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My Personal Nix, NixOS and Nix-Darwin System Configuration Flake

#+title: Matthias' NixOS & Nix-Darwin System Configuration Flake #+description: General information about my flake and how to set it up #+author: Matthias Benaets

#+attr_org: :width 600 [[file:rsc/Header.svg]]

  • Table of Content :toc:
  • [[#system-components][System Components]]
  • [[#nixos-installation-guide][NixOS Installation Guide]]
    • [[#partitioning][Partitioning]]
    • [[#installation][Installation]]
    • [[#finalization][Finalization]]
  • [[#nix-installation-guide][Nix Installation Guide]]
    • [[#installation-1][Installation]]
    • [[#finalization-1][Finalization]]
  • [[#nix-darwin-installation-guide][Nix-Darwin Installation Guide]]
    • [[#setup][Setup]]
    • [[#installation-2][Installation]]
    • [[#finalization-2][Finalization]]
  • [[#faq][FAQ]]

  • System Components | | NixOS - Xorg | NixOS - Wayland | Darwin | |-----------------+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------| | Shell | Zsh | Zsh | Zsh | | DM | LightDM | TTY1 Login | / | | WM | Bspwm | Hyprland | Yabai | | Compositor | Picom (jonaburg) | Hyprland | / | | Bar | Polybar | Waybar | / | | Hotkeys | Sxhkd | Sway | Skhd | | Launcher | Rofi | Rofi | / | | GTK Theme | Dracula | Dracula | / | | Notifications | Dunst | Dunst | / | | Terminal | Alacritty | Alacritty | Alacritty | | Editor | Nvim + Doom Emacs | Nvim + Doom Emacs | Nvim + Doom Emacs | | Used by host | Desktop | Laptop | Macbook |

  • NixOS Installation Guide This flake currently has 3 hosts

  1. desktop
    • UEFI boot w/ systemd-boot
  2. laptop
    • UEFI boot w/ grub (Dual Boot)
  3. vm
    • Legacy boot w/ grub

Flakes can be build with:

  • ~$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake #~
  • example ~$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#desktop~

** Partitioning This will depend on the host chosen. *** UEFI In these commands

  • Partition Labels:
    • Boot = "boot"
    • Home = "nixos"
  • Partition Size:
    • Boot = 512MiB
    • Swap = 8GiB
    • Home = Rest
  • No Swap: Ignore line 3 & 7

#+begin_src

parted /dev/sda -- mklabel gpt

parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 512MiB -8GiB

parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary linux-swap -8GiB 100%

parted /dev/sda -- mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 512MiB

parted /dev/sda -- set 3 esp

mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda1

mkswap -L /dev/sda2

mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/sda3

#+end_src

*** Legacy In these commands

  • Partition Label:
    • Home & Boot = "nixos"
    • Swap = "swap"
  • Partition Size:
    • Swap = 8GiB
    • Home = Rest
  • No swap: Ignore line 3 and 5

#+begin_src

parted /dev/sda -- mklabel msdos

parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 1MiB -8GiB

parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary linux-swap -8GiB 100%

mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda1

mkswap -L /dev/sda2

#+end_src

** Installation *** UEFI In these commands

  • Partition with label ... to ...
    • "nixos" -> ~/mnt~
    • "boot" -> ~/mnt/boot~ #+begin_src

mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt

mkdir -p /mnt/boot

mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot

#+end_src

*** Legacy #+begin_src

mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt

#+end_src

*** Mounting Extras In these commands

  • Directory to mount a ssd:
    • ~/mnt/ssd~
  • Label of storage:
    • ssd2
  • If storage has no label:
    • ~mount /dev/disk/by-uuid/ssd2 /mnt/ssd~ #+begin_src

mkdir -p /mnt/ssd

mount /dev/disk/by-label/ssd2 /mnt/ssd

#+end_src

*** Generate In these commands

  • Swap is enable:
    • Ignore if no swap or enough RAM
  • Configuration files are generated @ ~/mnt/etc/nixos~
    • If you are me, you don't need to do this. Hardware-configuration.nix already in flake.
  • Clone repository #+begin_src

swapon /dev/sda2

nixos-generate-config --root /mnt

nix-env -iA nixos.git

git clone https://github.com/matthiasbenaets/nixos-config /mnt/etc/nixos/

Optional if you are not me

cp /mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix /mnt/etc/nixos/nixos-config/hosts//.

