| 4 Aug 2022 |
 fricklerhandwerk | * Solène (she/her) Linux Hackerman What about this:
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make a NixOS Wiki page on searching packages, show all the possibilities, explain the trade-offs
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choose a recommended way of doing things, note reasons
- prepare an issue on github.com/NixOS/nix.dev for the documentation team to shepherd the the discussion
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roll out the recommendation at the relevant points of interaction, e.g. the configuration.nix template, nix.dev, nixos.wiki
| 08:45:10 |
 Solène Rapenne (she/her) | that seems good! | 08:46:26 |
| fricklerhandwerk | Solène (she/her): would you like to write a quick draft on the Wiki? | 08:54:01 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | sure | 08:54:14 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | this is a start for the wiki https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Searching_packages | 09:25:58 |
 hexa | I wonder whether an example for a network configuration using networkd would be appreciated in the sample configuration.nix | 10:49:59 |
| hexa | to move the sorry state that of people using the scripted networking bits | 10:50:56 |
| hexa | * to move the sorry state. that alot of people us the scripted networking bits, along | 10:51:11 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | actually using the nix repl isn't that bad, any other idea for a way to search a package?
In the wiki I'd prefer to avoid the "nix search" experimental command that has to be run near a flake.nix file | 12:31:37 |
 a-kenji | In reply to @rapenne-s:tchncs.de
actually using the nix repl isn't that bad, any other idea for a way to search a package?
In the wiki I'd prefer to avoid the "nix search" experimental command that has to be run near a flake.nix file You don't need to run it near a flake.nix file, or? | 12:32:29 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | > nix search
path '/home/solene' does not contain a 'flake.nix', searching up
error: could not find a flake.nix file
| 12:32:51 |
 Minion3665 | In reply to @rapenne-s:tchncs.de
actually using the nix repl isn't that bad, any other idea for a way to search a package?
In the wiki I'd prefer to avoid the "nix search" experimental command that has to be run near a flake.nix file Nix search doesn't need a flake.nix file
You can run nix search nixpkgs packagename and it'll search in the nixpkgs flake | 12:32:52 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | that's pretty cool, nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" search nixpkgs firefox | 12:33:57 |
| Minion3665 | In reply to @rapenne-s:tchncs.de
that's pretty cool, nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" search nixpkgs firefox Yep
That'll work :) | 12:34:32 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | it's just too bad it needs to download 30MB every so often :D | 12:34:51 |
| a-kenji | In reply to @rapenne-s:tchncs.de
that's pretty cool, nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" search nixpkgs firefox You can also search exact by nixpkgs#firefox | 12:34:56 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | it's not really faster than nix-env -aqP | 12:35:52 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | "we have 5 ways to search packges and most of them are bad" :D | 12:36:03 |
| Minion3665 | In reply to @rapenne-s:tchncs.de
it's not really faster than nix-env -aqP It caches it though, so it's much faster on the next run, and it's much faster on exact matches | 12:36:18 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | indeed, if I re-run it's faster | 12:36:51 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | and pick up where I aborted | 12:36:56 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | now, I think https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Searching_packages is puzzling for new users, how to pick one solution over another? | 12:39:01 |
| Minion3665 | Hmmm, well perhaps we should at least provide a pros/cons section for each of them rather than just some, as that way it's easier to compare
We could maybe even put them in a table but that's probably not necessary | 12:41:49 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | I think pros / cons should be removed, and just add a sentence in the first paragraph to tell they are listed in an order of the most preferable to the least practical | 12:42:47 |
| Solène Rapenne (she/her) | using pros/cons is like having 3 wishes at a djin but you know each one has a drawback :D | 12:44:05 |
| Minion3665 | Haha yes perhaps
Although in this case it is somewhat accurate, so we at least do need to tell the reader about the drawbacks of each approach | 12:46:21 |
| fricklerhandwerk | I agree (and proposed) to list pros/cons, because this is reference. Be honest about what is going on, let the readers judge on their own. Then use the tutorial layer (i.e. nix.dev) to pick the recommended way and link to the reference. | 12:50:07 |
 Sandro 🐧 | just use search.nixos.org | 13:04:04 |
 pennae | how does search.nixos.org get to the data it displays? (if it read docbook we'll have to somehow fix that for the md migration) | 13:12:59 |
 Jan Tojnar | pennae: it uses pypandoc | 15:42:19 |
