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diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profiles.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profiles.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..f3d28266a --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profiles.md @@ -0,0 +1,273 @@ +# User profiles + +A directory that contains links to user profiles managed by [`nix-env`] and [`nix profile`]. + +- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root` if the user is `root` +- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles` otherwise + +A profile is a directory of symlinks to files in the Nix store. + +## Profile compatibility + +> **Warning** +> +> `nix profile` is experimental. +> Once you have used `nix profile` you can no longer use `nix-env` without first deleting `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles/profile` + +Once you installed a package with `nix profile`, you get the following +error message when using `nix-env`: + +```console +$ nix-env -f '<nixpkgs>' -iA 'hello' +error: --- Error ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- nix-env +profile '/home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile' is incompatible with 'nix-env'; please use 'nix profile' instead +``` + +To migrate back to `nix-env` you can delete your current profile: + +> **Warning** +> +> This will delete packages that have been installed before, so you may want to back this information before running the command. + +```console + $ rm -rf "${XDG_STATE_HOME-$HOME/.local/state}/nix/profiles/profile" +``` + +## Filesystem layout + +Profiles are versioned as follows. When using profile *path*, *path* +is a symlink to *path*`-`*N*, where *N* is the current *version* of +the profile. In turn, *path*`-`*N* is a symlink to a path in the Nix +store. For example: + +```console +$ ls -l ~alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile* +lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 14 Nov 25 14:35 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile -> profile-7-link +lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Oct 28 16:18 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-5-link -> /nix/store/q69xad13ghpf7ir87h0b2gd28lafjj1j-profile +lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Oct 29 13:20 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-6-link -> /nix/store/6bvhpysd7vwz7k3b0pndn7ifi5xr32dg-profile +lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Nov 25 14:35 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link -> /nix/store/mp0x6xnsg0b8qhswy6riqvimai4gm677-profile +``` + +Each of these symlinks is a root for the Nix garbage collector. + +The contents of the store path corresponding to each version of the +profile is a tree of symlinks to the files of the installed packages, +e.g. + +```console +$ ll -R ~eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/ +/home/eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/: +total 20 +dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 bin +-r--r--r-- 2 root root 1402 Jan 1 1970 manifest.json +dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 share + +/home/eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/bin: +total 20 +lrwxrwxrwx 5 root root 79 Jan 1 1970 chromium -> /nix/store/ijm5k0zqisvkdwjkc77mb9qzb35xfi4m-chromium-86.0.4240.111/bin/chromium +lrwxrwxrwx 7 root root 87 Jan 1 1970 spotify -> /nix/store/w9182874m1bl56smps3m5zjj36jhp3rn-spotify-1.1.26.501.gbe11e53b-15/bin/spotify +lrwxrwxrwx 3 root root 79 Jan 1 1970 zoom-us -> /nix/store/wbhg2ga8f3h87s9h5k0slxk0m81m4cxl-zoom-us-5.3.469451.0927/bin/zoom-us + +/home/eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/share/applications: +total 12 +lrwxrwxrwx 4 root root 120 Jan 1 1970 chromium-browser.desktop -> /nix/store/4cf803y4vzfm3gyk3vzhzb2327v0kl8a-chromium-unwrapped-86.0.4240.111/share/applications/chromium-browser.desktop +lrwxrwxrwx 7 root root 110 Jan 1 1970 spotify.desktop -> /nix/store/w9182874m1bl56smps3m5zjj36jhp3rn-spotify-1.1.26.501.gbe11e53b-15/share/applications/spotify.desktop +lrwxrwxrwx 3 root root 107 Jan 1 1970 us.zoom.Zoom.desktop -> /nix/store/wbhg2ga8f3h87s9h5k0slxk0m81m4cxl-zoom-us-5.3.469451.0927/share/applications/us.zoom.Zoom.desktop + +… +``` + +## Manifest + +The manifest file records the provenance of the packages that are installed in this version of the profile. +It is different between [`nix-env`] and [`nix profile`]. + +### `manifest.nix` + +Used by [`nix-env`]. This is an example of how this file might look like after installing `hello` from nixpkgs. + +```nix +[{ + meta = { + available = true; + broken = false; + changelog = + "https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hello.git/plain/NEWS?h=v2.12.1"; + description = "A program that produces a familiar, friendly greeting"; + homepage = "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/manual/"; + insecure = false; + license = { + deprecated = false; + free = true; + fullName = "GNU General Public