nixos-config/install.org

Install

• Automated Install Script (Experimental)
  • Install Directly From Git
  • Install From Local Git Clone
  • Automatic Install Script Limitations
• Manual Install Procedure
  • Clone Repo and Modify Configuration
  • Rebuild and Switch System Config
  • Intall and Switch Home Manager Config
• FAQ
  • home-manager switch --flake .#user Command Fails
  • Do I have to put the configuration files in ~/.dotfiles?
  • So I cloned these dotfiles into ~/.dotfiles, and now there are system-level files owned by my user account.. HOW IS THIS SECURE?!
  • I installed this to a VM and when I log in, it crashes and sends me back to the login manager (SDDM)?
  • It fails installing with some weird errors about grub or a bootloader?

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.

Automated Install Script (Experimental)

Install Directly From Git

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-config

The 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 git

and then running:

nix-run gitlab:librephoenix/nixos-config --extra-experimental-features nix-command --extra-experimental-features flakes

And if you want a single copy-paste solution:

nix-shell -p git --command "nix run gitlab:librephoenix/nixos-config --extra-experimental-features nix-command --extra-experimental-features flakes"

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

Install From Local Git Clone

The dotfiles can be installed after cloning the repo into ~/.dotfiles using:

git clone https://gitlab.com/librephoenix/nixos-config.git ~/.dotfiles
~/.dotfiles/install.sh

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

Automatic Install Script Limitations

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?
• 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)

Manual Install Procedure

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:

Clone Repo and Modify Configuration

Start by cloning the repo:

git clone https://gitlab.com/librephoenix/nixos-config.git ~/.dotfiles

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.nix

Also, 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.

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

Rebuild and Switch System Config

Once the variables are set, then switch into the system configuration by running:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake ~/.dotfiles#system

The build will fail if you are booting from BIOS instead of UEFI.

Intall and Switch Home Manager Config

Home manager can be installed and the configuration activated with:

nix run home-manager/master -- switch --flake ~/.dotfiles#user

FAQ

home-manager switch --flake .#user Command Fails

If 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.

Do I have to put the configuration files in ~/.dotfiles?

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 fails installing with some weird errors about grub or a bootloader?

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.