in
+  <replaceable>args</replaceable> that have the same name (e.g.,
+  <literal>gcc-3.3.6</literal> and <literal>gcc-4.1.1</literal>), then
+  the derivation with the highest <emphasis>priority</emphasis> is
+  used.  A derivation can define a priority by declaring the
+  <varname>meta.priority</varname> attribute.  This attribute should
+  be a number, with a higher value denoting a lower priority.  The
+  default priority is <literal>0</literal>.</para>
+
+  <para>If there are multiple matching derivations with the same
+  priority, then the derivation with the highest version will be
+  installed.</para>
+
+  <para>You can force the installation of multiple derivations with
+  the same name by being specific about the versions.  For instance,
+  <literal>nix-env -i gcc-3.3.6 gcc-4.1.1</literal> will install both
+  version of GCC (and will probably cause a user environment
+  conflict!).</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If <link
+  linkend='opt-attr'><option>--attr</option></link>
+  (<option>-A</option>) is specified, the arguments are
+  <emphasis>attribute paths</emphasis> that select attributes from the
+  top-level Nix expression.  This is faster than using derivation
+  names and unambiguous.  To find out the attribute paths of available
+  packages, use <literal>nix-env -qaP '*'</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If <option>--from-profile</option>
+  <replaceable>path</replaceable> is given,
+  <replaceable>args</replaceable> is a set of names denoting installed
+  store paths in the profile <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  This is
+  an easy way to copy user environment elements from one profile to
+  another.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If <option>--from-expression</option> is given,
+  <replaceable>args</replaceable> are Nix <link
+  linkend="ss-functions">functions</link> that are called with the
+  active Nix expression as their single argument.  The derivations
+  returned by those function calls are installed.  This allows
+  derivations to be specified in an unambiguous way, which is necessary
+  if there are multiple derivations with the same
+  name.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If <replaceable>args</replaceable> are store
+  derivations, then these are <link
+  linkend="rsec-nix-store-realise">realised</link>, and the resulting
+  output paths are installed.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If <replaceable>args</replaceable> are store paths
+  that are not store derivations, then these are <link
+  linkend="rsec-nix-store-realise">realised</link> and
+  installed.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Flags</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--prebuild-only</option> / <option>-b</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Use only derivations for which a substitute is
+    registered, i.e., there is a pre-built binary available that can
+    be downloaded in lieu of building the derivation.  Thus, no
+    packages will be built from source.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--preserve-installed</option></term>
+    <term><option>-P</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Do not remove derivations with a name matching one
+    of the derivations being installed.  Usually, trying to have two
+    versions of the same package installed in the same generation of a
+    profile will lead to an error in building the generation, due to
+    file name clashes between the two versions.  However, this is not
+    the case for all packages.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--remove-all</option></term>
+    <term><option>-r</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Remove all previously installed packages first.
+    This is equivalent to running <literal>nix-env -e '*'</literal>
+    first, except that everything happens in a single
+    transaction.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection xml:id='refsec-nix-env-install-examples'><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>To install a specific version of <command>gcc</command> from the
+active Nix expression:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --install gcc-3.3.2
+installing `gcc-3.3.2'
+uninstalling `gcc-3.1'</screen>
+
+Note the the previously installed version is removed, since
+<option>--preserve-installed</option> was not specified.</para>
+
+<para>To install an arbitrary version:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --install gcc
+installing `gcc-3.3.2'</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To install using a specific attribute:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -i -A gcc40mips
+$ nix-env -i -A xorg.xorgserver</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To install all derivations in the Nix expression <filename>foo.nix</filename>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -f ~/foo.nix -i '*'</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To copy the store path with symbolic name <literal>gcc</literal>
+from another profile:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -i --from-profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/foo -i gcc</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To install a specific store derivation (typically created by
+<command>nix-instantiate</command>):
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -i /nix/store/fibjb1bfbpm5mrsxc4mh2d8n37sxh91i-gcc-3.4.3.drv</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To install a specific output path:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -i /nix/store/y3cgx0xj1p4iv9x0pnnmdhr8iyg741vk-gcc-3.4.3</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To install from a Nix expression specified on the command-line:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -f ./foo.nix -i -E \
+    'f: (f {system = "i686-linux";}).subversionWithJava'</screen>
+
+I.e., this evaluates to <literal>(f: (f {system =
+"i686-linux";}).subversionWithJava) (import ./foo.nix)</literal>, thus
+selecting the <literal>subversionWithJava</literal> attribute from the
+set returned by calling the function defined in
+<filename>./foo.nix</filename>.</para>
+
+<para>A dry-run tells you which paths will be downloaded or built from
+source:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -f pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix -i f-spot --dry-run
+(dry run; not doing anything)
+installing `f-spot-0.0.10'
+the following derivations will be built:
+  /nix/store/0g63jv9aagwbgci4nnzs2dkxqz84kdja-libgnomeprintui-2.12.1.tar.bz2.drv
+  /nix/store/0gfarvxq6sannsdw8a1ir40j1ys2mqb4-ORBit2-2.14.2.tar.bz2.drv
+  /nix/store/0i9gs5zc04668qiy60ga2rc16abkj7g8-sqlite-2.8.17.drv
+  <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+the following paths will be substituted:
+  /nix/store/8zbipvm4gp9jfqh9nnk1n3bary1a37gs-perl-XML-Parser-2.34
+  /nix/store/b8a2bg7gnyvvvjjibp4axg9x1hzkw36c-mono-1.1.4
+  <replaceable>...</replaceable></screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id="rsec-nix-env-upgrade"><title>Operation <option>--upgrade</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--upgrade</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-u</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="opt-inst-syn.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(/db:nop/*)" />
+  <group choice='opt'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--lt</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--leq</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--eq</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--always</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>args</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The upgrade operation creates a new user environment, based on
+the current generation of the active profile, in which all store paths
+are replaced for which there are newer versions in the set of paths
+described by <replaceable>args</replaceable>.  Paths for which there
+are no newer versions are left untouched; this is not an error.  It is
+also not an error if an element of <replaceable>args</replaceable>
+matches no installed derivations.</para>
+
+<para>For a description of how <replaceable>args</replaceable> is
+mapped to a set of store paths, see <link
+linkend="rsec-nix-env-install"><option>--install</option></link>.  If
+<replaceable>args</replaceable> describes multiple store paths with
+the same symbolic name, only the one with the highest version is
+installed.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Flags</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--lt</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Only upgrade a derivation to newer versions.  This
+    is the default.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--leq</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>In addition to upgrading to newer versions, also
+    “upgrade” to derivations that have the same version.  Version are
+    not a unique identification of a derivation, so there may be many
+    derivations that have the same version.  This flag may be useful
+    to force “synchronisation” between the installed and available
+    derivations.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--eq</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para><emphasis>Only</emphasis> “upgrade” to derivations
+    that have the same version.  This may not seem very useful, but it
+    actually is, e.g., when there is a new release of Nixpkgs and you
+    want to replace installed applications with the same versions
+    built against newer dependencies (to reduce the number of
+    dependencies floating around on your system).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--always</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>In addition to upgrading to newer versions, also
+    “upgrade” to derivations that have the same or a lower version.
+    I.e., derivations may actually be downgraded depending on what is
+    available in the active Nix expression.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+<para>For the other flags, see <option
+linkend="rsec-nix-env-install">--install</option>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --upgrade gcc
+upgrading `gcc-3.3.1' to `gcc-3.4'
+
+$ nix-env -u gcc-3.3.2 --always <lineannotation>(switch to a specific version)</lineannotation>
+upgrading `gcc-3.4' to `gcc-3.3.2'
+
+$ nix-env --upgrade pan
+<lineannotation>(no upgrades available, so nothing happens)</lineannotation>
+
+$ nix-env -u '*' <lineannotation>(try to upgrade everything)</lineannotation>
+upgrading `hello-2.1.2' to `hello-2.1.3'
+upgrading `mozilla-1.2' to `mozilla-1.4'</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection xml:id="ssec-version-comparisons"><title>Versions</title>
+
+<para>The upgrade operation determines whether a derivation
+<varname>y</varname> is an upgrade of a derivation
+<varname>x</varname> by looking at their respective
+<literal>name</literal> attributes.  The names (e.g.,
+<literal>gcc-3.3.1</literal> are split into two parts: the package
+name (<literal>gcc</literal>), and the version
+(<literal>3.3.1</literal>).  The version part starts after the first
+dash not following by a letter.  <varname>x</varname> is considered an
+upgrade of <varname>y</varname> if their package names match, and the
+version of <varname>y</varname> is higher that that of
+<varname>x</varname>.</para>
+
+<para>The versions are compared by splitting them into contiguous
+components of numbers and letters.  E.g., <literal>3.3.1pre5</literal>
+is split into <literal>[3, 3, 1, "pre", 5]</literal>.  These lists are
+then compared lexicographically (from left to right).  Corresponding
+components <varname>a</varname> and <varname>b</varname> are compared
+as follows.  If they are both numbers, integer comparison is used.  If
+<varname>a</varname> is an empty string and <varname>b</varname> is a
+number, <varname>a</varname> is considered less than
+<varname>b</varname>.  The special string component
+<literal>pre</literal> (for <emphasis>pre-release</emphasis>) is
+considered to be less than other components.  String components are
+considered less than number components.  Otherwise, they are compared
+lexicographically (i.e., using case-sensitive string comparison).</para>
+
+<para>This is illustrated by the following examples:
+
+<screen>
+1.0 &lt; 2.3
+2.1 &lt; 2.3
+2.3 = 2.3
+2.5 > 2.3
+3.1 > 2.3
+2.3.1 > 2.3
+2.3.1 > 2.3a
+2.3pre1 &lt; 2.3
+2.3pre3 &lt; 2.3pre12
+2.3a &lt; 2.3c
+2.3pre1 &lt; 2.3c
+2.3pre1 &lt; 2.3q</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--uninstall</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--uninstall</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-e</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>drvnames</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The uninstall operation creates a new user environment, based on
+the current generation of the active profile, from which the store
+paths designated by the symbolic names
+<replaceable>names</replaceable> are removed.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --uninstall gcc
+$ nix-env -e '*' <lineannotation>(remove everything)</lineannotation></screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id="rsec-nix-env-set-flag"><title>Operation <option>--set-flag</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>--set-flag</option></arg>
+  <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>name</replaceable></arg>
+  <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>value</replaceable></arg>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>drvnames</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The <option>--set-flag</option> operation allows meta attributes
+of installed packages to be modified.  There are several attributes
+that can be usefully modified, because they affect the behaviour of
+<command>nix-env</command> or the user environment build
+script:
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+  <listitem><para><varname>priority</varname> can be changed to
+  resolve filename clashes.  The user environment build script uses
+  the <varname>meta.priority</varname> attribute of derivations to
+  resolve filename collisions between packages.  Lower priority values
+  denote a higher priority.  For instance, the GCC wrapper package and
+  the Binutils package in Nixpkgs both have a file
+  <filename>bin/ld</filename>, so previously if you tried to install
+  both you would get a collision.  Now, on the other hand, the GCC
+  wrapper declares a higher priority than Binutils, so the former’s
+  <filename>bin/ld</filename> is symlinked in the user
+  environment.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para><varname>keep</varname> can be set to
+  <literal>true</literal> to prevent the package from being upgraded
+  or replaced.  This is useful if you want to hang on to an older
+  version of a package.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para><varname>active</varname> can be set to
+  <literal>false</literal> to “disable” the package.  That is, no
+  symlinks will be generated to the files of the package, but it
+  remains part of the profile (so it won’t be garbage-collected).  It
+  can be set back to <literal>true</literal> to re-enable the
+  package.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>To prevent the currently installed Firefox from being upgraded:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --set-flag keep true firefox</screen>
+
+After this, <command>nix-env -u</command> will ignore Firefox.</para>
+
+<para>To disable the currently installed Firefox, then install a new
+Firefox while the old remains part of the profile:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -q \*
+firefox-2.0.0.9 <lineannotation>(the current one)</lineannotation>
+
+$ nix-env --preserve-installed -i firefox-2.0.0.11
+installing `firefox-2.0.0.11'
+building path(s) `/nix/store/myy0y59q3ig70dgq37jqwg1j0rsapzsl-user-environment'
+collision between `/nix/store/<replaceable>...</replaceable>-firefox-2.0.0.11/bin/firefox'
+  and `/nix/store/<replaceable>...</replaceable>-firefox-2.0.0.9/bin/firefox'.
