Searching packages: Difference between revisions
imported>Rapenne-s m missing space in the verbatim repl |
imported>Rapenne-s add nix search |
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== Using nix search command == | |||
While this command is still experimental, you can use it to search for a package. It may be slow the first time, but further runs will use cached results. | |||
<pre> | |||
$ nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" search nixpkgs firefox | |||
</pre> | |||
== Using the nix-env command == | == Using the nix-env command == | ||
Revision as of 12:38, 4 August 2022
There are a different ways to search for a package name in the nix package manager.
The NixOS packages search engine
There is a website that let you search for Nix packages and NixOS options at https://search.nixos.org/
- pros
- it's easy to use
- allow filters
- cons
- it requires Internet
Using nix search command
While this command is still experimental, you can use it to search for a package. It may be slow the first time, but further runs will use cached results.
$ nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" search nixpkgs firefox
Using the nix-env command
It's possible to search for a package using nix-env -qaP
- pros
- works offline
- cons
- it's very slow and requires a lot of memory
Interactive package browsing with the repl
You can use the nix repl to load the nixpkgs repository and then use the auto completion to search for packages.
$ nix repl Welcome to Nix 2.8.1. Type :? for help. nix-repl> :load <nixpkgs> Added 16519 variables. nix-repl> firef[PRESS TAB]
Reverse search: searching which package provides a file
It's possible to use the third party program nix-index to find which package provides a given file, this is particularly useful when you are looking for a very specific file but you don't know which package installs it.