Building Nix from Source with Meson

doc/manual/source/installation/building-source.md

2874e2045d20fa45c11241609d13337b7f0d1f255e06bc9600000003000004b0

# Building Nix from Source

Nix is built with [Meson](https://mesonbuild.com/).
It is broken up into multiple Meson packages, which are optionally combined in a single project using Meson's [subprojects](https://mesonbuild.com/Subprojects.html) feature.

There are no mandatory extra steps to the building process:
generic Meson installation instructions like [this](https://mesonbuild.com/Quick-guide.html#using-meson-as-a-distro-packager) should work.

The installation path can be specified by passing the `-Dprefix=prefix`
to `configure`. The default installation directory is `/usr/local`. You
can change this to any location you like. You must have write permission
to the *prefix* path.

Nix keeps its *store* (the place where packages are stored) in
`/nix/store` by default. This can be changed using
`-Dstore-dir=path`.

> **Warning**
>
> It is best *not* to change the Nix store from its default, since doing
> so makes it impossible to use pre-built binaries from the standard
> Nixpkgs channels — that is, all packages will need to be built from
> source.

Nix keeps state (such as its database and log files) in `/nix/var` by
default. This can be changed using `-Dlocalstatedir=path`.

Chunks

c080086c (1st chunk of `doc/manual/source/installation/building-source.md`)

Title: Building Nix from Source with Meson

Summary

Nix is built using Meson and can be configured using standard Meson installation procedures. The installation path is set with `-Dprefix=prefix`, defaulting to `/usr/local`. The store path (where packages are stored) is set with `-Dstore-dir=path`, defaulting to `/nix/store`. Changing the store path is discouraged as it prevents the use of pre-built binaries. The state directory is set with `-Dlocalstatedir=path`, defaulting to `/nix/var`.