When I test a change e.g. in the module system manually, I usually use
`nixos-build-vms(8)` which also gives me a QEMU window where I can play
around in the freshly built VM.
It seems as this has changed recently when the default package for
non-interactive VM tests using the same framework was switched to
`pkgs.qemu_test` to reduce the closure size. While this is a reasonable
decision for our CI tests, I think that you really want a QEMU window of
the VM by default when using `nixos-build-vms(8)`.
[1] bc2188b083
The only nix version available in the installer should be the version
configure in the module system. If someone needs `nixUnstable` in their
`nixos-install` they should probably set the module option and not just
add it to the closure.
$EDITOR is allowed to contain flags, so it is important to allow the
shell to split this normally. For example, Sublime Text needs to be
passed --wait, since otherwise it will daemonise.
$NIXOS_CONFIG can be set to a directory, in which case the file used
is $NIXOS_CONFIG/default.nix. This updates 'nixos-rebuild edit' to
handle that case correctly.
This allows to perform `dd if= of=$img` after the image is built
which is handy to add e.g. uBoot SPL to the built image.
Instructions for some ARM boards sometimes contain this step
that needs to be performed manually, with this patch it can be
part of the nix file used to built the image.
The nix store more-or-less requires o+rx on all parent directories.
This is primarily because nix runs builders in a uid/gid mapped
user-namespace, and those builders have to be able to operate on the nix
store.
This check is especially helpful because nix does not produce a helpful
error on its own (rather, creating directories and such works, it's not
until 'mount --bind' that it gets an EACCES).
Helps users who run into this opaque error, such as in #67465.
Possibly fixes that issue if bad permissions were the only cause.
This should have been done initially, as otherwise it gets awfully
awkward to boot into new generations by default.
This system-specific image wasn't expected to be long-lived, thus why it
didn't end up being polished much.
Reality shows us we may be stuck with it for a bit longer, so let's make
it easier to use for new users.
'nix build' is an experimental command so we shouldn't use it
yet. (nixos-rebuild also uses 'nix', but only when using flakes, which
are themselves an experimental feature.)
nix build should store it's temporary files on target filesystem.
This should fix 'No space left on device' on systems
with low amount of RAM when there is a need to build something
like Linux kernel
