about summary refs log tree commit diff
path: root/third_party/nix/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'third_party/nix/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml')
-rw-r--r--third_party/nix/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml178
1 files changed, 178 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/third_party/nix/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml b/third_party/nix/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5a2866e6bc4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/third_party/nix/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+<refentry 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-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>name</replaceable></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--list</option></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--update</option> <arg rep='repeat'><replaceable>names</replaceable></arg></arg>
+      <arg choice='plain'><option>--rollback</option> <arg choice='opt'><replaceable>generation</replaceable></arg></arg>
+    </group>
+  </cmdsynopsis>
+</refsynopsisdiv>
+
+<refsection><title>Description</title>
+
+<para>A Nix channel is a 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.  <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) and makes them the
+    default for <command>nix-env</command> operations (by symlinking
+    them from the directory
+    <filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><option>--rollback</option> [<replaceable>generation</replaceable>]</term>
+
+    <listitem><para>Reverts the previous call to <command>nix-channel
+    --update</command>. Optionally, you can specify a specific channel
+    generation number to restore.</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>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Examples</title>
+
+<para>To subscribe to the Nixpkgs channel and install the GNU Hello package:</para>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
+$ nix-channel --update
+$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.hello</screen>
+
+<para>You can revert channel updates using <option>--rollback</option>:</para>
+
+<screen>
+$ nix-instantiate --eval -E '(import &lt;nixpkgs> {}).lib.nixpkgsVersion'
+"14.04.527.0e935f1"
+
+$ nix-channel --rollback
+switching from generation 483 to 482
+
+$ nix-instantiate --eval -E '(import &lt;nixpkgs> {}).lib.nixpkgsVersion'
+"14.04.526.dbadfad"
+</screen>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Files</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/<replaceable>username</replaceable>/channels</filename></term>
+
+    <listitem><para><command>nix-channel</command> uses a
+    <command>nix-env</command> profile to keep track of previous
+    versions of the subscribed channels. Every time you run
+    <command>nix-channel --update</command>, a new channel generation
+    (that is, a symlink to the channel Nix expressions in the Nix store)
+    is created. This enables <command>nix-channel --rollback</command>
+    to revert to previous versions.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><filename>~/.nix-defexpr/channels</filename></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>This is a symlink to
+    <filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/<replaceable>username</replaceable>/channels</filename>. It
+    ensures that <command>nix-env</command> can find your channels. In
+    a multi-user installation, you may also have
+    <filename>~/.nix-defexpr/channels_root</filename>, which links to
+    the channels of the root user.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+<refsection><title>Channel format</title>
+
+<para>A channel URL should point to a directory containing the
+following files:</para>
+
+<variablelist>
+
+  <varlistentry><term><filename>nixexprs.tar.xz</filename></term>
+
+    <listitem><para>A tarball containing Nix expressions and files
+    referenced by them (such as build scripts and patches). At the
+    top level, the tarball should contain a single directory. That
+    directory must contain a file <filename>default.nix</filename>
+    that serves as the channel’s “entry point”.</para></listitem>
+
+  </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+
+</refsection>
+
+</refentry>