#+end_src

*** Possible Extra Steps

  1. If you are planning on using doom emacs, don't forget to rebuild after the initial installation
    • Don't forget to change the flake location in flake.nix
    • This is because userActivationScript is used for the setup and some locations are partially hardcoded
    • It will automatically install if ~~/.emacs.d~ does not exist
  2. Switch specific host hardware-configuration.nix with generated ~/mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix~
  3. Change existing network card name with the one in your system
    • Look in generated hardware-configuration.nixos
    • Or enter ~$ ip a~
  4. Change username in flake.nix
  5. Set a ~users.users.${user}.initialPassword = ...~
    • Not really recommended. It's maybe better to follow last steps

*** Install In these commands

  • Move into cloned repository
    • in this example ~/mnt/etc/nixos/~
  • Available hosts:
    • desktop
    • laptop
    • vm #+begin_src

cd /mnt/etc/nixos/

nixos-install --flake .#

#+end_src

** Finalization

  1. Set a root password after installation is done
  2. Reboot without livecd
  3. Login
    1. If initialPassword is not set use TTY:
      • ~Ctrl - Alt - F1~
      • login as root
      • ~# passwd ~
      • ~Ctrl - Alt - F7~
      • login as user
  4. Optional:
    • ~$ sudo mv ~
    • ~$ sudo chown -R :users ~
    • ~$ sudo rm /etc/nixos/configuration.nix~
    • or just clone flake again do apply same changes.
  5. Dual boot:
    • OSProber probably did not find your Windows partion after the first install
    • There is a high likelyhood it will find it after:
      • ~$ cd ~
      • ~$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#~
  6. Rebuilds:
    • ~$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#~
    • First rebuild will probably hang on "updating user environment" or "reloading user units".
      • This is because it is syncing or installing doom-emacs
  • Nix Installation Guide This flake currently has 1 host
    1. pacman

The Linux distribution must have the nix package manager installed. ~$ sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon~ To be able to have a easy reproducible setup when using the nix package manager on a non-NixOS system, home-manager is a wonderful tool to achieve this. So this is how it is set up in this flake.

** Installation *** Initial In these commands

  • Get git
  • Clone repository
  • First build of the flake
    • This is done so we can use the nix flake commands

#+begin_src $ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.git $ git clone https://github.com/matthiasbenaets/nixos-config ~/.setup $ cd ~/.setup $ nix build --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' .#homeConfigurations..activationPackage $ ./result/activate #+end_src

*** Rebuild Since home-manager is now a valid command we can rebuild the system using this command. In this example it is build from inside the flake directory:

  • ~$ home-manager switch --flake .#~ This will rebuild the configuration and automatically activate it.

** Finalization Mostly optional or already correct by default

  1. NixGL gets set up by default, so if you are planning on using GUI applications that use OpenGL or Vulkan:
    • ~$ nixGLIntel ~
    • or add it to your aliasses file
  2. Every rebuild, and activation-script will run to add applications to the system menu.
    • it's pretty much the same as adding the path to XDG_DATA_DIRS
    • if you do not want to or if the locations are different, change this.
  • Nix-Darwin Installation Guide This flake currently has 1 host
    1. macbook

The Apple computer must have the nix package manager installed. ~$ sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install)~

** Setup In these commands

  • Create a nix config directory
  • Allow experimental features to use flakes

#+begin_src $ mkdir ~/.config/nix $ echo "experimental-features = nix-command flakes" >> ~/.config/nix/nix.conf #+end_src

** Installation *** Initial In these commands

  • Get git
  • Clone repository
  • First build of the flake on Darwin
    • This is done because the darwin command is not yet available

#+begin_src $ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.git $ git clone https://github.com/matthiasbenaets/nixos-config ~/.setup $ cd ~/.setup $ nix build .#darwinConfigurations..system $ ./result/sw/bin/darwin-rebuild switch --flake .# #+end_src

~/result~ is located depending on where you build the system.

