guix/doc/manual/nix-channel.xml

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<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
2005-04-09 17:16:00 +00:00
<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>
<arg choice='plain'><option>--remove</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></arg>
<arg choice='plain'><option>--list</option></arg>
<arg choice='plain'><option>--update</option></arg>
</group>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsection><title>Description</title>
<para>A Nix channel is 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 that contains a set of Nix
expressions, as well as a <command>nix-push</command> manifest. See
also <xref linkend="sec-channels" />.</para>
<para>This command has the following operations:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><option>--add</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>Adds <replaceable>url</replaceable> to the list of
subscribed channels.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>--remove</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>Removes <replaceable>url</replaceable> from the
list of subscribed channels.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>--list</option></term>
<listitem><para>Prints the URLs of all subscribed channels on
standard output.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>--update</option></term>
<listitem><para>Downloads the Nix expressions of all subscribed
channels, makes the conjunction of these the default for
<command>nix-env</command> operations (by calling <command>nix-env
-I</command>), and performs a <command>nix-pull</command> on the
manifests of all channels to make pre-built binaries
available.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>Note that <option>--add</option> and <option>--remove</option>
do not automatically perform an update.</para>
<para>The list of subscribed channels is stored in
<filename>~/.nix-channels</filename>.</para>
<para>A channel consists of two elements: a bzipped Tar archive
containing the Nix expressions, and a manifest created by
<command>nix-push</command>. These must be stored under
<literal><replaceable>url</replaceable>/nixexprs.tar.bz2</literal> and
<literal><replaceable>url</replaceable>/MANIFEST</literal>,
respectively.</para>
</refsection>
</refentry>