[BUG] Some nerd font symbols fail to load on NixOS

[lilidicium]

Step 1. Before you submit

• I have read the above instructions and am sure that this is supposed to be posted here.
• I've successfully updated to the latest versions following the updating guide.
• I've successfully updated the system packages to the latest.
• I've ticked the checkboxes without reading their contents

Step 2. Version info

Version info

Packages:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/nix/store/pjrc4dpnpbb1z9vjhkwf3sgw0v3gm0vj-caelestia-cli-2bde2ddfbf56277fbf93af96fe3a88cb042b6696/bin/.caelestia-wrapped", line 9, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
             ^^^^^^
  File "/nix/store/pjrc4dpnpbb1z9vjhkwf3sgw0v3gm0vj-caelestia-cli-2bde2ddfbf56277fbf93af96fe3a88cb042b6696/lib/python3.12/site-packages/caelestia/__init__.py", line 8, in main
    print_version()
  File "/nix/store/pjrc4dpnpbb1z9vjhkwf3sgw0v3gm0vj-caelestia-cli-2bde2ddfbf56277fbf93af96fe3a88cb042b6696/lib/python3.12/site-packages/caelestia/utils/version.py", line 9, in print_version
    versions = subprocess.run(
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/nix/store/8w718rm43x7z73xhw9d6vh8s4snrq67h-python3-3.12.10/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 548, in run
    with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as process:
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/nix/store/8w718rm43x7z73xhw9d6vh8s4snrq67h-python3-3.12.10/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 1026, in __init__
    self._execute_child(args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,
  File "/nix/store/8w718rm43x7z73xhw9d6vh8s4snrq67h-python3-3.12.10/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 1955, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'pacman'

Step 3. Describe the issue

The top-edge menu fails to load some nerd font symbols. This changes the layout significantly, squishing the calendar and looking buggy.

Logs

No running instances for "/nix/store/jwi9h7s9s3ad36qmmnadc6gks6vqss32-zxsy33aa4f4jvw3mxn3mxif2lgfbi4zb-source/shell.qml"
  INFO: Launching config: "/nix/store/jwi9h7s9s3ad36qmmnadc6gks6vqss32-zxsy33aa4f4jvw3mxn3mxif2lgfbi4zb-source/shell.qml"
  INFO: Shell ID: "124e430a836f630b9bef689d3ab2d73b" Path ID "124e430a836f630b9bef689d3ab2d73b"
  INFO: Saving logs to "/run/user/1000/quickshell/by-id/ji17q0a2t/log.qslog"
  INFO: Configuration Loaded
  WARN scene: QML FileView at @config/Config.qml[24:5]: Read of /home/maggie/.config/caelestia/shell.json failed: File does not exist.
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/Alacritty.svg:444:273: Could not resolve property: #linearGradient10962
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/Alacritty.svg:444:273: Could not resolve property: #linearGradient10962
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/Alacritty.svg:444:273: Could not resolve property: #linearGradient10962
  WARN qt.svg.draw: The requested buffer size is too big, ignoring
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/btop.svg:111:6: Could not resolve property: #pattern1888
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/btop.svg:111:6: Could not resolve property: #pattern1870
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/btop.svg:111:6: Could not resolve property: #pattern1888
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/btop.svg:111:6: Could not resolve property: #pattern1870
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/btop.svg:111:6: Could not resolve property: #pattern1888
  WARN qt.svg: /etc/profiles/per-user/maggie/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/btop.svg:111:6: Could not resolve property: #pattern1870
  WARN quickshell.dbus: Could not launch service org.freedesktop.UPower: QDBusError(org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown, The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files)
  WARN quickshell.service.upower: Could not start UPower. The UPower service will not work.
  WARN quickshell.dbus: Could not launch service org.freedesktop.UPower.PowerProfiles: QDBusError(org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown, The name org.freedesktop.UPower.PowerProfiles was not provided by any .service files)
  WARN quickshell.service.powerprofiles: Could not start PowerProfilesDaemon. The PowerProfiles service will not work.
  WARN: Could not load icon "application-exit-symbolic" at size QSize(19, 19) from request
  WARN: Could not load icon "help-about-symbolic" at size QSize(19, 19) from request
  WARN: Could not load icon "application-x-addon-symbolic" at size QSize(19, 19) from request
  WARN: Could not load icon "document-properties-symbolic" at size QSize(19, 19) from request
  WARN: Could not load icon "bluetooth-symbolic" at size QSize(19, 19) from request

Reminder

• I agree that it's usually impossible for others to help me without my logs.

