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Feature request: add --specialization option to nixos-rebuild #174065

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luochen1990 opened this issue May 23, 2022 · 2 comments · Fixed by #207466
Closed

Feature request: add --specialization option to nixos-rebuild #174065

luochen1990 opened this issue May 23, 2022 · 2 comments · Fixed by #207466
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6.topic: nixos

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@luochen1990
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Now nixos-rebuild cannot switch to a specific specialization, so I have to do following to switch to specialization named foo:

nixos-rebuild build && ./result/specialisation/foo/bin/switch-to-configuration test && nixos-rebuild boot

I'm expecting for a --specialization option like:

nixos-rebuild --specialization foo switch
@Patryk27
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imo it'd be nice if running a specialization created an envvar, say, NIXOS_SPECIALIZATION=specialization-name that would get automatically picked-up during nixos-rebuild (as a default value for --specialization).

I'll try preparing a proof of concept within a few weeks 🙂

Patryk27 added a commit to Patryk27/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Dec 23, 2022
@Patryk27
nixos: add --specialisation-name to nixos-rebuild
8fb1645 
This commit fixes a papercut in nixos-rebuild where people wanting to
switch to a specialisation (or test one) were forced to manually figure
out the specialisation's path and run its activation script - since now,
there's a dedicated option to do just that.

This is a backwards-compatible change which doesn't affect the existing
behavior, which - to be fair - might still be considered sus by some
people, the painful scenario here being:

- you boot into specialisation `foo`,
- you run `nixos-rebuild switch`,
- whoops, you're no longer at specialisation `foo`, but you're rather
  brought back to the base system.

(it's especially painful for cases where specialisation is used to load
extra drivers, e.g. Nvidia, since then launching `nixos-rebuild switch`,
while forgetting that you're inside a specialisation, can cause some
parts of your system to get accidentally unloaded.)

I've tried to mitigate that by improving specialisations so that they
create a dedicated file somewhere in `/run/current-system` containing
the specialisation's name (which `nixos-rebuild` could then use as the
default value for `--specialisation-name`), but I haven't been able to
come up with anything working (plus it would be a breaking change then).

As for testing, I've tried to add a VM-based test, but failed, so I've
only checked the changes (and updated man page) locally.

Closes NixOS#174065
@Patryk27 Patryk27 mentioned this issue Dec 23, 2022
Merged
13 tasks
Patryk27 added a commit to Patryk27/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Dec 25, 2022
@Patryk27
nixos: add --specialisation to nixos-rebuild
07b088e 
This commit fixes a papercut in nixos-rebuild where people wanting to
switch to a specialisation (or test one) were forced to manually figure
out the specialisation's path and run its activation script - since now,
there's a dedicated option to do just that.

This is a backwards-compatible change which doesn't affect the existing
behavior, which - to be fair - might still be considered sus by some
people, the painful scenario here being:

- you boot into specialisation `foo`,
- you run `nixos-rebuild switch`,
- whoops, you're no longer at specialisation `foo`, but you're rather
  brought back to the base system.

(it's especially painful for cases where specialisation is used to load
extra drivers, e.g. Nvidia, since then launching `nixos-rebuild switch`,
while forgetting that you're inside a specialisation, can cause some
parts of your system to get accidentally unloaded.)

I've tried to mitigate that by improving specialisations so that they
create a dedicated file somewhere in `/run/current-system` containing
the specialisation's name (which `nixos-rebuild` could then use as the
default value for `--specialisation-name`), but I haven't been able to
come up with anything working (plus it would be a breaking change then).

As for testing, I've tried to add a VM-based test, but failed, so I've
only checked the changes (and updated man page) locally.

Closes NixOS#174065
Patryk27 added a commit to Patryk27/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Dec 25, 2022
@Patryk27
nixos: add --specialisation to nixos-rebuild
fc5d7d0 
This commit fixes a papercut in nixos-rebuild where people wanting to
switch to a specialisation (or test one) were forced to manually figure
out the specialisation's path and run its activation script - since now,
there's a dedicated option to do just that.

This is a backwards-compatible change which doesn't affect the existing
behavior, which - to be fair - might still be considered sus by some
people, the painful scenario here being:

- you boot into specialisation `foo`,
- you run `nixos-rebuild switch`,
- whoops, you're no longer at specialisation `foo`, but you're rather
  brought back to the base system.

(it's especially painful for cases where specialisation is used to load
extra drivers, e.g. Nvidia, since then launching `nixos-rebuild switch`,
while forgetting that you're inside a specialisation, can cause some
parts of your system to get accidentally unloaded.)

I've tried to mitigate that by improving specialisations so that they
create a dedicated file somewhere in `/run/current-system` containing
the specialisation's name (which `nixos-rebuild` could then use as the
default value for `--specialisation-name`), but I haven't been able to
come up with anything working (plus it would be a breaking change then).

As for testing, I've tried to add a VM-based test, but failed, so I've
only checked the changes (and updated man page) locally.

