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Nix packages

Nix is a powerful package manager for Linux and other Unix-like systems. It has a number of unique features which make it different from other traditional package managers:

  • Atomic upgrades and rollbacks: Nix ensures that installing or upgrading one package can't break others.
  • Multi-user package management: Non-privileged users can securely install packages and each user is prevented from interfering with others.
  • Source-based and binary-based: Nix allows you to build packages from source to customize build-time parameters, but also supports binary installs for quicker deployment.

Info

Nix is istalled by default in every Alnoda workspace. Check out Nix package search to find the package you need!

You can install Nix packages with the nix-env -iA nixpkgs. command followed by the package name, like so 

<font color="#5EA702">nix-env</font> -iA nixpkgs.vis

Warning

Nix is designed to be deterministic, which means that it builds packages from source to ensure that the build process is repeatable and results in the exact same output every time. Sometimes installation of Nix package can take time.