2.5 KiB
nixos-flake-example
This shows how to build the same config, with and without flakes.
It also shows that flake.nix
is basically just some syntax.
flake fundamentals
Nix is in flakes mode when:
nixos-rebuild <cmd> --flake '.#'
is usednix build '.#something'
the hash-tag syntax is used
This automatically loads from a flake.nix
in the specified dir.
If the flake.nix were located elsewhere you could do this too:
-
nix build '/home/cole/code/nixos-flake-example#nixosConfigufations
(loads from
/home/cole/code/nixos-flake-example'
) -
nix build 'github.com:colemickens/nixos-flake-example#something'
(loads from
flake.nix
in the root of that repo checkout)
Those are just examples of syntax. Again,
more tips
nixos-rebuild build --flake '.#'
will automatically try to find and build the attribute:.#nixosConfigurations.your_hostname
(assuming your machines hostname isyour_hostname
)
overview
Note that these produce the same output:
-
with flakes:
nix build '.#nixosConfigurations.mysystem.config.system.build.toplevel' readlink -f result /nix/store/0imi716z1qd04pfh4zdw6mb0gnxmakjs-nixos-system-nixos-21.03.20201020.007126e nixos-rebuild build --flake '.#mysystem' readlink -f result /nix/store/0imi716z1qd04pfh4zdw6mb0gnxmakjs-nixos-system-nixos-21.03.20201020.007126e
Note, nixos-rebuild is basically just some magic to build the right derivation and then set it as a system profile, and activate it.
-
without flakes:
export NIX_PATH=nixos-config=$(pwd)/configuration.nix:nixpkgs=https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-unstable.tar.gz /nix/store/zidq625i13hvbbs8alkklj8k6a191xix-nixos-system-nixos-21.03pre-git
Note,
same pathsame inner system, just much slower due to no eval cache. (they should be identical, but the flake version suffix is slightly different)
They build the same thing, the flake.nix just moves the redirection from the NixOS channel system into the flake instead.
Note, if you come back and run this later, you may need to tell nix to update the nixpkgs
that it
has pinned in flake.lock
by running nix flake update --update-input nixpkgs
. The non-flake example
is going to re-download the nixos-unstable build when the cache expires. This could cause any hash differences
if they're on different revs. (again, another reason to have control of it via flakes, and can lock it directly in the source.)