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authorEelco Dolstra <eelco.dolstra@logicblox.com>2014-02-10T09·25+0100
committerEelco Dolstra <eelco.dolstra@logicblox.com>2014-02-10T09·25+0100
commitb632153ebd1bf8d773872eb36f9ad335d2c89fab (patch)
tree51dfe45aa8e9093e66c11f83e6313cbdff32b343 /doc/manual
parent84a8b5e9af2df4ed7f7860a6768daf83f72724ca (diff)
nix-shell: Use shell.nix as the default expression if it exists
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual')
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/nix-shell.xml18
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/nix-shell.xml b/doc/manual/nix-shell.xml
index 866b3413b967..e57c726f5394 100644
--- a/doc/manual/nix-shell.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/nix-shell.xml
@@ -31,20 +31,26 @@
     <arg><option>--command</option> <replaceable>cmd</replaceable></arg>
     <arg><option>--exclude</option> <replaceable>regexp</replaceable></arg>
     <arg><option>--pure</option></arg>
-    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
+    <arg><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
   </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
+<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 have been set to their
-corresponding values, and the script <literal>$stdenv/setup</literal>
-has been sourced.  This is useful for reproducing the environment of a
+environment variables defined by the derivation
+<replaceable>path</replaceable> have been set to their corresponding
+values, and the script <literal>$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>
+
 </refsection>