nix-darwin
Nix modules for darwin, /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
for macOS.
Install
nix-build https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/archive/master.tar.gz -A installer
./result/bin/darwin-installer
NOTE: the system activation scripts don't overwrite existing etc files, so files like
/etc/bashrc
and/etc/zshrc
won't be updated by default. If you didn't use the installer or skipped some of the options you'll have to take care of this yourself. Either modify the existing file to source/import the one from/etc/static
or remove it. Some examples:
mv /etc/bashrc /etc/bashrc.orig
echo 'if test -e /etc/static/bashrc; then . /etc/static/bashrc; fi' | sudo tee -a /etc/bashrc
echo 'if test -e /etc/static/bashrc; then . /etc/static/bashrc; fi' | tee -a ~/.bashrc
Updating
The installer will configure a channel for this repository.
nix-channel --update darwin
darwin-rebuild changelog
Uninstalling
There's also an uninstaller if you don't like the project and want to remove the configured files and services.
nix-build https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/archive/master.tar.gz -A uninstaller
./result/bin/darwin-uninstaller
Example configuration
Configuration lives in ~/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix
. Check out
modules/examples for some example configurations.
{ pkgs, ... }:
{
# List packages installed in system profile. To search by name, run:
# $ nix-env -qaP | grep wget
environment.systemPackages =
[ pkgs.vim
];
# Auto upgrade nix package and the daemon service.
services.nix-daemon.enable = true;
nix.package = pkgs.nix;
}
Flakes (experimental)
There is also preliminary support for building your configuration using a flake. This is mostly based on the flake support that was added to NixOS.
A minimal example of using an existing configuration.nix:
{
description = "John's darwin system";
inputs = {
nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-20.09-darwin";
darwin.url = "github:lnl7/nix-darwin/master";
darwin.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
};
outputs = { self, darwin, nixpkgs }: {
darwinConfigurations."Johns-MacBook" = darwin.lib.darwinSystem {
system = "x86_64-darwin";
modules = [ ./configuration.nix ];
};
};
}
Inputs from the flake can also be passed to darwinSystem
, these inputs are then
accessible as an argument, similar to pkgs and lib inside the configuration.
darwin.lib.darwinSystem {
system = "x86_64-darwin";
modules = [ ... ];
inputs = { inherit darwin dotfiles nixpkgs; };
}
Since the installer doesn't work with flakes out of the box yet nix-darwin will need to
be to be bootstrapped using the installer or manually. Afterwards the flake based
configuration can be built. The hostname(1)
of your system will be used to decide
which darwin configuration is applied if it's not specified explicitly in the flake ref.
nix build ~/.config/darwin\#darwinConfigurations.Johns-MacBook.system
./result/sw/bin/darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/.config/darwin
Manual Install
# Before 10.15 Catalina
sudo ln -s private/var/run /run
# After 10.15 Catalina
echo -e "run\tprivate/var/run" | sudo tee -a /etc/synthetic.conf
/System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs.util -B
/System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs.util -t
# Configure the channel
nix-channel --add https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/archive/master.tar.gz darwin
nix-channel --update
export NIX_PATH=darwin-config=$HOME/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix:$HOME/.nix-defexpr/channels:$NIX_PATH
# Or use a local git repository
git clone git@github.com:LnL7/nix-darwin.git ~/.nix-defexpr/darwin
export NIX_PATH=darwin=$HOME/.nix-defexpr/darwin:darwin-config=$HOME/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix:$NIX_PATH
cp ~/.nix-defexpr/darwin/modules/examples/simple.nix ~/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix
# you can also use this to rebootstrap nix-darwin in case
# darwin-rebuild is to old to activate the system.
$(nix-build '<darwin>' -A system --no-out-link)/sw/bin/darwin-rebuild build
$(nix-build '<darwin>' -A system --no-out-link)/sw/bin/darwin-rebuild switch
. /etc/static/bashrc
... or for fish
:
(nix-build '<darwin>' -A system --no-out-link)/sw/bin/darwin-rebuild build
(nix-build '<darwin>' -A system --no-out-link)/sw/bin/darwin-rebuild switch
This will create and manage a system profile in /run/current-system
, just like nixos.
The default NIX_PATH
in nix-darwin will look for this repository in ~/.nix-defexpr/darwin
and for your configuration in ~/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix
.
If you want to change these you can set your own with nix.nixPath = [ ];
.
$ darwin-rebuild switch
building the system configuration...
these derivations will be built:
/nix/store/vfad6xgjzr56jcs051cg6vzch4dby92y-etc-zprofile.drv
/nix/store/cbmkscxsz0k02ynaph5xaxm1aql0p3vq-etc.drv
/nix/store/r5fpn177jhc16f8iyzk12gcw4pivzpbw-nixdarwin-system-16.09.drv
building path(s) ‘/nix/store/wlq89shja597ip7mrmjv7yzk2lwyh8n0-etc-zprofile’
building path(s) ‘/nix/store/m8kcm1pa5j570h3indp71a439wsh9lzq-etc’
building path(s) ‘/nix/store/l735ffcdvcvy60i8pqf6v00vx7lnm6mz-nixdarwin-system-16.09’
setting up /etc...
setting up launchd services...
writing defaults...
$
$ darwin-option services.activate-system.enable
Value:
true
Default:
false
Example:
no example
Description:
Whether to activate system at boot time.
Documentation
Reference documentation of all the options is available here
https://lnl7.github.io/nix-darwin/manual/index.html#sec-options.
This can also be accessed locally using man 5 configuration.nix
.
There's also a small wiki https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/wiki about specific topics, like macOS upgrades.
Tests
There are basic tests that run sanity checks for some of the modules, you can run them like this:
nix-build release.nix -A tests.environment-path
Contributing
Let's make nix on darwin awesome! Don't hesitate to contribute modules or open an issue.
To build your configuration with local changes you can run this. This
flag can also be used to override darwin-config or nixpkgs, for more
information on the -I
flag look at the nix-build manpage.
darwin-rebuild switch -I darwin=.
Also feel free to contact me if you have questions,
- IRC - LnL, you can find me in #nixos or #nix-darwin on freenode.net
- @lnl7 on twitter