forked from lix-project/lix
179 lines
5.8 KiB
XML
179 lines
5.8 KiB
XML
<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
|
||
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
|
||
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
|
||
version="5.0"
|
||
xml:id="sec-nix-channel">
|
||
|
||
<refmeta>
|
||
<refentrytitle>nix-channel</refentrytitle>
|
||
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
|
||
<refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
|
||
<refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="../version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
|
||
</refmeta>
|
||
|
||
<refnamediv>
|
||
<refname>nix-channel</refname>
|
||
<refpurpose>manage Nix channels</refpurpose>
|
||
</refnamediv>
|
||
|
||
<refsynopsisdiv>
|
||
<cmdsynopsis>
|
||
<command>nix-channel</command>
|
||
<group choice='req'>
|
||
<arg choice='plain'><option>--add</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable> <arg choice='opt'><replaceable>name</replaceable></arg></arg>
|
||
<arg choice='plain'><option>--remove</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable></arg>
|
||
<arg choice='plain'><option>--list</option></arg>
|
||
<arg choice='plain'><option>--update</option> <arg rep='repeat'><replaceable>names</replaceable></arg></arg>
|
||
<arg choice='plain'><option>--rollback</option> <arg choice='opt'><replaceable>generation</replaceable></arg></arg>
|
||
</group>
|
||
</cmdsynopsis>
|
||
</refsynopsisdiv>
|
||
|
||
<refsection><title>Description</title>
|
||
|
||
<para>A Nix channel is a mechanism that allows you to automatically
|
||
stay up-to-date with a set of pre-built Nix expressions. A Nix
|
||
channel is just a URL that points to a place containing a set of Nix
|
||
expressions. <phrase condition="manual">See also <xref
|
||
linkend="sec-channels" />.</phrase></para>
|
||
|
||
<para>This command has the following operations:
|
||
|
||
<variablelist>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><option>--add</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable> [<replaceable>name</replaceable>]</term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Adds a channel named
|
||
<replaceable>name</replaceable> with URL
|
||
<replaceable>url</replaceable> to the list of subscribed channels.
|
||
If <replaceable>name</replaceable> is omitted, it defaults to the
|
||
last component of <replaceable>url</replaceable>, with the
|
||
suffixes <literal>-stable</literal> or
|
||
<literal>-unstable</literal> removed.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><option>--remove</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable></term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Removes the channel named
|
||
<replaceable>name</replaceable> from the list of subscribed
|
||
channels.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><option>--list</option></term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Prints the names and URLs of all subscribed
|
||
channels on standard output.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><option>--update</option> [<replaceable>names</replaceable>…]</term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Downloads the Nix expressions of all subscribed
|
||
channels (or only those included in
|
||
<replaceable>names</replaceable> if specified) and makes them the
|
||
default for <command>nix-env</command> operations (by symlinking
|
||
them from the directory
|
||
<filename>~/.nix-defexpr</filename>).</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><option>--rollback</option> [<replaceable>generation</replaceable>]</term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>Reverts the previous call to <command>nix-channel
|
||
--update</command>. Optionally, you can specify a specific channel
|
||
generation number to restore.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
</variablelist>
|
||
|
||
</para>
|
||
|
||
<para>Note that <option>--add</option> does not automatically perform
|
||
an update.</para>
|
||
|
||
<para>The list of subscribed channels is stored in
|
||
<filename>~/.nix-channels</filename>.</para>
|
||
|
||
</refsection>
|
||
|
||
<refsection><title>Examples</title>
|
||
|
||
<para>To subscribe to the Nixpkgs channel and install the GNU Hello package:</para>
|
||
|
||
<screen>
|
||
$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
|
||
$ nix-channel --update
|
||
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.hello</screen>
|
||
|
||
<para>You can revert channel updates using <option>--rollback</option>:</para>
|
||
|
||
<screen>
|
||
$ nix-instantiate --eval -E '(import <nixpkgs> {}).lib.nixpkgsVersion'
|
||
"14.04.527.0e935f1"
|
||
|
||
$ nix-channel --rollback
|
||
switching from generation 483 to 482
|
||
|
||
$ nix-instantiate --eval -E '(import <nixpkgs> {}).lib.nixpkgsVersion'
|
||
"14.04.526.dbadfad"
|
||
</screen>
|
||
|
||
</refsection>
|
||
|
||
<refsection><title>Files</title>
|
||
|
||
<variablelist>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/<replaceable>username</replaceable>/channels</filename></term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para><command>nix-channel</command> uses a
|
||
<command>nix-env</command> profile to keep track of previous
|
||
versions of the subscribed channels. Every time you run
|
||
<command>nix-channel --update</command>, a new channel generation
|
||
(that is, a symlink to the channel Nix expressions in the Nix store)
|
||
is created. This enables <command>nix-channel --rollback</command>
|
||
to revert to previous versions.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><filename>~/.nix-defexpr/channels</filename></term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>This is a symlink to
|
||
<filename>/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/<replaceable>username</replaceable>/channels</filename>. It
|
||
ensures that <command>nix-env</command> can find your channels. In
|
||
a multi-user installation, you may also have
|
||
<filename>~/.nix-defexpr/channels_root</filename>, which links to
|
||
the channels of the root user.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
</variablelist>
|
||
|
||
</refsection>
|
||
|
||
<refsection><title>Channel format</title>
|
||
|
||
<para>A channel URL should point to a directory containing the
|
||
following files:</para>
|
||
|
||
<variablelist>
|
||
|
||
<varlistentry><term><filename>nixexprs.tar.xz</filename></term>
|
||
|
||
<listitem><para>A tarball containing Nix expressions and files
|
||
referenced by them (such as build scripts and patches). At the
|
||
top level, the tarball should contain a single directory. That
|
||
directory must contain a file <filename>default.nix</filename>
|
||
that serves as the channel’s “entry point”.</para></listitem>
|
||
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
|
||
</variablelist>
|
||
|
||
</refsection>
|
||
|
||
</refentry>
|