1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
|
[<img src="https://daiderd.com/nix-darwin/images/nix-darwin.png" width="200px" alt="logo" />](https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin)
# nix-darwin
[](https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/actions/workflows/test.yml)
Nix modules for darwin, `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix` for macOS.
This project aims to bring the convenience of a declarative system approach to macOS.
nix-darwin is built up around [Nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs), quite similar to [NixOS](https://nixos.org/).
## Prerequisites
The only prerequisite is a Nix implementation, both Nix and Lix are supported.
As the official Nix installer does not include an automated uninstaller, and manual uninstallation on macOS is a complex process, we recommend using one of the following installers instead:
- The [Nix installer from Determinate Systems](https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer?tab=readme-ov-file#determinate-nix-installer) is only recommended for use with flake-based setups. **Make sure you use it without the `--determinate` flag**. The `--determinate` flag installs the Determinate Nix distribution which does not work out of the box with nix-darwin.
* The [Lix installer](https://lix.systems/install/#on-any-other-linuxmacos-system) supports both flake-based and channel-based setups.
## Getting started
Despite being an experimental feature in Nix currently, nix-darwin recommends that beginners use flakes to manage their nix-darwin configurations.
<details>
<summary>Flakes (Recommended for beginners)</summary>
### Step 1. Creating `flake.nix`
<details>
<summary>Getting started from scratch</summary>
<p></p>
If you don't have an existing `configuration.nix`, you can run the following commands to generate a basic `flake.nix` inside `~/.config/nix-darwin`:
```bash
mkdir -p ~/.config/nix-darwin
cd ~/.config/nix-darwin
nix flake init -t nix-darwin
sed -i '' "s/simple/$(scutil --get LocalHostName)/" flake.nix
```
Make sure to change `nixpkgs.hostPlatform` to `aarch64-darwin` if you are using Apple Silicon.
</details>
<details>
<summary>Migrating from an existing configuration.nix</summary>
<p></p>
Add the following to `flake.nix` in the same folder as `configuration.nix`:
```nix
{
description = "John's darwin system";
inputs = {
nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-24.05-darwin";
nix-darwin.url = "github:LnL7/nix-darwin";
nix-darwin.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
};
outputs = inputs@{ self, nix-darwin, nixpkgs }: {
darwinConfigurations."Johns-MacBook" = nix-darwin.lib.darwinSystem {
modules = [ ./configuration.nix ];
};
};
}
```
Make sure to replace `Johns-MacBook` with your hostname which you can find by running `scutil --get LocalHostName`.
Make sure to set `nixpkgs.hostPlatform` in your `configuration.nix` to either `x86_64-darwin` (Intel) or `aarch64-darwin` (Apple Silicon).
</details>
### Step 2. Installing `nix-darwin`
Unlike NixOS, `nix-darwin` does not have an installer, you can just run `darwin-rebuild switch` to install nix-darwin. As `darwin-rebuild` won't be installed in your `PATH` yet, you can use the following command:
```bash
nix run nix-darwin -- switch --flake ~/.config/nix-darwin
```
### Step 3. Using `nix-darwin`
After installing, you can run `darwin-rebuild` to apply changes to your system:
```bash
darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/.config/nix-darwin
```
#### Using flake inputs
Inputs from the flake can also be passed into `darwinSystem`. These inputs are then
accessible as an argument `inputs`, similar to `pkgs` and `lib`, inside the configuration.
```nix
# in flake.nix
nix-darwin.lib.darwinSystem {
modules = [ ./configuration.nix ];
specialArgs = { inherit inputs; };
}
```
```nix
# in configuration.nix
{ pkgs, lib, inputs }:
# inputs.self, inputs.nix-darwin, and inputs.nixpkgs can be accessed here
```
</details>
<details>
<summary>Channels</summary>
### Step 1. Creating `configuration.nix`
Copy the [simple](./modules/examples/simple.nix) example to `~/.config/nix-darwin/configuration.nix`.
### Step 2. Adding `nix-darwin` channel
```bash
nix-channel --add https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/archive/master.tar.gz darwin
nix-channel --update
```
### Step 3. Installing `nix-darwin`
To install `nix-darwin`, you can just run `darwin-rebuild switch` to install nix-darwin. As `darwin-rebuild` won't be installed in your `PATH` yet, you can use the following command:
```bash
nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run nix-darwin -- switch -I darwin-config=$HOME/.config/nix-darwin/configuration.nix
```
### Step 4. Using `nix-darwin`
After installing, you can run `darwin-rebuild` to apply changes to your system:
```bash
darwin-rebuild switch
```
### Step 5. Updating `nix-darwin`
You can update `nix-darwin` using the following command:
```bash
nix-channel --update darwin
```
</details>
## Documentation
`darwin-help` will open up a local copy of the reference documentation, it can also be found online [here](https://daiderd.com/nix-darwin/manual/index.html).
The documentation is also available as manpages by running `man 5 configuration.nix`.
## Uninstalling
To run the latest version of the uninstaller, you can run the following command:
```
nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run nix-darwin#darwin-uninstaller
```
If that command doesn't work for you, you can try the locally installed uninstaller:
```
darwin-uninstaller
```
## Tests
There are basic tests that run sanity checks for some of the modules,
you can run them like this:
```bash
# run all tests
nix-build release.nix -A tests
# or just a subset
nix-build release.nix -A tests.environment-path
```
## Contributing
Let's make Nix on macOS 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](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/nix-build.html).
```bash
darwin-rebuild switch -I darwin=.
```
If you're adding a module, please add yourself to `meta.maintainers`, for example
```nix
meta.maintainers = [
lib.maintainers.alice or "alice"
];
options.services.alicebot = # ...
```
The `or` operator takes care of graceful degradation when `lib` from Nixpkgs
goes out of sync.
Also feel free to contact me if you have questions,
- Matrix - @daiderd:matrix.org, you can find me in [#macos:nixos.org](https://matrix.to/#/#macos:nixos.org)
- @LnL7 on twitter
|
