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doc: De-emphasize nix-env without -A

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The manual uses `nix-env -i` without `-A` prominently, teaching a bad practice to newcomers.
This commit is contained in:
Jan Tojnar 2021-11-17 16:30:39 +01:00
parent 480c883f36
commit ca4d8ce9e2
9 changed files with 80 additions and 61 deletions
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42
doc/manual/src/command-ref/nix-env.md
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@ -238,7 +238,16 @@ a number of possible ways:
## Examples
To install a specific version of `gcc` from the active Nix expression:
To install a package using a specific attribute path from the active Nix expression:
```console
$ nix-env -iA gcc40mips
installing `gcc-4.0.2'
$ nix-env -iA xorg.xorgserver
installing `xorg-server-1.2.0'
```
To install a specific version of `gcc` using the derivation name:
```console
$ nix-env --install gcc-3.3.2
@ -246,6 +255,9 @@ installing `gcc-3.3.2'
uninstalling `gcc-3.1'
```
Using attribute path for selecting a package is preferred,
as it is much faster and there will not be multiple matches.
Note the previously installed version is removed, since
`--preserve-installed` was not specified.
@ -256,13 +268,6 @@ $ nix-env --install gcc
installing `gcc-3.3.2'
```
To install using a specific attribute:
```console
$ nix-env -i -A gcc40mips
$ nix-env -i -A xorg.xorgserver
```
To install all derivations in the Nix expression `foo.nix`:
```console
@ -374,22 +379,29 @@ For the other flags, see `--install`.
## Examples
```console
$ nix-env --upgrade gcc
$ nix-env --upgrade -A nixpkgs.gcc
upgrading `gcc-3.3.1' to `gcc-3.4'
```
When there are no updates available, nothing will happen:
```console
$ nix-env -u gcc-3.3.2 --always (switch to a specific version)
$ nix-env --upgrade -A nixpkgs.pan
```
Using `-A` is preferred when possible, as it is faster and unambiguous but
it is also possible to upgrade to a specific version by matching the derivation name:
```console
$ nix-env -u gcc-3.3.2 --always
upgrading `gcc-3.4' to `gcc-3.3.2'
```
```console
$ nix-env --upgrade pan
(no upgrades available, so nothing happens)
```
To try to upgrade everything
(matching packages based on the part of the derivation name without version):
```console
$ nix-env -u (try to upgrade everything)
$ nix-env -u
upgrading `hello-2.1.2' to `hello-2.1.3'
upgrading `mozilla-1.2' to `mozilla-1.4'
```

4
doc/manual/src/command-ref/opt-common.md
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@ -162,11 +162,11 @@ Most Nix commands accept the following command-line options:
}: ...
```
So if you call this Nix expression (e.g., when you do `nix-env -i
So if you call this Nix expression (e.g., when you do `nix-env -iA
pkgname`), the function will be called automatically using the
value [`builtins.currentSystem`](../expressions/builtins.md) for
the `system` argument. You can override this using `--arg`, e.g.,
`nix-env -i pkgname --arg system \"i686-freebsd\"`. (Note that
`nix-env -iA pkgname --arg system \"i686-freebsd\"`. (Note that
since the argument is a Nix string literal, you have to escape the
quotes.)

2
doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md
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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Building and Testing
You can now try to build Hello. Of course, you could do `nix-env -i
You can now try to build Hello. Of course, you could do `nix-env -f . -iA
hello`, but you may not want to install a possibly broken package just
yet. The best way to test the package is by using the command
`nix-build`, which builds a Nix expression and creates a symlink named

4
doc/manual/src/introduction.md
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@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ there after an upgrade. This means that you can _roll back_ to the
old version:
```console
$ nix-env --upgrade some-packages
$ nix-env --upgrade -A nixpkgs.some-package
$ nix-env --rollback
```
@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ Nix expressions generally describe how to build a package from
source, so an installation action like
```console
$ nix-env --install firefox
$ nix-env --install -A nixpkgs.firefox
```
_could_ cause quite a bit of build activity, as not only Firefox but

63
doc/manual/src/package-management/basic-package-mgmt.md
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@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ collection; you could write your own Nix expressions based on Nixpkgs,
or completely new ones.)
You can manually download the latest version of Nixpkgs from
<http://nixos.org/nixpkgs/download.html>. However, it’s much more
<https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs>. However, it’s much more
convenient to use the Nixpkgs [*channel*](channels.md), since it makes
it easy to stay up to date with new versions of Nixpkgs. Nixpkgs is
automatically added to your list of “subscribed” channels when you
@ -47,41 +47,45 @@ $ nix-channel --update
You can view the set of available packages in Nixpkgs:
```console
$ nix-env -qa
aterm-2.2
bash-3.0
binutils-2.15
bison-1.875d
blackdown-1.4.2
bzip2-1.0.2
$ nix-env -qaP
nixpkgs.aterm aterm-2.2
nixpkgs.bash bash-3.0
nixpkgs.binutils binutils-2.15
nixpkgs.bison bison-1.875d
nixpkgs.blackdown blackdown-1.4.2
nixpkgs.bzip2 bzip2-1.0.2
…
```
The flag `-q` specifies a query operation, and `-a` means that you want
The flag `-q` specifies a query operation, `-a` means that you want
to show the “available” (i.e., installable) packages, as opposed to the
installed packages. If you downloaded Nixpkgs yourself, or if you
checked it out from GitHub, then you need to pass the path to your
Nixpkgs tree using the `-f` flag:
installed packages, and `-P` prints the attribute paths that can be used
to unambiguously select a package for installation (listed in the first column).
If you downloaded Nixpkgs yourself, or if you checked it out from GitHub,
then you need to pass the path to your Nixpkgs tree using the `-f` flag:
```console
$ nix-env -qaf /path/to/nixpkgs
$ nix-env -qaPf /path/to/nixpkgs
aterm aterm-2.2
bash bash-3.0
…
```
where */path/to/nixpkgs* is where you’ve unpacked or checked out
Nixpkgs.
You can select specific packages by name:
You can filter the packages by name:
```console
$ nix-env -qa firefox
firefox-34.0.5
firefox-with-plugins-34.0.5
$ nix-env -qaP firefox
nixpkgs.firefox-esr firefox-91.3.0esr
nixpkgs.firefox firefox-94.0.1
```
and using regular expressions:
```console
$ nix-env -qa 'firefox.*'
$ nix-env -qaP 'firefox.*'
```
It is also possible to see the *status* of available packages, i.e.,
@ -89,11 +93,11 @@ whether they are installed into the user environment and/or present in
the system:
```console
$ nix-env -qas
$ nix-env -qaPs
…
-PS bash-3.0
--S binutils-2.15
IPS bison-1.875d
-PS nixpkgs.bash bash-3.0
--S nixpkgs.binutils binutils-2.15
IPS nixpkgs.bison bison-1.875d
…
```
@ -106,13 +110,13 @@ which is Nix’s mechanism for doing binary deployment. It just means that
Nix knows that it can fetch a pre-built package from somewhere
(typically a network server) instead of building it locally.
You can install a package using `nix-env -i`. For instance,
You can install a package using `nix-env -iA`. For instance,
```console
$ nix-env -i subversion
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.subversion
```
will install the package called `subversion` (which is, of course, the
will install the package called `subversion` from `nixpkgs` channel (which is, of course, the
[Subversion version management system](http://subversion.tigris.org/)).
> **Note**
@ -122,7 +126,7 @@ will install the package called `subversion` (which is, of course, the
> binary cache <https://cache.nixos.org>; it contains binaries for most
> packages in Nixpkgs. Only if no binary is available in the binary
> cache, Nix will build the package from source. So if `nix-env
> -i subversion` results in Nix building stuff from source, then either
> -iA nixpkgs.subversion` results in Nix building stuff from source, then either
> the package is not built for your platform by the Nixpkgs build
> servers, or your version of Nixpkgs is too old or too new. For
> instance, if you have a very recent checkout of Nixpkgs, then the
@ -133,7 +137,10 @@ will install the package called `subversion` (which is, of course, the
> using a Git checkout of the Nixpkgs tree), you will get binaries for
> most packages.
Naturally, packages can also be uninstalled:
Naturally, packages can also be uninstalled. Unlike when installing, you will
need to use the derivation name (though the version part can be omitted),
instead of the attribute path, as `nix-env` does not record which attribute
was used for installing:
```console
$ nix-env -e subversion
@ -143,7 +150,7 @@ Upgrading to a new version is just as easy. If you have a new release of
Nix Packages, you can do:
```console
$ nix-env -u subversion
$ nix-env -uA nixpkgs.subversion
```
This will *only* upgrade Subversion if there is a “newer” version in the

