The Determinate Nix Installer

A fast, friendly, and reliable tool to help you use Nix with Flakes everywhere.

bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

The nix-installer has successfully completed over 500,000 installs in a number of environments, including Github Actions:

| Platform | Multi User | root only | Maturity | |------------------------------|:------------------:|:-----------:|:-----------------:| | Linux (x8664 & aarch64) | ✓ (via [systemd]) | ✓ | Stable | | MacOS (x8664 & aarch64) | ✓ | | Stable (See note) | | Valve Steam Deck (SteamOS) | ✓ | | Stable | | WSL2 (x86_64 & aarch64) | ✓ (via [systemd]) | ✓ | Stable | | Podman Linux Containers | ✓ (via [systemd]) | ✓ | Stable | | Docker Containers | | ✓ | Stable | | Linux (i686) | ✓ (via [systemd]) | ✓ | Unstable |

Note On MacOS only, removing users and/or groups may fail if there are no users who are logged in graphically.

Usage

Install Nix with the default planner and options:

bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

Or, to download a platform specific Installer binary yourself:

bash $ curl -sL -o nix-installer https://install.determinate.systems/nix/nix-installer-x86_64-linux $ chmod +x nix-installer $ ./nix-installer

nix-installer installs Nix by following a plan made by a planner. Review the available planners:

```bash $ ./nix-installer install --help Execute an install (possibly using an existing plan)

To pass custom options, select a planner, for example nix-installer install linux-multi --help

Usage: nix-installer install [OPTIONS] [PLAN] nix-installer install

Commands: linux A planner for Linux installs steam-deck A planner suitable for the Valve Steam Deck running SteamOS help Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

...

```

Planners have their own options and defaults, sharing most of them in common:

```bash $ ./nix-installer install linux --help A planner for Linux installs

Usage: nix-installer install linux [OPTIONS]

Options:

...

  --nix-build-group-name <NIX_BUILD_GROUP_NAME>
      The Nix build group name

      [env: NIX_INSTALLER_NIX_BUILD_GROUP_NAME=]
      [default: nixbld]

  --nix-build-group-id <NIX_BUILD_GROUP_ID>
      The Nix build group GID

      [env: NIX_INSTALLER_NIX_BUILD_GROUP_ID=]
      [default: 3000]

...

```

Planners can be configured via environment variable or command arguments:

```bash $ curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | NIXBUILDGROUP_NAME=nixbuilder sh -s -- install linux-multi --nix-build-group-id 4000

Or...

$ NIXBUILDGROUP_NAME=nixbuilder ./nix-installer install linux-multi --nix-build-group-id 4000 ```

Upgrading Nix

You can upgrade Nix (to the version specified here) by running:

sudo -i nix upgrade-nix

Alternatively, you can uninstall and reinstall with a different version of the nix-installer.

Uninstalling

You can remove a nix-installer-installed Nix by running

bash /nix/nix-installer uninstall

As a Github Action

You can use the nix-installer-action Github Action like so:

```yaml on: pull_request: push: branches: [main]

jobs: lints: name: Build runs-on: ubuntu-22.04 steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v3 - name: Install Nix uses: DeterminateSystems/nix-installer-action@main - name: Run nix build run: nix build . ```

Without systemd (Linux only)

Warning When --init none is used, only root or users who can elevate to root privileges can run Nix:

bash sudo -i nix run nixpkgs#hello

If you don't use [systemd], you can still install Nix by explicitly specifying the linux plan and --init none:

bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install linux --init none

In a container

In Docker/Podman containers or WSL2 instances where an init (like systemd) is not present, pass --init none.

For containers (without an init):

Warning When --init none is used, only root or users who can elevate to root privileges can run Nix:

bash sudo -i nix run nixpkgs#hello

```dockerfile

Dockerfile

FROM ubuntu:latest RUN apt update -y RUN apt install curl -y RUN curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install linux \ --extra-conf "sandbox = false" \ --init none \ --no-confirm ENV PATH="${PATH}:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin" RUN nix run nixpkgs#hello ```

```bash docker build -t ubuntu-with-nix . docker run --rm -ti ubuntu-with-nix docker rmi ubuntu-with-nix

or

podman build -t ubuntu-with-nix . podman run --rm -ti ubuntu-with-nix podman rmi ubuntu-with-nix ```

