1 files changed, 112 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/nix-channel.xml b/doc/manual/nix-channel.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2c4e1151b0d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/nix-channel.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+<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-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>