2021-06-27        VERY FIRST STEPS WITH NIX ON DEBIAN


Mixing Debian with Nix[1], my first steps.

=================
 O U T D A T E D
=================

This information about Nix and Debian is out of date. Don't use this.

2 Why Nix?
==========

  Because Debian is currently frozen[2]. Or, because $some_package is not
  (yet) available in Debian.

3 Installation.
===============

  To install, as root, do:

,----
|  apt install nix nix-setup-systemd
`----

  then, as user:
  
,----
| nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
| nix-channel --update
`----

followed by a package you wish to run from Nix. For example, Nyxt[3].

  (19 May 2022: In an earlier version of this blog, I had written"
  nix-channel update", without the hyphens. Thanks, Greg)

,----
| nix-env --install nyxt 
`----

  To find this Nyxt and other applications you install via Nix, you
  should add the path to your shell. For example:


,----
| export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.nix-profile/bin
`----

  If this works for you, add it to your .bashrc.

  Lastly, check if you're in the group nix-users. If not, as root

  
,----
|  adduser $your_user_name_here nix-users
`----


4 Errors
========

  If you get
  
,----
|  error: opening lock file ‘/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/profile.lock’: Permission denied
`----

  then rm ~/.nix-profile and try again. This is probably because you
  tried to use nix-env or nix-channel or something while root
  ([4]).


5 Maintenance
=============

  Three basic commands to keep your Nix packages up to date:

,----
|  nix-channel --update nixpkgs
|  nix-env -u '*'
|  nix-collect-garbage -d
`----

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_package_manager
[2]: https://release.debian.org/bullseye/freeze_policy.html
[3]: https://nyxt.atlas.engineer/
[4] https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nix-env-error-opening-lock-file/3556