NixOS installation HOWTO -- October 3, 2005 This is small HOWTO of how to build and install the current version of NixOS. Building Install Nix. Checkout nixpkgs from Subversion, as well as nixu. Adapt the scripts in nixu to reflect the location of nixpkgs (default /nixpkgs). Make sure mktemp is installed. Run ./make-disk.sh. Wait. Burning Use your favourite tool to burn the ISO image to a CD. Preparing the host machine Currently NixOS can only be installed with machines that have a specific hardware set up: An ATA harddisk on the first ATA controller (hda) with: - data partition (hda1) - swap partition (hda2) All data on these two partitions will be wiped and the bootloader in the Master Boot Record (MBR) will be overwritten with GRUB. Booting Insert the CD, make sure it can boot from CD and reboot. Let it run for a while. Configuring To get NixOS in a working state, do the following: - load the networkdriver. This is machine dependent. On the labmachines this is the e1000 driver: # modprobe e1000 - bring the interface up: # ifconfig eth0 up If the interface is different (say, eth1) replace eth0 with the right interface. - if DHCP is used, run a DHCP client to obtain an IP address: # dhclient eth0 The interface will not be configured, but it will give you all the right information needed to configure the interface. # ifconfig eth0 netmask # route add default gw # vim /etc/resolv.conf Making logins on virtual consoles work. Logins on virtual consoles are disabled by default. To make them work: - edit /etc/inittab and outcomment the lines with "mingetty" in them - copy /etc/services from a working Linux machine to /etc/services on the NixOS machine (needed for sysklogd) - copy /etc/syslog.conf from a working Linux machine to /etc/syslog.conf on the NixOS machine (needed for sysklogd) - launch sysklogd - copy /etc/login.defs from a working Linux machine to /etc/login.defs on the NixOS machine (needed for mingetty) - chmod +x /path/to/mingetty - relaunch init