diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual/nix-store.xml')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/nix-store.xml | 70 |
1 files changed, 58 insertions, 12 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/nix-store.xml b/doc/manual/nix-store.xml index a3fcad0631d0..febe02fd4ada 100644 --- a/doc/manual/nix-store.xml +++ b/doc/manual/nix-store.xml @@ -135,17 +135,18 @@ <!--######################################################################--> <refsection> - <title>Operation <option>--delete</option></title> + <title>Operation <option>--gc</option></title> <refsection> <title>Synopsis</title> <cmdsynopsis> <command>nix-store</command> + <arg choice='plain'><option>--gc</option></arg> <group choice='req'> + <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-live</option></arg> + <arg choice='plain'><option>--print-dead</option></arg> <arg choice='plain'><option>--delete</option></arg> - <arg choice='plain'><option>-d</option></arg> </group> - <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg> </cmdsynopsis> </refsection> @@ -153,19 +154,64 @@ <title>Description</title> <para> - The operation <option>--delete</option> unconditionally deletes the - paths <replaceable>paths</replaceable> from the Nix store. It is an - error to attempt to delete paths outside of the store. + The operation <option>--gc</option> performs a garbage + collection on the Nix store. What it does specifically is + determined by the sub-operation, which is one of the + following: + </para> + + <variablelist> + + <varlistentry> + <term><option>--print-live</option></term> + <listitem> + <para> + This operation prints on standard output the set of + <quote>live</quote> store paths, which are all the store + paths reachable from a set of <quote>root</quote> store + expressions read from standard input. 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 + <quote>dead</quote> 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. + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + </variablelist> + + <para> + The set of root store expressions is read from standard input. + Each line should contain exactly one store path. </para> <warning> <para> - This operation should almost never be called directly, since no - attempt is made to verify that no references exist to the paths to - be deleted. Therefore, careless deletion can result in an - inconsistent system. Deletion of paths in the store is done by the - garbage collector (which uses <option>--delete</option> to delete - unreferenced paths). + You generally will want to use the command + <command>nix-collect-garbage</command>, which figures out + the roots and then calls this command automatically. </para> </warning> |