Merge pull request #8817 from iFreilicht/flake-update-lock-overhaul

Overhaul `nix flake update` and `nix flake lock` UX

(cherry picked from commit 12a0ae73dbb37becefa5a442eb4532ff0de9ce65)
Change-Id: Iff3b4f4235ebb1948ec612036b39ab29e4ca22b2

1 files changed, 44 insertions, 20 deletions

diff --git a/src/nix/flake-update.md b/src/nix/flake-update.md
index 8c6042d94..63df3b12a 100644
--- a/src/nix/flake-update.md
+++ b/src/nix/flake-update.md
@@ -2,33 +2,57 @@ R""(
 
 # Examples
 
-* Recreate the lock file (i.e. update all inputs) and commit the new
-  lock file:
+* Update all inputs (i.e. recreate the lock file from scratch):
 
   ```console
-  # nix flake update --commit-lock-file
-  * Updated 'nix': 'github:NixOS/nix/9fab14adbc3810d5cc1f88672fde1eee4358405c' -> 'github:NixOS/nix/8927cba62f5afb33b01016d5c4f7f8b7d0adde3c'
-  * Updated 'nixpkgs': 'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/3d2d8f281a27d466fa54b469b5993f7dde198375' -> 'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a3a3dda3bacf61e8a39258a0ed9c924eeca8e293'
-  …
-  warning: committed new revision '158bcbd9d6cc08ab859c0810186c1beebc982aad'
+  # nix flake update
+  warning: updating lock file '/home/myself/repos/testflake/flake.lock':
+  • Updated input 'nix':
+      'github:NixOS/nix/9fab14adbc3810d5cc1f88672fde1eee4358405c' (2023-06-28)
+    → 'github:NixOS/nix/8927cba62f5afb33b01016d5c4f7f8b7d0adde3c' (2023-07-11)
+  • Updated input 'nixpkgs':
+      'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/3d2d8f281a27d466fa54b469b5993f7dde198375' (2023-06-30)
+    → 'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a3a3dda3bacf61e8a39258a0ed9c924eeca8e293' (2023-07-05)
   ```
 
-# Description
+* Update only a single input:
+
+  ```console
+  # nix flake update nixpkgs
+  warning: updating lock file '/home/myself/repos/testflake/flake.lock':
+  • Updated input 'nixpkgs':
+      'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/3d2d8f281a27d466fa54b469b5993f7dde198375' (2023-06-30)
+    → 'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a3a3dda3bacf61e8a39258a0ed9c924eeca8e293' (2023-07-05)
+  ```
+
+* Update only a single input of a flake in a different directory:
 
-This command recreates the lock file of a flake (`flake.lock`), thus
-updating the lock for every unlocked input (like `nixpkgs`) to its
-current version. This is equivalent to passing `--recreate-lock-file`
-to any command that operates on a flake. That is,
+  ```console
+  # nix flake update nixpkgs --flake ~/repos/another
+  warning: updating lock file '/home/myself/repos/another/flake.lock':
+  • Updated input 'nixpkgs':
+      'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/3d2d8f281a27d466fa54b469b5993f7dde198375' (2023-06-30)
+    → 'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a3a3dda3bacf61e8a39258a0ed9c924eeca8e293' (2023-07-05)
+  ```
+
+  > **Note**
+  >
+  > When trying to refer to a flake in a subdirectory, write `./another`
+  > instead of `another`.
+  > Otherwise Nix will try to look up the flake in the registry.
+
+# Description
 
-```console
-# nix flake update
-# nix build
-```
+This command updates the inputs in a lock file (`flake.lock`).
+**By default, all inputs are updated**. If the lock file doesn't exist
+yet, it will be created. If inputs are not in the lock file yet, they will be added.
 
-is equivalent to:
+Unlike other `nix flake` commands, `nix flake update` takes a list of names of inputs
+to update as its positional arguments and operates on the flake in the current directory.
+You can pass a different flake-url with `--flake` to override that default.
 
-```console
-# nix build --recreate-lock-file
-```
+The related command [`nix flake lock`](@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-flake-lock.md)
+also creates lock files and adds missing inputs, but is safer as it
+will never update inputs already in the lock file.
 
 )""