How am I meant to use the `nix edit` command?

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1

As I understand it, nix edit is there to view code in $EDITOR

From the man pages:

       nix edit - open the Nix expression of a Nix package in $EDITOR

But when I try to run it

$  nix edit nixpkgs#isync
error: flake 'flake:nixpkgs' does not provide attribute 'packages.x86_64-linux.default' or 'defaultPackage.x86_64-linux'

Is there a particular way I’m supposed to run it?

2

Nixpkgs exposes its packages through the legacyPackages output - this is because nixpkgs is a traditional nested package set, which is currently unsupported by the flake proposal (reason #2747829 for why flakes aren’t ready yet…).

Apparently that command doesn’t check the legacyPackages output.

That said, I find this strange. The reference docs explicitly show nixpkgs being supported:

# nix edit nixpkgs#hello

Additionally, your output contains this:

… the default* outputs were deprecated… 3, maybe 4 years ago?

Either this command has bitrotted and the docs are lying, or your nix is ancient.

3

Interesting,

well I am running 24.11.

My nix version is

nix (Nix) 2.24.14

4

The current nix version for 24.11 is 2.91.1. You should double check that your config is deployed correctly, sounds like your system is 3-4 years out of date in practice. Nope, ignore that, forgot I switched to lix.

This seems like an upstream bug then! Aaaand nope, @NobbZ is definitely correct.

5

Your shell reads the # as the start of a comment. Disable this feature for interactive prompts or quote/escape it.

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