Closes NixOS#174065
Patryk27 added a commit to Patryk27/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Dec 26, 2022
@Patryk27
nixos: add --specialisation to nixos-rebuild
35f7f6c 
This commit fixes a papercut in nixos-rebuild where people wanting to
switch to a specialisation (or test one) were forced to manually figure
out the specialisation's path and run its activation script - since now,
there's a dedicated option to do just that.

This is a backwards-compatible change which doesn't affect the existing
behavior, which - to be fair - might still be considered sus by some
people, the painful scenario here being:

- you boot into specialisation `foo`,
- you run `nixos-rebuild switch`,
- whoops, you're no longer at specialisation `foo`, but you're rather
  brought back to the base system.

(it's especially painful for cases where specialisation is used to load
extra drivers, e.g. Nvidia, since then launching `nixos-rebuild switch`,
while forgetting that you're inside a specialisation, can cause some
parts of your system to get accidentally unloaded.)

I've tried to mitigate that by improving specialisations so that they
create a dedicated file somewhere in `/run/current-system` containing
the specialisation's name (which `nixos-rebuild` could then use as the
default value for `--specialisation`), but I haven't been able to come
up with anything working (plus it would be a breaking change then).

Closes NixOS#174065
Patryk27 added a commit to Patryk27/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Jan 15, 2023
@Patryk27
nixos: add --specialisation to nixos-rebuild
2c55eba 
This commit fixes a papercut in nixos-rebuild where people wanting to
switch to a specialisation (or test one) were forced to manually figure
out the specialisation's path and run its activation script - since now,
there's a dedicated option to do just that.

This is a backwards-compatible change which doesn't affect the existing
behavior, which - to be fair - might still be considered sus by some
people, the painful scenario here being:

- you boot into specialisation `foo`,
- you run `nixos-rebuild switch`,
- whoops, you're no longer at specialisation `foo`, but you're rather
  brought back to the base system.

(it's especially painful for cases where specialisation is used to load
extra drivers, e.g. Nvidia, since then launching `nixos-rebuild switch`,
while forgetting that you're inside a specialisation, can cause some
parts of your system to get accidentally unloaded.)

I've tried to mitigate that by improving specialisations so that they
create a dedicated file somewhere in `/run/current-system` containing
the specialisation's name (which `nixos-rebuild` could then use as the
default value for `--specialisation`), but I haven't been able to come
up with anything working (plus it would be a breaking change then).

Closes NixOS#174065
LostAttractor pushed a commit to LostAttractor/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Jan 15, 2023
@Patryk27 @LostAttractor
nixos: add --specialisation to nixos-rebuild
4024d98 
This commit fixes a papercut in nixos-rebuild where people wanting to
switch to a specialisation (or test one) were forced to manually figure
out the specialisation's path and run its activation script - since now,
there's a dedicated option to do just that.

This is a backwards-compatible change which doesn't affect the existing
behavior, which - to be fair - might still be considered sus by some
people, the painful scenario here being:

- you boot into specialisation `foo`,
- you run `nixos-rebuild switch`,
- whoops, you're no longer at specialisation `foo`, but you're rather
  brought back to the base system.

(it's especially painful for cases where specialisation is used to load
extra drivers, e.g. Nvidia, since then launching `nixos-rebuild switch`,
while forgetting that you're inside a specialisation, can cause some
parts of your system to get accidentally unloaded.)

I've tried to mitigate that by improving specialisations so that they
create a dedicated file somewhere in `/run/current-system` containing
the specialisation's name (which `nixos-rebuild` could then use as the
default value for `--specialisation`), but I haven't been able to come
up with anything working (plus it would be a breaking change then).

Closes NixOS#174065
LostAttractor pushed a commit to LostAttractor/nixpkgs that referenced this issue Jan 16, 2023
@Patryk27 @LostAttractor
nixos: add --specialisation to nixos-rebuild
9576bdb 
This commit fixes a papercut in nixos-rebuild where people wanting to
switch to a specialisation (or test one) were forced to manually figure
out the specialisation's path and run its activation script - since now,
there's a dedicated option to do just that.

This is a backwards-compatible change which doesn't affect the existing
behavior, which - to be fair - might still be considered sus by some
people, the painful scenario here being:

- you boot into specialisation `foo`,
- you run `nixos-rebuild switch`,
- whoops, you're no longer at specialisation `foo`, but you're rather
  brought back to the base system.

(it's especially painful for cases where specialisation is used to load
extra drivers, e.g. Nvidia, since then launching `nixos-rebuild switch`,
while forgetting that you're inside a specialisation, can cause some
parts of your system to get accidentally unloaded.)

I've tried to mitigate that by improving specialisations so that they
create a dedicated file somewhere in `/run/current-system` containing
the specialisation's name (which `nixos-rebuild` could then use as the
default value for `--specialisation`), but I haven't been able to come
up with anything working (plus it would be a breaking change then).

Closes NixOS#174065
@nixos-discourse
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This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/how-to-switch-to-a-specific-specialisation/18124/5

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nixos: add --specialisation to nixos-rebuild Patryk27/nixpkgs
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@veprbl @luochen1990 @Patryk27 @nixos-discourse