Nix Package Manager Basics

Installation

curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh -s -- --daemon

On Arch Linux, you can alternatively install Nix through pacman.

Verify installation

Check the installation by opening a new terminal and typing:

nix --version
nix (Nix) 2.11.0

Nix Package Manager Commands

Description	Command	Example
Searching for pkgs	nix search nixpkgs packagename	nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" search nixpkgs firefox
List all Installed Pkgs	nix-env -q	-
Query Installed pkgs	nix-env -q search_term	nix-env -q librewolf
Query Available pkgs	nix-env -qa search_term	nix-env -qa calibre
Installing pkgs	nix-env -iA nixpkgs.pkg_name	nix-env -iA nixpkgs.sakura
Installing pkg from url	nix-env -i pkg_name --file example.com	nix-env --file https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-14.12.tar.gz --install --attr firefox<br>
Upgrade single pkg	nix-env -u pkg_name	nix-env -u librewolf
Upgrade All pkg	nix-env -u	-
Uninstall a pkg	nix-env -e pkg_name	nix-env -e sakura

Installed binaries are stored in ~/.nix-profile/bin

Generations Commands

Description	Command
list generations	nix-env --list-generations
switch generations	nix-env --switch-generation 50
delete generation	nix-env --delete-generations old
delete specific generations	nix-env --delete-generations 10 11 14
delete generation older than specific number of days	nix-env --delete-generations 14d

Garbage Collection (cleanup)

After removing appropriate old generations you can run the garbage collector as follows:
nix-store --gc

If you are feeling uncertain, you can also first view what files would be deleted:

nix-store --gc --print-dead

Likewise, the option --print-live will show the paths that won’t be deleted.

There is also a convenient little utility nix-collect-garbage, which when invoked with the -d (--delete-old) switch deletes all old generations of all profiles in /nix/var/nix/profiles. So

 nix-collect-garbage -d

is a quick and easy way to clean up your system.