Currently, nix has two pairs of commands for interacting with NAR files:

• nix-store --dump --> nix-store --restore
• nix-store --export --> nix-store --import

These differ in that the former can only take one path, and does not store the
requisites of a path, so it can't be imported into a nix store the way you'd
expect. It requires that all paths not already exist on the --restore end, while
the --import one can incrementally update paths and properly sync the sqlite db.

Perhaps we should delete nix-store --dump and nix-store --restore entirely,
since they appear to be less useful subsets of the export and import commands.
This would simplify the cmdline / API surface area for newcomers and reduce
ongoing maintenance.

Here's an example of a newcomer getting tripped up and using the "inferior"
dump/restore. I also spent a while staring at this at NixCon, and would like to
help remove it if indeed there's no legitimate use case for it.
#951 (comment)