Name

       nix-copy-closure - copy a closure to or from a remote machine via SSH

Synopsis

       nix-copy-closure  [--to  |  --from]  [--gzip] [--include-outputs] [--use-substitutes | -s]
       [-v] user@machine paths

Description

       nix-copy-closure gives you  an  easy  and  efficient  way  to  exchange  software  between
       machines.   Given  one  or  more  Nix  store  paths on the local machine, nix-copy-closure
       computes the closure of those paths (i.e. all their dependencies in the  Nix  store),  and
       copies  all paths in the closure to the remote machine via the ssh (Secure Shell) command.
       With the --from option, the direction is reversed:  the  closure  of  paths  on  a  remote
       machine is copied to the Nix store on the local machine.

       This  command  is  efficient because it only sends the store paths that are missing on the
       target machine.

       Since nix-copy-closure calls ssh, you may be asked to type in the appropriate password  or
       passphrase.   In  fact, you may be asked twice because nix-copy-closure currently connects
       twice to the remote machine, first to get the set of paths missing on the target  machine,
       and second to send the dump of those paths.  If this bothers you, use ssh-agent.

Options

       • --to
         Copy  the closure of paths from the local Nix store to the Nix store on machine. This is
         the default.

       • --from
         Copy the closure of paths from the Nix store on machine to the local Nix store.

       • --gzip
         Enable compression of the SSH connection.

       • --include-outputs
         Also copy the outputs of store derivations included in the closure.

       • --use-substitutes / -s
         Attempt to  download  missing  paths  on  the  target  machine  using  Nix’s  substitute
         mechanism.  Any paths that cannot be substituted on the target are still copied normally
         from the source.  This is useful, for instance, if the connection between the source and
         target machine is slow, but the connection between the target machine and nixos.org (the
         default binary cache server) is fast.

       • -v
         Show verbose output.

Environment variables

       • NIX_SSHOPTS
         Additional options to be passed to ssh on the command line.

Examples

       Copy Firefox with all its dependencies to a remote machine:

       $ nix-copy-closure --to alice@itchy.labs $(type -tP firefox)

       Copy Subversion from a remote machine and then install it into a user environment:

       $ nix-copy-closure --from alice@itchy.labs \
           /nix/store/0dj0503hjxy5mbwlafv1rsbdiyx1gkdy-subversion-1.4.4
       $ nix-env -i /nix/store/0dj0503hjxy5mbwlafv1rsbdiyx1gkdy-subversion-1.4.4

                                                                              nix-copy-closure(1)