+<lineannotation>(i.e., can’t have two active at the same time)</lineannotation>
+
+$ nix-env --set-flag active false firefox
+setting flag on `firefox-2.0.0.9'
+
+$ nix-env --preserve-installed -i firefox-2.0.0.11
+installing `firefox-2.0.0.11'
+
+$ nix-env -q \*
+firefox-2.0.0.11 <lineannotation>(the enabled one)</lineannotation>
+firefox-2.0.0.9 <lineannotation>(the disabled one)</lineannotation></screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To make files from <literal>binutils</literal> take precedence
+over files from <literal>gcc</literal>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --set-flag priority 5 binutils
+$ nix-env --set-flag priority 10 gcc</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--query</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--query</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-q</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <group choice='opt'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--installed</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--available</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-a</option></arg>
+  </group>
+
+  <sbr />
+
+  <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--status</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-s</option></arg>
+    </group>
+  </arg>
+  <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--attr-path</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-P</option></arg>
+    </group>
+  </arg>
+  <arg><option>--no-name</option></arg>
+  <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--compare-versions</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-c</option></arg>
+    </group>
+  </arg>
+  <arg><option>--system</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>--drv-path</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>--out-path</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>--description</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>--meta</option></arg>
+
+  <sbr />
+
+  <arg><option>--xml</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>--json</option></arg>
+  <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--prebuilt-only</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-b</option></arg>
+    </group>
+  </arg>
+
+  <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--attr</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-A</option></arg>
+    </group>
+    <replaceable>attribute-path</replaceable>
+  </arg>
+
+  <sbr />
+
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>names</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The query operation displays information about either the store
+paths that are installed in the current generation of the active
+profile (<option>--installed</option>), or the derivations that are
+available for installation in the active Nix expression
+(<option>--available</option>).  It only prints information about
+derivations whose symbolic name matches one of
+<replaceable>names</replaceable>.  The wildcard <literal>*</literal>
+shows all derivations.</para>
+
+<para>The derivations are sorted by their <literal>name</literal>
+attributes.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Source selection</title>
+
+<para>The following flags specify the set of things on which the query
+operates.</para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--installed</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The query operates on the store paths that are
+    installed in the current generation of the active profile.  This
+    is the default.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--available</option></term>
+    <term><option>-a</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The query operates on the derivations that are
+    available in the active Nix expression.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Queries</title>
+
+<para>The following flags specify what information to display about
+the selected derivations.  Multiple flags may be specified, in which
+case the information is shown in the order given here.  Note that the
+name of the derivation is shown unless <option>--no-name</option> is
+specified.</para>
+
+<!-- TODO: fix the terminology here; i.e., derivations, store paths,
+user environment elements, etc. -->
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--xml</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the result in an XML representation suitable
+    for automatic processing by other tools.  The root element is
+    called <literal>items</literal>, which contains a
+    <literal>item</literal> element for each available or installed
+    derivation.  The fields discussed below are all stored in
+    attributes of the <literal>item</literal>
+    elements.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--json</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the result in a JSON representation suitable
+    for automatic processing by other tools.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--prebuild-only</option> / <option>-b</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Show only derivations for which a substitute is
+    registered, i.e., there is a pre-built binary available that can
+    be downloaded in lieu of building the derivation.  Thus, this
+    shows all packages that probably can be installed
+    quickly.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--status</option></term>
+    <term><option>-s</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the <emphasis>status</emphasis> of the
+    derivation.  The status consists of three characters.  The first
+    is <literal>I</literal> or <literal>-</literal>, indicating
+    whether the derivation is currently installed in the current
+    generation of the active profile.  This is by definition the case
+    for <option>--installed</option>, but not for
+    <option>--available</option>.  The second is <literal>P</literal>
+    or <literal>-</literal>, indicating whether the derivation is
+    present on the system.  This indicates whether installation of an
+    available derivation will require the derivation to be built.  The
+    third is <literal>S</literal> or <literal>-</literal>, indicating
+    whether a substitute is available for the
+    derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--attr-path</option></term>
+    <term><option>-P</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the <emphasis>attribute path</emphasis> of
+    the derivation, which can be used to unambiguously select it using
+    the <link linkend="opt-attr"><option>--attr</option> option</link>
+    available in commands that install derivations like
+    <literal>nix-env --install</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--no-name</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Suppress printing of the <literal>name</literal>
+    attribute of each derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--compare-versions</option> /
+  <option>-c</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Compare installed versions to available versions,
+    or vice versa (if <option>--available</option> is given).  This is
+    useful for quickly seeing whether upgrades for installed
+    packages are available in a Nix expression.  A column is added
+    with the following meaning:
+
+    <variablelist>
+
+      <varlistentry><term><literal>&lt;</literal> <replaceable>version</replaceable></term>
+
+        <listitem><para>A newer version of the package is available
+        or installed.</para></listitem>
+
+      </varlistentry>
+
+      <varlistentry><term><literal>=</literal> <replaceable>version</replaceable></term>
+
+        <listitem><para>At most the same version of the package is
+        available or installed.</para></listitem>
+
+      </varlistentry>
+
+      <varlistentry><term><literal>></literal> <replaceable>version</replaceable></term>
+
+        <listitem><para>Only older versions of the package are
+        available or installed.</para></listitem>
+
+      </varlistentry>
+
+      <varlistentry><term><literal>- ?</literal></term>
+
+        <listitem><para>No version of the package is available or
+        installed.</para></listitem>
+
+      </varlistentry>
+
+    </variablelist>
+
+    </para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--system</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the <literal>system</literal> attribute of
+    the derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--drv-path</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the path of the store
+    derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--out-path</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the output path of the
+    derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--description</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print a short (one-line) description of the
+    derivation, if available.  The description is taken from the
+    <literal>meta.description</literal> attribute of the
+    derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--meta</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print all of the meta-attributes of the
+    derivation.  This option is only available with
+    <option>--xml</option>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -q '*' <lineannotation>(show installed derivations)</lineannotation>
+bison-1.875c
+docbook-xml-4.2
+firefox-1.0.4
+MPlayer-1.0pre7
+ORBit2-2.8.3
+...
+
+$ nix-env -qa '*' <lineannotation>(show available derivations)</lineannotation>
+firefox-1.0.7
+GConf-2.4.0.1
+MPlayer-1.0pre7
+ORBit2-2.8.3
+...
+
+$ nix-env -qas '*' <lineannotation>(show status of available derivations)</lineannotation>
+-P- firefox-1.0.7   <lineannotation>(not installed but present)</lineannotation>
+--S GConf-2.4.0.1   <lineannotation>(not present, but there is a substitute for fast installation)</lineannotation>
+--S MPlayer-1.0pre3 <lineannotation>(i.e., this is not the installed MPlayer, even though the version is the same!)</lineannotation>
+IP- ORBit2-2.8.3    <lineannotation>(installed and by definition present)</lineannotation>
+...
+
+<lineannotation>(show available derivations in the Nix expression <!-- !!! <filename>-->foo.nix<!-- </filename> -->)</lineannotation>
+$ nix-env -f ./foo.nix -qa '*'
+foo-1.2.3
+
+$ nix-env -qc '*' <lineannotation>(compare installed versions to what’s available)</lineannotation>
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+acrobat-reader-7.0 - ?      <lineannotation>(package is not available at all)</lineannotation>
+autoconf-2.59      = 2.59   <lineannotation>(same version)</lineannotation>
+firefox-1.0.4      &lt; 1.0.7  <lineannotation>(a more recent version is available)</lineannotation>
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+
+<lineannotation>(show info about a specific package, in XML)</lineannotation>
+$ nix-env -qa --xml --description firefox
+<![CDATA[<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
+<items>
+  <item attrPath="0.0.firefoxWrapper"
+    description="Mozilla Firefox - the browser, reloaded (with various plugins)"
+    name="firefox-1.5.0.7" system="i686-linux" />
+</items>]]></screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--switch-profile</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--switch-profile</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-S</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg choice='req'><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>This operation makes <replaceable>path</replaceable> the current
+profile for the user.  That is, the symlink
+<filename>~/.nix-profile</filename> is made to point to
+<replaceable>path</replaceable>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -S ~/my-profile</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--list-generations</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>--list-generations</option></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>This operation print a list of all the currently existing
+generations for the active profile.  These may be switched to using
+the <option>--switch-generation</option> operation.  It also prints
+the creation date of the generation, and indicates the current
+generation.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --list-generations
+  95   2004-02-06 11:48:24
+  96   2004-02-06 11:49:01
+  97   2004-02-06 16:22:45
+  98   2004-02-06 16:24:33   (current)</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--delete-generations</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>--delete-generations</option></arg>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>generations</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>This operation deletes the specified generations of the current
+profile.  The generations can be a list of generation numbers, the
+special value <literal>old</literal> to delete all non-current
+generations, or a value such as <literal>30d</literal> to delete all
+generations older than the specified number of days (except for the
+generation that was active at that point in time).
+Periodically deleting old generations is important to make garbage
+collection effective.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --delete-generations 3 4 8
+
+$ nix-env --delete-generations 30d
+
+$ nix-env -p other_profile --delete-generations old</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--switch-generation</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--switch-generation</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-G</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg choice='req'><replaceable>generation</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>This operation makes generation number
+<replaceable>generation</replaceable> the current generation of the
+active profile.  That is, if the
+<filename><replaceable>profile</replaceable></filename> is the path to
+the active profile, then the symlink
+<filename><replaceable>profile</replaceable></filename> is made to
+point to
+<filename><replaceable>profile</replaceable>-<replaceable>generation</replaceable>-link</filename>,
+which is in turn a symlink to the actual user environment in the Nix
+store.</para>
+
+<para>Switching will fail if the specified generation does not exist.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env -G 42
+switching from generation 50 to 42</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--rollback</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-env</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>--rollback</option></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>This operation switches to the “previous” generation of the
+active profile, that is, the highest numbered generation lower than
+the current generation, if it exists.  It is just a convenience
+wrapper around <option>--list-generations</option> and
+<option>--switch-generation</option>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-env --rollback
+switching from generation 92 to 91
+
+$ nix-env --rollback
+error: no generation older than the current (91) exists</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection condition="manpage"><title>Environment variables</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+  
+  <varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_PROFILE</envar></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Location of the Nix profile.  Defaults to the
+    target of the symlink <filename>~/.nix-profile</filename>, if it
+    exists, or <filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles/default</filename>
+    otherwise.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <xi:include href="env-common.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(//db:variablelist[@xml:id='env-common']/*)" />
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+  
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-hash.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-hash.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..897d92e2c746
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-hash.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+<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-hash">
+  
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-hash</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-hash</refname>
+  <refpurpose>compute the cryptographic hash of a path</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-hash</command>
+    <arg><option>--flat</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--base32</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--truncate</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--type</option> <replaceable>hashAlgo</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-hash</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--to-base16</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>hash</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-hash</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--to-base32</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>hash</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-hash</command> computes the
+cryptographic hash of the contents of each
+<replaceable>path</replaceable> and prints it on standard output.  By
+default, it computes an MD5 hash, but other hash algorithms are
+available as well.  The hash is printed in hexadecimal.</para>
+
+<para>The hash is computed over a <emphasis>serialisation</emphasis>
+of each path: a dump of the file system tree rooted at the path.  This
+allows directories and symlinks to be hashed as well as regular files.
