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diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md deleted file mode 100644 index 7f0d8f841..000000000 --- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/simple-building-testing.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,61 +0,0 @@ -# Building and Testing - -You can now try to build Hello. Of course, you could do `nix-env -f . -iA -hello`, but you may not want to install a possibly broken package just -yet. The best way to test the package is by using the command -`nix-build`, which builds a Nix expression and creates a symlink named -`result` in the current directory: - -```console -$ nix-build -A hello -building path `/nix/store/632d2b22514d...-hello-2.1.1' -hello-2.1.1/ -hello-2.1.1/intl/ -hello-2.1.1/intl/ChangeLog -... - -$ ls -l result -lrwxrwxrwx ... 2006-09-29 10:43 result -> /nix/store/632d2b22514d...-hello-2.1.1 - -$ ./result/bin/hello -Hello, world! -``` - -The `-A` option selects the `hello` attribute. This is faster than -using the symbolic package name specified by the `name` attribute -(which also happens to be `hello`) and is unambiguous (there can be -multiple packages with the symbolic name `hello`, but there can be -only one attribute in a set named `hello`). - -`nix-build` registers the `./result` symlink as a garbage collection -root, so unless and until you delete the `./result` symlink, the output -of the build will be safely kept on your system. You can use -`nix-build`’s `-o` switch to give the symlink another name. - -Nix has transactional semantics. Once a build finishes successfully, Nix -makes a note of this in its database: it registers that the path denoted -by `out` is now “valid”. If you try to build the derivation again, Nix -will see that the path is already valid and finish immediately. If a -build fails, either because it returns a non-zero exit code, because Nix -or the builder are killed, or because the machine crashes, then the -output paths will not be registered as valid. If you try to build the -derivation again, Nix will remove the output paths if they exist (e.g., -because the builder died half-way through `make -install`) and try again. Note that there is no “negative caching”: Nix -doesn't remember that a build failed, and so a failed build can always -be repeated. This is because Nix cannot distinguish between permanent -failures (e.g., a compiler error due to a syntax error in the source) -and transient failures (e.g., a disk full condition). - -Nix also performs locking. If you run multiple Nix builds -simultaneously, and they try to build the same derivation, the first Nix -instance that gets there will perform the build, while the others block -(or perform other derivations if available) until the build finishes: - -```console -$ nix-build -A hello -waiting for lock on `/nix/store/0h5b7hp8d4hqfrw8igvx97x1xawrjnac-hello-2.1.1x' -``` - -So it is always safe to run multiple instances of Nix in parallel (which -isn’t the case with, say, `make`). |