For containers with a systemd init:

```dockerfile

Dockerfile

FROM ubuntu:latest RUN apt update -y RUN apt install curl systemd -y RUN curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install linux \ --extra-conf "sandbox = false" \ --no-start-daemon \ --no-confirm ENV PATH="${PATH}:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin" RUN nix run nixpkgs#hello CMD [ "/bin/systemd" ] ```

bash podman build -t ubuntu-systemd-with-nix . IMAGE=$(podman create ubuntu-systemd-with-nix) CONTAINER=$(podman start $IMAGE) podman exec -ti $CONTAINER /bin/bash podman rm -f $CONTAINER podman rmi $IMAGE

On some container tools, such as docker, sandbox = false can be omitted. Omitting it will negatively impact compatibility with container tools like podman.

In WSL2

We strongly recommend enabling systemd, then installing Nix as normal:

bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

If WSLg is enabled, you can do things like open a Linux Firefox from Windows on Powershell:

powershell wsl nix run nixpkgs#firefox

To use some OpenGL applications, you can use nixGL (note that some applications, such as blender, may not work):

powershell wsl nix run --impure github:guibou/nixGL nix run nixpkgs#obs-studio

If enabling system is not an option, pass --init none at the end of the command:

Warning When --init none is used, only root or users who can elevate to root privileges can run Nix:

bash sudo -i nix run nixpkgs#hello

bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install linux --init none

Skip confirmation

If you'd like to bypass the confirmation step, you can apply the --no-confirm flag:

bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install --no-confirm

This is especially useful when using the installer in non-interactive scripts.

Quirks

While nix-installer tries to provide a comprehensive and unquirky experience, there are unfortunately some issues which may require manual intervention or operator choices.

Using MacOS remote SSH builders, Nix binaries are not on `$PATH`

When connecting to a Mac remote SSH builder users may sometimes see this error:

bash $ nix store ping --store "ssh://$USER@$HOST" Store URL: ssh://$USER@$HOST zsh:1: command not found: nix-store error: cannot connect to '$USER@$HOST'

The way MacOS populates the PATH environment differs from other environments. (Some background)

There are two possible workarounds for this:

(Preferred) Update the remote builder URL to include the remote-program parameter pointing to nix-store. For example: bash nix store ping --store "ssh://$USER@$HOST?remote-program=/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin/nix-store" If you are unsure where the nix-store binary is located, run which nix-store on the remote.
Update /etc/zshenv on the remote so that zsh populates the Nix path for every shell, even those that are neither interactive or login: ```bash

Nix

if [ -e '/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/profile.d/nix-daemon.sh' ]; then . '/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/profile.d/nix-daemon.sh' fi

End Nix

```

This strategy has some behavioral caveats, namely, $PATH may have unexpected contents

For example, if $PATH gets unset then a script invoked, $PATH may not be as empty as expected: ```bash $ cat example.sh

! /bin/zsh

echo $PATH $ PATH= ./example.sh /Users/ephemeraladmin/.nix-profile/bin:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin: ``This strategy results in Nix's paths being present on$PATH` twice and may have a minor impact on performance.

Building a binary

Since you'll be using nix-installer to install Nix on systems without Nix, the default build is a static binary.

Build a portable Linux binary on a system with Nix:

```bash

to build a local copy

nix build -L ".#nix-installer-static"

to build the remote main development branch

nix build -L "github:determinatesystems/nix-installer#nix-installer-static"

for a specific version of the installer:

export NIXINSTALLERTAG="v0.6.0" nix build -L "github:determinatesystems/nix-installer/$NIXINSTALLERTAG#nix-installer-static" ```

On Mac:

```bash

to build a local copy

nix build -L ".#nix-installer"

to build the remote main development branch

nix build -L "github:determinatesystems/nix-installer#nix-installer"

for a specific version of the installer:

export NIXINSTALLERTAG="v0.6.0" nix build -L "github:determinatesystems/nix-installer/$NIXINSTALLERTAG#nix-installer" ```

Then copy the result/bin/nix-installer to the machine you wish to run it on.

You can also add nix-installer to a system without Nix via cargo, there are no system dependencies to worry about:

```bash

to build and run a local copy

RUSTFLAGS="--cfg tokio_unstable" cargo run -- --help

to build the remote main development branch

RUSTFLAGS="--cfg tokio_unstable" cargo install --git https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer nix-installer --help

for a specific version of the installer:

export NIXINSTALLERTAG="v0.6.0" RUSTFLAGS="--cfg tokiounstable" cargo install --git https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer --tag $NIXINSTALLER_TAG nix-installer --help ```

To make this build portable, pass --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.

Note We currently require --cfg tokio_unstable as we utilize Tokio's process groups, which wrap stable std APIs, but are unstable due to it requiring an MSRV bump.

As a library

Warning Use as a library is still experimental. This feature is likely to be removed in the future without an advocate. If you're using this, please let us know and we can make a path to stablization.

Add nix-installer to your dependencies:

bash cargo add nix-installer

If you are building a CLI, check out the cli feature flag for clap integration.

You'll also need to edit your .cargo/config.toml to use tokio_unstable as we utilize Tokio's process groups, which wrap stable std APIs, but are unstable due to it requiring an MSRV bump:

```toml

.cargo/config.toml

[build] rustflags=["--cfg", "tokio_unstable"] ```

Then it's possible to review the documentation:

bash cargo doc --open -p nix-installer

Documentation is also available via nix build:

bash nix build github:DeterminateSystems/nix-installer#nix-installer.doc firefox result-doc/nix-installer/index.html

Accessing other versions

For users who desire version pinning, the version of nix-installer to use can be specified in the curl command:

bash VERSION="v0.6.0" curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix/tag/${VERSION} | sh -s -- install

To discover which versions are available, or download the binaries for any release, check the Github Releases.

These releases can be downloaded and used directly:

bash VERSION="v0.6.0" ARCH="aarch64-linux" curl -sSf -L https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer/releases/download/${VERSION}/nix-installer-${ARCH} -o nix-installer ./nix-installer install

Installation Differences

Differing from the upstream Nix installer scripts:

In nix.conf:
- the nix-command and flakes features are enabled
- bash-prompt-prefix is set
- auto-optimise-store is set to true (On Linux only)
- extra-nix-path is set to nixpkgs=flake:nixpkgs
an installation receipt (for uninstalling) is stored at /nix/receipt.json as well as a copy of the install binary at /nix/nix-installer
nix-channel --update is not run, ~/.nix-channels is not provisioned
NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE is set in the various shell profiles if the ssl-cert-file argument is used.

Motivations

The existing upstream scripts do a good job, however they are difficult to maintain.

Subtle differences in the shell implementations and tool used in the scripts make it difficult to make meaningful changes to the installer.

The Determinate Nix installer has numerous advantages:

keeping an installation receipt for easy uninstallation
offering users a chance to review an accurate, calculated install plan
having 'planners' which can create appropriate install plans for complicated targets
offering users with a failing install the chance to do a best-effort revert
improving performance by maximizing parallel operations
supporting a expanded test suite including 'curing' cases
supporting SELinux and OSTree based distributions without asking users to make compromises
operating as a single, static binary with external dependencies such as openssl, only calling existing system tools (like useradd) where necessary

It has been wonderful to collaborate with other participants in the Nix Installer Working Group and members of the broader community. The working group maintains a foundation owned fork of the installer.

Diagnostics

The goal of the Determinate Nix Installer is to successfully and correctly install Nix. The curl | sh pipeline and the installer collects a little bit of diagnostic information to help us make that true.

Here is a table of the diagnostic data we collect:

| Field | Use | | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | version | The version of the Determinate Nix Installer. | | planner | The method of installing Nix (linux, macos, steam-deck) | | configured_settings | The names of planner settings which were changed from their default. Does not include the values. | | os_name | The running operating system. | | os_version | The version of the operating system. | | triple | The architecture/operating system/binary format of your system. | | is_ci | Whether the installer is being used in CI (e.g. GitHub Actions). | | action | Either Install or Uninstall. | | status | One of Success, Failure, Pending, or Cancelled. | | attribution | Optionally defined by the user, associate the diagnostics of this run to the provided value. | | failure_chain | A high level description of what the failure was, if any. For example: Command("diskutil") if the command diskutil list failed. |

To disable diagnostic reporting, set the diagnostics URL to an empty string by passing --diagnostic-endpoint="" or setting NIX_INSTALLER_DIAGNOSTIC_ENDPOINT="".

You can read the full privacy policy for Determinate Systems, the creators of the Determinate Nix Installer, here.

The Determinate Nix Installer

Usage

...

...

...

Or...

Upgrading Nix

Uninstalling

As a Github Action

Without systemd (Linux only)

In a container

Dockerfile

or

Dockerfile

In WSL2

Skip confirmation

Quirks

Using MacOS remote SSH builders, Nix binaries are not on $PATH

Nix

End Nix

! /bin/zsh

Building a binary

to build a local copy

to build the remote main development branch

for a specific version of the installer:

to build a local copy

to build the remote main development branch

for a specific version of the installer:

to build and run a local copy

to build the remote main development branch

for a specific version of the installer:

As a library

.cargo/config.toml

Accessing other versions

Installation Differences

Motivations

Diagnostics

Using MacOS remote SSH builders, Nix binaries are not on `$PATH`