+The dump is in the <emphasis>NAR format</emphasis> produced by <link
+linkend="refsec-nix-store-dump"><command>nix-store</command>
+<option>--dump</option></link>.  Thus, <literal>nix-hash
+<replaceable>path</replaceable></literal> yields the same
+cryptographic hash as <literal>nix-store --dump
+<replaceable>path</replaceable> | md5sum</literal>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Options</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+  
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--flat</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the cryptographic hash of the contents of
+    each regular file <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  That is, do
+    not compute the hash over the dump of
+    <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  The result is identical to that
+    produced by the GNU commands <command>md5sum</command> and
+    <command>sha1sum</command>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--base32</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print the hash in a base-32 representation rather
+    than hexadecimal.  This base-32 representation is more compact and
+    can be used in Nix expressions (such as in calls to
+    <function>fetchurl</function>).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--truncate</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Truncate hashes longer than 160 bits (such as
+    SHA-256) to 160 bits.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--type</option> <replaceable>hashAlgo</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Use the specified cryptographic hash algorithm,
+    which can be one of <literal>md5</literal>,
+    <literal>sha1</literal>, and
+    <literal>sha256</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--to-base16</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Don’t hash anything, but convert the base-32 hash
+    representation <replaceable>hash</replaceable> to
+    hexadecimal.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--to-base32</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Don’t hash anything, but convert the hexadecimal
+    hash representation <replaceable>hash</replaceable> to
+    base-32.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>Computing hashes:
+
+<screen>
+$ mkdir test
+$ echo "hello" > test/world
+
+$ nix-hash test/ <lineannotation>(MD5 hash; default)</lineannotation>
+8179d3caeff1869b5ba1744e5a245c04
+
+$ nix-store --dump test/ | md5sum <lineannotation>(for comparison)</lineannotation>
+8179d3caeff1869b5ba1744e5a245c04  -
+
+$ nix-hash --type sha1 test/
+e4fd8ba5f7bbeaea5ace89fe10255536cd60dab6
+
+$ nix-hash --type sha1 --base32 test/
+nvd61k9nalji1zl9rrdfmsmvyyjqpzg4
+
+$ nix-hash --type sha256 --flat test/
+error: reading file `test/': Is a directory
+
+$ nix-hash --type sha256 --flat test/world
+5891b5b522d5df086d0ff0b110fbd9d21bb4fc7163af34d08286a2e846f6be03</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Converting between hexadecimal and base-32:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-hash --type sha1 --to-base32 e4fd8ba5f7bbeaea5ace89fe10255536cd60dab6
+nvd61k9nalji1zl9rrdfmsmvyyjqpzg4
+
+$ nix-hash --type sha1 --to-base16 nvd61k9nalji1zl9rrdfmsmvyyjqpzg4
+e4fd8ba5f7bbeaea5ace89fe10255536cd60dab6</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-install-package.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-install-package.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fa3b46e22c19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-install-package.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
+<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-install-package">
+  
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-install-package</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-install-package</refname>
+  <refpurpose>install a Nix Package file</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-install-package</command>
+    <arg><option>--non-interactive</option></arg>
+    <arg>
+      <group choice='req'>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>--profile</option></arg>
+        <arg choice='plain'><option>-p</option></arg>
+      </group>
+      <replaceable>path</replaceable>
+    </arg>
+    <sbr />
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='req'>
+        <option>--url</option>
+        <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>url</replaceable></arg>
+      </arg>
+      <arg choice='req'>
+        <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>file</replaceable></arg>
+      </arg>
+    </group>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-install-package</command> interactively
+installs a Nix Package file (<filename>*.nixpkg</filename>), which is
+a small file that contains a store path to be installed along with the
+URL of a <link linkend="sec-nix-push"><command>nix-push</command>
+manifest</link>.  The Nix Package file is either
+<replaceable>file</replaceable>, or automatically downloaded from
+<replaceable>url</replaceable> if the <option>--url</option> switch is
+used.</para>
+
+<para><command>nix-install-package</command> is used in <link
+linkend="sec-one-click">one-click installs</link> to download and
+install pre-built binary packages with all necessary dependencies.
+<command>nix-install-package</command> is intended to be associated
+with the MIME type <literal>application/nix-package</literal> in a web
+browser so that it is invoked automatically when you click on
+<filename>*.nixpkg</filename> files.  When invoked, it restarts itself
+in a terminal window (since otherwise it would be invisible when run
+from a browser), asks the user to confirm whether to install the
+package, and if so downloads and installs the package into the user’s
+current profile.</para>
+
+<para>To obtain a window, <command>nix-install-package</command> tries
+to restart itself with <command>xterm</command>,
+<command>konsole</command> and
+<command>gnome-terminal</command>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Options</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+  
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--non-interactive</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Do not open a new terminal window and do not ask
+    for confirmation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--profile</option></term>
+    <term><option>-p</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Install the package into the specified profile
+    rather than the user’s current profile.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>To install <filename>subversion-1.4.0.nixpkg</filename> into the
+user’s current profile, without any prompting:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-install-package --non-interactive subversion-1.4.0.nixpkg</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To install the same package from some URL into a different
+profile:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-install-package --non-interactive -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/eelco \
+    --url http://nix.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/nixpkgs-0.10pre6622/pkgs/subversion-1.4.0-i686-linux.nixpkg</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Format of <literal>nixpkg</literal> files</title>
+
+<para>A Nix Package file consists of a single line with the following
+format:
+
+<screen>
+NIXPKG1 <replaceable>manifestURL</replaceable> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>system</replaceable> <replaceable>drvPath</replaceable> <replaceable>outPath</replaceable></screen>
+
+The elements are as follows:
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>NIXPKG1</literal></term>
+  
+    <listitem><para>The version of the Nix Package
+    file.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><replaceable>manifestURL</replaceable></term>
+  
+    <listitem><para>The manifest to be pulled by
+    <command>nix-pull</command>.  The manifest must contain
+    <replaceable>outPath</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><replaceable>name</replaceable></term>
+  
+    <listitem><para>The symbolic name and version of the
+    package.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><replaceable>system</replaceable></term>
+  
+    <listitem><para>The platform identifier of the platform for which
+    this binary package is intended.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><replaceable>drvPath</replaceable></term>
+  
+    <listitem><para>The path in the Nix store of the derivation from
+    which <replaceable>outPath</replaceable> was built.  Not currently
+    used.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><replaceable>outPath</replaceable></term>
+  
+    <listitem><para>The path in the Nix store of the package.  After
+    <command>nix-install-package</command> has obtained the manifest
+    from <replaceable>manifestURL</replaceable>, it performs a
+    <literal>nix-env -i</literal> <replaceable>outPath</replaceable>
+    to install the binary package.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+  
+</para>
+
+<para>An example follows:
+
+<screen>
+NIXPKG1 http://.../nixpkgs-0.10pre6622/MANIFEST subversion-1.4.0 i686-darwin \
+  /nix/store/4kh60jkp...-subversion-1.4.0.drv \
+  /nix/store/nkw7wpgb...-subversion-1.4.0</screen>
+
+(The line breaks (<literal>\</literal>) are for presentation purposes
+and not part of the actual file.)
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-instantiate.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-instantiate.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a4e45cf97af4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-instantiate.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,263 @@
+<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-instantiate">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-instantiate</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-instantiate</refname>
+  <refpurpose>instantiate store derivations from Nix expressions</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-instantiate</command>
+    <group>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--parse</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'>
+        <option>--eval</option>
+        <arg><option>--strict</option></arg>
+        <arg><option>--xml</option></arg>
+      </arg>
+    </group>
+    <arg><option>--read-write-mode</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--arg</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>--add-root</option> <replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--indirect</option></arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--expr</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-E</option></arg>
+    </group>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>files</replaceable></arg>
+    <sbr/>
+    <command>nix-instantiate</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--file-file</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>files</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-instantiate</command> generates <link
+linkend="gloss-derivation">store derivations</link> from (high-level)
+Nix expressions.  It evaluates the Nix expressions in each of
+<replaceable>files</replaceable> (which defaults to
+<replaceable>./default.nix</replaceable>).  Each top-level expression
+should evaluate to a derivation, a list of derivations, or a set of
+derivations.  The paths of the resulting store derivations are printed
+on standard output.</para>
+
+<para>If <replaceable>files</replaceable> is the character
+<literal>-</literal>, then a Nix expression will be read from standard
+input.</para>
+
+<para condition="manual">See also <xref linkend="sec-common-options"
+/> for a list of common options.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Options</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry>
+    <term><option>--add-root</option> <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
+    <term><option>--indirect</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>See the <link linkend="opt-add-root">corresponding
+    options</link> in <command>nix-store</command>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--parse</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Just parse the input files, and print their
+    abstract syntax trees on standard output in ATerm
+    format.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--eval</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Just parse and evaluate the input files, and print
+    the resulting values on standard output.  No instantiation of
+    store derivations takes place.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--find-file</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Look up the given files in Nix’s search path (as
+    specified by the <envar>NIX_PATH</envar> environment variable).
+    If found, print the corresponding absolute paths on standard
+    output.  For instance, if <envar>NIX_PATH</envar> is
+    <literal>nixpkgs=/home/alice/nixpkgs</literal>, then
+    <literal>nix-instantiate --find-file nixpkgs/default.nix</literal>
+    will print
+    <literal>/home/alice/nixpkgs/default.nix</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--xml</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>When used with <option>--parse</option> and
+    <option>--eval</option>, print the resulting expression as an
+    XML representation of the abstract syntax tree rather than as an
+    ATerm.  The schema is the same as that used by the <link
+    linkend="builtin-toXML"><function>toXML</function>
+    built-in</link>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--json</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>When used with <option>--parse</option> and
+    <option>--eval</option>, print the resulting expression as an
+    JSON representation of the abstract syntax tree rather than as an
+    ATerm.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--strict</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>When used with <option>--eval</option>,
+    recursively evaluate list elements and attributes.  Normally, such
+    sub-expressions are left unevaluated (since the Nix expression
+    language is lazy).</para>
+
+    <warning><para>This option can cause non-termination, because lazy
+    data structures can be infinitely large.</para></warning>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--read-write-mode</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>When used with <option>--eval</option>, perform
+    evaluation in read/write mode so nix language features that
+    require it will still work (at the cost of needing to do
+    instantiation of every evaluated derivation).</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+<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>
+
+<para>Instantiating store derivations from a Nix expression, and
+building them using <command>nix-store</command>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-instantiate test.nix <lineannotation>(instantiate)</lineannotation>
+/nix/store/cigxbmvy6dzix98dxxh9b6shg7ar5bvs-perl-BerkeleyDB-0.26.drv
+
+$ nix-store -r $(nix-instantiate test.nix) <lineannotation>(build)</lineannotation>
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+/nix/store/qhqk4n8ci095g3sdp93x7rgwyh9rdvgk-perl-BerkeleyDB-0.26 <lineannotation>(output path)</lineannotation>
+
+$ ls -l /nix/store/qhqk4n8ci095g3sdp93x7rgwyh9rdvgk-perl-BerkeleyDB-0.26
+dr-xr-xr-x    2 eelco    users        4096 1970-01-01 01:00 lib
+...</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>You can also give a Nix expression on the command line:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-instantiate -E 'with import &lt;nixpkgs> { }; hello'
+/nix/store/j8s4zyv75a724q38cb0r87rlczaiag4y-hello-2.8.drv
+</screen>
+
+This is equivalent to:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-instantiate '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A hello
+</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Parsing and evaluating Nix expressions:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-instantiate --parse -E '1 + 2'
+1 + 2
+
+$ nix-instantiate --eval -E '1 + 2'
+3
+
+$ nix-instantiate --eval --xml -E '1 + 2'
+<![CDATA[<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
+<expr>
+  <int value="3" />
+</expr>]]></screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>The difference between non-strict and strict evaluation:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-instantiate --eval --xml -E 'rec { x = "foo"; y = x; }'
+<replaceable>...</replaceable><![CDATA[
+  <attr name="x">
+    <string value="foo" />
+  </attr>
+  <attr name="y">
+    <unevaluated />
+  </attr>]]>
+<replaceable>...</replaceable></screen>
+
+Note that <varname>y</varname> is left unevaluated (the XML
+representation doesn’t attempt to show non-normal forms).
