Aha! Now see this:
[root@starnix:/home/trusktr]# ll /nix/store/8v0n7zn9hpmqays85zwibyfivr4ddyy4-nixos-19.09.1778.db3e8325a9b/nixos
total 3592
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1097 Dec 31 1969 COPYING
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 968 Dec 31 1969 default.nix
dr-xr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 doc
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 lib
dr-xr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 maintainers
dr-xr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 nixos
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Dec 31 1969 nixpkgs -> .
dr-xr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 pkgs
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 3637248 Dec 31 1969 programs.sqlite
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 5726 Dec 31 1969 README.md
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 18 Dec 31 1969 svn-revision
Note the link nixpkgs -> .
I’m wondering why the default steps in the manual lead to this being the case.