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diff --git a/doc/manual/packages/profiles.xml b/doc/manual/packages/profiles.xml new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..60660056fb8e --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/manual/packages/profiles.xml @@ -0,0 +1,159 @@ +<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" + xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" + xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" + version="5.0" + xml:id="sec-profiles"> + +<title>Profiles</title> + +<para>Profiles and user environments are Nix’s mechanism for +implementing the ability to allow different users to have different +configurations, and to do atomic upgrades and rollbacks. To +understand how they work, it’s useful to know a bit about how Nix +works. In Nix, packages are stored in unique locations in the +<emphasis>Nix store</emphasis> (typically, +<filename>/nix/store</filename>). For instance, a particular version +of the Subversion package might be stored in a directory +<filename>/nix/store/dpmvp969yhdqs7lm2r1a3gng7pyq6vy4-subversion-1.1.3/</filename>, +while another version might be stored in +<filename>/nix/store/5mq2jcn36ldlmh93yj1n8s9c95pj7c5s-subversion-1.1.2</filename>. +The long strings prefixed to the directory names are cryptographic +hashes<footnote><para>160-bit truncations of SHA-256 hashes encoded in +a base-32 notation, to be precise.</para></footnote> of +<emphasis>all</emphasis> inputs involved in building the package — +sources, dependencies, compiler flags, and so on. So if two +packages differ in any way, they end up in different locations in +the file system, so they don’t interfere with each other. <xref +linkend='fig-user-environments' /> shows a part of a typical Nix +store.</para> + +<figure xml:id='fig-user-environments'><title>User environments</title> + <mediaobject> + <imageobject> + <imagedata fileref='../figures/user-environments.png' format='PNG' /> + </imageobject> + </mediaobject> +</figure> + +<para>Of course, you wouldn’t want to type + +<screen> +$ /nix/store/dpmvp969yhdq...-subversion-1.1.3/bin/svn</screen> + +every time you want to run Subversion. Of course we could set up the +<envar>PATH</envar> environment variable to include the +<filename>bin</filename> directory of every package we want to use, +but this is not very convenient since changing <envar>PATH</envar> +doesn’t take effect for already existing processes. The solution Nix +uses is to create directory trees of symlinks to +<emphasis>activated</emphasis> packages. These are called +<emphasis>user environments</emphasis> and they are packages +themselves (though automatically generated by +<command>nix-env</command>), so they too reside in the Nix store. For +instance, in <xref linkend='fig-user-environments' /> the user +environment <filename>/nix/store/0c1p5z4kda11...-user-env</filename> +contains a symlink to just Subversion 1.1.2 (arrows in the figure +indicate symlinks). This would be what we would obtain if we had done + +<screen> +$ nix-env -i subversion</screen> + +on a set of Nix expressions that contained Subversion 1.1.2.</para> + +<para>This doesn’t in itself solve the problem, of course; you +wouldn’t want to type +<filename>/nix/store/0c1p5z4kda11...-user-env/bin/svn</filename> +either. That’s why there are symlinks outside of the store that point +to the user environments in the store; for instance, the symlinks +<filename>default-42-link</filename> and +<filename>default-43-link</filename> in the example. These are called +<emphasis>generations</emphasis> since every time you perform a +<command>nix-env</command> operation, a new user environment is +generated based on the current one. For instance, generation 43 was +created from generation 42 when we did + +<screen> +$ nix-env -i subversion firefox</screen> + +on a set of Nix expressions that contained Firefox and a new version +of Subversion.</para> + +<para>Generations are grouped together into +<emphasis>profiles</emphasis> so that different users don’t interfere +with each other if they don’t want to. For example: + +<screen> +$ ls -l /nix/var/nix/profiles/ +... +lrwxrwxrwx 1 eelco ... default-42-link -> /nix/store/0c1p5z4kda11...-user-env +lrwxrwxrwx 1 eelco ... default-43-link -> /nix/store/3aw2pdyx2jfc...-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 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> +symlink is made to point at the new generation. This last step is +atomic on Unix, which explains how we can do atomic upgrades. (Note +that the building/installing of new packages doesn’t interfere in +any way with old packages, since they are stored in different +locations in the Nix store.)</para> + +<para>If you find that you want to undo a <command>nix-env</command> +operation, you can just do + +<screen> +$ nix-env --rollback</screen> + +which will just make the current generation link point at the previous +link. E.g., <filename>default</filename> would be made to point at +<filename>default-42-link</filename>. You can also switch to a +specific generation: + +<screen> +$ nix-env --switch-generation 43</screen> + +which in this example would roll forward to generation 43 again. You +can also see all available generations: + +<screen> +$ nix-env --list-generations</screen></para> + +<para>Actually, there is another level of indirection not shown in the +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 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. You can do that using the +command <command>nix-env --switch-profile</command>: + +<screen> +$ nix-env --switch-profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/my-profile + +$ 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 than the <filename>profiles</filename> +directory, since otherwise it might not be used as a root of the +garbage collector (see <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 using the <option>--profile</option> option (abbreviation +<option>-p</option>): + +<screen> +$ nix-env -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/other-profile -i subversion</screen> + +This will <emphasis>not</emphasis> change the +<command>~/.nix-profile</command> symlink.</para> + +</chapter> |