Merge branch 'update-nix_path-url' of https://github.com/kini/nix

doc/manual/src/command-ref/env-common.md

@@ -10,35 +10,39 @@ Most Nix commands interpret the following environment variables:
     A colon-separated list of directories used to look up Nix
     expressions enclosed in angle brackets (i.e., `<path>`). For
     instance, the value
-    
+
         /home/eelco/Dev:/etc/nixos
-    
+
     will cause Nix to look for paths relative to `/home/eelco/Dev` and
     `/etc/nixos`, in this order. It is also possible to match paths
     against a prefix. For example, the value
-    
+
         nixpkgs=/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch:/etc/nixos
-    
+
     will cause Nix to search for `<nixpkgs/path>` in
     `/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch/path` and `/etc/nixos/nixpkgs/path`.
-    
+
     If a path in the Nix search path starts with `http://` or
     `https://`, it is interpreted as the URL of a tarball that will be
     downloaded and unpacked to a temporary location. The tarball must
     consist of a single top-level directory. For example, setting
     `NIX_PATH` to
-    
-        nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-15.09.tar.gz
-    
-    tells Nix to download the latest revision in the Nixpkgs/NixOS 15.09
-    channel.
-    
-    A following shorthand can be used to refer to the official channels:
-    
-        nixpkgs=channel:nixos-15.09
-    
-    The search path can be extended using the `-I` option, which takes
-    precedence over `NIX_PATH`.
+
+        nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/master.tar.gz
+
+    tells Nix to download and use the current contents of the
+    `master` branch in the `nixpkgs` repository.
+
+    The URLs of the tarballs from the official nixos.org channels (see
+    [the manual for `nix-channel`](nix-channel.md)) can be abbreviated
+    as `channel:<channel-name>`.  For instance, the following two
+    values of `NIX_PATH` are equivalent:
+
+        nixpkgs=channel:nixos-21.05
+        nixpkgs=https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-21.05/nixexprs.tar.xz
+
+    The Nix search path can also be extended using the `-I` option to
+    many Nix commands, which takes precedence over `NIX_PATH`.
 
   - `NIX_IGNORE_SYMLINK_STORE`\
     Normally, the Nix store directory (typically `/nix/store`) is not
@@ -50,7 +54,7 @@ Most Nix commands interpret the following environment variables:
     builds are deployed to machines where `/nix/store` resolves
     differently. If you are sure that you’re not going to do that, you
     can set `NIX_IGNORE_SYMLINK_STORE` to `1`.
-    
+
     Note that if you’re symlinking the Nix store so that you can put it
     on another file system than the root file system, on Linux you’re
     better off using `bind` mount points, e.g.,
@@ -59,7 +63,7 @@ Most Nix commands interpret the following environment variables:
     $ mkdir /nix
     $ mount -o bind /mnt/otherdisk/nix /nix
     ```
-    
+
     Consult the mount 8 manual page for details.
 
   - `NIX_STORE_DIR`\