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-rw-r--r--doc/manual/conf-file.xml20
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/opt-common.xml8
2 files changed, 26 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/conf-file.xml b/doc/manual/conf-file.xml
index 176035248..79faa05fd 100644
--- a/doc/manual/conf-file.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/conf-file.xml
@@ -118,6 +118,26 @@ env-keep-derivations = false
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term><literal>system</literal></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>This option specifies the canonical Nix system
+ name of the current installation, such as
+ <literal>i686-linux</literal> or
+ <literal>powerpc-darwin</literal>. Nix can only build derivations
+ whose <literal>system</literal> attribute equals the value
+ specified here. In general, it never makes sense to modify this
+ value from its default, since you can use it to ‘lie’ about the
+ platform you are building on (e.g., perform a Mac OS build on a
+ Linux machine; the result would obviously be wrong). It only
+ makes sense if the Nix binaries can run on multiple platforms,
+ e.g., ‘universal binaries’ that run on <literal>powerpc-darwin</literal> and
+ <literal>i686-darwin</literal>.</para>
+
+ <para>It defaults to the canonical Nix system name detected by
+ <filename>configure</filename> at build time.</para></listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
diff --git a/doc/manual/opt-common.xml b/doc/manual/opt-common.xml
index fcfeca858..04cda1531 100644
--- a/doc/manual/opt-common.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/opt-common.xml
@@ -93,8 +93,12 @@
<term><option>-j</option></term>
<listitem><para>Sets the maximum number of build jobs that Nix will
- perform in parallel to the specified number. The default is 1. A
- higher value is useful on SMP systems or to exploit I/O latency.</para></listitem>
+ perform in parallel to the specified number. The default is
+ specified by the <link
+ linkend='conf-build-max-jobs'><literal>build-max-jobs</literal></link>
+ configuration setting, which itself defaults to
+ <literal>1</literal>. A higher value is useful on SMP systems or to
+ exploit I/O latency. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>