NixOS Configuration

A full set of configuration files managed via NixOS. This project follows the general structure of https://github.com/tiredofit/nixos-config

Running

Note on secrets management

Secrets are stored in a separate repo called nix-secrets, which gets pulled automagically for all configs. See hosts/common/default.nix. This is a poor man's secret management solution, but y'know what, it works. These "secrets" will be readable to users on the system with access to the /nix/store/, but for single-user systems, it's fine.

Building the system

When using nix-secrets, we need to separate the build process into two steps (because of secrets being stored in a private repo; the alternative is to give root access to the private repo on all hosts). First step is to create the build by running this as aires:

nixos-rebuild build --flake .#Shura

When the build is done, run this command as root:

sudo ./result/bin/switch-to-configuration switch

switch replaces the running system immediately, or you can use boot to only apply the switch during the next reboot. After applying the build at least once (or setting the hostname manually), you can omit the hostname from the command and just run nixos-rebuild build --flake .

Normal build process

Normally (without a secret GitHub repo) you'd just use sudo nixos-rebuild like so:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#Shura

Testing

To quickly validate the configuration, create a dry build. This builds the config without actually adding it to the system:

nixos-rebuild dry-build --flake .

To preview changes in a virtual machine, use this command to create a virtual machine image (remove the .qcow2 image after a while, otherwise data persistence might mess things up):

nixos-rebuild build-vm --flake .

Updating

flake.lock locks the version of any packages/modules used. To update them, run nix flake update first:

nix flake update && nixos-rebuild build --flake . && sudo ./result/bin/switch-to-configuration switch

Home-manager also installs a ZSH alias, so you can just run update or upgrade for the same effect.

Layout

This config uses two systems: Flakes, and Home-manager.

• Flakes are the entrypoint, via flake.nix. This is where you include Flake modules and define Flake-specific options.
• Home-manager configs live in the users/ folders. Each user gets its own home-manager.nix file too.
• Modules are stored in modules. All of these files are imported, and you enable the ones you want to use. For example, to install Flatpak, set host.ui.flatpak.enable = true;.
  • After adding a new module, make sure to git add it and import it in default.nix.

Adding a host

When adding a host:

1. Create its config in hosts/hostname/<hostname>.nix. Add its hardware-configuration.nix here too.
2. Reference a profile from profiles/. This sets up its base configuration.
3. Include user accounts from users.
4. Add any host-specific options,
5. Import it in /hosts/default.nix.
6. Run nixos-rebuild.

Features

This Nix config features:

• Flakes
• Home Manager
• AMD and Intel hardware configurations
• Workstation and server base system configurations
• GNOME Desktop environment and KDE integrations
• Boot splash screens via Plymouth
• Secure Boot
• Disk encryption via LUKS
• Custom packages and systemd services (Duplicacy)
• Flatpaks
• Per-user configurations
• Default ZSH shell using Oh My ZSH
• Secrets (in a janky hacky kinda way)