Improve readme with additional information about usage of nix

[luturnai]

I recently used signalbackup-tools and had some challenges in figuring out how to get things it running with nix, and how the nixpkgs works. However, once I got it working, it was very convenient, and I recommend it as a simple way of accessing the tool. I have a couple of suggestions for information that could be added to the readme to make it easier for new users to run the tool with nix.

Running on Debian, I did the following:

Install nix:
# apt install nix

Start nix-shell with signalbackup-tools from latest version of nixpkgs:
# nix-shell --packages signalbackup-tools -I nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/master.tar.gz

It took me a while to figure out how to check when new versions of the tool was added to nixpkgs. For me, it was helpful to check the following:

Decide based on tags list version and commit messages which version number you want to try out:
https://github.com/bepaald/signalbackup-tools/tags

Look for signalbackup-tools versions in merges of pull requests with a search for recent commits of signalbackup-tools to nixpkgs:
https://github.com/search?q=repo%3ANixOS%2Fnixpkgs+signalbackup-tools&type=commits

If you find the version you are looking for, you can either grab the specific commit hash to use instead of "master" in the nix-shell launch command, or stick with "master" to get the latest release.

Thank you again for a very helpful tool. I hope this can help make it even more accessible to new users.

[bepaald]

Hi!

I'm not too sure about putting this in the README. The installation instructions of nix itself will be different for each system (apt, dnf, pacman, etc...) and most users probably know how to install software on their system. As for the instructions of how to use nix, those really belong on Nix's page (which the readme already links to).

Instead I will just link to this issue in the README if you're ok with it? (tomorrow, when I'm home). That way people can check it out and see if it helps them, and maybe even add information on how they do things differently (like installing nix, or checking for updates) on their system.

I'm not sure, but I would think the best place to see the version available in Nix is here: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commits/master/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/signalbackup-tools, but I must say I strongly believe one should not 'decide which version to try': everyone should always use the latest version of this tool that is available to them.

Thanks for your efforts and your kind words!

[malob]

I'm the one who maintains the package in nixpkgs. I'm subscribed to the release notifications of signalbackup-tools and usually submit a PR to nixpkgs within 24 hours of a new release.

For those wanting to install the Nix package manager, I suggest following the instructions here: https://nixos.org/download

To have access to the latest version of signalbackup-tools, folks should use the nixpkgs-unstable branch/channel on macOS and nixos-unstable on Linux. These might be a couple days behind master but using the unstable branches/channels are usually a better option since you're more likely to get a binary cache hit, and therefore not have to build any packages locally.

The easiest way of checking what version of signalbackup-tools is available in nixpkgs is to use search.nixos.org: https://search.nixos.org/packages?channel=unstable&type=packages&query=signalbackup-tools

[bepaald]

Thanks @malob!