nix-env-install - Man Page

add packages to user environment

Synopsis

nix-env {--install | -i} args… [{--prebuilt-only | -b}] [{--attr | -A}] [--from-expression] [-E] [--from-profile path] [--preserve-installed | -P] [--remove-all | -r] [--priority priority]

Description

The --install operation creates a new user environment. It is based on the current generation of the active profile\c , to which a set of store paths described by args is added.

The arguments args map to store paths in a number of possible ways:

nix-env --query --available --attr-path
# example.nix
let
pkgs = import <nixpkgs> {};
command = ''
  ${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/mkdir -p $foo $bar
  echo foo > $foo/foo-file
  echo bar > $bar/bar-file
'';
in
derivation {
name = "example";
builder = "${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash";
args = [ "-c" command ];
outputs = [ "foo" "bar" ];
system = builtins.currentSystem;
}

Installing from this Nix expression will make files from both outputs appear in the current profile.

$ nix-env --install --file example.nix
installing 'example'
$ ls ~/.nix-profile
foo-file
bar-file
manifest.nix

Adding meta.outputsToInstall to that derivation will make nix-env only install files from the specified outputs.

# example-outputs.nix
import ./example.nix // { meta.outputsToInstall = [ "bar" ]; }
$ nix-env --install --file example-outputs.nix
installing 'example'
$ ls ~/.nix-profile
bar-file
manifest.nix

Options

Options

The following options are allowed for all nix-env operations, but may not always have an effect.

Common Options

Most Nix commands accept the following command-line options:

{ # The system (e.g., `i686-linux') for which to build the packages.
system ? builtins.currentSystem
...
}: ...

So if you call this Nix expression (e.g., when you do nix-env --install --attr pkgname), the function will be called automatically using the value builtins.currentSystem for the system argument. You can override this using --arg, e.g., nix-env --install --attr pkgname --arg system \"i686-freebsd\". (Note that since the argument is a Nix string literal, you have to escape the quotes.)

Environment variables

Common Environment Variables

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.

XDG Base Directories

Nix follows the XDG Base Directory Specification\c .

For backwards compatibility, Nix commands will follow the standard only when use-xdg-base-directories is enabled. New Nix commands (experimental) conform to the standard by default.

The following environment variables are used to determine locations of various state and configuration files:

  • [XDG_CONFIG_HOME]{#env-XDGCONFIGHOME} (default ~/.config)
  • [XDG_STATE_HOME]{#env-XDGSTATEHOME} (default ~/.local/state)
  • [XDG_CACHE_HOME]{#env-XDGCACHEHOME} (default ~/.cache)

In addition, setting the following environment variables overrides the XDG base directories:

  • [NIX_CONFIG_HOME]{#env-NIXCONFIGHOME} (default $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nix)
  • [NIX_STATE_HOME]{#env-NIXSTATEHOME} (default $XDG_STATE_HOME/nix)
  • [NIX_CACHE_HOME]{#env-NIXCACHEHOME} (default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/nix)

When use-xdg-base-directories is enabled, the configuration directory is:

  1. $NIX_CONFIG_HOME, if it is defined
  2. Otherwise, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nix, if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is defined
  3. Otherwise, ~/.config/nix.

Likewise for the state and cache directories.

Examples

To install a package using a specific attribute path from the active Nix expression:

$ nix-env --install --attr gcc40mips
installing `gcc-4.0.2'
$ nix-env --install --attr xorg.xorgserver
installing `xorg-server-1.2.0'

To install a specific version of gcc using the derivation name:

$ nix-env --install gcc-3.3.2
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.

To install an arbitrary version:

$ nix-env --install gcc
installing `gcc-3.3.2'

To install all derivations in the Nix expression foo.nix:

$ nix-env --file ~/foo.nix --install '.*'

To copy the store path with symbolic name gcc from another profile:

$ nix-env --install --from-profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/foo gcc

To install a specific store derivation\c :

$ nix-env --install /nix/store/8la6y31fmm6i4wfmby6avly1wf718xnj-gcc-3.4.3.drv

To install a specific output path:

$ nix-env --install /nix/store/y3cgx0xj1p4iv9x0pnnmdhr8iyg741vk-gcc-3.4.3

To install from a Nix expression specified on the command-line:

$ nix-env --file ./foo.nix --install --expr \
    'f: (f {system = "i686-linux";}).subversionWithJava'

I.e., this evaluates to (f: (f {system = "i686-linux";}).subversionWithJava) (import ./foo.nix), thus selecting the subversionWithJava attribute from the set returned by calling the function defined in ./foo.nix.

A dry-run tells you which paths will be downloaded or built from source:

$ nix-env --file '<nixpkgs>' --install --attr hello --dry-run
(dry run; not doing anything)
installing ‘hello-2.10’
this path will be fetched (0.04 MiB download, 0.19 MiB unpacked):
  /nix/store/ikwkxz4wwlp2g1428n7dy729cg1d9hin-hello-2.10
  ...

To install Firefox from the latest revision in the Nixpkgs/NixOS 14.12 channel:

$ nix-env --file https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-14.12.tar.gz --install --attr firefox