nix-index-database

Weekly updated nix-index database

This repository also provides nixos modules and home-manager modules that add a nix-index wrapper to use the database from this repository.

The home-manager module also allows integration with the existing command-not-found functionality.

Demo

$ nix run github:nix-community/nix-index-database bin/cntr
cntr.out                                        978,736 x /nix/store/09p2hys5bxcnzcaad3bknlnwsgdkznl1-cntr-1.5.1/bin/cntr

Requirements

• Nix 2.18 or newer: In our packages we make use of unsafeDiscardReferences to skip the nix store checks. On older nix version these packages might fail.

Usage in NixOS

Include the nixos module in your configuration (requires 23.05 or nixos unstable)

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable-small";
  
    nix-index-database.url = "github:nix-community/nix-index-database";
    nix-index-database.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, nix-index-database, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations = {
      my-nixos = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
        system = "x86_64-linux";
        modules = [
          ./configuration.nix
          nix-index-database.nixosModules.nix-index
          # optional to also wrap and install comma
          # { programs.nix-index-database.comma.enable = true; }
        ];
      };
    };
  };
}

You can then call nix-locate as usual, it will automatically use the database provided by this repository.

Usage in Home-manager

1. Follow the manual to set up home-manager with flakes.
2. Include the home-manager module in your configuration:

{
  inputs = {
    # Specify the source of Home Manager and Nixpkgs.
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    home-manager = {
      url = "github:nix-community/home-manager";
      inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };
    
    nix-index-database.url = "github:nix-community/nix-index-database";
    nix-index-database.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
  };
  outputs = { nixpkgs, home-manager, nix-index-database, ... }:
    let
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.${system};
    in {
      homeConfigurations.jdoe = home-manager.lib.homeManagerConfiguration {
        inherit pkgs;

        modules = [
          nix-index-database.hmModules.nix-index
          # optional to also wrap and install comma
          # { programs.nix-index-database.comma.enable = true; }
        ];
      };
    };

}

You can then call nix-locate as usual, it will automatically use the database provided by this repository.

Additionally, if your shell is managed by home-manager, you can have nix-index integrate with your shell's command-not-found functionality by setting programs.nix-index.enable = true.

Ad-hoc download

download_nixpkgs_cache_index () {
  filename="index-$(uname -m | sed 's/^arm64$/aarch64/')-$(uname | tr A-Z a-z)"
  mkdir -p ~/.cache/nix-index && cd ~/.cache/nix-index
  # -N will only download a new version if there is an update.
  wget -q -N https://github.com/nix-community/nix-index-database/releases/latest/download/$filename
  ln -f $filename files
}

download_nixpkgs_cache_index