nix-config

A nix config based flakes.

• nix-config
  • Highlight
  • Structure
  • Usage
    • First Time Install
    • Rebuild(Update) After
  • Add New User and Host
    • Add new user
    • Add new host
  • Settings
    • User
    • Host
  • References

Highlight

• impermanence with btrfs
• disk manage by disko
• home manage by home-manager
• manage user and host info by settings file
• can set different ability to different host for single user
• manage development environment by devenv
• manage secert by sops
• ...

Structure

├── home                               # home manage
│   ├── __global                       # global config for user
│   ├── __optional                     # optional config for user
│   └── *                              # user dir
│    ├── default.nix                   # user config
│    ├── pgp-public-key.asc            # public pgp key for gpg
│    ├── ssh-authorized-keys.pub       # ssh authorized keys
│    └── <hostname>.nix                # special host config for user
├── hosts                              # host manage
│   ├── __global                       # global config for host
│   ├── __optional                     # optional config for host
│   └── *                              # host dir
│    ├── configuration.nix             # host config
│    ├── hardware-configuration.nix    # generated by nixos-generate-config
│    ├── disko-config.nix              # disko config
│    ├── secrets.yaml                  # secrets for current host
│    ├── ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub
│    └── ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
│   └── secrets.yaml                   # secrets for all host
├── lib                                # some useful lib for nix
├── modules
│   ├── darwin
│   └── nixos
├── overlays
├── pkgs
└── shell                              # shell managed with devenv

Usage

First Time Install

0. Manage keys for sops (optional)

Generate ssh keys, name as:

ssh_host_rsa_key ssh_host_ed25519_key

copy these keys to right position (eg: /etc/ssh) after install and before first reboot,

change key (not include pub) file mode, chmod 0600 /path/to/key

use another key.txt file when decrypting, like:

sudo SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets.d/age-keys.txt sops hosts/secrets.yaml

1. Boot from nixos live cd

2. Clone this repo

3. CD to current repo dir

4. Enable flakes environment

# enable flakes in live
export NIX_CONFIG="experimental-features = nix-command flakes"

# enable flakes environment
nix develop

4. Config new user and host

5. Manage disk and partition

By disko:

Need add disko config file in host/<hostname>/ and import in host/<hostname>/configuration.nix file before. More disko config example, see github:nix-community/disko/example

## **Be aware of data**
disko --mode disko --flake /absolute/path/to/current/repo#<hostname>

# check label, 
lsblk -o name,fstype,label,mountpoints,parttypename,partlabel,size

# set manually if not exit or not same with hostname
btrfs filesystem label /dev/<part> <hostname>

By hand:

Just like a regular linux installation. Partition, format, and mount.

6. Generate hardware-configuration.nix

# if you manage disk by disko
nixos-generate-config --no-filesystems --root /mnt

# else by hand
nixos-generate-config --root /mnt

Then copy hardware-configuration.nix to host/<hostname>/ dir. And import it in host/<hostname>/configuration.nix file.

7. Install

# install 
nixos-install --flake .#<hostname> --show-trace --no-root-passwd

8. Reboot

reboot

Rebuild(Update) After

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#<hostname> --show-trace

Add New User and Host

Add new user

Add new user inside userAttrs. And then add user nix file in home/<username>/.

1. default.nix is needed. Like this:

# See https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.xhtml

{inputs, outputs, host, user, pkgs, ... }: {
  imports = [
    ../__optional/cli
  ];
}

2. <hostname>.nix is optional. Just create and config it if you want to set extra for target host.

Add new host

Add new host inside hostAttrs. And then add host nix files in host/<hostname>/.

1. configuration.nix is needed.

Like this:

{
  config,
  lib,
  pkgs,
  ...
}: {
  imports = [
    ./hardware-configuration.nix
    ../__optional/systemd-boot.nix
  ];

  # See https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/options#opt-system.stateVersion .
  system.stateVersion = "23.11"; # Did you read the comment?
}

2. hardware-configuration.nix is needed.

This is be generated by nix command when you install above. Just copy it to here.

3. ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub is optional.

4. ssh_host_rsa_key.pub is optional.

Settings

User

A attr inside userAttrs in settings file. Key is username, value is a attrset.

Key	Type	Required	Description
username	string	true	username
usernameAlternative	string	false	alternative username
usernameFull	string	false	full name
useremail	string	false	email
initialPassword	string	true	initial password
persistence	set	false	persistence config, reference the impermanence1
usernameKeyForGit	string	false	key for git. If not set, use username

Host

A attr inside hostAttrs in settings file. Key is hostname, value is a attrset.

Key	Type	Required	Description
hostname	string	true	hostname
os	string	true	os
system	string	true	system
device	string	false	device
impermanence	bool	false	whether to use impermanence
persistencePath	string	false	used by impermanence, absolute path
userAttrs	set	true	user config, reference the user2, also can inherit directly
allowedPorts	list	false	used by firewall

References

Misterio77/nix-config: Personal nixos and home-manager configurations. (github.com)

Footnotes

1. impermanence ↩

2. User ↩