Flake based Nix configuration for my machines.
Show store location of a module
nix build <package> --print-out-paths --no-linkWhere <package> would be something like nixpkgs#cowsay
Run command without installing or nix-shell
nix run <package> -- <args>Where
<package>would be something likenixpkgs#exa<args>would be something like--tree --level 4(in the case of exa).
Note that the <package> and <args> need to be separated by --
Getting a package hash
From URL:
nix run nixpkgs#nix-prefetch fetchurl --url <url>From git/GitHub:
nix run nixpkgs#nix-prefetch-git <url>
nix run nixpkgs#nix-prefetch-github <owner> <repo>This will download the URL/git repository to the store and print the resulting hash.
Switch to a machine configuration by host name
sudo nixos switch --flake ".#<host>"Retrieve flake meta data
nix flake metadata <flake url>Flake url can be something like
.(flake in CWD)github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable
Initialize a new flake
nix flake init --template <template name>Update specific flake input
nix flake lock --update-input <input name>Update flake with commit
nix flake update --commit-lock-fileExplore a flake
nix flake show <flake url>- Install the latest NixOS release
- Clone this repository using a nix shell that has git
nix shell nixpkgs#git - Create a new folder under
hoststhat's named after the host. - Copy the
configuration.nixandhardware-configuration.nixfiles frometc/nixos/into the new directory. - Add the new machine to
flake.nix. Make sure the machine's host name and nixosConfiguration name match. - Repace
/etc/nixoswith a symbolic link to cloned repository. - Run
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flaketo enable the flake based configuration for the new machine.
- Install nix using the Determinate Systems nix installer.
- Clone this repository using a nix shell that has git
nix shell nixpkgs#git - Create a new folder uder
hoststhat's names after the host. - Initialize a new configuration from the examples in the nix-darwin repository.
- Add the new machine to
flake.nix. Make sure the machine's host name and darwinConfiguration name match. - Inside the repository clone, run
nix run nix-darwin --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flake' darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake .(See for resolution of LnL7/nix-darwin#721 in order to run darwin-rebuild from anywhere after that). - Apply the workaround documented in LnL7/nix-darwin#122 (comment) is the issue is still unresolved.
This is the description for a network install that does not require the Raspberry Pi to be connected to a display.
Instead it's sufficient to connet it to the network via ethernet cable and ssh into the machine.
The SD card image will setup the root account and a user called nixos without password.
However the SSH service is configred to not accept empty passwords.
So in order to login via SSH, you need to pre-load your SSH key into the authorized_keys file of either the root user or the nixos user.
The first step is to download the bootable SD card image from the Hydra build system, see this nixos.wiki entry.
Pre-load an SSH key into the image
- Use
nix run nixpkgs#parted <img>to find out what exactly to mount. See this stackoverflow answer for details. - Mount the image file into a local directory by running
mkdir img
sudo mount -o loop,offset=<result from parted> <image file name> img- Generate an SSH key if you haven't already using the
ssh-keygentool. - The SD card image will setup a user called
nixoson first boot. For that reason/home/nixosdoes not exist in the image you just mounted. Create the user home, and pre-load your SSH key as an authorized key:
sudo mkdir -p img/home/nixos/.ssh
sudo cp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub img/home/nixos/.ssh/authorized_keys
sudo chown -R 1000:100 img/home/nixos
sudo chmod -R 700 img/home/nixos
sudo chmod 600 img/home/nixos/authorized_keys- Unmount the image via
sudo umount img - Use
nix run nixpkgs#rpi-imagerto run the Raspberry Pi imager and write the image to the SD card.
After first boot
- Once the key is on the device, ssh into it as the
nixosuser. - Run
sudo nixos-generate-configto generate the initial configuration. - IMPORTANT: You need to make two modifications to
/etc/nixos/configuration.nix. If you forget to add this to the config, when younixos-rebuild switchyou won't be able to login anymore!
- Configure the
nixosuser:
users.users.nixos = {
isNormalUser = true;
extraGroups = ["wheel"];
}- Enable the SSH services:
services.openssh = {
enable = true;
# require public key authentication for better security
settings.PasswordAuthentication = false;
settings.KbdInteractiveAuthentication = false;
#settings.PermitRootLogin = "yes";
};- Start from 2. in the NixOs section.