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-instantiate --eval --xml --strict -E 'rec { x = "foo"; y = x; }'
+<replaceable>...</replaceable><![CDATA[
+  <attr name="x">
+    <string value="foo" />
+  </attr>
+  <attr name="y">
+    <string value="foo" />
+  </attr>]]>
+<replaceable>...</replaceable></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>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-prefetch-url.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-prefetch-url.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..885c958ce60a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-prefetch-url.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+<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-prefetch-url">
+  
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-prefetch-url</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-prefetch-url</refname>
+  <refpurpose>copy a file from a URL into the store and print its hash</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-prefetch-url</command>
+    <arg><option>--type</option> <replaceable>hashAlgo</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>url</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><replaceable>hash</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-prefetch-url</command> downloads the
+file referenced by the URL <replaceable>url</replaceable>, prints its
+cryptographic hash, and copies it into the Nix store.  The file name
+in the store is
+<filename><replaceable>hash</replaceable>-<replaceable>baseName</replaceable></filename>,
+where <replaceable>baseName</replaceable> is everything following the
+final slash in <replaceable>url</replaceable>.</para>
+
+<para>This command is just a convenience for Nix expression writers.
+Often a Nix expression fetches some source distribution from the
+network using the <literal>fetchurl</literal> expression contained in
+Nixpkgs.  However, <literal>fetchurl</literal> requires a
+cryptographic hash.  If you don't know the hash, you would have to
+download the file first, and then <literal>fetchurl</literal> would
+download it again when you build your Nix expression.  Since
+<literal>fetchurl</literal> uses the same name for the downloaded file
+as <command>nix-prefetch-url</command>, the redundant download can be
+avoided.</para>
+
+<para>If <replaceable>hash</replaceable> is specified, then a download
+is not performed if the Nix store already contains a file with the
+same hash and base name.  Otherwise, the file is downloaded, and an
+error if signaled if the actual hash of the file does not match the
+specified hash.</para>
+
+<para>This command prints the hash on standard output.  Additionally,
+if the environment variable <envar>PRINT_PATH</envar> is set, the path
+of the downloaded file in the Nix store is also printed.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Options</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+  
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--type</option> <replaceable>hashAlgo</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Use the specified cryptographic hash algorithm,
+    which can be one of <literal>md5</literal>,
+    <literal>sha1</literal>, and
+    <literal>sha256</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-prefetch-url ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/make/make-3.80.tar.bz2
+0bbd1df101bc0294d440471e50feca71
+
+$ PRINT_PATH=1 nix-prefetch-url ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/make/make-3.80.tar.bz2
+0bbd1df101bc0294d440471e50feca71
+/nix/store/wvyz8ifdn7wyz1p3pqyn0ra45ka2l492-make-3.80.tar.bz2</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+    
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-pull.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-pull.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..43d5a6c56b2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-pull.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+<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-pull">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-pull</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-pull</refname>
+  <refpurpose>pull substitutes from a network cache</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-pull</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>url</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-pull</command> obtains a list of
+pre-built store paths from the URL <replaceable>url</replaceable>, and
+for each of these store paths, registers a substitute derivation that
+downloads and unpacks it into the Nix store.  This is used to speed up
+installations: if you attempt to install something that has already
+been built and stored into the network cache, Nix can transparently
+re-use the pre-built store paths.</para>
+
+<para>The file at <replaceable>url</replaceable> must be compatible
+with the files created by <replaceable>nix-push</replaceable>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-pull http://nix.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/nixpkgs-0.5pre753/MANIFEST</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-push.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-push.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9c6cdfa2f268
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-push.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,399 @@
+<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-push">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-push</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-push</refname>
+  <refpurpose>generate a binary cache</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-push</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--dest</option> <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--bzip2</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--none</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--force</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--link</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--manifest</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--manifest-path</option> <replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--url-prefix</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-push</command> produces a
+<emphasis>binary cache</emphasis>, a directory containing compressed
+Nix archives (NARs) plus some metadata of the closure of the specified
+store paths.  This directory can then be made available through a web
+server to other Nix installations, allowing them to skip building from
+source and instead download binaries from the cache
+automatically.</para>
+
+<para><command>nix-push</command> performs the following actions.
+      
+<orderedlist>
+
+  <listitem><para>Each path in <replaceable>paths</replaceable> is
+  built (using <link
+  linkend='rsec-nix-store-realise'><command>nix-store
+  --realise</command></link>).</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>All paths in the closure of
+  <replaceable>paths</replaceable> are determined (using
+  <command>nix-store --query --requisites
+  --include-outputs</command>).  Note that since the
+  <option>--include-outputs</option> flag is used, if
+  <replaceable>paths</replaceable> includes a store derivation, you
+  get a combined source/binary distribution (e.g., source tarballs
+  will be included).</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>All store paths determined in the previous step are
+  packaged into a NAR (using <command>nix-store --dump</command>) and
+  compressed using <command>xz</command> or <command>bzip2</command>.
+  The resulting files have the extension <filename>.nar.xz</filename>
+  or <filename>.nar.bz2</filename>.  Also for each store path, Nix
+  generates a file with extension <filename>.narinfo</filename>
+  containing metadata such as the references, cryptographic hash and
+  size of each path.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>Optionally, a single <emphasis>manifest</emphasis>
+  file is created that contains the same metadata as the
+  <filename>.narinfo</filename> files.  This is for compatibility with
+  Nix versions prior to 1.2 (see <command>nix-pull</command> for
+  details).</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>A file named <option>nix-cache-info</option> is
+  placed in the destination directory.  The existence of this file
+  marks the directory as a binary cache.</para></listitem>
+
+</orderedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Options</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--dest</option> <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Set the destination directory to
+    <replaceable>dir</replaceable>, which is created if it does not
+    exist.  This flag is required.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--bzip2</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Compress NARs using <command>bzip2</command>
+    instead of <command>xz -9</command>.  The latter compresses about
+    30% better on typical archives, decompresses about twice as fast,
+    but compresses a lot slower and is not supported by Nix prior to
+    version 1.2.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--none</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Do not compress NARs.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--force</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Overwrite <filename>.narinfo</filename> files if
+    they already exist.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--link</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>By default, NARs are generated in the Nix store
+    and then copied to <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable>.  If this
+    option is given, hard links are used instead.  This only works if
+    <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable> is on the same filesystem as
+    the Nix store.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--manifest</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Force the generation of a manifest suitable for
+    use by <command>nix-pull</command>.  The manifest is stored as
+    <filename><replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable>/MANIFEST</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--manifest-path</option> <replaceable>filename</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Like <option>--manifest</option>, but store the
+    manifest in <replaceable>filename</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--url-prefix</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Manifests are expected to contain the absolute
+    URLs of NARs.  For generating these URLs, the prefix
+    <replaceable>url</replaceable> is used.  It defaults to
+    <uri>file://<replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable></uri>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>To add the closure of Thunderbird to a binary cache:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-push --dest /tmp/cache $(nix-build -A thunderbird)
+</screen>
+
+Assuming that <filename>/tmp/cache</filename> is exported by a web
+server as <uri>http://example.org/cache</uri>, you can then use this
+cache on another machine to speed up the installation of Thunderbird:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-build -A thunderbird --option binary-caches http://example.org/cache
+</screen>
+
+Alternatively, you could add <literal>binary-caches =
+http://example.org/cache</literal> to
+<filename>nix.conf</filename>.</para>
+
+<para>To also include build-time dependencies (such as source
+tarballs):
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-push --dest /tmp/cache $(nix-instantiate -A thunderbird)
+</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To generate a manifest suitable for <command>nix-pull</command>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-push --dest /tmp/cache $(nix-build -A thunderbird) --manifest
+</screen>
+
+On another machine you can then do:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-pull http://example.org/cache
+</screen>
+
+to cause the binaries to be used by subsequent Nix operations.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Binary cache format and operation</title>
+
+<para>A binary cache with URL <replaceable>url</replaceable> only
+denotes a valid binary cache if the file
+<uri><replaceable>url</replaceable>/nix-cache-info</uri> exists.  If
+this file does not exist (or cannot be downloaded), the cache is
+ignored.  If it does exist, it must be a text file containing cache
+properties.  Here’s an example:
+
+<screen>
+StoreDir: /nix/store
+WantMassQuery: 1
+Priority: 10
+</screen>
+
+The properties that are currently supported are:
+
+<variablelist>
+  
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>StoreDir</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The path of the Nix store to which this binary
+    cache applies.  Binaries are not relocatable — a binary built for
+    <filename>/nix/store</filename> won’t generally work in
+    <filename>/home/alice/store</filename> — so to prevent binaries
+    from being used in a wrong store, a binary cache is only used if
+    its <literal>StoreDir</literal> matches the local Nix
+    configuration.  The default is
+    <filename>/nix/store</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>WantMassQuery</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Query operations such as <command>nix-env
+    -qas</command> can cause thousands of cache queries, and thus
+    thousands of HTTP requests, to determine which packages are
+    available in binary form.  While these requests are small, not
+    every server may appreciate a potential onslaught of queries.  If
+    <literal>WantMassQuery</literal> is set to <literal>0</literal>
+    (default), “mass queries” such as <command>nix-env -qas</command>
+    will skip this cache.  Thus a package may appear not to have a
+    binary substitute.  However, the binary will still be used when
+    you actually install the package.  If
+    <literal>WantMassQuery</literal> is set to <literal>1</literal>,
+    mass queries will use this cache.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>Priority</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Each binary cache has a priority (defaulting to
+    50).  Binary caches are checked for binaries in order of ascending
+    priority; thus a higher number denotes a lower priority.  The
+    binary cache <uri>http://cache.nixos.org</uri> has priority
+    40.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Every time Nix needs to build some store path
+<replaceable>p</replaceable>, it will check each configured binary
+cache to see if it has a NAR file for <replaceable>p</replaceable>,
+until it finds one.  If no cache has a NAR, Nix will fall back to
+building the path from source (if applicable).  To see if a cache with
+URL <replaceable>url</replaceable> has a binary for
+<replaceable>p</replaceable>, Nix fetches
+<replaceable>url/h</replaceable>, where <replaceable>h</replaceable>
+is the hash part of <replaceable>p</replaceable>.  Thus, if we have a
+cache <uri>http://cache.nixos.org</uri> and we want to obtain
+the store path
+<screen>
+/nix/store/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9-glibc-2.7
+</screen>
+then Nix will attempt to fetch
+<screen>
+http://cache.nixos.org/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9.narinfo
+</screen>
+(Commands such as <command>nix-env -qas</command> will issue an HTTP
+HEAD request, since it only needs to know if the
+<filename>.narinfo</filename> file exists.)  The
+<filename>.narinfo</filename> file is a simple text file that looks
+like this:
+
+<screen>
+StorePath: /nix/store/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9-glibc-2.7
+URL: nar/0zzjpdz46mdn74v09m053yczlz4am038g8r74iy8w43gx8801h70.nar.bz2
+Compression: bzip2
+FileHash: sha256:0zzjpdz46mdn74v09m053yczlz4am038g8r74iy8w43gx8801h70
+FileSize: 24473768
+NarHash: sha256:0s491y1h9hxj5ghiizlxk7ax6jwbha00zwn7lpyd5xg5bhf60vzg
+NarSize: 109521136
+References: 2ma2k0ys8knh4an48n28vigcmc2z8773-linux-headers-2.6.23.16 ...
