How I setup nix package manager on void
Introduction#
Nix package manager is awesome, and it has the most number of packages! And it's also cross platform, so it'd work on any linux distribution. I had tried building aseprite but it was such a PITA, and then I found about Nix!
Steps to download#
First install the nix package.
Enable the nix-daemon service
Start the service
You can now either re-login your user or re-read /etc/profile
After this the nix package manager is fully functional and can be used by any user.
You can then subscribe to the Nix packages channel to query or install any available package:
Using Nix#
See what installable packages are currently available in the channel:
Install some packages from the channel:
This should download pre-built packages; it should not build them locally (if it does, something went wrong).
Test that they work:
Uninstall a package:
You can also test a package without installing it:
This builds or downloads GNU Hello and its dependencies, then drops you into a Bash shell where the hello command is present, all without affecting your normal environment:
To keep up-to-date with the channel, do:
The latter command will upgrade each installed package for which there is a “newer” version
If you're unhappy with the result of a nix-env action
You should periodically run the Nix garbage collector to get rid of unused packages, since uninstalls or upgrades don't actually delete them: