What happend after `nix-env -iA nixpkgs`?

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I was going to type nix-env -iA nixpkgs.bsdgames, but I accidentally typed nix-env -iA nixpkgs instead. After a few seconds of silence, I stopped it with CTRL+C. However, I think something happened during that brief period. Later, when I ran nix-collect-garbage, there were some lines mentioning things that I never intended to install. Does running nix-env -iA nixpkgs install all packages under nixpkgs?

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Yes, since that will match all attributes. nix-env has a bunch of footguns like this: https://stop-using-nix-env.privatevoid.net/

It probably has the highest footgun-to-feature ratio of anything in the ecosystem.

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Yep, since I started using NixOS several weeks ago, I have never used nix-env. :smiley: I was just reading The Garbage Collector - Nix Pills and tried it hands-on, and that’s when the footgun happened D:

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