NixOS Machines

About

NixOS configuration files for VirtualBox and BYO development machines. See https://nixos.org.

The machine defined in machines/ga/configuration.nix is continuously built into an OVF (Open Virtualization Format) appliance and uploaded into http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/geodesy-nixos/.

Getting Started

Download and import the latest OVF appliance

$ wget http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/geodesy-nixos/nixos-XXX-x86_64-linux.ova
$ VBoxManager import nixos-XXX-x86_64-linux.ova

Start the VM

$ VBoxManager list vms                  # print the name and UUID of the imported VM
$ VirtualBox --startvm <vmname|uuid>

Login and customise the VM

$ ssh -p 2222 guest@localhost           # password is "change-me"
$ vim /etc/nixos/configuration.nix      # set your username, customise the configuration
$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch             # build the new configuration and switch to it
$ sudo su - <username>                  # login as your new user
$ passwd                                # change your password

$ ssh-keygen                            # generate your private and public SSH keys
                                        # upload your public SSH key to GitHub

# switch to SSH
$ cd /etc/nixos
$ git remote remove origin
$ git remote add origin git@github.com:GeoscienceAustralia/NixOS-Machines

# commit and push to GitHub
$ git checkout -b <your-branch>
$ git add machines/ga/configuration.nix
$ git commit -m"Customise"
$ git push -u origin <your-branch>      # push your branch to GitHub

Study other developers' configurations

At GA: https://github.com/GeoscienceAustralia/NixOS-Machines/network

Globally: http://www.google.com/search?q=github+configuration.nix

Read about Nix and NixOS

• Nix PhD thesis
• Nix Manual
• NixOS Manual

Keep Up-to-date

Periodically, you can rebase your branch onto the latest changes from master.

$ git fetch origin master:master        # pull in the latest changes from master
$ git rebase master                     # rebase your branch
$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch             # switch to the new configuration
$ git push -f                           # push your rebased branch to GitHub.

Periodically, you can apply the latest package updates.

$ sudo nix-channel --list               # check your nixpkgs channel subscription
$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade   # update all installed packages

Current nixpkgs substriction is to the unstable channel, nixos-unstable.

$ sudo nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-unstable nixos