These are just some simple install notes for myself (in-case I have to reinstall unexpectedly). You could also use these to try out my config in a VM.
I wrote a quick automated install script at install.sh. It essentially just runs the manual install steps and additionally hardens the security of the system-level (root configuration) files using harden.sh.
I’ll eventually™ add the ability to supply arguments to this script as well.
The quickest way to install is running the install script directly from the remote git repo using nix run, which is essentially just one of the following:
# Install from gitlab
nix run gitlab:librephoenix/nixos-config
# Or install from github
nix run github:librephoenix/nixos-config
# Or install from codeberg
nix run git+https://codeberg.org/librephoenix/nixos-configThis will install the dotfiles to ~/.dotfiles, but if you’d like to install to a custom directory, just supply it as a positional argument, i.e:
# Install from gitlab
nix run gitlab:librephoenix/nixos-config -- /your/custom/directoryThe script will ask for sudo permissions at certain points, but you should not run the script as root.
If the above nix run command gives you an error, odds are you either don’t have git installed, or you haven’t enabled the experimental features in your Nix config (nix-command and flakes). To get the command to install properly, you can first enter a shell with git available using:
nix-shell -p gitand then running:
nix run --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' gitlab:librephoenix/nixos-configAnd if you want a single copy-paste solution:
nix-shell -p git --command "nix run --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' gitlab:librephoenix/nixos-config"This should still work with a custom dotfiles directory too, i.e:
nix-shell -p git --command "nix run --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' gitlab:librephoenix/nixos-config -- /your/custom/directory"At a certain point in the install script it will open nano (or whatever your $EDITOR is set to) and ask you to edit the flake.nix. You can edit as much or as little of the config variables as you like, and it will continue the install after you exit the editor.
Potential Errors: I’ve only tested it working on UEFI with the default EFI mount point of /boot. I’ve added experimental legacy (BIOS) boot support, but it does rely on a quick and dirty script to find the grub device. If you are testing it using some weird boot configuration for whatever reason, try modifying bootMountPath (UEFI) or grubDevice (legacy BIOS) in flake.nix before install, or else it will complain about not being able to install the bootloader.
Note: If you’re installing this to a VM, Hyprland won’t work unless 3D acceleration is enabled.
Disclaimer: If you install my homelab or worklab profiles CHANGE THE PUBLIC SSH KEYS UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO BE ABLE TO SSH INTO YOUR SERVER. YOU CAN CHANGE OR REMOVE THE SSH KEY IN THE RELEVANT CONFIGURATION.NIX:
- configuration.nix for homelab profile
- configuration.nix for worklab profile
The dotfiles can be installed after cloning the repo into ~/.dotfiles using:
git clone https://gitlab.com/librephoenix/nixos-config.git ~/.dotfiles
~/.dotfiles/install.shor with a custom directory:
git clone https://gitlab.com/librephoenix/nixos-config.git /your/custom/directory
/your/custom/directory/install.shIf you install to a custom directory, make sure to edit the userSettings.dotfilesDir in the flake.nix, or else my phoenix wrapper script won’t work.
At a certain point in the install script it will open nano (or whatever your $EDITOR is set to) and ask you to edit the flake.nix. You can edit as much or as little of the config variables as you like, and it will continue the install after you exit the editor.
Potential Errors: I mainly only test this on UEFI, but I’ve added experimental legacy (BIOS) boot support. Keep in mind, it does rely on a quick and dirty script to find the grub device. If you are testing it using some weird boot configuration for whatever reason, try modifying bootMountPath (UEFI) or grubDevice (legacy BIOS) in flake.nix before install, or else it will complain about not being able to install the bootloader.
Note: If you’re installing this to a VM, Hyprland won’t work unless 3D acceleration is enabled.
Disclaimer: If you install my homelab or worklab profiles CHANGE THE PUBLIC SSH KEYS UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO BE ABLE TO SSH INTO YOUR SERVER. YOU CAN CHANGE OR REMOVE THE SSH KEY IN THE RELEVANT CONFIGURATION.NIX:
- configuration.nix for homelab profile
- configuration.nix for worklab profile
At this time, this only works on an existing NixOS install. It also only works if the dotfiles are cloned into ~/.dotfiles. It also only works on UEFI, not on BIOS :(
Future upgrade plans:
- [ ] Be able to install directly from NixOS iso
- [ ] Be able to install just home-manager config to a non-NixOS Linux distro
- [ ] Be able to detect EFI mount point for systemd-boot?
