lix/doc/manual/introduction/quick-start.md
2020-07-23 18:26:48 +02:00

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Quick Start

This chapter is for impatient people who don't like reading documentation. For more in-depth information you are kindly referred to subsequent chapters.

  1. Install single-user Nix by running the following:

     $ bash <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install)
    

    This will install Nix in /nix. The install script will create /nix using sudo, so make sure you have sufficient rights. (For other installation methods, see here.)

  2. See what installable packages are currently available in the channel:

     $ nix-env -qa
     docbook-xml-4.3
     docbook-xml-4.5
     firefox-33.0.2
     hello-2.9
     libxslt-1.1.28
     …
    
  3. Install some packages from the channel:

     $ nix-env -i hello
    

    This should download pre-built packages; it should not build them locally (if it does, something went wrong).

  4. Test that they work:

     $ which hello
     /home/eelco/.nix-profile/bin/hello
     $ hello
     Hello, world!
    
  5. Uninstall a package:

     $ nix-env -e hello
    
  6. You can also test a package without installing it:

     $ nix-shell -p hello
    

    This builds or downloads GNU Hello and its dependencies, then drops you into a Bash shell where the hello command is present, all without affecting your normal environment:

     [nix-shell:~]$ hello
     Hello, world!
    
     [nix-shell:~]$ exit
    
     $ hello
     hello: command not found
    
  7. To keep up-to-date with the channel, do:

     $ nix-channel --update nixpkgs
     $ nix-env -u '*'
    

    The latter command will upgrade each installed package for which there is a “newer” version (as determined by comparing the version numbers).

  8. If you're unhappy with the result of a nix-env action (e.g., an upgraded package turned out not to work properly), you can go back:

     $ nix-env --rollback
    
  9. You should periodically run the Nix garbage collector to get rid of unused packages, since uninstalls or upgrades don't actually delete them:

     $ nix-collect-garbage -d