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

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+# Building Nix from Source
+
+After unpacking or checking out the Nix sources, issue the following
+commands:
+
+    $ ./configure options...
+    $ make
+    $ make install
+
+Nix requires GNU Make so you may need to invoke `gmake` instead.
+
+When building from the Git repository, these should be preceded by the
+command:
+
+    $ ./bootstrap.sh
+
+The installation path can be specified by passing the `--prefix=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
+`--with-store-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 `--localstatedir=path`.