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+<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+ xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+ xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
+ version="5.0"
+ xml:id="sec-common-env">
+
+<title>Common Environment Variables</title>
+
+
+<para>Most Nix commands interpret the following environment variables:</para>
+
+<variablelist xml:id="env-common">
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_PATH</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem>
+
+ <para>A colon-separated list of directories used to look up Nix
+ expressions enclosed in angle brackets (i.e.,
+ <literal>&lt;<replaceable>path</replaceable>></literal>). For
+ instance, the value
+
+ <screen>
+/home/eelco/Dev:/etc/nixos</screen>
+
+ will cause Nix to look for paths relative to
+ <filename>/home/eelco/Dev</filename> and
+ <filename>/etc/nixos</filename>, in that order. It is also
+ possible to match paths against a prefix. For example, the value
+
+ <screen>
+nixpkgs=/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch:/etc/nixos</screen>
+
+ will cause Nix to search for
+ <literal>&lt;nixpkgs/<replaceable>path</replaceable>></literal> in
+ <filename>/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch/<replaceable>path</replaceable></filename>
+ and
+ <filename>/etc/nixos/nixpkgs/<replaceable>path</replaceable></filename>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>The search path can be extended using the
+ <option>-I</option> option, which takes precedence over
+ <envar>NIX_PATH</envar>.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_IGNORE_SYMLINK_STORE</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem>
+
+ <para>Normally, the Nix store directory (typically
+ <filename>/nix/store</filename>) is not allowed to contain any
+ symlink components. This is to prevent “impure” builds. Builders
+ sometimes “canonicalise” paths by resolving all symlink components.
+ Thus, builds on different machines (with
+ <filename>/nix/store</filename> resolving to different locations)
+ could yield different results. This is generally not a problem,
+ except when builds are deployed to machines where
+ <filename>/nix/store</filename> resolves differently. If you are
+ sure that you’re not going to do that, you can set
+ <envar>NIX_IGNORE_SYMLINK_STORE</envar> to <envar>1</envar>.</para>
+
+ <para>Note that if you’re symlinking the Nix store so that you can
+ put it on another file system than the root file system, on Linux
+ you’re better off using <literal>bind</literal> mount points, e.g.,
+
+ <screen>
+$ mkdir /nix
+$ mount -o bind /mnt/otherdisk/nix /nix</screen>
+
+ Consult the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>mount</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> manual page for details.</para>
+
+ </listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_STORE_DIR</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix store (default
+ <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/store</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_DATA_DIR</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix static data
+ directory (default
+ <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/share</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_LOG_DIR</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix log directory
+ (default <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/log/nix</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_STATE_DIR</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix state directory
+ (default <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/var/nix</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_DB_DIR</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix database (default
+ <filename><replaceable>$NIX_STATE_DIR</replaceable>/db</filename>, i.e.,
+ <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/var/nix/db</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_CONF_DIR</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Overrides the location of the Nix configuration
+ directory (default
+ <filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/etc/nix</filename>).</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>TMPDIR</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Use the specified directory to store temporary
+ files. In particular, this includes temporary build directories;
+ these can take up substantial amounts of disk space. The default is
+ <filename>/tmp</filename>.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="envar-build-hook"><term><envar>NIX_BUILD_HOOK</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem>
+
+ <para>Specifies the location of the <emphasis>build hook</emphasis>,
+ which is a program (typically some script) that Nix will call
+ whenever it wants to build a derivation. This is used to implement
+ distributed builds<phrase condition="manual"> (see <xref
+ linkend="chap-distributed-builds" />)</phrase>.</para>
+
+ <!--
+ The protocol by
+ which the calling Nix process and the build hook communicate is as
+ follows.
+
+ <para>The build hook is called with the following command-line
+ arguments:
+
+ <orderedlist>
+
+ <listitem><para>A boolean value <literal>0</literal> or
+ <literal>1</literal> specifying whether Nix can locally execute
+ more builds, as per the <link
+ linkend="opt-max-jobs"><option>- -max-jobs</option> option</link>.