License v3.0 or later"; + redistributable = true; + shortName = "gpl3Plus"; + spdxId = "GPL-3.0-or-later"; + url = "https://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-3.0-or-later.html"; + }; + longDescription = '' + GNU Hello is a program that prints "Hello, world!" when you run it. + It is fully customizable. + ''; + maintainers = [{ + email = "edolstra+nixpkgs@gmail.com"; + github = "edolstra"; + githubId = 1148549; + name = "Eelco Dolstra"; + }]; + name = "hello-2.12.1"; + outputsToInstall = [ "out" ]; + platforms = [ + "i686-cygwin" + "x86_64-cygwin" + "x86_64-darwin" + "i686-darwin" + "aarch64-darwin" + "armv7a-darwin" + "i686-freebsd13" + "x86_64-freebsd13" + "aarch64-genode" + "i686-genode" + "x86_64-genode" + "x86_64-solaris" + "js-ghcjs" + "aarch64-linux" + "armv5tel-linux" + "armv6l-linux" + "armv7a-linux" + "armv7l-linux" + "i686-linux" + "m68k-linux" + "microblaze-linux" + "microblazeel-linux" + "mipsel-linux" + "mips64el-linux" + "powerpc64-linux" + "powerpc64le-linux" + "riscv32-linux" + "riscv64-linux" + "s390-linux" + "s390x-linux" + "x86_64-linux" + "mmix-mmixware" + "aarch64-netbsd" + "armv6l-netbsd" + "armv7a-netbsd" + "armv7l-netbsd" + "i686-netbsd" + "m68k-netbsd" + "mipsel-netbsd" + "powerpc-netbsd" + "riscv32-netbsd" + "riscv64-netbsd" + "x86_64-netbsd" + "aarch64_be-none" + "aarch64-none" + "arm-none" + "armv6l-none" + "avr-none" + "i686-none" + "microblaze-none" + "microblazeel-none" + "msp430-none" + "or1k-none" + "m68k-none" + "powerpc-none" + "powerpcle-none" + "riscv32-none" + "riscv64-none" + "rx-none" + "s390-none" + "s390x-none" + "vc4-none" + "x86_64-none" + "i686-openbsd" + "x86_64-openbsd" + "x86_64-redox" + "wasm64-wasi" + "wasm32-wasi" + "x86_64-windows" + "i686-windows" + ]; + position = + "/nix/store/7niq32w715567hbph0q13m5lqna64c1s-nixos-unstable.tar.gz/nixos-unstable.tar.gz/pkgs/applications/misc/hello/default.nix:34"; + unfree = false; + unsupported = false; + }; + name = "hello-2.12.1"; + out = { + outPath = "/nix/store/260q5867crm1xjs4khgqpl6vr9kywql1-hello-2.12.1"; + }; + outPath = "/nix/store/260q5867crm1xjs4khgqpl6vr9kywql1-hello-2.12.1"; + outputs = [ "out" ]; + system = "x86_64-linux"; + type = "derivation"; +}] +``` + +Each element in this list corresponds to an installed package. +It incorporates some attributes of the original package derivation, including `meta`, `name`, `out`, `outPath`, `outputs`, `system`. +This is used by Nix for querying and updating the package. + +### `manifest.json` + +Used by [`nix profile`]. This is an example of what the file might look like after installing `zoom-us` from nixpkgs: + +```json +{ + "version": 1, + "elements": [ + { + "active": true, + "attrPath": "legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.zoom-us", + "originalUrl": "flake:nixpkgs", + "storePaths": [ + "/nix/store/wbhg2ga8f3h87s9h5k0slxk0m81m4cxl-zoom-us-5.3.469451.0927" + ], + "uri": "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/13d0c311e3ae923a00f734b43fd1d35b47d8943a" + }, + … + ] +} +``` + +Each object in the array `elements` denotes an installed package and +has the following fields: + +* `originalUrl`: The [flake reference](@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-flake.md) specified by + the user at the time of installation (e.g. `nixpkgs`). This is also + the flake reference that will be used by `nix profile upgrade`. + +* `uri`: The locked flake reference to which `originalUrl` resolved. + +* `attrPath`: The flake output attribute that provided this + package. Note that this is not necessarily the attribute that the + user specified, but the one resulting from applying the default + attribute paths and prefixes; for instance, `hello` might resolve to + `packages.x86_64-linux.hello` and the empty string to + `packages.x86_64-linux.default`. + +* `storePath`: The paths in the Nix store containing the package. + +* `active`: Whether the profile contains symlinks to the files of this + package. If set to false, the package is kept in the Nix store, but + is not "visible" in the profile's symlink tree. + +## User profile link + +A symbolic link to the user's current profile. + +- `~/.nix-profile` +- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profile` if [`use-xdg-base-directories`] is set to `true`. + +By default, this symlink points to: + +- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles/profile` for regular users +- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root/profile` for `root` + +The `PATH` environment variable should include `/bin` subdirectory of the profile link (e.g. `~/.nix-profile/bin`) for the user environment to be visible to the user. +The [installer](@docroot@/installation/installing-binary.md) sets this up by default, unless you enable [`use-xdg-base-directories`]. + +[`nix-env`]: @docroot@/command-ref/nix-env.md +[`nix profile`]: @docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-profile.md +[`use-xdg-base-directories`]: @docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-use-xdg-base-directories |