+Deriver: 7akyyc87ka32xwmqza9dvyg5pwx3j212-glibc-2.7.drv
+</screen>
+
+The fields are as follows:
+
+<variablelist>
+  
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>StorePath</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The full store path, including the name part
+    (e.g., <literal>glibc-2.7</literal>).  It must match the
+    requested store path.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>URL</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The URL of the NAR, relative to the binary cache
+    URL.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>Compression</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The compression method; either
+    <literal>xz</literal> or
+    <literal>bzip2</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>FileHash</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The SHA-256 hash of the compressed
+    NAR.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>FileSize</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The size of the compressed NAR.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>NarHash</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The SHA-256 hash of the uncompressed NAR.  This is
+    equal to the hash of the store path as returned by
+    <command>nix-store -q --hash
+    <replaceable>p</replaceable></command>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>NarSize</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The size of the uncompressed NAR.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>References</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The references of the store path, without the Nix
+    store prefix.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>Deriver</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The deriver of the store path, without the Nix
+    store prefix.  This field is optional.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>System</literal></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>The Nix platform type of this binary, if known.
+    This field is optional.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Thus, in our example, after recursively ensuring that the
+references exist (e.g.,
+<filename>/nix/store/2ma2k0ys8knh4an48n28vigcmc2z8773-linux-headers-2.6.23.16</filename>),
+Nix will fetch <screen>
+http://cache.nixos.org/nar/0zzjpdz46mdn74v09m053yczlz4am038g8r74iy8w43gx8801h70.nar.bz2
+</screen> and decompress and unpack it to
+<filename>/nix/store/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9-glibc-2.7</filename>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refentry>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-shell.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-shell.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1cb2ebfdd285
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-shell.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+<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-shell">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-shell</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-shell</refname>
+  <refpurpose>start an interactive shell based on a Nix expression</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-shell</command>
+    <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>--command</option> <replaceable>cmd</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--exclude</option> <replaceable>regexp</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--pure</option></arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <group choice='plain'>
+        <group>
+          <arg choice='plain'><option>--packages</option></arg>
+          <arg choice='plain'><option>-p</option></arg>
+        </group>
+        <replaceable>packages</replaceable>
+      </group>
+      <arg><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+    </group>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-shell</command> will build the
+dependencies of the specified derivation, but not the derivation
+itself.  It will then start an interactive shell in which all
+environment variables defined by the derivation
+<replaceable>path</replaceable> have been set to their corresponding
+values, and the script <literal>$stdenv/setup</literal> has been
+sourced.  This is useful for reproducing the environment of a
+derivation for development.</para>
+
+<para>If <replaceable>path</replaceable> is not given,
+<command>nix-shell</command> defaults to
+<filename>shell.nix</filename> if it exists, and
+<filename>default.nix</filename> otherwise.</para>
+
+<para>If the derivation defines the variable
+<varname>shellHook</varname>, it will be evaluated after
+<literal>$stdenv/setup</literal> has been sourced.  Since this hook is
+not executed by regular Nix builds, it allows you to perform
+initialisation specific to <command>nix-shell</command>.  For example,
+the derivation attribute
+
+<programlisting>
+shellHook =
+  ''
+    echo "Hello shell"
+  '';
+</programlisting>
+
+will cause <command>nix-shell</command> to print <literal>Hello shell</literal>.</para>
+
+</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>--command</option> <replaceable>cmd</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>In the environment of the derivation, run the
+    shell command <replaceable>cmd</replaceable> instead of starting
+    an interactive shell.  However, if you end the shell command with
+    <literal>return</literal>, you still get an interactive shell.
+    This can be useful for doing any additional
+    initialisation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--exclude</option> <replaceable>regexp</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Do not build any dependencies whose store path
+    matches the regular expression <replaceable>regexp</replaceable>.
+    This option may be specified multiple times.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--pure</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If this flag is specified, the environment is
+    almost entirely cleared before the interactive shell is started,
+    so you get an environment that more closely corresponds to the
+    “real” Nix build.  A few variables, in particular
+    <envar>HOME</envar>, <envar>USER</envar> and
+    <envar>DISPLAY</envar>, are retained.  Note that
+    <filename>~/.bashrc</filename> and (depending on your Bash
+    installation) <filename>/etc/bashrc</filename> are still sourced,
+    so any variables set there will affect the interactive
+    shell.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--packages</option> / <option>-p</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Set up an environment in which the specified
+    packages are present.  The command line arguments are interpreted
+    as attribute names inside the Nix Packages collection.  Thus,
+    <literal>nix-shell -p libjpeg openjdk</literal> will start a shell
+    in which the packages denoted by the attribute names
+    <varname>libjpeg</varname> and <varname>openjdk</varname> are
+    present.</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>
+
+<para>To build the dependencies of the package Pan, and start an
+interactive shell in which to build it:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-shell '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A pan
+[nix-shell]$ unpackPhase
+[nix-shell]$ cd pan-*
+[nix-shell]$ configurePhase
+[nix-shell]$ buildPhase
+[nix-shell]$ ./pan/gui/pan
+</screen>
+
+To clear the environment first, and do some additional automatic
+initialisation of the interactive shell:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-shell '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A pan --pure \
+    --command 'export NIX_DEBUG=1; export NIX_CORES=8; return'
+</screen>
+
+Nix expressions can also be given on the command line.  For instance,
+the following starts a shell containing the packages
+<literal>sqlite</literal> and <literal>libX11</literal>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-shell -E 'with import &lt;nixpkgs> { }; runCommand "dummy" { buildInputs = [ sqlite xorg.libX11 ]; } ""'
+</screen>
+
+A shorter way to do the same is:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-shell -p sqlite xorg.libX11
+[nix-shell]$ echo $NIX_LDFLAGS
+… -L/nix/store/j1zg5v…-sqlite-3.8.0.2/lib -L/nix/store/0gmcz9…-libX11-1.6.1/lib …
+</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>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-store.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-store.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ae0f683f2c16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-store.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,1352 @@
+<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-store">
+
+<refmeta>
+  <refentrytitle>nix-store</refentrytitle>
+  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
+  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
+  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
+</refmeta>
+
+<refnamediv>
+  <refname>nix-store</refname>
+  <refpurpose>manipulate or query the Nix store</refpurpose>
+</refnamediv>
+
+<refsynopsisdiv>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</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>--add-root</option> <replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><option>--indirect</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>operation</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg rep='repeat'><replaceable>options</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg rep='repeat'><replaceable>arguments</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The command <command>nix-store</command> performs primitive
+operations on the Nix store.  You generally do not need to run this
+command manually.</para>
+
+<para><command>nix-store</command> takes exactly one
+<emphasis>operation</emphasis> flag which indicates the subcommand to
+be performed.  These are documented below.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Common options</title>
+
+<para>This section lists the options that are common to all
+operations.  These options are allowed for every subcommand, though
+they may not always have an effect.  <phrase condition="manual">See
+also <xref linkend="sec-common-options" /> for a list of common
+options.</phrase></para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry xml:id="opt-add-root"><term><option>--add-root</option> <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Causes the result of a realisation
+    (<option>--realise</option> and <option>--force-realise</option>)
+    to be registered as a root of the garbage collector<phrase
+    condition="manual"> (see <xref linkend="ssec-gc-roots"
+    />)</phrase>.  The root is stored in
+    <replaceable>path</replaceable>, which must be inside a directory
+    that is scanned for roots by the garbage collector (i.e.,
+    typically in a subdirectory of
+    <filename>/nix/var/nix/gcroots/</filename>)
+    <emphasis>unless</emphasis> the <option>--indirect</option> flag
+    is used.</para>
+
+    <para>If there are multiple results, then multiple symlinks will
+    be created by sequentially numbering symlinks beyond the first one
+    (e.g., <filename>foo</filename>, <filename>foo-2</filename>,
+    <filename>foo-3</filename>, and so on).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--indirect</option></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+
+    <para>In conjunction with <option>--add-root</option>, this option
+    allows roots to be stored <emphasis>outside</emphasis> of the GC
+    roots directory.  This is useful for commands such as
+    <command>nix-build</command> that place a symlink to the build
+    result in the current directory; such a build result should not be
+    garbage-collected unless the symlink is removed.</para>
+
+    <para>The <option>--indirect</option> flag causes a uniquely named
+    symlink to <replaceable>path</replaceable> to be stored in
+    <filename>/nix/var/nix/gcroots/auto/</filename>.  For instance,
+
+    <screen>
+$ nix-store --add-root /home/eelco/bla/result --indirect -r <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+
+$ ls -l /nix/var/nix/gcroots/auto
+lrwxrwxrwx    1 ... 2005-03-13 21:10 dn54lcypm8f8... -> /home/eelco/bla/result
+
+$ ls -l /home/eelco/bla/result
+lrwxrwxrwx    1 ... 2005-03-13 21:10 /home/eelco/bla/result -> /nix/store/1r11343n6qd4...-f-spot-0.0.10</screen>
+
+    Thus, when <filename>/home/eelco/bla/result</filename> is removed,
+    the GC root in the <filename>auto</filename> directory becomes a
+    dangling symlink and will be ignored by the collector.</para>
+
+    <warning><para>Note that it is not possible to move or rename
+    indirect GC roots, since the symlink in the
+    <filename>auto</filename> directory will still point to the old
+    location.</para></warning>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+<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 xml:id='rsec-nix-store-realise'><title>Operation <option>--realise</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-store</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--realise</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-r</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  <arg><option>--dry-run</option></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--realise</option> essentially “builds”
+the specified store paths.  Realisation is a somewhat overloaded term:
+
+<itemizedlist>
+
+  <listitem><para>If the store path is a
+  <emphasis>derivation</emphasis>, realisation ensures that the output
+  paths of the derivation are <link
+  linkend="gloss-validity">valid</link> (i.e., the output path and its
+  closure exist in the file system).  This can be done in several
+  ways.  First, it is possible that the outputs are already valid, in
+  which case we are done immediately.  Otherwise, there may be <link
+  linkend="gloss-substitute">substitutes</link> that produce the
+  outputs (e.g., by downloading them).  Finally, the outputs can be
+  produced by performing the build action described by the
+  derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+  <listitem><para>If the store path is not a derivation, realisation
+  ensures that the specified path is valid (i.e., it and its closure
+  exist in the file system).  If the path is already valid, we are
+  done immediately.  Otherwise, the path and any missing paths in its
+  closure may be produced through substitutes.  If there are no
+  (successful) subsitutes, realisation fails.</para></listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>The output path of each derivation is printed on standard
+output.  (For non-derivations argument, the argument itself is
+printed.)</para>
+
+<para>The following flags are available:</para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--dry-run</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Print on standard error a description of what
+    packages would be built or downloaded, without actually performing
+    the operation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--ignore-unknown</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If a non-derivation path does not have a
+    substitute, then silently ignore it.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>This operation is typically used to build store derivations
+produced by <link
+linkend="sec-nix-instantiate"><command>nix-instantiate</command></link>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -r $(nix-instantiate ./test.nix)
+/nix/store/31axcgrlbfsxzmfff1gyj1bf62hvkby2-aterm-2.3.1</screen>
+
+This is essentially what <link
+linkend="sec-nix-build"><command>nix-build</command></link> does.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id='rsec-nix-store-gc'><title>Operation <option>--gc</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-store</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>--gc</option></arg>
+  <group>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-roots</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-live</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-dead</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--delete</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg><option>--max-freed</option> <replaceable>bytes</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>Without additional flags, the operation <option>--gc</option>
+performs a garbage collection on the Nix store.  That is, all paths in
+the Nix store not reachable via file system references from a set of
+“roots”, are deleted.</para>
+
+<para>The following suboperations may be specified:</para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--print-roots</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This operation prints on standard output the set
+    of roots used by the garbage collector.  What constitutes a root
+    is described in <xref linkend="ssec-gc-roots"
+    />.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--print-live</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This operation prints on standard output the set
+    of “live” store paths, which are all the store paths reachable
+    from the roots.  Live paths should never be deleted, since that
+    would break consistency — it would become possible that
+    applications are installed that reference things that are no
+    longer present in the store.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--print-dead</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This operation prints out on standard output the
+    set of “dead” store paths, which is just the opposite of the set
+    of live paths: any path in the store that is not live (with
+    respect to the roots) is dead.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--delete</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This operation performs an actual garbage
+    collection.  All dead paths are removed from the
+    store.  This is the default.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+<para>By default, all unreachable paths are deleted.  The following
+options control what gets deleted and in what order:
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--max-freed</option> <replaceable>bytes</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Keep deleting paths until at least
+    <replaceable>bytes</replaceable> bytes have been deleted, then
+    stop.  The argument <replaceable>bytes</replaceable> can be
+    followed by the multiplicative suffix <literal>K</literal>,
+    <literal>M</literal>, <literal>G</literal> or
+    <literal>T</literal>, denoting KiB, MiB, GiB or TiB
+    units.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>The behaviour of the collector is also influenced by the <link
+linkend="conf-gc-keep-outputs"><literal>gc-keep-outputs</literal></link>
+and <link
+linkend="conf-gc-keep-derivations"><literal>gc-keep-derivations</literal></link>
+variables in the Nix configuration file.</para>
+
+<para>With <option>--delete</option>, the collector prints the total
+number of freed bytes when it finishes (or when it is interrupted).
