144 lines
4.4 KiB
XML
144 lines
4.4 KiB
XML
<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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xml:id="chap-quick-start">
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<title>Quick Start</title>
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<para>This chapter is for impatient people who don't like reading
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documentation. For more in-depth information you are kindly referred
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to the following chapters.</para>
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem><para>Download a source tarball or RPM or Debian/Ubuntu
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package from <link xlink:href='http://nixos.org/'/>. Build source
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distributions using the regular sequence:
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<screen>
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$ tar xvfj nix-<replaceable>version</replaceable>.tar.bz2
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$ ./configure
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$ make
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$ make install <lineannotation>(as root)</lineannotation></screen>
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This will install the Nix binaries in <filename>/usr/local</filename>
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and keep the Nix store and other state in <filename>/nix</filename>.
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You can change the former by specifying
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<option>--prefix=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option>. The
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location of the store can be changed using
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<option>--with-store-dir=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option>.
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However, you shouldn't change the store location, if at all possible,
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since that will make it impossible to use pre-built binaries from the
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Nixpkgs channel and other channels. The location of the state can be
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changed using
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<option>--localstatedir=<replaceable>path</replaceable>.</option></para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>You should add
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<filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/etc/profile.d/nix.sh</filename>
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to your <filename>~/.bashrc</filename> (or some other login
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file).</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Subscribe to the Nix Packages channel.
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<screen>
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$ nix-channel --add http://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable</screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Download the latest Nix expressions available in the channel.
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<screen>
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$ nix-channel --update</screen>
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Note that this in itself doesn't download any packages, it just
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downloads the Nix expressions that build them and stores them
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somewhere (under <filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename>, in case you're
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curious). Also, it registers the fact that pre-built binaries are
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available remotely.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>See what installable packages are currently available
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in the channel:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -qa \*
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docbook-xml-4.2
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firefox-1.0pre-PR-0.10.1
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hello-2.1.1
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libxslt-1.1.0
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<replaceable>...</replaceable></screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Install some packages from the channel:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -i hello firefox <replaceable>...</replaceable> </screen>
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This should download pre-built packages; it should not build them
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locally (if it does, something went wrong).</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Test that they work:
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<screen>
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$ which hello
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/home/eelco/.nix-profile/bin/hello
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$ hello
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Hello, world!
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$ firefox
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<lineannotation>(read Slashdot or something)</lineannotation></screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Uninstall a package:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env -e hello</screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>To keep up-to-date with the channel, do:
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<screen>
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$ nix-channel --update
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$ nix-env -u '*'</screen>
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The latter command will upgrade each installed package for which there
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is a “newer” version (as determined by comparing the version
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numbers).</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>You can also install specific packages directly from
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your web browser. For instance, you can go to <link
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xlink:href="http://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/nixpkgs/trunk/channel/latest"
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/> and click on any link for the individual packages for your
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platform. Associate <literal>application/nix-package</literal> with
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the program <command>nix-install-package</command>. A window should
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appear asking you whether it’s okay to install the package. Say
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<literal>Y</literal>. The package and all its dependencies will be
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installed.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>If you're unhappy with the result of a
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<command>nix-env</command> action (e.g., an upgraded package turned
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out not to work properly), you can go back:
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<screen>
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$ nix-env --rollback</screen>
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>You should periodically run the Nix garbage collector
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to get rid of unused packages, since uninstalls or upgrades don't
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actually delete them:
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<screen>
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$ nix-collect-garbage -d</screen>
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<!--
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The first command deletes old “generations” of your profile (making
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rollbacks impossible, but also making the packages in those old
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generations available for garbage collection), while the second
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command actually deletes them.-->
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</para></listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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</chapter>
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