about summary refs log tree commit diff
path: root/doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorSean Seefried <sean.seefried@gmail.com>2018-04-12T09·23+1000
committerSean Seefried <sean.seefried@gmail.com>2018-04-12T09·23+1000
commit2ef8f0608caa27d1a92d827f54b54155c89092a8 (patch)
tree7eb49aa898dbec9f21d052da4da08003cd06c1e1 /doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml
parentdc0a542c9f8c839b8437b54fcf1c4b47b0cfba10 (diff)
Add to glossary and clarify garbage collection
While trying to understand garbage collection it was not immediately
clear that only the runtime dependency closure of output paths
would be kept (instead of the build-time dependency closure).
This commit attempts to clarify this by expanding some of the
glossary definitions and extending the Garbage Collection
section.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml')
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml8
1 files changed, 8 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml b/doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml
index 03b8e4c976c1..a1b0ef22a11e 100644
--- a/doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/packages/garbage-collection.xml
@@ -52,6 +52,14 @@ garbage collector as follows:
 <screen>
 $ nix-store --gc</screen>
 
+The behaviour of the gargage collector is affected by the <literal>keep-
+derivations</literal> (default: true) and <literal>keep-outputs</literal>
+(default: false) options in the Nix configuration file. The defaults will ensure
+that all derivations that are not build-time dependencies of garbage collector roots
+will be collected but that all output paths that are not runtime dependencies
+will be collected. (This is usually what you want, but while you are developing
+it may make sense to keep outputs to ensure that rebuild times are quick.)
+
 If you are feeling uncertain, you can also first view what files would
 be deleted: