nix-super/doc/manual/book.xml
2003-08-07 14:17:18 +00:00

102 lines
2.6 KiB
XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE book SYSTEM "/nix/current/xml/dtd/docbook/docbookx.dtd"
[
]>
<book>
<title>Nix: The Manual</title>
<!--======================================================================-->
<chapter>
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>
Nix is a system for the automatic creation and distribution of data, such
as computer programs and other software artifacts.
</para>
</chapter>
<!--======================================================================-->
<chapter>
<title>Installation</title>
<sect1>
<title>Prerequisites</title>
<para>
Nix uses Sleepycat's Berkeley DB and CWI's ATerm library. However,
these are fetched automatically as part of the build process.
</para>
<para>
Other than that, you need a good C++ compiler. GCC 2.95 does not
appear to work; please use GCC 3.x.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Obtaining Nix</title>
<para>
Nix can be obtained from its <ulink
url='http://losser.st-lab.cs.uu.nl:12080/repos/trace/nix/trunk'>Subversion
repository</ulink>. For example, the following command will check
out the latest revision into a directory called
<filename>nix</filename>:
</para>
<screen>
$ svn checkout http://losser.st-lab.cs.uu.nl:12080/repos/trace/nix/trunk nix</screen>
<para>
Likewise, specific releases can be obtained from the <ulink
url='http://losser.st-lab.cs.uu.nl:12080/repos/trace/nix/tags'>tags
directory</ulink> of the repository. If you don't have Subversion,
you can download a <ulink
url='http://losser.st-lab.cs.uu.nl:12080/dist/trace/'>compressed
tar-file</ulink> of the latest revision of the repository.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Building Nix</title>
<para>
To build Nix, do the following:
</para>
<screen>
$ autoreconf -i
$ ./configure <replaceable>options...</replaceable>
$ make
$ make install</screen>
<para>
Currently, the only useful switch for <command>configure</command> is
<option>--prefix=<replaceable>prefix</replaceable></option> to specify
where Nix is to be installed. The default installation directory is
<filename>/nix</filename>. You can change this to any location you
like. You should ensure that you have write permission to the
installation prefix.
</para>
<warning>
<para>
It is advisable <emphasis>not</emphasis> to change the installation
prefix, since doing so will in all likelihood make it impossible to
use derivates built on other systems.
</para>
</warning>
</sect1>
</chapter>
</book>