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docs: rework profiles page #11431

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3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions doc/manual/redirects.js
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -373,6 +373,9 @@ const redirects = {
"gloss-local-store": "store/types/local-store.html",
"gloss-chroot-store": "store/types/local-store.html",
},
"files/profiles.html": {
"filesystem-layout": "#profile-contents",
},
};

// the following code matches the current page's URL against the set of redirects.
Expand Down
76 changes: 28 additions & 48 deletions doc/manual/src/command-ref/files/profiles.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,58 +1,38 @@
## Profiles

A directory that contains links to profiles managed by [`nix-env`] and [`nix profile`]:
Profiles are a rudimentary mechanism for version control.
Versions of a profile are also called *generations*.

- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles` for regular users
- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root` if the user is `root`

A profile is a directory of symlinks to files in the Nix store.

### Filesystem layout

Profiles are versioned as follows. When using a profile named *path*, *path* is a symlink to *path*`-`*N*`-link`, where *N* is the version of the profile.
In turn, *path*`-`*N*`-link` is a symlink to a path in the Nix store.
For example:

```console
$ ls -l ~alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 14 Nov 25 14:35 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile -> profile-7-link
lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Oct 28 16:18 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-5-link -> /nix/store/q69xad13ghpf7ir87h0b2gd28lafjj1j-profile
lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Oct 29 13:20 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-6-link -> /nix/store/6bvhpysd7vwz7k3b0pndn7ifi5xr32dg-profile
lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Nov 25 14:35 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link -> /nix/store/mp0x6xnsg0b8qhswy6riqvimai4gm677-profile
```
## Profiles directory

Each of these symlinks is a root for the Nix garbage collector.
A directory managed by [`nix-env`] and [`nix profile`]\ (experimental) that contains symlinks to files in the [Nix store](@docroot@/glossary.md#gloss-store):

The contents of the store path corresponding to each version of the
profile is a tree of symlinks to the files of the installed packages,
e.g.

```console
$ ll -R ~eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/
/home/eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/:
total 20
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 bin
-r--r--r-- 2 root root 1402 Jan 1 1970 manifest.nix
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 share
- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles` for regular users
- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root` if the user is `root`

/home/eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/bin:
total 20
lrwxrwxrwx 5 root root 79 Jan 1 1970 chromium -> /nix/store/ijm5k0zqisvkdwjkc77mb9qzb35xfi4m-chromium-86.0.4240.111/bin/chromium
lrwxrwxrwx 7 root root 87 Jan 1 1970 spotify -> /nix/store/w9182874m1bl56smps3m5zjj36jhp3rn-spotify-1.1.26.501.gbe11e53b-15/bin/spotify
lrwxrwxrwx 3 root root 79 Jan 1 1970 zoom-us -> /nix/store/wbhg2ga8f3h87s9h5k0slxk0m81m4cxl-zoom-us-5.3.469451.0927/bin/zoom-us
## Profile contents

/home/eelco/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link/share/applications:
total 12
lrwxrwxrwx 4 root root 120 Jan 1 1970 chromium-browser.desktop -> /nix/store/4cf803y4vzfm3gyk3vzhzb2327v0kl8a-chromium-unwrapped-86.0.4240.111/share/applications/chromium-browser.desktop
lrwxrwxrwx 7 root root 110 Jan 1 1970 spotify.desktop -> /nix/store/w9182874m1bl56smps3m5zjj36jhp3rn-spotify-1.1.26.501.gbe11e53b-15/share/applications/spotify.desktop
lrwxrwxrwx 3 root root 107 Jan 1 1970 us.zoom.Zoom.desktop -> /nix/store/wbhg2ga8f3h87s9h5k0slxk0m81m4cxl-zoom-us-5.3.469451.0927/share/applications/us.zoom.Zoom.desktop
For a profile named *path*, the entry *path* in the [profiles directory](#profiles-directory) is a symlink to *path*`-`*N*`-link`, where *N* is the version of the profile.
In turn, *path*`-`*N*`-link` is a symlink to a [store path](@docroot@/glossary.md#gloss-store-path).

…
```
Each of these symlinks is a root for the Nix [garbage collector](@docroot@/command-ref/nix-store/gc.md).

Each profile version contains a manifest file:
- [`manifest.nix`](@docroot@/command-ref/files/manifest.nix.md) used by [`nix-env`](@docroot@/command-ref/nix-env.md).
- [`manifest.json`](@docroot@/command-ref/files/manifest.json.md) used by [`nix profile`](@docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-profile.md) (experimental).
- [`manifest.nix`](@docroot@/command-ref/files/manifest.nix.md) used by [`nix-env`]
- [`manifest.json`](@docroot@/command-ref/files/manifest.json.md) used by [`nix profile`]\ (experimental)

> **Example**
>
> The default profile of user `alice` points to generation 7.
> The oldest generation available is 5.
>
> ```console
> $ ls -l ~alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile*
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 14 Nov 25 14:35 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile -> profile-7-link
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Oct 28 16:18 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-5-link -> /nix/store/q69xad13ghpf7ir87h0b2gd28lafjj1j-profile
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Oct 29 13:20 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-6-link -> /nix/store/6bvhpysd7vwz7k3b0pndn7ifi5xr32dg-profile
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 alice users 51 Nov 25 14:35 /home/alice/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile-7-link -> /nix/store/mp0x6xnsg0b8qhswy6riqvimai4gm677-profile
> ```

## User profile link

Expand All @@ -66,9 +46,9 @@ By default, this symlink points to:
- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles/profile` for regular users
- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root/profile` for `root`

The `PATH` environment variable should include `/bin` subdirectory of the profile link (e.g. `~/.nix-profile/bin`) for the user environment to be visible to the user.
The [installer](@docroot@/installation/installing-binary.md) sets this up by default, unless you enable [`use-xdg-base-directories`].
The `PATH` environment variable should include the `/bin` subdirectory of the profile link (e.g. `~/.nix-profile/bin`) for executables in that profile to be exposed to the user.
The [Nix installer](@docroot@/installation/installing-binary.md) sets this up by default, unless you enable [`use-xdg-base-directories`].

[`nix-env`]: @docroot@/command-ref/nix-env.md
[`nix profile`]: @docroot@/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-profile.md
[`nix-env`]: @docroot@/command-ref/nix-env.md
[`use-xdg-base-directories`]: @docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-use-xdg-base-directories
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