+With <option>--print-dead</option>, it prints the number of bytes that
+would be freed.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>To delete all unreachable paths, just do:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --gc
+deleting `/nix/store/kq82idx6g0nyzsp2s14gfsc38npai7lf-cairo-1.0.4.tar.gz.drv'
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+8825586 bytes freed (8.42 MiB)</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>To delete at least 100 MiBs of unreachable paths:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --gc --max-freed $((100 * 1024 * 1024))</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--delete</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-store</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>--delete</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>--ignore-liveness</option></arg>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--delete</option> deletes the store paths
+<replaceable>paths</replaceable> from the Nix store, but only if it is
+safe to do so; that is, when the path is not reachable from a root of
+the garbage collector.  This means that you can only delete paths that
+would also be deleted by <literal>nix-store --gc</literal>.  Thus,
+<literal>--delete</literal> is a more targeted version of
+<literal>--gc</literal>.</para>
+
+<para>With the option <option>--ignore-liveness</option>, reachability
+from the roots is ignored.  However, the path still won’t be deleted
+if there are other paths in the store that refer to it (i.e., depend
+on it).</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --delete /nix/store/zq0h41l75vlb4z45kzgjjmsjxvcv1qk7-mesa-6.4
+0 bytes freed (0.00 MiB)
+error: cannot delete path `/nix/store/zq0h41l75vlb4z45kzgjjmsjxvcv1qk7-mesa-6.4' since it is still alive</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id='refsec-nix-store-query'><title>Operation <option>--query</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-store</command>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--query</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-q</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--outputs</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--requisites</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-R</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--references</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--referrers</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--referrers-closure</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--deriver</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--deriver</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--graph</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--tree</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--binding</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--hash</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--size</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--roots</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <arg><option>--use-output</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>-u</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>--force-realise</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>-f</option></arg>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--query</option> displays various bits of
+information about the store paths .  The queries are described below.  At
+most one query can be specified.  The default query is
+<option>--outputs</option>.</para>
+
+<para>The paths <replaceable>paths</replaceable> may also be symlinks
+from outside of the Nix store, to the Nix store.  In that case, the
+query is applied to the target of the symlink.</para>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Common query options</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--use-output</option></term>
+    <term><option>-u</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>For each argument to the query that is a store
+    derivation, apply the query to the output path of the derivation
+    instead.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--force-realise</option></term>
+    <term><option>-f</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Realise each argument to the query first (see
+    <link linkend="rsec-nix-store-realise"><command>nix-store
+    --realise</command></link>).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection xml:id='nixref-queries'><title>Queries</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--outputs</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints out the <link
+    linkend="gloss-output-path">output paths</link> of the store
+    derivations <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.  These are the paths
+    that will be produced when the derivation is
+    built.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--requisites</option></term>
+    <term><option>-R</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints out the <link
+    linkend="gloss-closure">closure</link> of the store path
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.</para>
+
+    <para>This query has one option:</para>
+
+    <variablelist>
+
+      <varlistentry><term><option>--include-outputs</option></term>
+
+        <listitem><para>Also include the output path of store
+        derivations, and their closures.</para></listitem>
+
+      </varlistentry>
+
+    </variablelist>
+
+    <para>This query can be used to implement various kinds of
+    deployment.  A <emphasis>source deployment</emphasis> is obtained
+    by distributing the closure of a store derivation.  A
+    <emphasis>binary deployment</emphasis> is obtained by distributing
+    the closure of an output path.  A <emphasis>cache
+    deployment</emphasis> (combined source/binary deployment,
+    including binaries of build-time-only dependencies) is obtained by
+    distributing the closure of a store derivation and specifying the
+    option <option>--include-outputs</option>.</para>
+
+    </listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--references</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the set of <link
+    linkend="gloss-reference">references</link> of the store paths
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable>, that is, their immediate
+    dependencies.  (For <emphasis>all</emphasis> dependencies, use
+    <option>--requisites</option>.)</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--referrers</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the set of <emphasis>referrers</emphasis> of
+    the store paths <replaceable>paths</replaceable>, that is, the
+    store paths currently existing in the Nix store that refer to one
+    of <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.  Note that contrary to the
+    references, the set of referrers is not constant; it can change as
+    store paths are added or removed.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--referrers-closure</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the closure of the set of store paths
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable> under the referrers relation; that
+    is, all store paths that directly or indirectly refer to one of
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.  These are all the path currently
+    in the Nix store that are dependent on
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--deriver</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the <link
+    linkend="gloss-deriver">deriver</link> of the store paths
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.  If the path has no deriver
+    (e.g., if it is a source file), or if the deriver is not known
+    (e.g., in the case of a binary-only deployment), the string
+    <literal>unknown-deriver</literal> is printed.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--graph</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the references graph of the store paths
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable> in the format of the
+    <command>dot</command> tool of AT&amp;T's <link
+    xlink:href="http://www.graphviz.org/">Graphviz package</link>.
+    This can be used to visualise dependency graphs.  To obtain a
+    build-time dependency graph, apply this to a store derivation.  To
+    obtain a runtime dependency graph, apply it to an output
+    path.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--tree</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the references graph of the store paths
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable> as a nested ASCII tree.
+    References are ordered by descending closure size; this tends to
+    flatten the tree, making it more readable.  The query only
+    recurses into a store path when it is first encountered; this
+    prevents a blowup of the tree representation of the
+    graph.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--binding</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the value of the attribute
+    <replaceable>name</replaceable> (i.e., environment variable) of
+    the store derivations <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.  It is an
+    error for a derivation to not have the specified
+    attribute.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--hash</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the SHA-256 hash of the contents of the
+    store paths <replaceable>paths</replaceable> (that is, the hash of
+    the output of <command>nix-store --dump</command> on the given
+    paths).  Since the hash is stored in the Nix database, this is a
+    fast operation.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--size</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the size in bytes of the contents of the
+    store paths <replaceable>paths</replaceable> — to be precise, the
+    size of the output of <command>nix-store --dump</command> on the
+    given paths.  Note that the actual disk space required by the
+    store paths may be higher, especially on filesystems with large
+    cluster sizes.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--roots</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Prints the garbage collector roots that point,
+    directly or indirectly, at the store paths
+    <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>Print the closure (runtime dependencies) of the
+<command>svn</command> program in the current user environment:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -qR $(which svn)
+/nix/store/5mbglq5ldqld8sj57273aljwkfvj22mc-subversion-1.1.4
+/nix/store/9lz9yc6zgmc0vlqmn2ipcpkjlmbi51vv-glibc-2.3.4
+<replaceable>...</replaceable></screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Print the build-time dependencies of <command>svn</command>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -qR $(nix-store -qd $(which svn))
+/nix/store/02iizgn86m42q905rddvg4ja975bk2i4-grep-2.5.1.tar.bz2.drv
+/nix/store/07a2bzxmzwz5hp58nf03pahrv2ygwgs3-gcc-wrapper.sh
+/nix/store/0ma7c9wsbaxahwwl04gbw3fcd806ski4-glibc-2.3.4.drv
+<replaceable>... lots of other paths ...</replaceable></screen>
+
+The difference with the previous example is that we ask the closure of
+the derivation (<option>-qd</option>), not the closure of the output
+path that contains <command>svn</command>.</para>
+
+<para>Show the build-time dependencies as a tree:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -q --tree $(nix-store -qd $(which svn))
+/nix/store/7i5082kfb6yjbqdbiwdhhza0am2xvh6c-subversion-1.1.4.drv
++---/nix/store/d8afh10z72n8l1cr5w42366abiblgn54-builder.sh
++---/nix/store/fmzxmpjx2lh849ph0l36snfj9zdibw67-bash-3.0.drv
+|   +---/nix/store/570hmhmx3v57605cqg9yfvvyh0nnb8k8-bash
+|   +---/nix/store/p3srsbd8dx44v2pg6nbnszab5mcwx03v-builder.sh
+<replaceable>...</replaceable></screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Show all paths that depend on the same OpenSSL library as
+<command>svn</command>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -q --referrers $(nix-store -q --binding openssl $(nix-store -qd $(which svn)))
+/nix/store/23ny9l9wixx21632y2wi4p585qhva1q8-sylpheed-1.0.0
+/nix/store/5mbglq5ldqld8sj57273aljwkfvj22mc-subversion-1.1.4
+/nix/store/dpmvp969yhdqs7lm2r1a3gng7pyq6vy4-subversion-1.1.3
+/nix/store/l51240xqsgg8a7yrbqdx1rfzyv6l26fx-lynx-2.8.5</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Show all paths that directly or indirectly depend on the Glibc
+(C library) used by <command>svn</command>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -q --referrers-closure $(ldd $(which svn) | grep /libc.so | awk '{print $3}')
+/nix/store/034a6h4vpz9kds5r6kzb9lhh81mscw43-libgnomeprintui-2.8.2
+/nix/store/15l3yi0d45prm7a82pcrknxdh6nzmxza-gawk-3.1.4
+<replaceable>...</replaceable></screen>
+
+Note that <command>ldd</command> is a command that prints out the
+dynamic libraries used by an ELF executable.</para>
+
+<para>Make a picture of the runtime dependency graph of the current
+user environment:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -q --graph ~/.nix-profile | dot -Tps > graph.ps
+$ gv graph.ps</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>Show every garbage collector root that points to a store path
+that depends on <command>svn</command>:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -q --roots $(which svn)
+/nix/var/nix/profiles/default-81-link
+/nix/var/nix/profiles/default-82-link
+/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/eelco/profile-97-link
+</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<!--
+<refsection xml:id="rsec-nix-store-reg-val"><title>Operation <option>-XXX-register-validity</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-store</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>-XXX-register-validity</option></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>TODO</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+-->
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--add</option></title>
+
+<refsection><title>Synopsis</title>
+
+<cmdsynopsis>
+  <command>nix-store</command>
+  <arg choice='plain'><option>--add</option></arg>
+  <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+</cmdsynopsis>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--add</option> adds the specified paths to
+the Nix store.  It prints the resulting paths in the Nix store on
+standard output.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --add ./foo.c
+/nix/store/m7lrha58ph6rcnv109yzx1nk1cj7k7zf-foo.c</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id='refsec-nix-store-verify'><title>Operation <option>--verify</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--verify</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--check-contents</option></arg>
+    <arg><option>--repair</option></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--verify</option> verifies the internal
+consistency of the Nix database, and the consistency between the Nix
+database and the Nix store.  Any inconsistencies encountered are
+automatically repaired.  Inconsistencies are generally the result of
+the Nix store or database being modified by non-Nix tools, or of bugs
+in Nix itself.</para>
+
+<para>This operation has the following options:
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--check-contents</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Checks that the contents of every valid store path
+    has not been altered by computing a SHA-256 hash of the contents
+    and comparing it with the hash stored in the Nix database at build
+    time.  Paths that have been modified are printed out.  For large
+    stores, <option>--check-contents</option> is obviously quite
+    slow.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--repair</option></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>If any valid path is missing from the store, or
+    (if <option>--check-contents</option> is given) the contents of a
+    valid path has been modified, then try to repair the path by
+    redownloading it.  See <command>nix-store --repair-path</command>
+    for details.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--verify-path</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--verify-path</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--verify-path</option> compares the
+contents of the given store paths to their cryptographic hashes stored
+in Nix’s database.  For every changed path, it prints a warning
+message.  The exit status is 0 if no path has changed, and 1
+otherwise.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<para>To verify the integrity of the <command>svn</command> command and all its dependencies:
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --verify-path $(nix-store -qR $(which svn))
+</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--repair-path</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--repair-path</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--repair-path</option> attempts to
+“repair” the specified paths by redownloading them using the available
+substituters.  If no substitutes are available, then repair is not
+possible.</para>
+
+<warning><para>During repair, there is a very small time window during
+which the old path (if it exists) is moved out of the way and replaced
+with the new path.  If repair is interrupted in between, then the
+system may be left in a broken state (e.g., if the path contains a
+critical system component like the GNU C Library).</para></warning>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --verify-path /nix/store/dj7a81wsm1ijwwpkks3725661h3263p5-glibc-2.13
+path `/nix/store/dj7a81wsm1ijwwpkks3725661h3263p5-glibc-2.13' was modified!
