Nix Store

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  • First steps with Nix

    Neither nix run nor nix shell will mutate your system environment, aside from changing the Nix Store. If you would like to permanently install a package somewhere under your $HOME directory, you can do so using nix profile install:

    These symlinks, ultimately, point to the package Store path outputs under the Nix Store, viz.:

    What is a Nix “package”? Technically, a Nix package is a special Store path built using instructions from a Derivation, both of which reside in the Nix Store. To see what is contained by the cowsay package, look inside its Store path. To get the store path for a package (here, cowsay), run nix build as follows:

    [!info] Nix Store & Store Paths /nix/store is a special directory representing the Nix Store. The paths inside /nix/store are known as Store path. Nix fundamentally is, in large part, about manipulating these store paths in a pure and reproducible fashion; Derivation are “recipes” that does this manipulation, and they too live in the Nix Store.