+ The purpose of this argument is to allow the hook to not have to
+ maintain bookkeeping for the local machine.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>The Nix platform identifier for the local machine
+ (e.g., <literal>i686-linux</literal>).</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>The Nix platform identifier for the derivation,
+ i.e., its <link linkend="attr-system"><varname>system</varname>
+ attribute</link>.</para></listitem>
+
+ <listitem><para>The store path of the derivation.</para></listitem>
+
+ </orderedlist>
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>On the basis of this information, and whatever persistent
+ state the build hook keeps about other machines and their current
+ load, it has to decide what to do with the build. It should print
+ out on standard error one of the following responses (terminated by
+ a newline, <literal>"\n"</literal>):
+
+ <variablelist>
+
+ <varlistentry><term><literal># decline</literal></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The build hook is not willing or able to perform
+ the build; the calling Nix process should do the build itself,
+ if possible.</para></listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry><term><literal># postpone</literal></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The build hook cannot perform the build now, but
+ can do so in the future (e.g., because all available build slots
+ on remote machines are in use). The calling Nix process should
+ postpone this build until at least one currently running build
+ has terminated.</para></listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry><term><literal># accept</literal></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The build hook has accepted the
+ build.</para></listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ </variablelist>
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>After sending <literal># accept</literal>, the hook should
+ read one line from standard input, which will be the string
+ <literal>okay</literal>. It can then proceed with the build.
+ Before sending <literal>okay</literal>, Nix will store in the hook’s
+ current directory a number of text files that contain information
+ about the derivation:
+
+ <variablelist>
+
+ <varlistentry><term><filename>inputs</filename></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The set of store paths that are inputs to the
+ build process (one per line). These have to be copied
+ <emphasis>to</emphasis> the remote machine (in addition to the
+ store derivation itself).</para></listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry><term><filename>outputs</filename></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The set of store paths that are outputs of the
+ derivation (one per line). These have to be copied
+ <emphasis>from</emphasis> the remote machine if the build
+ succeeds.</para></listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry><term><filename>references</filename></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>The reference graph of the inputs, in the format
+ accepted by the command <command>nix-store
+ - -register-validity</command>. It is necessary to run this
+ command on the remote machine after copying the inputs to inform
+ Nix on the remote machine that the inputs are valid
+ paths.</para></listitem>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ </variablelist>
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>The hook should copy the inputs to the remote machine,
+ register the validity of the inputs, perform the remote build, and
+ copy the outputs back to the local machine. An exit code other than
+ <literal>0</literal> indicates that the hook has failed. An exit
+ code equal to 100 means that the remote build failed (as opposed to,
+ e.g., a network error).</para>
+ -->
+
+ </listitem>
+
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="envar-remote"><term><envar>NIX_REMOTE</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>This variable should be set to
+ <literal>daemon</literal> if you want to use the Nix daemon to
+ execute Nix operations. This is necessary in <link
+ linkend="ssec-multi-user">multi-user Nix installations</link>.
+ Otherwise, it should be left unset.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry xml:id="envar-other-stores"><term><envar>NIX_OTHER_STORES</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>This variable contains the paths of remote Nix
+ installations from which packages can be copied, separated by colons.
+ <phrase condition="manual">See <xref linkend="sec-sharing-packages"
+ /> for details.</phrase> Each path should be the
+ <filename>/nix</filename> directory of a remote Nix installation
+ (i.e., not the <filename>/nix/store</filename> directory). The
+ paths are subject to globbing, so you can set it so something like
+ <literal>/var/run/nix/remote-stores/*/nix</literal> and mount
+ multiple remote filesystems in
+ <literal>/var/run/nix/remote-stores</literal>.</para>
+
+ <para>Note that if you’re building through the <link
+ linkend="sec-nix-daemon">Nix daemon</link>, the only setting for
+ this variable that matters is the one that the
+ <command>nix-daemon</command> process uses. So if you want to
+ change it, you have to restart the daemon.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_SHOW_STATS</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>If set to <literal>1</literal>, Nix will print some
+ evaluation statistics, such as the number of values
+ allocated.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>NIX_COUNT_CALLS</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>If set to <literal>1</literal>, Nix will print how
+ often functions were called during Nix expression evaluation. This
+ is useful for profiling your Nix expressions.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+<varlistentry><term><envar>GC_INITIAL_HEAP_SIZE</envar></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>If Nix has been configured to use the Boehm garbage
+ collector, this variable sets the initial size of the heap in bytes.
+ It defaults to 384 MiB. Setting it to a low value reduces memory
+ consumption, but will increase runtime due to the overhead of
+ garbage collection.</para></listitem>
+
+</varlistentry>
+
+
+</variablelist>
+
+
+</chapter>