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Khue Doan docs: testing and acknowledgements
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Nix Setup#

Monorepo for my Nix-based machine setup across NixOS and macOS (for when I don't have a Linux machine).

Overview#

Repository layout:

  • flake.nix: entrypoint
  • hosts/: one per machine, each host sets hostname, username, and imports the modules it needs.
  • base/: shared baseline
  • modules/ composable modules that hosts can mix and match:
    • cli: shared command-line tools and development packages
    • gui: graphical apps and desktop settings for non-headless machines
    • dotfiles: bootstraps my dotfiles repository separately from the base system (moved out of base in case you don't want it)
    • personal: personal-machine configuration
    • work: work-specific packages and configuration
  • Modules follow this pattern:
    • default.nix: entrypoint (Nix convention)
    • darwin.nix: Darwin override
    • linux.nix: Linux override

Customize the configuration#

Fork this repo, then:

  • Add a new host to hosts/${HOSTNAME}.nix (or update an existing one) to match your machine and it to flake.nix
  • Customize the host's composable modules
  • Set your username and hostname
  • Replace the SSH public keys and dotfiles repository URLs (if you don't want to use my dotfiles)
  • Replace any host-specific hardware settings
  • Follow installation and usage instruction below
  • Customize the rest of the repo for your needs and clean up things that you don't use

Installation#

Review the base, hosts, and modules directories and adjust the configuration to match your machines before installing.

NixOS#

Boot into the NixOS live ISO, then install the tools needed for the initial bootstrap:

nix-shell -p git gnumake neovim disko

Clone the repository and run the installer:

git clone https://github.com/khuedoan/nix-setup
cd nix-setup
make install host=HOSTNAME disk=/dev/DISK

Replace HOSTNAME with the host module you want to install and /dev/DISK with the target disk device.

macOS#

Before the first run:

  • Update the hostname and primaryUser.username values in hosts/
  • Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access and allow Terminal

Clone the repository and apply the configuration:

git clone https://github.com/khuedoan/nix-setup
cd nix-setup
make switch host=HOSTNAME

Replace HOSTNAME with the matching entry in flake.nix. The rebuild script installs Nix and Homebrew automatically on a fresh macOS system if they are not already present.

Then reboot.

Usage#

Diff the new configuration against the current system profile:

make diff

Apply changes on an installed machine:

make switch

Update packages:

make update

Build a specific host without switching:

make build host=HOSTNAME

Clean up Nix store:

make clean

Testing#

GitHub Actions builds all NixOS and Darwin hosts, then applies the test hosts.

You can also test this locally in VMs:

NixOS:

  1. make test

macOS:

  1. Install UTM
  2. Download macOS IPSW recovery file
  3. Create a macOS VM in UTM using the downloaded IPSW file
  4. Run xcode-select --install in the new VM
  5. (Optional) Clone the VM to a new one for easy rollback (UTM doesn't support snapshot yet)
  6. Follow the above steps

Acknowledgements#