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