diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual/package-management.xml')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/package-management.xml | 57 |
1 files changed, 29 insertions, 28 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/package-management.xml b/doc/manual/package-management.xml index d299bf054e..4e86b26010 100644 --- a/doc/manual/package-management.xml +++ b/doc/manual/package-management.xml @@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Nix expressions called the Nix Package collection that contains components ranging from basic development stuff such as GCC and Glibc, to end-user applications like Mozilla Firefox. (Nix is however not tied to the Nix Package collection; you could write your own Nix -expression based on that, or completely new.) You can download the +expression based on it, or completely new ones.) You can download the latest version from <ulink url='http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix' />. You probably want the latest unstable release; currently the stable releases tend to lag @@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ where <literal>nixpkgs-<replaceable>version</replaceable></literal> is where you've unpacked the release.</para> <para>It is also possible to see the <emphasis>status</emphasis> of -available component, i.e., whether they are installed into the user +available components, i.e., whether they are installed into the user environment and/or present in the system: <screen> @@ -69,12 +69,13 @@ IPS bison-1.875d The first character (<literal>I</literal>) indicates whether the component is installed in your current user environment. The second (<literal>P</literal>) indicates whether it is present on your system -(in which case installing it into your user environment would be very -quick). The last one (<literal>S</literal>) indicates whether there -is a so-called <emphasis>substitute</emphasis> for the component, -which is Nix's mechanism for doing binary deployment. It just means -that Nix know that it can fetch a pre-built component from somewhere -(typically a network server) instead of building it locally.</para> +(in which case installing it into your user environment would be a +very quick operation). The last one (<literal>S</literal>) indicates +whether there is a so-called <emphasis>substitute</emphasis> for the +component, which is Nix's mechanism for doing binary deployment. It +just means that Nix know that it can fetch a pre-built component from +somewhere (typically a network server) instead of building it +locally.</para> <para>So now that we have a set of Nix expressions we can build the components contained in them. This is done using <literal>nix-env @@ -91,8 +92,8 @@ system</ulink>).</para> <para>When you do this for the first time, Nix will start building Subversion and all its dependencies. This will take quite a while — typically an hour or two on modern machines. Fortunately, there is a -faster way (so just do a Ctrl-C on that install operation!): you just -need to tell Nix that pre-built binaries of all those components are +faster way (so do a Ctrl-C on that install operation!): you just need +to tell Nix that pre-built binaries of all those components are available somewhere. This is done using the <command>nix-pull</command> command, which must be supplied with a URL containing a <emphasis>manifest</emphasis> describing what binaries @@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ downloading binaries from <systemitem class='fqdomainname'>catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl</systemitem>, instead of building them from source. This might still take a while since all dependencies must be downloaded, but on a reasonably fast connection -such as an ADSL line it's on the order of a few minutes.</para> +such as an DSL line it's on the order of a few minutes.</para> <para>Naturally, packages can also be uninstalled: @@ -127,10 +128,10 @@ $ nix-env -f nixpkgs-<replaceable>version</replaceable> -u subversion</screen> This will <emphasis>only</emphasis> upgrade Subversion if there is a <quote>newer</quote> version in the new set of Nix expressions, as -defined by some pretty much arbitrary rules regarding ordering of -version numbers (which generally do what you'd expect of them). To -just unconditionally replace Subversion with whatever version is in -the Nix expressions, use <parameter>-i</parameter> instead of +defined by some pretty arbitrary rules regarding ordering of version +numbers (which generally do what you'd expect of them). To just +unconditionally replace Subversion with whatever version is in the Nix +expressions, use <parameter>-i</parameter> instead of <parameter>-u</parameter>; <parameter>-i</parameter> will remove whatever version is already installed.</para> @@ -261,7 +262,7 @@ lrwxrwxrwx 1 eelco ... default-43-link -> /nix/store/84c85f89ddbf...-user-env lrwxrwxrwx 1 eelco ... default -> default-43-link</screen> This shows a profile called <filename>default</filename>. The file -<filename>default</filename> itself is actually a symlink that point +<filename>default</filename> itself is actually a symlink that points to the current generation. When we do a <command>nix-env</command> operation, a new user environment and generation link are created based on the current one, and finally the <filename>default</filename> @@ -295,13 +296,13 @@ $ nix-env --list-generations</screen></para> figure above. You generally wouldn't have <filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles/<replaceable>some-profile</replaceable>/bin</filename> in your <envar>PATH</envar>. Rather, there is a symlink -<filename>~/.nix-profile</filename> that point to your current +<filename>~/.nix-profile</filename> that points to your current profile. This means that you should put <filename>~/.nix-profile/bin</filename> in your <envar>PATH</envar> (and indeed, that's what the initialisation script <filename>/nix/etc/profile.d/nix.sh</filename> does). This makes it -easier to switch to a different profile, which is exactly what the -command <command>nix-env --switch-profile</command> does: +easier to switch to a different profile. You can do that using the +command <command>nix-env --switch-profile</command>: <screen> $ nix-env --switch-profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/my-profile @@ -311,14 +312,14 @@ $ nix-env --switch-profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/default</screen> These commands switch to the <filename>my-profile</filename> and default profile, respectively. If the profile doesn't exist, it will be created automatically. You should be careful about storing a -profile in another location that the <filename>profiles</filename> -directory, since otherwise it might not be used as a root to the -garbage collection (see section <xref linkend='sec-garbage-collection' +profile in another location than the <filename>profiles</filename> +directory, since otherwise it might not be used as a root of the +garbage collector (see section <xref linkend='sec-garbage-collection' />).</para> <para>All <command>nix-env</command> operations work on the profile pointed to by <command>~/.nix-profile</command>, but you can override -this on using the <option>--profile</option> option (abbreviation +this using the <option>--profile</option> option (abbreviation <option>-p</option>): <screen> @@ -335,7 +336,7 @@ This will <emphasis>not</emphasis> change the <para><command>nix-env</command> operations such as upgrades (<option>-u</option>) and uninstall (<option>-e</option>) never actually delete components from the system. All they do (as shown -above) is to make a new user environment that no longer contains +above) is to create a new user environment that no longer contains symlinks to the <quote>deleted</quote> components.</para> <para>Of course, since disk space is not infinite, unused components @@ -414,10 +415,10 @@ a set of Nix expressions and a manifest. Using the command with whatever is available at that URL.</para> <para>You can <quote>subscribe</quote> to a channel using -<command>nix-channel --subscribe</command>, e.g., +<command>nix-channel --add</command>, e.g., <screen> -$ nix-channel --subscribe http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/nixpkgs-unstable</screen> +$ nix-channel --add http://catamaran.labs.cs.uu.nl/dist/nix/channels/nixpkgs-unstable</screen> subscribes you to a channel that always contains that latest version of the Nix Packages collection. (Instead of @@ -446,9 +447,9 @@ makes the union of each channel's Nix expressions the default for $ nix-env -u '*'</screen> to upgrade all components in your profile to the latest versions -available in the channels.</para> +available in the subscribed channels.</para> </sect1> -</chapter> \ No newline at end of file +</chapter> |