Modifying shell activation script to resolve PATH issue in Nix installation

[pedorich-n]

Hello!

Context

I am using Nix installation of rtx, from nixpkgs.

In Nix, packages are stored in the /nix/store/... directory, and they're symlinked to ~/.nix-profile/bin/... directory, and then the ~/.nix-profile/bin/ folder is added to the PATH variable.

So for me, right now, the "real" rtx path is /nix/store/4gc4pzmzdliim6fd978diis8pnxlshal-rtx-1.32.2/bin/rtx, and it's exposed in Nix profile folder:

~ ❯ ls -go ~/.nix-profile/bin/ | grep rtx                    
lrwxrwxrwx 1  62 Jan  1  1970 rtx -> /nix/store/4gc4pzmzdliim6fd978diis8pnxlshal-rtx-1.32.2/bin/rtx

Problem

When rtx's shell activation script runs, it can't find the rtx binary in PATH (because it looks for "real" /nix/store/... path) and exposes it again.

~ ❯ echo $PATH 
...:/nix/store/4gc4pzmzdliim6fd978diis8pnxlshal-rtx-1.32.2/bin:/home/user/.nix-profile/bin:...

It's not a big problem, but it causes some inconvenience.

Is there a way to change this behavior? I am happy to help with the PR, but I couldn't think of a good way to solve this without breaking the program for people who have rtx installed via https://rtx.pub/install.sh or just plain binary.

[jdx]

we could exclude that logic from doing anything if it's installed to /nix

[pedorich-n]

Personally, I would prefer a more "generic" solution (like a flag or more flexible setting), but if you think that's okay, then it's okay.
I can work on it.

[jdx]

the problem with that is nix users would need to know to add it

[jdx]

we could probably also have a generic setting but I'm willing to wait until I hear of other use-cases

[pedorich-n]

Resolved in: #675

[dudicoco]

What is the advantage of using rtx within nix?
It's a package manager within a package manager.