Terms and Definitions in Nix Project: Difference between revisions

Line 14:

|| <div id="user_environment"></div>[[User Environment]]

|| Nix

|| A set of "active" applications. These applications usually exist in the Nix store. A single Nix user may have multiple ~~User Environments. This is an important concept further explored in [[User Environment]]~~. ''Profiles'' and ''generations'' are closely related.

|| A set of "active" applications. These applications usually exist in the Nix store. A single Nix user may have multiple ''user environments''. ''Profiles'' and ''generations'' are closely related.

|| {{Nix Manual|name=Nix Manual - Basic Package Management chapter|anchor=#ch-basic-package-mgmt}} <br>{{Nix Manual|name=Nix Manual - Profiles chapter|anchor=#sec-profiles}} <br>{{Nix Manual|name=Nix Manual - nix-env|anchor=#sec-nix-env}}

|--------

|| (User) Profile

|| Nix

|| Profiles simplify managing and switching between ''user environments'' (and thus, control which applications and system configurations are ~~used)~~. ~~Most generally~~, a ''profile'' is a link to a ''generation'', and ~~there's a~~ '''profiles''' ~~(note the '''s''')~~ folder ~~which~~ collects ~~types of profiles together so that they form lists~~ of generations. In standalone Nix (e.g. on a ~~different~~ Linux distro)~~, its primary use is~~ user profiles. In NixOS, there is also ~~the~~ ''system'' profile~~, which~~ manages system-wide configuration (e.g. ''/etc'', the kernel, ''initrd'', ''systemd''). ~~Tools~~ like [[Home Manager]] also have their own ~~profile (which would also be per-user)~~. ~~The~~ user's ''active profile'' is ~~defined in~~ ''~/.nix-profile''~~, and is what all '''nix-env''' commands would operate on by default.~~<syntaxHighlight lang=shell>

|| Profiles simplify managing and switching between ''user environments'', and thus control which applications and system configurations are in active use. Generally, a ''profile'' is a link to a ''generation'', and the corresponding '''profiles''' folder collects a list of generations. A standalone Nix installation (i.e. on a Linux distro that is not NixOS) operates mainly on ''user'' profiles. In NixOS, there is also a ''system'' profile that manages system-wide configuration (e.g. ''/etc'', the kernel, ''initrd'', ''systemd''). Other tools like [[Home Manager]] also have their own profiles. By default, a user's active profile is stored at ''~/.nix-profile'':

❯ ls -l ~/.nix-profile

$ ls -l ~/.nix-profile

lrwxrwxrwx ... /home/username/.nix-profile ->

/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/username/profile</syntaxHighlight>

/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/username/profile

</syntaxHighlight>

|| [http://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sec-profiles Nix Manual: Profiles]<br>[https://nixos.org/guides/nix-pills/install-on-your-running-system.html#idm140737320787760 Nix Pills - The first profile]

|--------

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 || <div id="user_environment"></div>[[User Environment]]
 || Nix
-|| A set of "active" applications. These applications usually exist in the Nix store. A single Nix user may have multiple User Environments. This is an important concept further explored in [[User Environment]]. ''Profiles'' and ''generations'' are closely related.
+|| A set of "active" applications. These applications usually exist in the Nix store. A single Nix user may have multiple ''user environments''. ''Profiles'' and ''generations'' are closely related.
 || {{Nix Manual|name=Nix Manual - Basic Package Management chapter|anchor=#ch-basic-package-mgmt}} <br>{{Nix Manual|name=Nix Manual - Profiles chapter|anchor=#sec-profiles}} <br>{{Nix Manual|name=Nix Manual - nix-env|anchor=#sec-nix-env}}
 |--------
 || (User) Profile
 || Nix
-|| Profiles simplify managing and switching between ''user environments'' (and thus, control which applications and system configurations are used). Most generally, a ''profile'' is a link to a ''generation'', and there's a '''profiles''' (note the '''s''') folder which collects types of profiles together so that they form lists of generations. In standalone Nix (e.g. on a different Linux distro), its primary use is user profiles. In NixOS, there is also the ''system'' profile, which manages system-wide configuration (e.g. ''/etc'', the kernel, ''initrd'', ''systemd''). Tools like [[Home Manager]] also have their own profile (which would also be per-user). The user's ''active profile'' is defined in ''~/.nix-profile'', and is what all '''nix-env''' commands would operate on by default.<syntaxHighlight lang=shell>
+|| Profiles simplify managing and switching between ''user environments'', and thus control which applications and system configurations are in active use. Generally, a ''profile'' is a link to a ''generation'', and the corresponding '''profiles''' folder collects a list of generations. A standalone Nix installation (i.e. on a Linux distro that is not NixOS) operates mainly on ''user'' profiles. In NixOS, there is also a ''system'' profile that manages system-wide configuration (e.g. ''/etc'', the kernel, ''initrd'', ''systemd''). Other tools like [[Home Manager]] also have their own profiles. By default, a user's active profile is stored at ''~/.nix-profile'':
-❯ ls -l ~/.nix-profile
+<syntaxHighlight lang=shell>
+$ ls -l ~/.nix-profile
 lrwxrwxrwx ... /home/username/.nix-profile ->
-/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/username/profile</syntaxHighlight>
+/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/username/profile
+</syntaxHighlight>
 || [http://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sec-profiles Nix Manual: Profiles]<br>[https://nixos.org/guides/nix-pills/install-on-your-running-system.html#idm140737320787760 Nix Pills - The first profile]
 |--------