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Documentation

  • Screenshots
  • Introduction
  • Installation
  • Quick Start

Core Features

  • Desktop Environments
  • Installer
  • System Management

Tools & Commands

  • ANIX Profiles
  • TinyPM
  • Abora Commands

Configuration

  • System Config
  • Update Channels
  • Flatpak Setup

Advanced

  • Recovery & Rollback
  • Building from Source
  • Contributing

Recovery & Rollback

Abora makes recovery easy. Your system history is always preserved, and rollbacks are instant.

This is one of Abora's greatest strengths. You can safely experiment, knowing you can always rollback.

Understanding Generations

Every time you run anix switch, NixOS creates a new "generation"—a snapshot of your system configuration. You can rollback to any previous generation instantly.

View all generations:

anix history

Each generation includes the full system state: packages, services, configurations, kernel version, and more.

Quick Rollback

If something breaks after running anix switch, rollback immediately:

anix rollback

Then reboot:

reboot

Your system boots into the previous generation. Everything is restored.

Boot Menu Recovery

If your system won't boot at all, you can select a previous generation from the boot menu without needing a terminal:

  1. At the GRUB boot menu, select "Advanced options"
  2. Pick a previous generation from the list
  3. Boot into that generation
  4. Your system is restored

Using the Abora CLI

The Abora CLI provides a friendly interface to access recovery tools, system diagnostics, and management options:

Abora CLI menu with system doctor, rollback, and recovery tools

Run abora to access system doctor checks, manage snapshots, view changelogs, and troubleshoot issues.

System Power Controls

Quick access to suspend, restart, and shutdown through the system menu:

Power menu for system power states and additional options

System Doctor

Run the system doctor to check for common issues:

abora doctor

The doctor checks:

  • • Flatpak status and health
  • • Boot assets and branding
  • • System updates available
  • • ANIX configuration
  • • Disk space
  • • Package sources

Some issues can be auto-fixed:

abora doctor --fix

Common Problems & Solutions

System won't boot after configuration change

Solution:

  1. Boot from the GRUB menu and select a previous generation
  2. Log in and run anix rollback
  3. Reboot normally

Package installation fails

Possible causes:

  • Package doesn't exist (typo in name)
  • Package is in unstable channel, not stable
  • Internet connection problem

Check the package name:

nix-env -qa | grep package-name

Desktop won't load after desktop switch

Solution:

  1. Log out and see if you can select the new desktop
  2. If not, reboot and try again
  3. If still broken, rollback: anix rollback

Out of disk space

Solution:

Clean up old generations:

anix gc --delete-older-than 7d

Delete generations older than 7 days to free space.

Can't login to desktop

Try:

  1. Boot to a different generation
  2. Run abora doctor to check system health
  3. Rollback if changes were recent

Viewing Configuration Differences

Compare your current configuration to a previous one:

anix diff nix stable nix gaming
# Shows what changed between two profiles

This helps you understand what was different before a problem occurred.

Testing Changes Before Committing

You can test configuration changes without permanently switching to them:

anix test nix gaming
# Try the config without switching
anix boot nix gaming
# Load at next boot but don't make permanent

Disk Space Management

After many system updates, old generations accumulate and use disk space. Clean them up:

View disk usage:

du -sh /nix/store

Garbage collect:

anix gc --delete-older-than 30d

Optimize Nix store:

nix store optimise

When to Seek Help

If you can't solve an issue:

  • • Check the GitHub Wiki
  • • Search existing GitHub Issues
  • • Post a new issue with your problem and error logs
  • • Check NixOS documentation for Nix-specific help

Need more help? Check the Quick Start guide or the ANIX documentation.