*** Rebuild Since darwin is now added to the PATH, you can build it from anywhere in the system. In this example it is rebuild from inside the flake directory:

  • ~$ darwin-rebuild switch --flake .#~ This will rebuild the configuration and automatically activate it.

** Finalization Mostly optional or already correct by default

  1. Change default shell for Terminal or iTerm.
    • ~Terminal/iTerm > Preferences > General > Shells open with: Command > /bin/zsh~
  2. Disable Secure Keyboard Entry. Needed for Skhd.
    • ~Terminal/iTerm > Secure Keyboard Entry~
  3. Install XCode to get complete development environment.
    • ~$ xcode-select --install~
  • FAQ
  • What is NixOS?
    • NixOS is a Linux distribution built on top of the Nix package manager.
    • It uses declarative configurations and allow reliable system upgrades.
  • What is a Flake?
    • Flakes are an upcoming feature of the Nix package manager.
    • Flakes allow you to specify your major code dependencies in a declarative way.
    • It does this by creating a flake.lock file. Some major code dependencies are:
      • nixpkgs
      • home-manager
  • What is Nix-Darwin?
    • Nix-Darwin is a way to use Nix modules on macOS using the Darwin Unix-based core set of components.
    • Just like NixOS, it allows to build declarative reproducible configurations.
  • Should I switch to NixOS?
    • Is water wet?
  • Where can I learn about everything Nix?
    • Nix and NixOS
      • [[file:nixos.org][My General Setup Guide]]
      • [[https://nixos.org/][Website]]
      • [[https://nixos.org/learn.html][Manuals]]
      • [[https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/introduction.html][Manual 2]]
      • [[https://search.nixos.org/packages][Packages]] and [[https://search.nixos.org/options?][Options]]
      • [[https://nixos.wiki/][Unofficial Wiki]]
      • [[https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Resources][Wiki Resources]]
      • [[https://nixos.org/guides/nix-pills/][Nix Pills]]
      • [[https://www.ianthehenry.com/posts/how-to-learn-nix/][Some]] [[https://christine.website/blog][Blogs]]
      • [[https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Configuration_Collection][Config Collection]]
    • Home-manager
      • [[https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager][Official Repo]]
      • [[https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/][Manual]]
      • [[https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.html][Appendix A]]
      • [[https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/nixos-options.html][Appendix B]]
      • [[https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/tools.html][Appendix D]]
      • [[https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Home_Manager][NixOS wiki]]
    • Flakes
      • [[https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Flakes][NixOS wiki]]
      • [[https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-flake.html][Manual]]
      • [[https://www.tweag.io/blog/2020-05-25-flakes/][Some]] [[https://christine.website/blog/nix-flakes-3-2022-04-07][Blogs]]
    • Nix-Darwin
      • [[file:darwin.org][My General Setup Guide]]
      • [[https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/][Official Repo]]
      • [[https://daiderd.com/nix-darwin/manual/index.html][Manual]]
      • [[https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/wiki][Mini-Wiki]]
    • Videos
      • [[https://youtu.be/AGVXJ-TIv3Y][My Personal Mini-Course]]
      • [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKoQ1gKJY5A&list=PL-saUBvIJzOkjAw_vOac75v-x6EzNzZq][Wil T's Playlist]]
      • [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYyImy-lqaA&list=PLRGI9KQ3_HP_OFRG6R-p4iFgMSK1t5BHs][Burke Libbey's Nixology]]
      • [[https://www.youtube.com/user/elitespartan117j27/videos][John Ringer's Channel]]

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verified publisher icon MatthiasBenaets

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My Personal Nix, NixOS and Nix-Darwin System Configuration Flake

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