- [X]
Be able to detect UEFI or BIOS and switch config as needed - [ ] ??? (open up an issue if you think there is anything else I should try to figure out)
If you instead want to install this manually to see all the steps (kind of like an Arch install before the archinstall script existed), you can follow this following procedure:
Start by cloning the repo:
git clone https://gitlab.com/librephoenix/nixos-config.git ~/.dotfilesAny custom directory should also work:
git clone https://gitlab.com/librephoenix/nixos-config.git /your/custom/directoryIf you install to a custom directory, make sure to edit the userSettings.dotfilesDir in the beginning flake.nix, or else my phoenix wrapper script won’t work.
...
let
...
# ----- USER SETTINGS ----- #
dotfilesDir = "/your/custom/directory"; # username
...To get the hardware configuration on a new system, either copy from /etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix or run:
sudo nixos-generate-config --show-hardware-config > ~/.dotfiles/system/hardware-configuration.nixAlso, if you have a differently named user account than my default (emmet), you must update the following lines in the let binding near the top of the flake.nix:
...
let
...
# ----- USER SETTINGS ----- #
username = "YOURUSERNAME"; # username
name = "YOURNAME"; # name/identifier
...There are many more config options there that you may also want to change as well.
The build will fail if you are booting from BIOS instead of UEFI, unless change some of the system settings of the flake. Change bootMode to “bios” and set the grubDevice appropriately for your system (i.e. /dev/vda or /dev/sda).
...
let
# ---- SYSTEM SETTINGS ---- #
...
bootMode = "bios"; # uefi or bios
grubDevice = "/dev/vda"; # device identifier for grub; find this by running lsblk
...Note: If you’re installing this to a VM, Hyprland won’t work unless 3D acceleration is enabled.
Disclaimer: If you install my homelab or worklab profiles CHANGE THE PUBLIC SSH KEYS UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO BE ABLE TO SSH INTO YOUR SERVER. YOU CAN CHANGE OR REMOVE THE SSH KEY IN THE RELEVANT CONFIGURATION.NIX:
- configuration.nix for homelab profile
- configuration.nix for worklab profile
Once the variables are set, then switch into the system configuration by running:
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake ~/.dotfiles#systemor for your own custom directory:
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake /your/custom/directory#systemHome manager can be installed and the configuration activated with:
nix run home-manager/master -- switch --flake ~/.dotfiles#useror for your own custom directory:
nix run home-manager/master -- switch --flake /your/custom/directory#userIf it fails with something to the effect of “could not download {some image file}” then that just means that one of my themes is having trouble downloading the background image. To conserve on space in the repo, my themes download the relevant wallpapers directly from their source, but that also means that if the link is broken, home-manager switch fails.
I have included a script in the themes directory named background-test.sh which performs a rough test on every theme background url, reporting which are broken.
If you’re having this error, navigate to the flake.nix and select any theme with a good background wallpaper link. As long as it is able to download the new wallpaper, it should be able to build.
No. You can put them in literally any directory you want. I just prefer to use ~/.dotfiles as a convention. If you change the directory, do keep in mind that the above scripts must be modified, replacing ~/.dotfiles with whatever directory you want to install them to. Also, you may want to modify the dotfilesDir variable in flake.nix.
So I cloned these dotfiles into ~/.dotfiles, and now there are system-level files owned by my user account.. HOW IS THIS SECURE?!
If you’re worried about someone modifying your system-level (root configuration) files as your unpriveleged user, see harden.sh.
I installed this to a VM and when I log in, it crashes and sends me back to the login manager (SDDM)?
Enable 3D acceleration for your virtual machine. Hyprland doesn’t work without it.
It will 100% fail if you test it with a non-default boot configuration. It might even give this error otherwise! If this is the case, try modifying bootMountPath (UEFI) or grubDevice (legacy BIOS) in flake.nix before installing again.
This can happen if you run the autoinstall script on a system that already has a desktop environment, or if any other (non-Nix-store-symlink) config files are in the way of the config files generated by home-manager. In these cases, home-manager refuses to build anything, even if there’s just one file in the way. If you try running nix run home-manager/master -- switch --flake ~/.dotfiles#user, it should throw an error at the end with something like:
Existing file '/home/user/.gtkrc-2.0' is in the way of '/nix/store/6p3hzdbzhad8ra5j1qf4b2b3hs6as6sf-home-manager-files/.gtkrc-2.0' Existing file '/home/user/.config/Trolltech.conf' is in the way of '/nix/store/6p3hzdbzhad8ra5j1qf4b2b3hs6as6sf-home-manager-files/.config/Trolltech.conf' Existing file '/home/user/.config/user-dirs.conf' is in the way of '/nix/store/6p3hzdbzhad8ra5j1qf4b2b3hs6as6sf-home-manager-files/.config/user-dirs.conf' ...
The current solution to this is to delete or move the files mentioned so that home-manager can evaluate. Once the files are out of the way, just run nix run home-manager/master -- switch --flake ~/.dotfiles#user again and it should work!