nix config

My NixOS configuration using nix flakes.

Hosts

Host	Machine	Description	Features
storvik-nixos-wsl	wsl	NixOS config used on Windows Subsystem for Linux
storvik-nixos-matebook	matebook	Config used on Huawei Matebook, my main Linux computer	hyprland emacs
retronix	samsung-rc720	Retro gaming computer using RetroArch	gnome retroarch
kalinix	lenovo-e31	Laptop set up with various forensics tooling	hyprland forensics
storvik-nixos-nuc	intel-nuc	NUC used as home server for backup etc
storvik-live	live	Live USB with my config
PSTORVIK-MBP14	macbook pro	Config for Macbook pro using nix-darwin	yabai skhd emacs alacritty

Structure

│
├── flake.nix                                - flake
│
├── docs/                                    - documentation for modules
│
├── flake/                                   - helper stuff, mkSystem etc
│
├── hosts/                                   - host configurations
│   │
│   └── storvik-nixos-wsl/                   - host computer
│       │
│       ├── secrets.yml                      - host specific secrets used by sops-nixs
│       │
│       ├── home.nix                         - home-manager configurations
│       │
│       └── nixos.nix                        - nixos configurations
│
├── modules/                                 - custom modules which turns on / off settings
│   │
│   ├── hm-module.nix                        - home-manager modules entrypoint
│   │
│   ├── module.nix                           - nixos modules entrypoint
│   │
│   ├── hm-module/                           - home-manager modules
│   │
│   └── nixos/                               - nixos modules
│
├── machines/                                - hardware dependant config for different machines
│
├── overlays/                                - overlays
│
└── pkgs/                                    - custom packages

Modules are divided into home-manager and nixos modules. All module options can be seen in modules/hm-module/options.nix and modules/nixos/options.nix. Each should contain home.nix and / or nixos.nix, which should define host configuration.

Install

Non NixOS computer (home-manager)

1. Install Nix on computer, nix manual
2. Add nixpgks unstable channel
3. Install unstable nix, nix-env -iA nixpkgs.nixUnstable
4. Add experimental-features = nix-command flakes to ~/.config/nix/nix.conf
5. Build config nix build --impure .#storvik-ubuntu
6. Backup conflicting files (.bashrc, .profile)
7. Activate config with ./result/activate

NixOS computer

1. Install NixOS, nixos manual
2. Switch to unstable channel
3. Install nix-flakes by importing ./modules/nixos/nixsettings.nix in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
4. sudo nixos-rebuild switch --impure --flake .#storvik-nixos-lenovo

MacOS

1. Install dependencies xcode-select --install
2. Install Nix from Determinate system
3. Build configuration and switch to it nix run nix-darwin -- switch --flake .#PSTORVIK-MBP14

After initial build / switch system is rebuilt using darwin-rebuild switch --flake ..

Rosetta

Apple Silicon Macs can install Rosetta in order to run Intel binaries. Rosetta is installed by running, softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license.

Create live USB

Build ISO and copy it to USB:

nix build .#live-iso
fdisk -l # to figure out path of USB, lsblk could also be used
dd if=result/iso/nixos-*-linux.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress

After setting up disks etc according to the NixOS manual, the system can be installed.

nixos-install --flake .#storvik-nixos-lenovo

Using package from pull request

In order to use package from pull request git revision must be found by running:

curl -sL https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/{number}.patch | head -n 1 | grep -o -E -e "[0-9a-f]{40}"

Then pull request has to be added as input.

pr{number}.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs?rev={rev-from-above-command}";

And pull request pkgs must be setup.

pr{number}pkgs = import pr{number} {
  inherit system;
};

After that the package that is needed can be added to packageOverrides in nixpkgs. This is typically done with:

pkgs = import nixpkgs {
  inherit system;
  config = {
    packageOverrides = pkgs: {
      somepackage = pr{number}pkgs.somepackage;
    };
  };
};

Build docs

Easiest way to update docs is using:

nix build .#packages.nixos-docs && cat result > docs/options.md
nix build .#packages.hm-docs && cat result > docs/hm-options.md