nix-store-export(1)

Name

nix-store --export - export store paths to a Nix Archive ⟨@docroot@/store/file-system-object/content-address.md#serial-nix-archive⟩

Synopsis

nix-store --export paths…

Description

The operation --export writes a serialisation of the given store objects ⟨@docroot@/glossary.md#gloss-store-object⟩ to standard output in a format that can be imported into another Nix store ⟨@docroot@/store/index.md⟩ with nix-store --import ⟨./import.md⟩\c .

Warning

This command does not produce a closure ⟨@docroot@/glossary.md#gloss-closure⟩ of the specified store paths. Trying to import a store object that refers to store paths not available in the target Nix store will fail.

Use nix-store --query ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/nix-store/query.md⟩ to obtain the closure of a store path.

This command is different from nix-store --dump ⟨./dump.md⟩\c , which produces a Nix archive ⟨@docroot@/glossary.md#gloss-nar⟩ that does not contain the set of references ⟨@docroot@/glossary.md#gloss-reference⟩ of a given store path.

Note

For efficient transfer of closures to remote machines over SSH, use nix-copy-closure ⟨@docroot@/command-ref/nix-copy-closure.md⟩\c .

Examples

Example

Deploy GNU Hello to an airgapped machine via USB stick.

Write the closure to the block device on a machine with internet connection:

[alice@itchy]$ storePath=$(nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -I nixpkgs=channel:nixpkgs-unstable -A hello --no-out-link)
[alice@itchy]$ nix-store --export $(nix-store --query --requisites $storePath) | sudo dd of=/dev/usb

Read the closure from the block device on the machine without internet connection:

[bob@scratchy]$ hello=$(sudo dd if=/dev/usb | nix-store --import | tail -1)
[bob@scratchy]$ $hello/bin/hello
Hello, world!