nix/doc/manual/nix-build.xml
Eelco Dolstra c31836008e nix-instantiate: Add a flag --expr / -E to read expressions from the command line
This is basically a shortcut for ‘echo 'expr...' | nix-instantiate -’.
Also supported by nix-build and nix-shell.
2014-02-19 16:30:19 +01:00

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<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
xml:id="sec-nix-build">
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>nix-build</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
<refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>nix-build</refname>
<refpurpose>build a Nix expression</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>nix-build</command>
<xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="opt-common-syn.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(/db:nop/*)" />
<arg><option>--arg</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>value</replaceable></arg>
<arg><option>--argstr</option> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>value</replaceable></arg>
<arg>
<group choice='req'>
<arg choice='plain'><option>--attr</option></arg>
<arg choice='plain'><option>-A</option></arg>
</group>
<replaceable>attrPath</replaceable>
</arg>
<arg><option>--drv-link</option> <replaceable>drvlink</replaceable></arg>
<arg><option>--add-drv-link</option></arg>
<arg><option>--no-out-link</option></arg>
<arg>
<group choice='req'>
<arg choice='plain'><option>--out-link</option></arg>
<arg choice='plain'><option>-o</option></arg>
</group>
<replaceable>outlink</replaceable>
</arg>
<arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsection><title>Description</title>
<para>The <command>nix-build</command> command builds the derivations
described by the Nix expressions in <replaceable>paths</replaceable>.
If the build succeeds, it places a symlink to the result in the
current directory. The symlink is called <filename>result</filename>.
If there are multiple Nix expressions, or the Nix expressions evaluate
to multiple derivations, multiple sequentially numbered symlinks are
created (<filename>result</filename>, <filename>result-2</filename>,
and so on).</para>
<para>If no <replaceable>paths</replaceable> are specified, then
<command>nix-build</command> will use <filename>default.nix</filename>
in the current directory, if it exists.</para>
<para><command>nix-build</command> is essentially a wrapper around
<link
linkend="sec-nix-instantiate"><command>nix-instantiate</command></link>
(to translate a high-level Nix expression to a low-level store
derivation) and <link
linkend="rsec-nix-store-realise"><command>nix-store
--realise</command></link> (to build the store derivation).</para>
<warning><para>The result of the build is automatically registered as
a root of the Nix garbage collector. This root disappears
automatically when the <filename>result</filename> symlink is deleted
or renamed. So dont rename the symlink.</para></warning>
</refsection>
<refsection><title>Options</title>
<para>All options not listed here are passed to <command>nix-store
--realise</command>, except for <option>--arg</option> and
<option>--attr</option> / <option>-A</option> which are passed to
<command>nix-instantiate</command>. <phrase condition="manual">See
also <xref linkend="sec-common-options" />.</phrase></para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><option>--drv-link</option> <replaceable>drvlink</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>Add a symlink named
<replaceable>drvlink</replaceable> to the store derivation
produced by <command>nix-instantiate</command>. The derivation is
a root of the garbage collector until the symlink is deleted or
renamed. If there are multiple derivations, numbers are suffixed
to <replaceable>drvlink</replaceable> to distinguish between
them.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>--add-drv-link</option></term>
<listitem><para>Shorthand for <option>--drv-link</option>
<filename>./derivation</filename>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>--no-out-link</option></term>
<listitem><para>Do not create a symlink to the output path. Note
that as a result the output does not become a root of the garbage
collector, and so might be deleted by <command>nix-store
--gc</command>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry xml:id='opt-out-link'><term><option>--out-link</option> /
<option>-o</option> <replaceable>outlink</replaceable></term>
<listitem><para>Change the name of the symlink to the output path
created from <filename>result</filename> to
<replaceable>outlink</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>The following common options are supported:</para>
<variablelist condition="manpage">
<xi:include href="opt-common.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(//db:variablelist[@xml:id='opt-common']/*)" />
</variablelist>
</refsection>
<refsection><title>Examples</title>
<screen>
$ nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A firefox
store derivation is /nix/store/qybprl8sz2lc...-firefox-1.5.0.7.drv
/nix/store/d18hyl92g30l...-firefox-1.5.0.7
$ ls -l result
lrwxrwxrwx <replaceable>...</replaceable> result -> /nix/store/d18hyl92g30l...-firefox-1.5.0.7
$ ls ./result/bin/
firefox firefox-config</screen>
<para>If a derivation has multiple outputs,
<command>nix-build</command> will build the default (first) output.
You can also build all outputs:
<screen>
$ nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A openssl.all
</screen>
This will create a symlink for each output named
<filename>result-<replaceable>outputname</replaceable></filename>.
The suffix is omitted if the output name is <literal>out</literal>.
So if <literal>openssl</literal> has outputs <literal>out</literal>,
<literal>bin</literal> and <literal>man</literal>,
<command>nix-build</command> will create symlinks
<literal>result</literal>, <literal>result-bin</literal> and
<literal>result-man</literal>. Its also possible to build a specific
output:
<screen>
$ nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs>' -A openssl.man
</screen>
This will create a symlink <literal>result-man</literal>.</para>
<para>Build a Nix expression given on the command line:
<screen>
$ nix-build -E 'with import &lt;nixpkgs> { }; runCommand "foo" { } "echo bar > $out"'
$ cat ./result
bar
</screen>
</para>
</refsection>
<refsection condition="manpage"><title>Environment variables</title>
<variablelist>
<xi:include href="env-common.xml#xmlns(db=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(//db:variablelist[@xml:id='env-common']/*)" />
</variablelist>
</refsection>
</refentry>