399 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			13 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			XML
		
	
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			399 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			13 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			XML
		
	
	
	
	
	
<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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      version="5.0"
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      xml:id="sec-nix-push">
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<refmeta>
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  <refentrytitle>nix-push</refentrytitle>
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  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
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  <refmiscinfo class="source">Nix</refmiscinfo>
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  <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="../version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo>
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</refmeta>
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<refnamediv>
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  <refname>nix-push</refname>
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  <refpurpose>generate a binary cache</refpurpose>
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</refnamediv>
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<refsynopsisdiv>
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  <cmdsynopsis>
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    <command>nix-push</command>
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    <arg choice='plain'><option>--dest</option> <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable></arg>
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    <arg><option>--bzip2</option></arg>
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    <arg><option>--none</option></arg>
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    <arg><option>--force</option></arg>
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    <arg><option>--link</option></arg>
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    <arg><option>--manifest</option></arg>
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    <arg><option>--manifest-path</option> <replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
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    <arg><option>--url-prefix</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></arg>
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    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>paths</replaceable></arg>
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  </cmdsynopsis>
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</refsynopsisdiv>
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<refsection><title>Description</title>
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<para>The command <command>nix-push</command> produces a
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<emphasis>binary cache</emphasis>, a directory containing compressed
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Nix archives (NARs) plus some metadata of the closure of the specified
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store paths.  This directory can then be made available through a web
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server to other Nix installations, allowing them to skip building from
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source and instead download binaries from the cache
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automatically.</para>
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<para><command>nix-push</command> performs the following actions.
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<orderedlist>
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  <listitem><para>Each path in <replaceable>paths</replaceable> is
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  built (using <link
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  linkend='rsec-nix-store-realise'><command>nix-store
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  --realise</command></link>).</para></listitem>
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  <listitem><para>All paths in the closure of
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  <replaceable>paths</replaceable> are determined (using
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  <command>nix-store --query --requisites
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  --include-outputs</command>).  Note that since the
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  <option>--include-outputs</option> flag is used, if
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  <replaceable>paths</replaceable> includes a store derivation, you
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  get a combined source/binary distribution (e.g., source tarballs
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  will be included).</para></listitem>
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  <listitem><para>All store paths determined in the previous step are
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  packaged into a NAR (using <command>nix-store --dump</command>) and
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  compressed using <command>xz</command> or <command>bzip2</command>.
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  The resulting files have the extension <filename>.nar.xz</filename>
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  or <filename>.nar.bz2</filename>.  Also for each store path, Nix
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  generates a file with extension <filename>.narinfo</filename>
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  containing metadata such as the references, cryptographic hash and
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  size of each path.</para></listitem>
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  <listitem><para>Optionally, a single <emphasis>manifest</emphasis>
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  file is created that contains the same metadata as the
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  <filename>.narinfo</filename> files.  This is for compatibility with
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  Nix versions prior to 1.2 (see <command>nix-pull</command> for
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  details).</para></listitem>
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  <listitem><para>A file named <option>nix-cache-info</option> is
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  placed in the destination directory.  The existence of this file
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  marks the directory as a binary cache.</para></listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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</para>
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</refsection>
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<refsection><title>Options</title>
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<variablelist>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--dest</option> <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable></term>
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    <listitem><para>Set the destination directory to
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    <replaceable>dir</replaceable>, which is created if it does not
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    exist.  This flag is required.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--bzip2</option></term>
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    <listitem><para>Compress NARs using <command>bzip2</command>
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    instead of <command>xz -9</command>.  The latter compresses about
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    30% better on typical archives, decompresses about twice as fast,
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    but compresses a lot slower and is not supported by Nix prior to
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    version 1.2.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--none</option></term>
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    <listitem><para>Do not compress NARs.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--force</option></term>
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    <listitem><para>Overwrite <filename>.narinfo</filename> files if
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    they already exist.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--link</option></term>
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    <listitem><para>By default, NARs are generated in the Nix store
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    and then copied to <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable>.  If this
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    option is given, hard links are used instead.  This only works if
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    <replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable> is on the same filesystem as
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    the Nix store.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--manifest</option></term>
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    <listitem><para>Force the generation of a manifest suitable for
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    use by <command>nix-pull</command>.  The manifest is stored as
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    <filename><replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable>/MANIFEST</filename>.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--manifest-path</option> <replaceable>filename</replaceable></term>
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    <listitem><para>Like <option>--manifest</option>, but store the
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    manifest in <replaceable>filename</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><option>--url-prefix</option> <replaceable>url</replaceable></term>
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    <listitem><para>Manifests are expected to contain the absolute
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    URLs of NARs.  For generating these URLs, the prefix
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    <replaceable>url</replaceable> is used.  It defaults to
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    <uri>file://<replaceable>dest-dir</replaceable></uri>.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</refsection>
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<refsection><title>Examples</title>
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<para>To add the closure of Thunderbird to a binary cache:
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<screen>
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$ nix-push --dest /tmp/cache $(nix-build -A thunderbird)
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</screen>
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Assuming that <filename>/tmp/cache</filename> is exported by a web
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server as <uri>http://example.org/cache</uri>, you can then use this
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cache on another machine to speed up the installation of Thunderbird:
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<screen>
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$ nix-build -A thunderbird --option binary-caches http://example.org/cache
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</screen>
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Alternatively, you could add <literal>binary-caches =
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http://example.org/cache</literal> to
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<filename>nix.conf</filename>.</para>
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<para>To also include build-time dependencies (such as source
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tarballs):
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<screen>
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$ nix-push --dest /tmp/cache $(nix-instantiate -A thunderbird)