4
doc/manual/src/package-management/binary-cache-substituter.md
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@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ The daemon that handles binary cache requests via HTTP, `nix-serve`, is
not part of the Nix distribution, but you can install it from Nixpkgs:
```console
$ nix-env -i nix-serve
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.nix-serve
```
You can then start the server, listening for HTTP connections on
@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ On the client side, you can tell Nix to use your binary cache using
`--option extra-binary-caches`, e.g.:
```console
$ nix-env -i firefox --option extra-binary-caches http://avalon:8080/
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.firefox --option extra-binary-caches http://avalon:8080/
```
The option `extra-binary-caches` tells Nix to use this binary cache in

6
doc/manual/src/package-management/profiles.md
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@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ just Subversion 1.1.2 (arrows in the figure indicate symlinks). This
would be what we would obtain if we had done
```console
$ nix-env -i subversion
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.subversion
```
on a set of Nix expressions that contained Subversion 1.1.2.
@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ environment is generated based on the current one. For instance,
generation 43 was created from generation 42 when we did
```console
$ nix-env -i subversion firefox
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.subversion nixpkgs.firefox
```
on a set of Nix expressions that contained Firefox and a new version of
@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ All `nix-env` operations work on the profile pointed to by
(abbreviation `-p`):
```console
$ nix-env -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/other-profile -i subversion
$ nix-env -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/other-profile -iA nixpkgs.subversion
```
This will *not* change the `~/.nix-profile` symlink.

2
doc/manual/src/package-management/ssh-substituter.md
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@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ automatically fetching any store paths in Firefox’s closure if they are
available on the server `avalon`:
```console
$ nix-env -i firefox --substituters ssh://alice@avalon
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.firefox --substituters ssh://alice@avalon
```
This works similar to the binary cache substituter that Nix usually

14
doc/manual/src/quick-start.md
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@ -19,19 +19,19 @@ to subsequent chapters.
channel:
```console
$ nix-env -qa
docbook-xml-4.3
docbook-xml-4.5
firefox-33.0.2
hello-2.9
libxslt-1.1.28
$ nix-env -qaP
nixpkgs.docbook_xml_dtd_43 docbook-xml-4.3
nixpkgs.docbook_xml_dtd_45 docbook-xml-4.5
nixpkgs.firefox firefox-33.0.2
nixpkgs.hello hello-2.9
nixpkgs.libxslt libxslt-1.1.28
…
```
1. Install some packages from the channel:
```console
$ nix-env -i hello
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.hello
```
This should download pre-built packages; it should not build them