alwaysInBeta Stable software is for the weak

nix quick reference

Written 2016-09-25

Intro

Nix is a package manager, noteworthy for... well, a lot of things; it's a functional package manager with a rather beautiful mixture between source and binary packaging, used as the basis for NixOS but capable of running on other UNIX-likes as a secondary package manager. I most enjoy this last point; it's nice to have a secondary package manager that's independent of the host system.

Note that this page assumes you have a general understanding of Nix but need a reminder of exact commands.

Commands

Show installed packages:

nix-env -q

Search available packages:

nix-env -qa | grep space

Install a package:

nix-env -i spacefm

Uninstall a package:

nix-env -e spacefm

Update all packages:

nix-channel --update

nix-env -u --keep-going

Garbage collect:

nix-env --delete-generations old

nix-collect-garbage

Further reading:

Official Docs:

NixOS wiki: Install/Remove Software

Random blogger:

Getting started with Nix package manager