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</screen>
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</para>
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<para>To generate a manifest suitable for <command>nix-pull</command>:
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<screen>
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$ nix-push --dest /tmp/cache $(nix-build -A thunderbird) --manifest
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</screen>
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On another machine you can then do:
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<screen>
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$ nix-pull http://example.org/cache
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</screen>
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to cause the binaries to be used by subsequent Nix operations.</para>
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</refsection>
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<refsection><title>Binary cache format and operation</title>
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<para>A binary cache with URL <replaceable>url</replaceable> only
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denotes a valid binary cache if the file
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<uri><replaceable>url</replaceable>/nix-cache-info</uri> exists.  If
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this file does not exist (or cannot be downloaded), the cache is
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ignored.  If it does exist, it must be a text file containing cache
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properties.  Here’s an example:
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<screen>
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StoreDir: /nix/store
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WantMassQuery: 1
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Priority: 10
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</screen>
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The properties that are currently supported are:
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<variablelist>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>StoreDir</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The path of the Nix store to which this binary
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    cache applies.  Binaries are not relocatable — a binary built for
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    <filename>/nix/store</filename> won’t generally work in
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    <filename>/home/alice/store</filename> — so to prevent binaries
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    from being used in a wrong store, a binary cache is only used if
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    its <literal>StoreDir</literal> matches the local Nix
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    configuration.  The default is
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    <filename>/nix/store</filename>.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>WantMassQuery</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>Query operations such as <command>nix-env
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    -qas</command> can cause thousands of cache queries, and thus
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    thousands of HTTP requests, to determine which packages are
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    available in binary form.  While these requests are small, not
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    every server may appreciate a potential onslaught of queries.  If
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    <literal>WantMassQuery</literal> is set to <literal>0</literal>
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    (default), “mass queries” such as <command>nix-env -qas</command>
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    will skip this cache.  Thus a package may appear not to have a
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    binary substitute.  However, the binary will still be used when
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    you actually install the package.  If
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    <literal>WantMassQuery</literal> is set to <literal>1</literal>,
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    mass queries will use this cache.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>Priority</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>Each binary cache has a priority (defaulting to
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    50).  Binary caches are checked for binaries in order of ascending
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    priority; thus a higher number denotes a lower priority.  The
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    binary cache <uri>https://cache.nixos.org</uri> has priority
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    40.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</para>
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<para>Every time Nix needs to build some store path
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<replaceable>p</replaceable>, it will check each configured binary
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cache to see if it has a NAR file for <replaceable>p</replaceable>,
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until it finds one.  If no cache has a NAR, Nix will fall back to
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building the path from source (if applicable).  To see if a cache with
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URL <replaceable>url</replaceable> has a binary for
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<replaceable>p</replaceable>, Nix fetches
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<replaceable>url/h</replaceable>, where <replaceable>h</replaceable>
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is the hash part of <replaceable>p</replaceable>.  Thus, if we have a
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cache <uri>https://cache.nixos.org</uri> and we want to obtain the
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store path
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<screen>
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/nix/store/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9-glibc-2.7
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</screen>
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then Nix will attempt to fetch
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<screen>
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https://cache.nixos.org/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9.narinfo
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</screen>
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(Commands such as <command>nix-env -qas</command> will issue an HTTP
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HEAD request, since it only needs to know if the
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<filename>.narinfo</filename> file exists.)  The
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<filename>.narinfo</filename> file is a simple text file that looks
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like this:
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<screen>
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StorePath: /nix/store/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9-glibc-2.7
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URL: nar/0zzjpdz46mdn74v09m053yczlz4am038g8r74iy8w43gx8801h70.nar.bz2
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Compression: bzip2
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FileHash: sha256:0zzjpdz46mdn74v09m053yczlz4am038g8r74iy8w43gx8801h70
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FileSize: 24473768
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NarHash: sha256:0s491y1h9hxj5ghiizlxk7ax6jwbha00zwn7lpyd5xg5bhf60vzg
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NarSize: 109521136
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References: 2ma2k0ys8knh4an48n28vigcmc2z8773-linux-headers-2.6.23.16 ...
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Deriver: 7akyyc87ka32xwmqza9dvyg5pwx3j212-glibc-2.7.drv
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</screen>
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The fields are as follows:
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<variablelist>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>StorePath</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The full store path, including the name part
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    (e.g., <literal>glibc-2.7</literal>).  It must match the
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    requested store path.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>URL</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The URL of the NAR, relative to the binary cache
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    URL.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>Compression</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The compression method; either
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    <literal>xz</literal> or
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    <literal>bzip2</literal>.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>FileHash</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The SHA-256 hash of the compressed
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    NAR.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>FileSize</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The size of the compressed NAR.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>NarHash</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The SHA-256 hash of the uncompressed NAR.  This is
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    equal to the hash of the store path as returned by
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    <command>nix-store -q --hash
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    <replaceable>p</replaceable></command>.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>NarSize</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The size of the uncompressed NAR.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>References</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The references of the store path, without the Nix
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    store prefix.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>Deriver</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The deriver of the store path, without the Nix
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    store prefix.  This field is optional.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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  <varlistentry><term><literal>System</literal></term>
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    <listitem><para>The Nix platform type of this binary, if known.
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    This field is optional.</para></listitem>
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  </varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</para>
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<para>Thus, in our example, after recursively ensuring that the
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references exist (e.g.,
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<filename>/nix/store/2ma2k0ys8knh4an48n28vigcmc2z8773-linux-headers-2.6.23.16</filename>),
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Nix will fetch <screen>
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https://cache.nixos.org/nar/0zzjpdz46mdn74v09m053yczlz4am038g8r74iy8w43gx8801h70.nar.bz2
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</screen> and decompress and unpack it to
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<filename>/nix/store/a8922c0h87iilxzzvwn2hmv8x210aqb9-glibc-2.7</filename>.</para>
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</refsection>
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</refentry>
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