Nix is a distribution-agnostic package manager that offers over 60,000 highly reproducible and declarative packages. It can be installed in multi-user or single-user modes, with commands provided for package management and garbage collection. The document includes resources and links for further exploration of the Nix package manager and its functionalities.

1. Nix: Bleeding-edge Packages on a Stable Base System
Peter Simons <psimons@suse.com>
openSUSE Conference 2022

2. What is Nix?
▶ Distribution-agnostic Package Manager
▶ Nixpkgs Collection offers over 60,000 packages
▶ Builds are highly reproducible
▶ Builds are declarative
▶ NixOS exists of you want to go all in

3. How to install Nix?
▶ Details are at https://nixos.org/download.html.
▶ Multi-user:
sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon
▶ Single-user:
sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --no-daemon

4. Install a Package
▶ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.rsync
▶ nix-shell --run zsh -p rsync
▶ nix-collect-garbage --delete-old

5. All Files Live Under /nix
/nix
+-- store
| +-- 49rdlgcawlf8xcp4g1n3phkbl31l4zfg-xz-5.2.5-bin
| | +-- bin
| | +-- xz
| +-- 5b0k0zxvbhrybg2ynqk26cpzwb1xqa7i-xz-5.2.5-dev
| | +-- include
| | | +-- lzma
| | | | +-- base.h
| | +-- lib
| | | +-- pkgconfig
| | | +-- liblzma.pc

6. All Files Live Under /nix
/nix
+-- store
| +-- 46yqxs10fc5jbc7srkjxmahibd4313qp-xz-5.2.5-man
| | +-- share
| | +-- man
| | +-- man1
| | +-- xz.1.gz
| +-- 4fxqh6ggs5kwjr5fyg10k4yv6861p5hv-xz-5.2.5-doc
| | +-- share
| | +-- doc
| | +-- xz
| | +-- xz-file-format.txt

7. All Files Live Under /nix
/nix
+-- var
+-- nix
+-- db
| +-- db.sqlite
+-- gcroots
| +-- auto
| +-- per-user
| | +-- simons
| +-- profiles -> /nix/var/nix/profiles
+-- profiles
| +-- per-user
| +-- simons
| +-- profile -> profile-2-link
| +-- profile-1-link
| +-- profile-2-link

8. Store Paths Are Symlinked into a Profile
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.xz.{bin,dev,man,doc} -p foo
$ ls -l foo*
lrwxrwxrwx simons foo -> foo-2-link
lrwxrwxrwx simons foo-1-link -> /nix/store/gvydyd...-user-environment
lrwxrwxrwx simons foo-2-link -> /nix/store/zxqcr3...-user-environment

9. Garbage Collection Prunes Unreferenced Store Paths
$ rm foo*
$ nix-collect-garbage
removing stale link ’/nix/var/nix/gcroots/auto/5jfkq... to ’foo-1-link’
removing stale link ’/nix/var/nix/gcroots/auto/pxah0... to ’foo-2-link’
deleting garbage...
deleting ’/nix/store/zxqcr3igbnhpii1vn5g0hhjp0h1c8wq9-user-environment’
deleting ’/nix/store/gvydydb5qgsbj9gccdcxpacr0y0cwyyq-user-environment’
deleting ’/nix/store/mznyq8xfs3p0m0zhm4i9yd98qbyfvq6w-xz-5.2.5-man’
deleting ’/nix/store/9rncbp7097hd9paj7ziq42zbdf166ncm-xz-5.2.5-doc’
deleting ’/nix/store/15c2r210g2qvhsr1sm24axh5iif0jhgv-xz-5.2.5-dev’
9 store paths deleted, 0.39 MiB freed

10. Query the Nix Packages Collection
$ nix-env -qaP "coreuti.*"
nixpkgs.coreutils coreutils-9.0
nixpkgs.coreutils-prefixed coreutils-9.0
nixpkgs.coreutils-full coreutils-full-9.0
$ nix-env -qaP -A nixpkgs.haskell.compiler
nixpkgs.haskell.compiler.ghc884 ghc-8.8.4
nixpkgs.haskell.compiler.ghc8107 ghc-8.10.7
nixpkgs.haskell.compiler.ghc902 ghc-9.0.2
nixpkgs.haskell.compiler.ghc922 ghc-9.2.2
nixpkgs.haskell.compiler.ghcHEAD ghc-9.3.20220406

11. Resources
▶ Homepage: https://nixos.org/
▶ Nix Package Manager Manual: https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/
▶ Code of the Nix Packages Collection: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs
▶ Using the Nix Packages Collection: https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/