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