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-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/channels.md26
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/default-nix-expression.md52
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profile-link.md16
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profiles.md273
4 files changed, 367 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/channels.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/channels.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6ef2527e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/channels.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Channels
+
+A directory containing symlinks to Nix channels, managed by [`nix-channel`].
+
+- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root/channels` for `root`
+- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles/channels` for regular users
+
+[`nix-channel`] uses a [profile](@docroot@/command-ref/files/user-profiles.md) to store channels.
+This profile contains symlinks to the contents of those channels.
+
+## Subscribed channels
+
+The list of subscribed channels is stored in
+
+- `~/.nix-channels`
+- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/channels` if [`use-xdg-base-directories`] is set to `true`
+
+in the following format:
+
+```
+<url> <name>
+...
+```
+
+[`nix-channel`]: @docroot@/command-ref/nix-channel.md
+[`use-xdg-base-directories`]: @docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-use-xdg-base-directories
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/default-nix-expression.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/default-nix-expression.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..54b1101ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/default-nix-expression.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Default Nix expression
+
+The source for the default [Nix expressions](@docroot@/language/index.md) used by [`nix-env`].
+
+- `~/.nix-defexpr`
+- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/defexpr` if [`use-xdg-base-directories`] is set to `true`.
+
+It is loaded as follows:
+
+- If the default expression is a file, it is loaded as a Nix expression.
+- If the default expression is a directory containing a `default.nix` file, that `default.nix` file is loaded as a Nix expression.
+- If the default expression is a directory without a `default.nix` file, then its contents (both files and subdirectories) are loaded as Nix expressions.
+ The expressions are combined into a single attribute set, each expression under an attribute with the same name as the original file or subdirectory.
+ Subdirectories without a `default.nix` file are traversed recursively in search of more Nix expressions, but the names of these intermediate directories are not added to the attribute paths of the default Nix expression.
+
+Then, the resulting expression is interpreted like this:
+
+- If the expression is an attribute set, it is used as the default Nix expression.
+- If the expression is a function, an empty set is passed as argument and the return value is used as the default Nix expression.
+
+
+For example, if the default expression contains two files, `foo.nix` and `bar.nix`, then the default Nix expression will be equivalent to
+
+```nix
+{
+ foo = import ~/.nix-defexpr/foo.nix;
+ bar = import ~/.nix-defexpr/bar.nix;
+}
+```
+
+The file `manifest.nix` is always ignored.
+
+The command [`nix-channel`] places a symlink to the user's current [channels profile](@docroot@/command-ref/files/channels.md) in this directory.
+This makes all subscribed channels available as attributes in the default expression.
+
+## User channel link
+
+A symlink that ensures that [`nix-env`] can find your channels.
+
+- `~/.nix-defexpr/channels`
+- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/defexpr/channels` if [`use-xdg-base-directories`] is set to `true`.
+
+This symlink points to:
+
+- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/profiles/channels` for regular users
+- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root/channels` for `root`
+
+In a multi-user installation, you may also have `~/.nix-defexpr/channels_root`, which links to the channels of the root user.[`nix-env`]: ../nix-env.md
+
+[`nix-env`]: @docroot@/command-ref/nix-env.md
+[`nix-channel`]: @docroot@/command-ref/nix-channel.md
+[`use-xdg-base-directories`]: @docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-use-xdg-base-directories
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profile-link.md b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profile-link.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..439446b40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/user-profile-link.md
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# User profile link
+
+A symbolic link to the user's current profile.
+
+- `~/.nix-profile`
+- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profile` if [`use-xdg-base-directories`] is set to `true`.
+
+By default, this symlink points to:
+
+- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles/default` for regular users
+- `$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.
+
+[`use-xdg-base-directories`]: @docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-use-xdg-base-directories
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