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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual/installation.xml')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/installation.xml | 118 |
1 files changed, 76 insertions, 42 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/installation.xml b/doc/manual/installation.xml index 2642bca1d747..3a143e44fd5e 100644 --- a/doc/manual/installation.xml +++ b/doc/manual/installation.xml @@ -6,6 +6,39 @@ <title>Installation</title> +<section><title>Supported platforms</title> + +<para>Nix is currently supported on the following platforms: + +<itemizedlist> + + <listitem><para>Linux (particularly on x86, x86_64, and + PowerPC).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Mac OS X, both on Intel and + PowerPC.</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>FreeBSD (only tested on Intel).</para></listitem> + + <listitem><para>Windows through <link + xlink:href="http://www.cygwin.com/">Cygwin</link>.</para> + + <warning><para>On Cygwin, Nix <emphasis>must</emphasis> be installed + on an NTFS partition. It will not work correctly on a FAT + partition.</para></warning> + + </listitem> + +</itemizedlist> + +</para> + +<para>Nix is pretty portable, so it should work on most other Unix +platforms as well.</para> + +</section> + + <section><title>Obtaining Nix</title> <para>The easiest way to obtain Nix is to download a <link @@ -97,7 +130,7 @@ preceded by the command: </para> <screen> -$ autoreconf -i</screen> +$ ./boostrap</screen> <para>The installation path can be specified by passing the <option>--prefix=<replaceable>prefix</replaceable></option> to @@ -163,49 +196,44 @@ xlink:href="http://nix.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/" />.</para> </section> -<section><title>Permissions</title> - -<para>All Nix operations must be performed under the user ID that owns -the Nix store and database -(<filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/store</filename> and -<filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/var/nix/db</filename>, -respectively). When installed from the RPM packages, these -directories are owned by <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem>.</para> - -<section><title>Setuid installation</title> - -<para>As a somewhat <emphasis>ad hoc</emphasis> hack, you can also -install the Nix binaries <quote>setuid</quote> so that a Nix store can -be shared among several users. To do this, configure Nix with the -<emphasis>--enable-setuid</emphasis> option. Nix will be installed as -owned by a user and group specified by the -<option>--with-nix-user=</option><parameter>user</parameter> and -<option>--with-nix-group=</option><parameter>group</parameter> -options. E.g., +<section><title>Security</title> + +<para>Nix has two basic security models. First, it can be used in +“single-user mode”, which is similar to what most other package +management tools do: there is a single user (typically <systemitem +class="username">root</systemitem>) who performs all package +management operations. All other users can then use the installed +packages, but they cannot perform package management operations +themselves.</para> + +<para>Alternatively, you can configure Nix in “multi-user mode”. In +this model, all users can perform package management operations — for +instance, every user can install software without requiring root +privileges. Nix ensures that this is secure. For instance, it’s not +possible for one user to overwrite a package used by another user with +a Trojan horse.</para> + + +<section><title>Single-user mode</title> + +<para>In single-user mode, all Nix operations that access the database +in <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/var/nix/db</filename> +or modify the Nix store in +<filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/store</filename> must be +performed under the user ID that owns those directories. This is +typically <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem>. (If you +install from RPM packages, that’s in fact the default ownership.) +However, on single-user machines, it is often convenient to +<command>chown</command> those directories to your normal user account +so that you don’t have to <command>su</command> to <systemitem +class="username">root</systemitem> all the time.</para> -<screen> -$ ./configure --enable-setuid --with-nix-user=my_nix_user --with-nix-group=my_nix_group</screen> - -The user and group default to <literal>nix</literal>. You should make -sure that both the user and the group exist. Any <quote>real</quote> -users that you want to allow access should be added to the Nix -group.</para> +</section> -<warning><para>A setuid installation should only by used if the users -in the Nix group are mutually trusted, since any user in that group -has the ability to change anything in the Nix store or database. For -instance, they could install a trojan horse in executables used by -other users.</para></warning> -<warning><para>On some platforms, the Nix binaries will be installed -as setuid <literal>root</literal>. They drop root privileges -immediately after startup and switch to the Nix user. The reason for -this is that both the real and effective user must be set to the Nix -user, and POSIX has no system call to do this. This is not the case -on systems that have the <function>setresuid()</function> system call -(such as Linux and FreeBSD), so on those systems the binaries are -simply owned by the Nix user.</para></warning> +<section><title>Multi-user mode</title> +<para></para> <!-- @@ -219,11 +247,17 @@ one. --> - +<note><para>Multi-user mode has one important limitation: only +<systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> can run <command +linkend="sec-nix-pull">nix-pull</command> to register the availability +of pre-built binaries. However, those registrations +<emphasis>are</emphasis> used by all users to speed up +builds.</para></note> </section> -</section> + +</section> <!-- end of permissions section --> <section><title>Using Nix</title> |