pyrox.dev
1<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
2 xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
3 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
4 version="5.0"
5 xml:id="sec-configuration-syntax">
6
7<title>Configuration Syntax</title>
8
9<para>The NixOS configuration file
10<filename>/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename> is actually a
11<emphasis>Nix expression</emphasis>, which is the Nix package
12manager’s purely functional language for describing how to build
13packages and configurations. This means you have all the expressive
14power of that language at your disposal, including the ability to
15abstract over common patterns, which is very useful when managing
16complex systems. The syntax and semantics of the Nix language are
17fully described in the <link
18xlink:href="http://nixos.org/nix/manual/#chap-writing-nix-expressions">Nix
19manual</link>, but here we give a short overview of the most important
20constructs useful in NixOS configuration files.</para>
21
22<xi:include href="config-file.xml" />
23<xi:include href="abstractions.xml" />
24<xi:include href="modularity.xml" />
25<xi:include href="summary.xml" />
26
27</chapter>