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shajra/nix_path_confuses.txt

Created October 31, 2018 15:39
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Can someone explain how NIX_PATH works?
Raw
nix_path_confuses.txt
I understand how names are set explicitly on NIX_PATH:
$ NIX_PATH=nixpkgs=/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos \
> nix eval nixpkgs.lib.version
"19.03pre155751.45a419ab5a2"
But this seems to indicate that raw paths can be put on NIX_PATH to override settings:
$ NIX_PATH=/home/tnks/.nix-defexpr/channels:nixpkgs=/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos \
> nix eval nixpkgs.lib.version
"19.03pre155767.8070a6333f3"
However, this only seems to work when overriding, not in isolation:
$ NIX_PATH=/home/tnks/.nix-defexpr/channels \
> nix eval nixpkgs.lib.version
error: attribute 'nixpkgs' in selection path 'nixpkgs.lib.version' not found
What is going on here?
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