[soramanew]

Could you provide a screenshot of the issue please?

[lilidicium]

My apologies, I meant to include a screenshot with the issue originally.

[lilidicium]

Here is another screenshot, the alert character is also broken.

[soramanew]

Hmm that's weird. You probably have an outdated version of the material symbols package, try updating your system (or override the material symbols version to a newer version)

[randomemer]

I have the same issue on nixos as well. I've noticed HARD_DISK and FILES icon aren't showing.

[soramanew]

I have the same issue on nixos as well. I've noticed HARD_DISK and FILES icon aren't showing.

You need to update your material symbols version

[randomemer]

Upon running nix-store --query --requisites /run/current-system | cut -d- -f2- | sort -u I could see I have the latest version (material-symbols-4.0.0-unstable-2024-05-17) that matches with search.nixos.org. And for some reason the stable channel has a newer version than the unstable channel.

[anarion80]

I had to use an overlay to get an even newer version to have everything:

final: prev: {
  material-symbols = prev.material-symbols.overrideAttrs (oldAttrs: {
    version = "4.0.0-unstable-2025-04-11";

    src = final.fetchFromGitHub {
      owner = "google";
      repo = "material-design-icons";
      rev = "941fa95d7f6084a599a54ca71bc565f48e7c6d9e"; 
      hash = "sha256-5bcEh7Oetd2JmFEPCcoweDrLGQTpcuaCU8hCjz8ls3M=";  
      sparseCheckout = ["variablefont"];
    };
  });
}

[lilidicium]

That overlay doesn't solve the issue for me. nix-store --query --requisites /run/current-system | cut -d- -f2- | sort -u | grep material now shows material-symbols-4.0.0-unstable-2024-05-17 and material-symbols-material-symbols-4.0.0-unstable-2024-05-17, the latter being the overlay version (as far as I can tell), but the characters shown above still don't load.
(This may be user error, as I'm relatively new to NixOS, but I figured I would post it here after troubleshooting for an hour or so with the help of a more experienced Nix user that also can't figure this out.)

[randomemer]

That overlay doesn't solve the issue for me. nix-store --query --requisites /run/current-system | cut -d- -f2- | sort -u | grep material now shows material-symbols-4.0.0-unstable-2024-05-17 and material-symbols-material-symbols-4.0.0-unstable-2024-05-17, the latter being the overlay version (as far as I can tell), but the characters shown above still don't load. (This may be user error, as I'm relatively new to NixOS, but I figured I would post it here after troubleshooting for an hour or so with the help of a more experienced Nix user that also can't figure this out.)

It worked for me. Adapt this snippet into your home manager (or wherever you have listed material-symbols)

{ inputs, config, lib, pkgs, ... }:

let
  # Define the overlay for material-symbols
  material-symbols-overlay = final: prev: {
    material-symbols = prev.material-symbols.overrideAttrs (oldAttrs: {
      src = prev.fetchFromGitHub {
        owner = "google";
        repo = "material-design-icons";
        rev = "941fa95d7f6084a599a54ca71bc565f48e7c6d9e";  # Your newer commit hash
        sha256 = "sha256-5bcEh7Oetd2JmFEPCcoweDrLGQTpcuaCU8hCjz8ls3M=";  # Your hash
        sparseCheckout = [ "variablefont" ];  # Matches original derivation
      };

      # Ensure rename is available
      nativeBuildInputs = oldAttrs.nativeBuildInputs or [] ++ [ prev.rename ];
      
      # Match the original installPhase, including rename
      installPhase = ''
        runHook preInstall
        rename 's/\[FILL,GRAD,opsz,wght\]//g' variablefont/*
        install -Dm755 variablefont/*.ttf -t $out/share/fonts/TTF
        install -Dm755 variablefont/*.woff2 -t $out/share/fonts/woff2
        runHook postInstall
      '';
    });
  };
in
{
  # Apply the provided overlay to override material-symbols
  nixpkgs.overlays = [ material-symbols-overlay ];

  home.packages = with pkgs; [
    material-symbols
    # '')
  ];
  
  # ... rest of your home-manager config
}

[lilidicium]

Changing nixpkgs.follows to unstable fixed this issue entirely for me.