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 Nix by running the following:

   $ curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh
   

   The install script will use sudo, so make sure you have sufficient rights. On Linux, --daemon can be omitted for a single-user install.

   For other installation methods, see here.

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

   $ nix-env --query --available --attr-path
   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
   …
   

3. Install some packages from the channel:

   $ nix-env --install --attr nixpkgs.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 --uninstall hello
   

6. You can also test a package without installing it:

   $ nix-shell --packages 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 --upgrade '*'
   

   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 --delete-old