+  expected hash `2db57715ae90b7e31ff1f2ecb8c12ec1cc43da920efcbe3b22763f36a1861588',
+  got `481c5aa5483ebc97c20457bb8bca24deea56550d3985cda0027f67fe54b808e4'
+
+$ nix-store --repair-path /nix/store/dj7a81wsm1ijwwpkks3725661h3263p5-glibc-2.13
+fetching path `/nix/store/d7a81wsm1ijwwpkks3725661h3263p5-glibc-2.13'...
+…
+</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id='refsec-nix-store-dump'><title>Operation <option>--dump</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--dump</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--dump</option> produces a NAR (Nix
+ARchive) file containing the contents of the file system tree rooted
+at <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  The archive is written to
+standard output.</para>
+
+<para>A NAR archive is like a TAR or Zip archive, but it contains only
+the information that Nix considers important.  For instance,
+timestamps are elided because all files in the Nix store have their
+timestamp set to 0 anyway.  Likewise, all permissions are left out
+except for the execute bit, because all files in the Nix store have
+644 or 755 permission.</para>
+
+<para>Also, a NAR archive is <emphasis>canonical</emphasis>, meaning
+that “equal” paths always produce the same NAR archive.  For instance,
+directory entries are always sorted so that the actual on-disk order
+doesn’t influence the result.  This means that the cryptographic hash
+of a NAR dump of a path is usable as a fingerprint of the contents of
+the path.  Indeed, the hashes of store paths stored in Nix’s database
+(see <link linkend="refsec-nix-store-query"><literal>nix-store -q
+--hash</literal></link>) are SHA-256 hashes of the NAR dump of each
+store path.</para>
+
+<para>NAR archives support filenames of unlimited length and 64-bit
+file sizes.  They can contain regular files, directories, and symbolic
+links, but not other types of files (such as device nodes).</para>
+
+<para>A Nix archive can be unpacked using <literal>nix-store
+--restore</literal>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--restore</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--restore</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--restore</option> unpacks a NAR archive
+to <replaceable>path</replaceable>, which must not already exist.  The
+archive is read from standard input.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id='refsec-nix-store-export'><title>Operation <option>--export</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--export</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--export</option> writes a serialisation
+of the specified store paths to standard output in a format that can
+be imported into another Nix store with <command
+linkend="refsec-nix-store-import">nix-store --import</command>.  This
+is like <command linkend="refsec-nix-store-dump">nix-store
+--dump</command>, except that the NAR archive produced by that command
+doesn’t contain the necessary meta-information to allow it to be
+imported into another Nix store (namely, the set of references of the
+path).</para>
+
+<para>This command does not produce a <emphasis>closure</emphasis> of
+the specified paths, so if a store path references other store paths
+that are missing in the target Nix store, the import will fail.  To
+copy a whole closure, do something like
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --export $(nix-store -qR <replaceable>paths</replaceable>) > out</screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>For an example of how <option>--export</option> and
+<option>--import</option> can be used, see the source of the <command
+linkend="sec-nix-copy-closure">nix-copy-closure</command>
+command.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection xml:id='refsec-nix-store-import'><title>Operation <option>--import</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--import</option></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--import</option> reads a serialisation of
+a set of store paths produced by <command
+linkend="refsec-nix-store-export">nix-store --export</command> from
+standard input and adds those store paths to the Nix store.  Paths
+that already exist in the Nix store are ignored.  If a path refers to
+another path that doesn’t exist in the Nix store, the import
+fails.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--optimise</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--optimise</option></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--optimise</option> reduces Nix store disk
+space usage by finding identical files in the store and hard-linking
+them to each other.  It typically reduces the size of the store by
+something like 25-35%.  Only regular files and symlinks are
+hard-linked in this manner.  Files are considered identical when they
+have the same NAR archive serialisation: that is, regular files must
+have the same contents and permission (executable or non-executable),
+and symlinks must have the same contents.</para>
+
+<para>After completion, or when the command is interrupted, a report
+on the achieved savings is printed on standard error.</para>
+
+<para>Use <option>-vv</option> or <option>-vvv</option> to get some
+progress indication.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --optimise
+hashing files in `/nix/store/qhqx7l2f1kmwihc9bnxs7rc159hsxnf3-gcc-4.1.1'
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+541838819 bytes (516.74 MiB) freed by hard-linking 54143 files;
+there are 114486 files with equal contents out of 215894 files in total
+</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--read-log</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--read-log</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-l</option></arg>
+    </group>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--read-log</option> prints the build log
+of the specified store paths on standard output.  The build log is
+whatever the builder of a derivation wrote to standard output and
+standard error.  If a store path is not a derivation, the deriver of
+the store path is used.</para>
+
+<para>Build logs are kept in
+<filename>/nix/var/log/nix/drvs</filename>.  However, there is no
+guarantee that a build log is available for any particular store path.
+For instance, if the path was downloaded as a pre-built binary through
+a substitute, then the log is unavailable. If the log is not available
+locally, then <command>nix-store</command> will try to download the
+log from the servers specified in the Nix option
+<option>log-servers</option>. For example, if it’s set to
+<literal>http://hydra.nixos.org/log</literal>, then Nix will check
+<literal>http://hydra.nixos.org/log/<replaceable>base-name</replaceable></literal>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store -l $(which ktorrent)
+building /nix/store/dhc73pvzpnzxhdgpimsd9sw39di66ph1-ktorrent-2.2.1
+unpacking sources
+unpacking source archive /nix/store/p8n1jpqs27mgkjw07pb5269717nzf5f8-ktorrent-2.2.1.tar.gz
+ktorrent-2.2.1/
+ktorrent-2.2.1/NEWS
+<replaceable>...</replaceable>
+</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--dump-db</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--dump-db</option></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--dump-db</option> writes a dump of the
+Nix database to standard output.  It can be loaded into an empty Nix
+store using <option>--load-db</option>.  This is useful for making
+backups and when migrating to different database schemas.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--load-db</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--load-db</option></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--load-db</option> reads a dump of the Nix
+database created by <option>--dump-db</option> from standard input and
+loads it into the Nix database.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--print-env</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-env</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><replaceable>drvpath</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>The operation <option>--print-env</option> prints out the
+environment of a derivation in a format that can be evaluated by a
+shell.  The command line arguments of the builder are placed in the
+variable <envar>_args</envar>.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --print-env $(nix-instantiate '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A firefox)
+<replaceable>…</replaceable>
+export src; src='/nix/store/plpj7qrwcz94z2psh6fchsi7s8yihc7k-firefox-12.0.source.tar.bz2'
+export stdenv; stdenv='/nix/store/7c8asx3yfrg5dg1gzhzyq2236zfgibnn-stdenv'
+export system; system='x86_64-linux'
+export _args; _args='-e /nix/store/9krlzvny65gdc8s7kpb6lkx8cd02c25c-default-builder.sh'
+</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--query-failed-paths</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--query-failed-paths</option></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>If build failure caching is enabled through the
+<literal>build-cache-failures</literal> configuration option, the
+operation <option>--query-failed-paths</option> will print out all
+store paths that have failed to build.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --query-failed-paths
+/nix/store/000zi5dcla86l92jn1g997jb06sidm7x-perl-PerlMagick-6.59
+/nix/store/0011iy7sfwbc1qj5a1f6ifjnbcdail8a-haskell-gitit-ghc7.0.4-0.8.1
+/nix/store/001c0yn1hkh86gprvrb46cxnz3pki7q3-gamin-0.1.10
+<replaceable>…</replaceable>
+</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refsection>
+
+
+<!--######################################################################-->
+
+<refsection><title>Operation <option>--clear-failed-paths</option></title>
+
+<refsection>
+  <title>Synopsis</title>
+  <cmdsynopsis>
+    <command>nix-store</command>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--clear-failed-paths</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>If build failure caching is enabled through the
+<literal>build-cache-failures</literal> configuration option, the
+operation <option>--clear-failed-paths</option> clears the “failed”
+state of the given store paths, allowing them to be built again.  This
+is useful if the failure was actually transient (e.g. because the disk
+was full).</para>
+
+<para>If a path denotes a derivation, its output paths are cleared.
+You can provide the argument <literal>*</literal> to clear all store
+paths.</para>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Example</title>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-store --clear-failed-paths /nix/store/000zi5dcla86l92jn1g997jb06sidm7x-perl-PerlMagick-6.59
+$ nix-store --clear-failed-paths *
+</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</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>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-common-syn.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-common-syn.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d65f4009ee6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-common-syn.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+<nop xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
+  
+<arg><option>--help</option></arg>
+<arg><option>--version</option></arg>
+<arg rep='repeat'><option>--verbose</option></arg>
+<arg rep='repeat'><option>-v</option></arg>
+<arg><option>--no-build-output</option></arg>
+<arg><option>-Q</option></arg>
+<arg>
+  <group choice='req'>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>--max-jobs</option></arg>
+    <arg choice='plain'><option>-j</option></arg>
+  </group>
+  <replaceable>number</replaceable>
+</arg>
+<arg>
+  <option>--cores</option>
+  <replaceable>number</replaceable>
+</arg>
+<arg>
+  <option>--max-silent-time</option>
+  <replaceable>number</replaceable>
+</arg>
+<arg>
+  <option>--timeout</option>
+  <replaceable>number</replaceable>
+</arg>
+<arg><option>--keep-going</option></arg>
+<arg><option>-k</option></arg>
+<arg><option>--keep-failed</option></arg>
+<arg><option>-K</option></arg>
+<arg><option>--fallback</option></arg>
+<arg><option>--readonly-mode</option></arg>
+<arg><option>--log-type</option> <replaceable>type</replaceable></arg>
+<arg><option>--show-trace</option></arg>
+<arg>
+  <option>-I</option>
+  <replaceable>path</replaceable>
+</arg>
+<arg>
+  <option>--option</option>
+  <replaceable>name</replaceable>
+  <replaceable>value</replaceable>
+</arg>
+<sbr />
+
+</nop>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-common.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-common.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3486c7e7d852
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-common.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,389 @@
+<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xml:id="sec-common-options">
+
+<title>Common Options</title>
+
+
+<para>Most Nix commands accept the following command-line options:</para>
+
+<variablelist xml:id="opt-common">
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--help</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Prints out a summary of the command syntax and
+  exits.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--version</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Prints out the Nix version number on standard output
+  and exits.</para></listitem>
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--verbose</option></term>
+  <term><option>-v</option></term>
+
+  <listitem>
+
+  <para>Increases the level of verbosity of diagnostic messages
+  printed on standard error.  For each Nix operation, the information
+  printed on standard output is well-defined; any diagnostic
+  information is printed on standard error, never on standard
+  output.</para>
+
+  <para>This option may be specified repeatedly.  Currently, the
+  following verbosity levels exist:</para>
+
+  <variablelist>
+
+    <varlistentry><term>0</term>
+    <listitem><para>“Errors only”: only print messages
+    explaining why the Nix invocation failed.</para></listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term>1</term>
+    <listitem><para>“Informational”: print
+    <emphasis>useful</emphasis> messages about what Nix is doing.
