From 9fa69276c4e72916afe9de136f05d6d6e47fb7bb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jens Petersen <petersen@redhat.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 12:31:46 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] nix config check: improve error when no nix-env

It is possible that the `nix` executable is installed but not `nix-env`
(this may be unusual but for example in Fedora we have a separate
`nix-legacy` subpackage, which includes the `nix-env` symlink).

The current error message:
```
$ nix config check --verbose
Running checks against store uri: local
[FAIL] Multiple versions of nix found in PATH:

```
when there is no nix-env in PATH is confusing.

This change makes the error message precise for the missing nix-env case.
---
 src/nix/config-check.cc | 4 +++-
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/nix/config-check.cc b/src/nix/config-check.cc
index e1efb40eb..999d916f7 100644
--- a/src/nix/config-check.cc
+++ b/src/nix/config-check.cc
@@ -95,7 +95,9 @@ struct CmdConfigCheck : StoreCommand
                 dirs.insert(std::filesystem::canonical(candidate).parent_path());
         }
 
-        if (dirs.size() != 1) {
+        if (dirs.empty()) {
+            return checkFail("No nix-env found in PATH.");
+        } else if (dirs.size() > 1) {
             std::ostringstream ss;
             ss << "Multiple versions of nix found in PATH:\n";
             for (auto & dir : dirs)