Unfree packages are hard to discover.

[TravisWhitaker]

Issue description

It is very difficult for the uninitiated user to find unfree packages. The search page does not display them, nor does nix-env -qa. This is especially problematic if a user is unaware of nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree.

At a bare minimum the nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree attribute should be documented in the manual. Ideally nix-env -qa (and the search page, which I assume is simply an index of that program's output) would list all available packages with a note on packages that have unfree licenses, although I'm not sure how challenging this would be to implement.

Steps to reproduce

Wonder whether or not Nix provides some unfree software X, Google Chrome for example. Notice that the the search page and nix-env qa do not list this package. Dig through this repository and discover that there is in-fact an expression for the software. Defer to a local Nix expert to inform you of nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree.

Technical details

• System: Any
• Nix version: 1.11.3
• Nixpkgs version: 16.09pre90369.202d9e2

[ericsagnes]

duplicate of #17126

[domenkozar]

And #5628 and NixOS/nix#432