# Confusing errors/suggestions
**URL:** https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [June 22, 2023, 6:13am UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473 "2023-06-22T06:13:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@asheshambasta](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/asheshambasta)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2023, 6:13am UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/1 "2023-06-22T06:13:58Z")
I’ve been trying to use `pw-jack`, and I’ve enabled & installed `pipewire`.
However, I get:
```auto
-> % pw-jack
The program 'pw-jack' is currently not installed. You can install it
by typing:
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.pipewire.out
Or run it once with:
nix-shell -p pipewire.out --run ...
-> % nix-shell -p pipewire.out <<<
[nix-shell:~]$ pw-jack
The program 'pw-jack' is not in your PATH. You can make it available in an
ephemeral shell by typing:
nix-shell -p pipewire
```
Which means that Nix provides invalid suggestions. I’m assuming this is derived from the `outputs` of a derivation.
However, `pipewire` also has an output named `jack`, so you actually need:
```auto
nix-shell -p pipewire.jack
```
Which should’ve been the suggestion to try from Nix.
This can be improved.
```auto
23.05.419.3a70dd92993 (Stoat)
```
---
### Author:  [@vcunat](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/vcunat)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/2 "2023-06-22T10:11:01Z")
[https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/129713](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/129713)
---
### Author:  [@ddellacosta](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/ddellacosta)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2025, 3:20am UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/3 "2025-10-03T03:20:47Z")
It’s frustrating that this is how I figured out that I needed pipewire.jack, but at the same time I really appreciate that you made this post. Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@waffle8946](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/waffle8946)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2025, 7:10am UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/4 "2025-10-03T07:10:35Z")
Just use `nix-locate` from [GitHub - nix-community/nix-index-database: Weekly updated nix-index database [maintainer=@Mic92]](https://github.com/nix-community/nix-index-database), it will give you the correct _output_ to use.
```auto
$ nix-locate -w /bin/pw-jack
pipewire.jack 1,386 x /nix/store/1msx6gm9xbg43bxi0ydhbc7j8ayrsl04-pipewire-1.4.7-jack/bin/pw-jack
```
---
### Author:  [@aidan](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/aidan)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2026, 7:47am UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/5 "2026-09-05T07:47:45Z")
This should be on the wiki
---
### Author:  [@waffle8946](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/waffle8946)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/6 "2026-09-06T14:01:03Z")
Feel free to add it, everyone has access to edit it 🙂
---
### Author:  [@aidan](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/aidan)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 7:50pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/7 "2026-09-15T19:50:26Z")
I don’t know enough to comfortably contribute to Nix learning materials
---
### Author:  [@rhendric](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/rhendric)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/8 "2026-09-15T20:09:42Z")
Anyone with the confidence to stand up in public and say, ‘This should be on the wiki,’ (or in the manual, or in any other plain-English public source of Nix information) should have the confidence to put it on the wiki (or submit a PR, etc.). You know better than anyone else in the world the change you want to see.
---
### Author:  [@aidan](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/aidan)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 9:46pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/9 "2026-09-15T21:46:50Z")
No this I strongly disagree with. Being able to identify a gap in information and being able to fill it without misinforming people is a very different thing.
For example on Wikipedia I might make an edit fixing a formatting, word use, or other mistake- but I’m not going to add a section to a randomness page explaining the physics of why atomic clocks are random, because I don’t understand it, even if I think it should be added.
I was able to get pw-jack working for me but I don’t have enough Nix language(or sound server) knowledge to explain it in a generally useful way.
Edit: To expand, could I learn it, yes, I think almost anyone could learn almost anything. But a lot of people here already have a better understanding of it, just maybe wouldn’t otherwise think of adding it to the wiki(because when you do know something its easy to forget what it was like to not). In the future(maybe even near future), I could be one of the people confident enough to add it, but that is not me now.
---
### Author:  [@rhendric](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/rhendric)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/10 "2026-09-15T22:48:14Z")
You’ve spent more effort writing this reply to me than it would have taken to drop a link to this topic on the appropriate wiki page, with a sentence or two about why you found it helpful and/or whatever caveats about your inexperience you think are necessary.
---
### Author:  [@aidan](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/aidan)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/11 "2026-09-15T23:21:02Z")
I agree(to some extent, I do write long comments/arguments all the time so its not thaaat much) on effort(maybe that shows that my reluctance to do it myself is not about laziness).
I’ll try to explain where I feel stuck on adding it myself and you can teach me if you want.
Presumably I’d put it on this page [PipeWire - Official NixOS Wiki](https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/PipeWire) as it explains basic pipewire config(with the wrappers, I’m not sure if wrappers is the correct terms, adapters, or something else)
I’m not sure if `services.pipewire.jack.enable` does anything without `pw-jack` being invoked, so I assume it shouldn’t be under the general “Configuring PipeWire” category. (And conversely I’m not sure if it has to be enable for `pw-jack` to work.) These two questions are answerable just by rebuilding my system, but that would be an hour of rebuilding.
I’d probably put it under “Advanced Configuration” with a subcategory like “Using `pw-jack`", and then I don’t know what I’d put for it. Just a code example of using `pkgs.pipewire.jack` in my systemPackages? Whether I’d say JACK has to be enable would depend on my previous question.
Or just drop the link in “See Also”, but that is not exactly useful to most readers I don’t think have an unannotated link dropped at the end of the article. Maybe I could do “Using pw-jack - [link]” but I don’t see that in the other “See Also” links so I don’t know if it fits the style.
Obviously its not impossible, I’m just explaining why it can make more sense for someone already more knowledgeable than I to do it. After all, I’m sure you’ve both submitted PRs and bug reports for open source projects, often a bug report is less burdensome for both maintainers and users than a newbies attempt at a change.
> [@rhendric](#):
>
> or whatever caveats about your inexperience you think are necessary.
Generally that sort of thing(talking about the specific editor) doesn’t fit the style of a wiki(IMO), unless you mean in the talk page/edit explanation.
---
### Author:  [@rhendric](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/rhendric)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/12 "2026-09-15T23:37:46Z")
Again: you are the world’s foremost expert on why you think this (for whatever value of ‘this’) should be on the wiki.
Example: you think this should be on the wiki because you went to the wiki before finding this Discourse topic, and found yourself frustrated with the information there because it didn’t solve your problem. So: what pages and sections did you read, in what order? Where would a link to this topic have cut off your search first? Put it there.
Don’t over-index on matching the existing style or tone. Wiki is [worse-is-better](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worse_is_better) documentation. Anyone who disagrees with what you write or how you write it can come along and clean it up afterward. Focus on making the wiki more helpful than it was before you edited it. It doesn’t have to be _maximally_ helpful. It doesn’t have to read like an authoritative article written by an expert. It just has to help with the problem that motivated you to necro a years-old topic with, ‘This should be on the wiki.’
---
### Author:  [@aidan](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/aidan)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:50pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/confusing-errors-suggestions/29473/13 "2026-09-15T23:50:06Z")
I guess that’s a different approach compared to what I’m used to (the only wiki I’ve really edited much is Wikipedia- where avoiding low quality content is sometimes more important than including everything). I still don’t feel comfortable adding a whole section with the information gap I listed, but I did just add a line to the “See Also” section