+    This is the default.</para></listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term>2</term>
+    <listitem><para>“Talkative”: print more informational
+    messages.</para></listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term>3</term>
+    <listitem><para>“Chatty”: print even more
+    informational messages.</para></listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term>4</term>
+    <listitem><para>“Debug”: print debug
+    information.</para></listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term>5</term>
+    <listitem><para>“Vomit”: print vast amounts of debug
+    information.</para></listitem>
+    </varlistentry>
+
+  </variablelist>
+
+  </listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--no-build-output</option></term>
+  <term><option>-Q</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>By default, output written by builders to standard
+  output and standard error is echoed to the Nix command's standard
+  error.  This option suppresses this behaviour.  Note that the
+  builder's standard output and error are always written to a log file
+  in
+  <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/nix/var/log/nix</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="opt-max-jobs"><term><option>--max-jobs</option></term>
+  <term><option>-j</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Sets the maximum number of build jobs that Nix will
+  perform in parallel to the specified number.  The default is
+  specified by the <link
+  linkend='conf-build-max-jobs'><literal>build-max-jobs</literal></link>
+  configuration setting, which itself defaults to
+  <literal>1</literal>.  A higher value is useful on SMP systems or to
+  exploit I/O latency.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="opt-cores"><term><option>--cores</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Sets the value of the <envar>NIX_BUILD_CORES</envar>
+  environment variable in the invocation of builders.  Builders can
+  use this variable at their discretion to control the maximum amount
+  of parallelism.  For instance, in Nixpkgs, if the derivation
+  attribute <varname>enableParallelBuilding</varname> is set to
+  <literal>true</literal>, the builder passes the
+  <option>-j<replaceable>N</replaceable></option> flag to GNU Make.
+  It defaults to the value of the <link
+  linkend='conf-build-cores'><literal>build-cores</literal></link>
+  configuration setting, if set, or <literal>1</literal> otherwise.
+  The value <literal>0</literal> means that the builder should use all
+  available CPU cores in the system.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="opt-max-silent-time"><term><option>--max-silent-time</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Sets the maximum number of seconds that a builder
+  can go without producing any data on standard output or standard
+  error.  The default is specified by the <link
+  linkend='conf-build-max-silent-time'><literal>build-max-silent-time</literal></link>
+  configuration setting.  <literal>0</literal> means no
+  time-out.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="opt-timeout"><term><option>--timeout</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Sets the maximum number of seconds that a builder
+  can run.  The default is specified by the <link
+  linkend='conf-build-timeout'><literal>build-timeout</literal></link>
+  configuration setting.  <literal>0</literal> means no
+  timeout.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--keep-going</option></term>
+  <term><option>-k</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Keep going in case of failed builds, to the
+  greatest extent possible.  That is, if building an input of some
+  derivation fails, Nix will still build the other inputs, but not the
+  derivation itself.  Without this option, Nix stops if any build
+  fails (except for builds of substitutes), possibly killing builds in
+  progress (in case of parallel or distributed builds).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--keep-failed</option></term>
+  <term><option>-K</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Specifies that in case of a build failure, the
+  temporary directory (usually in <filename>/tmp</filename>) in which
+  the build takes place should not be deleted.  The path of the build
+  directory is printed as an informational message.
+    </para>
+  </listitem>
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--fallback</option></term>
+
+  <listitem>
+
+  <para>Whenever Nix attempts to build a derivation for which
+  substitutes are known for each output path, but realising the output
+  paths through the substitutes fails, fall back on building the
+  derivation.</para>
+
+  <para>The most common scenario in which this is useful is when we
+  have registered substitutes in order to perform binary distribution
+  from, say, a network repository.  If the repository is down, the
+  realisation of the derivation will fail.  When this option is
+  specified, Nix will build the derivation instead.  Thus,
+  installation from binaries falls back on installation from source.
+  This option is not the default since it is generally not desirable
+  for a transient failure in obtaining the substitutes to lead to a
+  full build from source (with the related consumption of
+  resources).</para>
+
+  </listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--readonly-mode</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>When this option is used, no attempt is made to open
+  the Nix database.  Most Nix operations do need database access, so
+  those operations will fail.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="opt-log-type"><term><option>--log-type</option>
+<replaceable>type</replaceable></term>
+
+  <listitem>
+
+  <para>This option determines how the output written to standard
+  error is formatted.  Nix’s diagnostic messages are typically
+  <emphasis>nested</emphasis>.  For instance, when tracing Nix
+  expression evaluation (<command>nix-env -vvvvv</command>, messages
+  from subexpressions are nested inside their parent expressions.  Nix
+  builder output is also often nested.  For instance, the Nix Packages
+  generic builder nests the various build tasks (unpack, configure,
+  compile, etc.), and the GNU Make in <literal>stdenv-linux</literal>
+  has been patched to provide nesting for recursive Make
+  invocations.</para>
+
+  <para><replaceable>type</replaceable> can be one of the
+  following:
+
+  <variablelist>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><literal>pretty</literal></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>Pretty-print the output, indicating different
+      nesting levels using spaces.  This is the
+      default.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><literal>escapes</literal></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>Indicate nesting using escape codes that can be
+      interpreted by the <command>nix-log2xml</command> tool in the
+      Nix source distribution.  The resulting XML file can be fed into
+      the <command>log2html.xsl</command> stylesheet to create an HTML
+      file that can be browsed interactively, using JavaScript to
+      expand and collapse parts of the output.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+    <varlistentry><term><literal>flat</literal></term>
+
+      <listitem><para>Remove all nesting.</para></listitem>
+
+    </varlistentry>
+
+  </variablelist>
+
+  </para>
+
+  </listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--arg</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>value</replaceable></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>This option is accepted by
+  <command>nix-env</command>, <command>nix-instantiate</command> and
+  <command>nix-build</command>.  When evaluating Nix expressions, the
+  expression evaluator will automatically try to call functions that
+  it encounters.  It can automatically call functions for which every
+  argument has a <link linkend='ss-functions'>default value</link>
+  (e.g., <literal>{ <replaceable>argName</replaceable> ?
+  <replaceable>defaultValue</replaceable> }:
+  <replaceable>...</replaceable></literal>).  With
+  <option>--arg</option>, you can also call functions that have
+  arguments without a default value (or override a default value).
+  That is, if the evaluator encounters a function with an argument
+  named <replaceable>name</replaceable>, it will call it with value
+  <replaceable>value</replaceable>.</para>
+
+  <para>For instance, the file
+  <literal>pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix</literal> in Nixpkgs is
+  actually a function:
+
+<programlisting>
+{ # The system (e.g., `i686-linux') for which to build the packages.
+  system ? builtins.currentSystem
+  <replaceable>...</replaceable>
+}: <replaceable>...</replaceable></programlisting>
+
+  So if you call this Nix expression (e.g., when you do
+  <literal>nix-env -i <replaceable>pkgname</replaceable></literal>),
+  the function will be called automatically using the value <link
+  linkend='builtin-currentSystem'><literal>builtins.currentSystem</literal></link>
+  for the <literal>system</literal> argument.  You can override this
+  using <option>--arg</option>, e.g., <literal>nix-env -i
+  <replaceable>pkgname</replaceable> --arg system
+  \"i686-freebsd\"</literal>.  (Note that since the argument is a Nix
+  string literal, you have to escape the quotes.)</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--argstr</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>value</replaceable></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>This option is like <option>--arg</option>, only the
+  value is not a Nix expression but a string.  So instead of
+  <literal>--arg system \"i686-linux\"</literal> (the outer quotes are
+  to keep the shell happy) you can say <literal>--argstr system
+  i686-linux</literal>.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="opt-attr"><term><option>--attr</option> / <option>-A</option>
+<replaceable>attrPath</replaceable></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Select an attribute from the top-level Nix
+  expression being evaluated.  (<command>nix-env</command>,
+  <command>nix-instantiate</command>, <command>nix-build</command> and
+  <command>nix-shell</command> only.)  The <emphasis>attribute
+  path</emphasis> <replaceable>attrPath</replaceable> is a sequence of
+  attribute names separated by dots.  For instance, given a top-level
+  Nix expression <replaceable>e</replaceable>, the attribute path
+  <literal>xorg.xorgserver</literal> would cause the expression
+  <literal><replaceable>e</replaceable>.xorg.xorgserver</literal> to
+  be used.  See <link
+  linkend='refsec-nix-env-install-examples'><command>nix-env
+  --install</command></link> for some concrete examples.</para>
+
+  <para>In addition to attribute names, you can also specify array
+  indices.  For instance, the attribute path
+  <literal>foo.3.bar</literal> selects the <literal>bar</literal>
+  attribute of the fourth element of the array in the
+  <literal>foo</literal> attribute of the top-level
+  expression.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--expr</option> / <option>-E</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Interpret the command line arguments as a list of
+  Nix expressions to be parsed and evaluated, rather than as a list
+  of file names of Nix expressions.
+  (<command>nix-instantiate</command>, <command>nix-build</command>
+  and <command>nix-shell</command> only.)</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--show-trace</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Causes Nix to print out a stack trace in case of Nix
+  expression evaluation errors.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>-I</option> <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Add a path to the Nix expression search path.  This
+  option may be given multiple times.  See the <envar>NIX_PATH</envar>
+  environment variable for information on the semantics of the Nix
+  search path.  Paths added through <option>-I</option> take
+  precedence over <envar>NIX_PATH</envar>.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--option</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>value</replaceable></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Set the Nix configuration option
+  <replaceable>name</replaceable> to <replaceable>value</replaceable>.
+  This overrides settings in the Nix configuration file (see
+  <citerefentry><refentrytitle>nix.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><option>--repair</option></term>
+
+  <listitem><para>Fix corrupted or missing store paths by
+  redownloading or rebuilding them.  Note that this is slow because it
+  requires computing a cryptographic hash of the contents of every
+  path in the closure of the build.  Also note the warning under
+  <command>nix-store --repair-path</command>.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+</variablelist>
+
+
+</chapter>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-inst-syn.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-inst-syn.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e8c3f1ec6f04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/opt-inst-syn.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<nop xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
+  
+  <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--prebuilt-only</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-b</option></arg>
+    </group>
+  </arg>
+  
+  <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--attr</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>-A</option></arg>
+    </group>
+  </arg>
+
+  <arg><option>--from-expression</option></arg>
+  <arg><option>-E</option></arg>
+    
+  <arg><option>--from-profile</option> <replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
+
+</nop>
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/utilities.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/utilities.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..190962ceae74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/utilities.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+<chapter 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='ch-utilities'>
+
+<title>Utilities</title>
+
+<para>This section lists utilities that you can use when you
+work with Nix.</para>
+
+<xi:include href="nix-channel.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-collect-garbage.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-copy-closure.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-daemon.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-hash.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-install-package.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-instantiate.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-prefetch-url.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-pull.xml" />
+<xi:include href="nix-push.xml" />
+
+</chapter>
\ No newline at end of file