Abstract

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Introduction

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Last month’s presentation covered the Nix language and miscellaneous tools that are configured by it. However, all these tools were fairly isolated from each other. What if there was an OS where EVERYTHING is Nix-based and all the tools can work in perfect harmony? That is NixOS.

Review

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We will review some basic Nix concepts from last month’s presentation

Generations and Rollbacks

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NixOS system generations will be described and demonstrated. This allows for uniquely NixOS features like rolling back to previous system states.

Reusing Modules Between Machines

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NixOS configurations are extremely modular. Common configuration code can be reused between physical machines, while hardware-specific code can be different on each physical machine, even if they share the same config file(s).

Impermanance

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NixOS allows for opt-in system state by mounting / in RAM. This allows for state to be finely controlled, so managing a whole OS is nearly like managing a Docker container.

Install Script

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A NixOS install script that allows any NixOS system to be quickly and easily reproduced across any hardware.

Presenter

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Zachary Liebl hartfordlug (at) zachliebl.com

Date

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Wednesday January 8 2025 at 6:30PM EST