doc/manual/packages/one-click.xml


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<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-one-click">

<title>One-Click Installation</title>

<para>Often, when you want to install a specific package (e.g., from
the <link
xlink:href="http://nixos.org/nixpkgs/">Nix
Packages collection</link>), subscribing to a channel is a bit
cumbersome.  And channels don’t help you at all if you want to install
an older version of a package than the one provided by the current
contents of the channel, or a package that has been removed from the
channel.  That’s when <emphasis>one-click installs</emphasis> come in
handy: you can just go to the web page that contains the package,
click on it, and it will be installed with all the necessary
dependencies.</para>

<para>For instance, you can go to <link
xlink:href="http://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/nixpkgs/trunk/channel/latest"
/> and click on any link for the individual packages for your
platform.  The first time you do this, your browser will ask what to
do with <literal>application/nix-package</literal> files.  You should
open them with <filename>/nix/bin/nix-install-package</filename>.
This will open a window that asks you to confirm that you want to
install the package.  When you answer <literal>Y</literal>, the
package and all its dependencies will be installed.  This is a binary
deployment mechanism — you get packages pre-compiled for the selected
platform type.</para>

<para>You can also install <literal>application/nix-package</literal>
files from the command line directly.  See <xref
linkend='sec-nix-install-package' /> for details.</para>

</chapter>