How to use nix-company.el

[alexarice]

I cannot work out how to use the nix-company.el file. It does not seem to make it into my installation.

.
├── nix-support
│   └── setup-hook
└── share
    └── emacs
        └── site-lisp
            └── elpa
                └── nix-mode-20190703.526
                    ├── nix-build.el
                    ├── nix-build.elc
                    ├── nix-drv-mode.el
                    ├── nix-edit.el
                    ├── nix-edit.elc
                    ├── nix.el
                    ├── nix.elc
                    ├── nix-format.el
                    ├── nix-format.elc
                    ├── nix-instantiate.el
                    ├── nix-instantiate.elc
                    ├── nix-log.el
                    ├── nix-log.elc
                    ├── nix-mode-autoloads.el
                    ├── nix-mode.el
                    ├── nix-mode.elc
                    ├── nix-mode-pkg.el
                    ├── nix-prettify-mode.el
                    ├── nix-prettify-mode.elc
                    ├── nix-repl.el
                    ├── nix-repl.elc
                    ├── nix-search.el
                    ├── nix-search.elc
                    ├── nix-shebang.el
                    ├── nix-shebang.elc
                    ├── nix-shell.el
                    ├── nix-shell.elc
                    ├── nix-store.el
                    └── nix-store.elc

6 directories, 30 files

I currently have nix-mode installed by

(use-package nix-mode
:mode "\\.nix\\'"
:custom
(nix-indent-function 'nix-indent-line)
)

but company-nix does not seem to be an available backend

[matthewbauer]

I'm not sure why it is missing from the install.

I think it also may be broken currently. nix repl was changed since company-nix was originally written. It was originally contributed by @ljli and hopefully we can rework it to support the newer nix repl. Something like this should configure it:

(use-package nix-company
    :ensure nil
    :commands nix-company
    :hook (nix-mode . (lambda ()
                        (setq-local company-backends '(nix-company))))
    )

But you also need to start a nix-repl buffer to work.

[alexarice]

I have tried this and get

Cannot open load file: No such file or directory, nix-company

I currently have the configuration

(use-package nix-company
:commands (company-nix)
)

(use-package nix-drv-mode
:mode "\\.drv\\'"
)

(use-package nix-mode
:mode "\\.nix\\'"
:custom
(nix-indent-function 'nix-indent-line)
)

(use-package nix-repl
:commands (nix-repl)
)

(use-package nix-shell
:commands (nix-shell-unpack nix-shell-configure nix-shell-build)
)

(use-package nix-update
)

(use-package nixos-options
:defer t
)

as well as

(use-package company
:config
(progn
(add-hook 'LaTeX-mode
(lambda ()
(set (make-local-variable 'company-backends) '(company-auctex company-dabbrev company-bbdb company-oddmuse company-eclim company-semantic company-xcode company-cmake company-capf company-files (company-dabbrev-code company-gtags company-etags company-keywords)))))
(add-hook 'irony-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(set (make-local-variable 'company-backends) '(company-irony company-dabbrev company-bbdb company-oddmuse company-eclim company-semantic company-xcode company-cmake company-capf company-files (company-dabbrev-code company-gtags company-etags company-keywords)))))
(add-hook 'nix-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(set (make-local-variable 'company-backends) '(company-nixos-options company-nix company-dabbrev company-bbdb company-oddmuse company-eclim company-semantic company-xcode company-cmake company-capf company-files (company-dabbrev-code company-gtags company-etags company-keywords)))))
(global-company-mode 1)
)
:custom
(company-idle-delay 0.100000)
(company-minimum-prefix-length 2)
(company-seletcion-wrap-around t)
:diminish
company-mode
)

This is using nix-mode obtained with nix and using emacsWithPackages

[alexarice]

Would it be easier if company-nix was provided as a separate melpa package or would this cause problems with it relying on nix repl

[twlz0ne]

@matthewbauer commented on Aug 31, 2019, 1:09 AM GMT+8:

I'm not sure why it is missing from the install.

The nix-company.el is excluded in Melpa recipe:

       (:exclude "nix-company.el" "nix-mode-mmm.el")))

[jcs090218]

Why did the nix-company.el get excluded? Can someone explain this? 😕 Thanks!