A nix os. Declarative configuration prevents unwanted changes. Check out FlakeHub, the best place to discover and publish Nix flakes, brought to you by Determinate Systems. I first discovered NixOS while listening to the Linux Unplugged podcast. And work freely knowing Nix is a tool that takes a unique approach to package management and system configuration. Motivation Creating a modified NixOS LiveCD out of an existing working NixOS installation has a number of benefits: Ensures authenticity. wiki) started in 2017. 4 on 2021-11-01 (see release notes). - mikeroyal/NixOS-Guide error: cannot add path '/nix/store/' because it lacks a signature by a trusted key If this occurs, add your non-root user or group to the trusted-users list in /etc/nix/nix. Your work environment will stay intact, but allows you to experiment in a safe way. It’s unique amongst distributions because it enables you to use the Nix language to declaratively configure your operating system in a configuration. But if you went to do some research about Nix you might have gotten a bit lost in concepts like dependency trees and the Nix programming language. NixOS is a Linux distribution built around the Nix package manager. For more specific introductions, see: NixOS Nix package manager Nixpkgs package repository Nix Language Nix prevents conflicts not only between multiple development environments, but also with the operating system. In this example with Neovim preinstalled. Configuration Options B. Note A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. Learn how to make reproducible, declarative and reliable systems. nix file. Home Manager has many options, which can look daunting at first, but most of those options only boil down to creating some dotfile and Jun 15, 2025 · nixos-rebuild is the NixOS command used to apply changes made to the system configuration. Introduction Nix flakes provide a standard way to write Nix expressions (and therefore packages) whose dependencies are version-pinned in a lock file, improving reproducibility of Nix installations. No need for internet access. Newcomers to NixOS are encouraged to read the Nix Core Ecosystem overview article to get a comprehensive orientation. settings. config/nix/nix. Even if your ambitions are to use NixOS in the cloud or on specially configured servers, you may want to start with the lessons outlined here in order to get more generally familiar with the Nix ecosystem Nix is a tool that takes a unique approach to package management and system configuration. NixOS produces a full system configuration by combining smaller, more isolated and reusable components: Modules. nix -file. In addition Jan 1, 2025 · sixos: a nix os without systemd This talk announces the first public release of sixos, a two year project to create a nixpkgs-based operating system using skarnet's s6 s Writing NixOS Documentation NixOS Tests Developing the NixOS Test Driver Testing the Installer Contributing to this manual A. ) Additionally, you may want to look at Hardware configuration for known-hardware at this point or after installation. If you want to use it as a primary desktop operating system for your daily use (either on bare metal or as a secondary VM), this page is for you. It processes them and defines options declared in other modules. NixOS can be used for many purposes. [1] For example, /etc/nixos/configuration. Learn all about the immutable Nix Operating System and the declarative Nix Expression Language. The oldest (original?) of them is no longer directly available but can still be accessed at archive. As of April 2024 multiple Nix (OS) wikis do exist: The unofficial user's Wiki (the one you are reading now on nixos. Sep 11, 2024 · NixOS is a Linux distribution that focuses on reproducibility, declarative configuration, and robust package management. Update securely. It declares options for other modules to define (give a value). Sep 11, 2024 · The nix-store and NixOS's package handling make security management significantly simpler. Our Nix-based OS creates a reliable environment by leveraging decades of established best practices in the Linux community. Most other modules Flakes Nix flakes is an experimental feature of the Nix package manager. It ensures consistency and simplifies software management across various platforms. Isolate threats. For more specific introductions, see: NixOS Nix package manager Nixpkgs package repository Nix Language Jun 13, 2024 · NixOS is a Linux distribution based on the Nix package manager. The good news is that you don’t need to understand how Nix works in depth or know any programming to . It is easy to add your own packages and configuration changes to the image. Nix has been trending lately so there’s a good chance you’ve heard of it. nixos. nix is a module. A Unix-like application is one that behaves like the corresponding Unix command or shell. conf, which is the nix. conf for a multi-user-install or ~/. As a die-hard Arch Linux user, I wasn't Compute safely. [6] NixOS relies on the Nixpkgs collection of package definitions and the Nix See full list on itsfoss. Aug 28, 2025 · NixOS is a Linux operating system based on the Nix package manager and the Nixpkgs package repository. Jun 7, 2025 · NixOS is an open-source operating system that is available to install and use for free. It can also be used for a variety of other tasks related to managing the state of a NixOS system. Release Notes List of Examples NixOS virtual machines # One of the most important features of NixOS is the ability to configure the entire system declaratively, including packages to be installed, services to be run, as well as other settings and options. Nix is a tool that takes a unique approach to package management and system configuration. A module is a file containing a Nix expression with a specific structure. Feb 12, 2024 · Nix is an ecosystem of tools that provide a declarative, reproducible, isolated approach to building, installing, and configuring software that works on Linux and macOS (and Windows with WSL). nix and will be overwritten by future invocations of nixos-generate-config; thus, you generally should not modify it. com 5 days ago · Nix OS is a unique Linux distribution that leverages the Nix package manager to provide a reproducible, declarative, and reliable system configuration. trusted-users option in NixOS. It generates complete system profiles, enabling reproducible deployments, atomic upgrades, and system rollbacks. It offers several desktop environments to choose from, is as rock-solid as any OS on the market, and Sep 29, 2025 · News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions. Despite that most content was copied verbatim (which is fine, forks are part of open source) there is no NixOS Guide. org. For a full list of sub-commands and options, see the nixos-rebuild man page. (The configuration file hardware-configuration. Nix NixOS is a Linux distribution based on Nix. Home Manager is a system for managing a user environment using the Nix package manager. Jun 14, 2025 · This method can be used when testing NixOS services for a pull request to nixpkgs. Oct 8, 2025 · NixOS is a Linux operating system based on the Nix package manager and the Nixpkgs package repository. The active community rapidly identifies and patches vulnerabilities. The "official NixOS Wiki" at wiki. conf otherwise). Use the following command to build directly from a Jul 24, 2025 · If your nix store is on a case insensitive filesystem like CIFS on Linux, derivation outputs cannot contain two files differing only in case in the same directory. nix is included from configuration. CNIX allows you to harness the power of Linux without compromising safety. Building Building minimal NixOS installation CD with the nix-build command by creating this iso. Flakes was introduced with Nix 2. Building NixOS from a git is an alternative to using nix channels and set up permanent following this blog article. It has a couple of advantages over nixpkgs as it allows back-porting of packages/changes to stable versions as well as applying customization. Nix can work around this by adding use-case-hack = true to your nix configuration (/etc/nix/nix. And that configurability runs quite deep, including things like the system’s boot loader, the filesystem, window managers, kernel modules, services like OpenSSH, and much more. Nix is a tool that takes a unique approach to package management and system configuration. Setting up firewall rules ahead of time is a huge time-saver, and I can easily verify my security configuration and refine it as needed. Its unique approach to system configuration and package management makes it an attractive choice for users seeking more control over their Linux environment. In other words, Home Manager lets you install software declaratively in your user profile, rather than using nix-env manage dotfiles in the home directory of your user. Unlike traditional Linux distributions, NixOS is configured using a functional language that describes the system configuration. lnkg24qzx7bwlxyys9adbhtkjsr0plvg5bqsw19kjy