Niels Nix Stuff

Repository containing my custom nixos installation. I have one particular setup that I enjoy and want to run on all possible computers. To do this, I factor common functionality in the common directory. This effectively is a library that is then used by hosts to implement specific hosts. My switch.sh script then installs a given host given a configuration.

TODOs:

• I have the foundations of an ISO build there, but I am not quite happy with how it ends up working. What I really want is the following:
  • Install ISO, should install a "basic" setup. I want my host repository contained within, preferably up to date. I suppose I could use a github action to create the ISO with the latest. The "basic" setup should preferably have my whole setup (describing the common configuration).
  • Given my partitioning of common and hosts, on install I want to have a script ONLY in the ISO that basically
    1. pulls the latest update of the repo, I should clone with https so that SSH setup is not required
    2. generates a new host with a given hostname.
    3. instructs the user to make changes to said host until they are happy.
    4. when the user is ready, ./switch.sh --install something or other should install the repository
       • do all the partitioning
       • move the repository to $HOME/repositories/personal/host which is my prefered place for it
       • change the repository to ssh from https somehow
       • perhaps run ./switch.sh after everything is in place in case it matters
       • suggest the user to push their changes upstream
  • Currently, I don't think its like this. It should be a goal on my next reinstall to do this!
• I want to understand my setup more. I semi-vibed it meaning there are holes in my understanding.

Install (from ISO), currently janky

Build and burn the ISO:

./build-iso.sh
./burn-iso.sh /dev/sdX

Boot the USB. You'll auto-login as root and see a prompt. Then:

nmcli host wifi rescan
nmcli host wifi connect "SSID" --ask
install-nixos

After it finishes:

# set your password
nixos-enter --root /mnt -c "passwd niels"
# reboot
reboot

Adding a new host

1. Create hosts/<name>/ with configuration.nix, home-manager.nix, and disko.nix
2. disko.nix can just be import ../../common/disko/standard-nvme.nix or a custom layout
3. configuration.nix imports ../../common/configuration.nix + any hardware modules
4. home-manager.nix imports ../../common/home-manager.nix + any extra packages
5. Add the host to flake.nix
6. Build ISO, boot, run install-nixos

Good commands

# rebuild current host
./switch.sh

# format all nix files
./format.sh

# build installer ISO
./build-iso.sh

# burn ISO to USB
./burn-iso.sh /dev/sdX

Sources

• https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config/tree/main/templates/starter