Make our Nix installation immune to macOS upgrades #672

grahamc · 2023-10-11T16:42:14Z

Description

This PR adds a global launch daemon on macOS which restores the shell hook after system upgrades, fixing the problem of Nix being "uninstalled" after each upgrade.

This is a rough pass to be improved. I haven't tested this exact implementation yet, but I tested the idea and it works. I'll be testing the implementation shortly.

Checklist

Formatted with cargo fmt
Built with nix build
Ran flake checks with nix flake check
Added or updated relevant tests (leave unchecked if not applicable)
Added or updated relevant documentation (leave unchecked if not applicable)
Linked to related issues (leave unchecked if not applicable)

Validating with `install.determinate.systems`

If a maintainer has added the upload to s3 label to this PR, it will become available for installation via install.determinate.systems:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix/pr/$PR_NUMBER | sh -s -- install

…ced by the compiler

…IntoIterator

…o<_> for free where the reverse isn't true

…by the nix-hook plist on every login

This reverts commit cccb8bc. It starts too early, fails, and then aborts. When it fails, launchd says the service failed to initialize and that the system is read-only.

pingiun · 2023-10-12T09:05:13Z

I installed nix with this version of the installer, upgraded macOS to 14.0 and nix still works in my fish shell and also in my bash shell.

src/action/macos/create_nix_hook_service.rs

Hoverbear · 2023-10-12T17:39:33Z

src/cli/subcommand/restore_shell.rs

+use clap::{ArgAction, Parser};
+
+/**
+Update the macOS startup files to make Nix usable after system upgrades.


I'm under the impression this can be used on non-Macs too? (I don't see it cfg'd off by target) If it works on Linux I'd like to make it available for every body! =D

Hoverbear · 2023-10-12T17:41:01Z

src/cli/subcommand/restore_shell.rs

+        default_value = "false",
+        global = true
+    )]
+    pub explain: bool,


I don't see explain implemented below, can we remove it?

My thinking is we'd somehow smush this stuff here into the nice output / runner mechanism we see in uninstall. I didn't know how to do that -- or if it was reasonable. I left these in as a reminder to ask -- is that a reasonable / straightforward thing to do?

Ahhh like the plan display? We could do that!

This turns out to be a bit hard since the associated functions are on Plan which requires things like a planner which aren't relevant

src/cli/subcommand/restore_shell.rs

grahamc · 2023-10-16T15:47:18Z

I looked at what happens if we're in a hard loop of failing. It isn't so bad, but it isn't great. The default ThrottleInterval limits starting a service to once every ten seconds:

2023-10-16 11:43:55.745639 <Notice> service inactive: crash-test
2023-10-16 11:43:55.745645 <Notice> service state: not running
2023-10-16 11:43:55.745653 <Notice> Service only ran for 1 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 9 seconds.
2023-10-16 11:43:55.745735 <Notice> internal event: WILL_SPAWN, code = 0
2023-10-16 11:43:55.745740 <Notice> service state: spawn scheduled
2023-10-16 11:43:55.745743 <Notice> service throttled by 9 seconds

I don't see any way to limit the number of attempts.

Hoverbear · 2023-10-16T17:07:08Z

Oh this needs to handle --no-modify-profile 🤔

src/planner/macos.rs

grahamc added 10 commits October 11, 2023 11:28

Add cargo-watch

4513165

clippy: the borrowed expression implements the required traits

288a34e

clippy: expression creates a reference which is immediately dereferen…

367b28f

…ced by the compiler

clippy: redundant closure

95bc45f

clippy: this if-then-else expression returns a bool literal

393e0eb

clippy: explicit call to .into_iter() in function argument accepting …

517f2ba

…IntoIterator

Clippy: an implementation of From is preferred since it gives you Int…

259d58b

…o<_> for free where the reverse isn't true

Support cargo building on a mac

a3b2225

Create a nix-hook service on macos to inject the shell at startup

dd40f0f

Introduce nix-installe restore-shell to fix the init scripts, called …

b3af5d9

…by the nix-hook plist on every login

grahamc requested a review from Hoverbear October 11, 2023 16:42

grahamc changed the title ~~Graham/ds 1293 make nix immune to macos upgrades~~ Make our Nix installation immune to macOS upgrades Oct 11, 2023

grahamc added the upload to s3 The labeled PR is allowed to upload its artifacts to S3 for easy testing label Oct 11, 2023

grahamc added 3 commits October 11, 2023 15:00

Wait for /nix to be there, and restart the hook until it works

25f9e71

Back to run-at-load hoping that works

cccb8bc

Revert "Back to run-at-load hoping that works"

c6d9266

This reverts commit cccb8bc. It starts too early, fails, and then aborts. When it fails, launchd says the service failed to initialize and that the system is read-only.