nix-super/doc/manual/installation/building-source.xml

<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
      xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
      version="5.0"
      xml:id="sec-building-source">

<title>Building Nix from Source</title>

<para>After unpacking or checking out the Nix sources, issue the
following commands:

<screen>
$ ./configure <replaceable>options...</replaceable>
$ make
$ make install</screen>

Nix requires GNU Make so you may need to invoke
<command>gmake</command> instead.</para>

<para>When building from the Git repository, these should be preceded
by the command:

<screen>
$ ./bootstrap.sh</screen>

</para>

<para>The installation path can be specified by passing the
<option>--prefix=<replaceable>prefix</replaceable></option> to
<command>configure</command>.  The default installation directory is
<filename>/usr/local</filename>.  You can change this to any location
you like.  You must have write permission to the
<replaceable>prefix</replaceable> path.</para>

<para>Nix keeps its <emphasis>store</emphasis> (the place where
packages are stored) in <filename>/nix/store</filename> by default.
This can be changed using
<option>--with-store-dir=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option>.</para>

<warning><para>It is best <emphasis>not</emphasis> to change the Nix
store from its default, since doing so makes it impossible to use
pre-built binaries from the standard Nixpkgs channels — that is, all
packages will need to be built from source.</para></warning>

<para>Nix keeps state (such as its database and log files) in
<filename>/nix/var</filename> by default.  This can be changed using
<option>--localstatedir=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option>.</para>

</section>