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<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:id="sec-ad-hoc-packages">
<title>Ad-Hoc Package Management</title>
<para>
With the command <literal>nix-env</literal>, you can install and
uninstall packages from the command line. For instance, to install
Mozilla Thunderbird:
</para>
<programlisting>
$ nix-env -iA nixos.thunderbird
</programlisting>
<para>
If you invoke this as root, the package is installed in the Nix
profile <literal>/nix/var/nix/profiles/default</literal> and visible
to all users of the system; otherwise, the package ends up in
<literal>/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/username/profile</literal>
and is not visible to other users. The <literal>-A</literal> flag
specifies the package by its attribute name; without it, the package
is installed by matching against its package name (e.g.
<literal>thunderbird</literal>). The latter is slower because it
requires matching against all available Nix packages, and is
ambiguous if there are multiple matching packages.
</para>
<para>
Packages come from the NixOS channel. You typically upgrade a
package by updating to the latest version of the NixOS channel:
</para>
<programlisting>
$ nix-channel --update nixos
</programlisting>
<para>
and then running <literal>nix-env -i</literal> again. Other packages
in the profile are <emphasis>not</emphasis> affected; this is the
crucial difference with the declarative style of package management,
where running <literal>nixos-rebuild switch</literal> causes all
packages to be updated to their current versions in the NixOS
channel. You can however upgrade all packages for which there is a
newer version by doing:
</para>
<programlisting>
$ nix-env -u '*'
</programlisting>
<para>
A package can be uninstalled using the <literal>-e</literal> flag:
</para>
<programlisting>
$ nix-env -e thunderbird
</programlisting>
<para>
Finally, you can roll back an undesirable <literal>nix-env</literal>
action:
</para>
<programlisting>
$ nix-env --rollback
</programlisting>
<para>
<literal>nix-env</literal> has many more flags. For details, see the
nix-env(1) manpage or the Nix manual.
</para>
</section>
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