NixOS
declarative system configuration
atomic upgrades
cross-platform package manager

System

PROFILES > GENERATIONS > ENVIRONMENTS

Files location: /nix/store

Edit configuration

$ sudoedit /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

or

$ sudo vim /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

or

$ sudo EDITOR=vim nixos-rebuild edit

Only evaluate configuration without building

$ nix-instantiate '<nixpkgs/nixos>' -A system

-A, --attr

Rebuild and activate

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch

and also set custom boot entry name

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch -p mybootentryname

or build and activate without adding boot entry

$ sudo nixos-rebuild test

or build and set default boot entry but do not activate 

$ sudo nixos-rebuild boot

or build in a sandbox

$ nixos-rebuild build-vm

$ ./result/bin/run-*-vm

Roll back to previous system configuration

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --rollback

List generations (build date, version, kernel)

$ nixos-rebuild list-generations

Delete old generations

$ sudo nix-collect-garbage -d

-d, --delete-old

List subscribed update channels

$ sudo nix-channel --list

Update main channel nixos

$ sudo nix-channel --update nixos

or all channels

$ sudo nix-channel --update

Switch to bleeding edge channel

$ sudo nix-channel --add https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-unstable nixos

Upgrade all packages from all channels

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade-all

Upgrade packages from main channel nixos

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade

or in two steps

$ sudo nix-channel --update nixos

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Remove old packages

$ sudo nix-collect-garbage

Optimize store (by creating hard links)

$ nix-store --optimise

List all system packages (every derivation installed)

$ nix-store -q --requisites /run/current-system

-q, --query

-R, --requisites

List dependencies

$ nix-store -q --references /run/current-system/sw

or with cleaner output

$ nix-store -q --references /run/current-system/sw | cut -d'-' -f2- | sort | uniq | less

Configuration

/etc/nixos/configuration.nix

Set hostname

networking.hostName = "mbp";

Disable firewall

networking.firewall.enable = false;

Set static IP address

{

  networking.interfaces.eth0.ipv4.addresses = [ {

    address = "192.168.1.2";

    prefixLength = 24;

  } ];

}

{

  networking.defaultGateway = "192.168.1.1";

  networking.nameservers = [ "8.8.8.8" ];

}

Enable zram swap [4*1024 (MB) = 4 GB]

zramSwap.enable = true;

swapDevices = [ {

  device = "/var/lib/swapfile";

  size = 4*1024;

} ];

Enable kernel SysRq

boot.kernel.sysctl."kernel.sysrq" = 1;

Disable PC speaker beep

boot.blacklistedKernelModules = [ "snd_pcsp" ];

Enable laptop thermal control

services.thermald.enable = true;

Enable TLP power management daemon

services.tlp.enable = true;

Prevent sleep (suspend to RAM) when closing laptop lid

services.logind.extraConfig = "HandleLidSwitch=ignore\nHandleLidSwitchExternalPower=ignore";

Enable SSH and X11 Forwarding

services.openssh.enable = true;

services.openssh.settings.X11Forwarding = true;

Enable launching X11 via startx

services.xserver.displayManager.startx.enable = true;

Enable OpenGL and Mesa

hardware.opengl.enable = true;

hardware.opengl.extraPackages = [ pkgs.mesa.drivers ];

Enable KDE Plasma Desktop Environment

services.displayManager.sddm.enable = true;

services.desktopManager.plasma6.enable = true;

Add Plasma desktop/login manager user sddm to video group

users.users.sddm = { extraGroups = [ "video" ]; };

Use Plasma X11 instead of Wayland

services.displayManager.defaultSession = "plasmax11";

Change the name for user account

users.users.myusername = {

  isNormalUser = true;

  description = "Overlord";

  extraGroups = [ "networkmanager" "wheel" ];

};

Select Linux kernel version

{

  boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxKernel.packages.linux_6_6_54;

}

Install packages system-wide

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [

  vim

  wget

  x11vnc

  xorg.xkill

  xdotool

  gnome.dconf-editor

  mc

  screen

  htop

  nmap

  inxi

  fastfetch

  tldr

  terminator

  brave

];

Enable Flatpak support

{

  services.flatpak.enable = true;

}

{

  xdg.portal.extraPortals = [ pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gtk ];

  xdg.portal.config.common.default = "gtk";

}

Add Flatpak remote and update repo

$ flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

$ flatpak update

Enable AppImage support

{

  environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.appimage-run ];

}

Run AppImage

$ appimage-run foo.appimage