<appendix xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:id="chap-hacking"> <title>Hacking</title> <para>This section provides some notes on how to hack on Nix. To get the latest version of Nix from GitHub: <screen> $ git clone git://github.com/NixOS/nix.git $ cd nix </screen> </para> <para>To build it and its dependencies: <screen> $ nix-build release.nix -A build.x86_64-linux </screen> </para> <para>To build all dependencies and start a shell in which all environment variables are set up so that those dependencies can be found: <screen> $ nix-shell </screen> To build Nix itself in this shell: <screen> [nix-shell]$ ./bootstrap.sh [nix-shell]$ configurePhase [nix-shell]$ make </screen> To install it in <literal>$(pwd)/nix</literal> and test it: <screen> [nix-shell]$ make install [nix-shell]$ make installcheck </screen> </para> </appendix>