Make-nix -

or How my dotfiles escalated into a multi-platform configuration system for declaratively-configured world domination (working title).

Make-nix is a make controlled NixOS Nix-Darwin and configuration management script.

About

In 2023 I started experimenting with Nix. I thought I could keep it contained to just some of my side-projects, but I soon lost control. I had heard about Nix before, but no one ever warned me; A little Nix on the side quickly became NixOS on my personal computer. In no time, I found myself up late at nights re-writing my dotfiles, trying to make them more declarative, refactoring my system configuration in a language I can still barely comprehend. But it wasn't enough. I needed more.

At work the hours dragged on while I suffered on Nixless machines. Just the thought of going eight hours without re-writing a configuration file into a declarative module with type-checking made me break into a cold sweat. I needed to find a way to feed my addiction. But there were so many systems out there without Nix, how could I get my fix? How could I continue to experience the un-paralleled high that only comes from gloriously reproducible software?

That pursuit may never end, but for now it has take the form of Make-nix.

Getting Started

How does it work?

Make-nix bridges imperative setup options with a declarative Nix flake configuration. When you run a make target you can provide parameters and option flags with environment variables that creates a customized Nix attribute set file (make-attrs/system/<user>@<host>.nix or make-attrs/home-alone/<user>@<host>.nix), and commits that file to git so Nix can read it cleanly. The flake imports this attribute set and uses it to customise your NixOS, Nix-Darwin, or Home Manager configuration at build time.

By default make-nix autodetects the current user and host attributes and looks for an existing attribute file. This allows for easy rebuilds to update configurations on the host system. Running make switch with no arguments and will rebuild exactly the same configuration for both the home-manager user and the system. Any value can be overwridden to easily modify the configuration.

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Makefile Documentation

📘 make-nix usage

Usage

make <help|install|check|build|switch|all>
     [TGT_USER=<user>]
     [TGT_HOST=<host>]
     [TGT_SYSTEM=<system>]
     [CFG_TAGS=<tag1>,<tag2>,...]
     [SPECS=<spc1>,<spc2>,...]
     [OPTION FLAGS]

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Make Targets

Target	Description
help	View make-nix usage help.
install	Install Nix and/or Nix-Darwin on a bare MacOS or Linux system. Does not run on NixOS or Nix-Darwin managed systems.
uninstall	Uninstall Nix and/or Nix-Darwin on a bare MacOS or Linux system. Does not run on NixOS or Nix-Darwin managed systems.
check	Validate flake configurations for the target user and host.
build	Build Nix closures for home and system configurations. Runs check first to prevent configuration mismatches.
switch	Check, build, and activate configurations.
all	Full pipeline: install through switch for a bare system.

Sub-targets

Target	Description
check-home	Validate only the Home Manager flake configuration.
check-system	Validate only the system (NixOS or Nix-Darwin) flake configuration.
build-home	Build only the Home Manager configuration closure.
build-system	Build only the system configuration closure.
switch-home	Check, build, and activate only the Home Manager configuration.
switch-system	Check, build, and activate only the system configuration.

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Configuration Parameters

All parameters are autodetected from the current system if not supplied. Override them to build configurations for a different user, host, or architecture than the one you are currently running on.

Variable	Description
TGT_USER	Target username. Defaults to the current user.
TGT_HOST	Target hostname. Defaults to the current hostname.
TGT_SYSTEM	Target system tuple. Defaults to the current platform. Valid values: x86_64-linux, aarch64-linux, x86_64-darwin, aarch64-darwin.
CFG_TAGS	Comma-separated tags to customise the Home Manager configuration at build time (no spaces). Example: CFG_TAGS=server,minimal
SPECS	Comma-separated list of NixOS specialisation configurations to build (no spaces). Example: SPECS=egpu,powersave

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Option Flags

These are boolean. Assigning any truthy value enables the flag; assigning any falsey value explicitly disables it.

Truthy values: 1, y, Y, yes, Yes, YES, on, On, ON, true, True, TRUE

Falsey values: 0, n, N, no, No, NO, off, Off, OFF, false, False, FALSE

Install Flags (install | all)

Flag	Description
USE_DETERMINATE	Install Nix using the Determinate Systems installer. Default is the official NixOS installer.
INSTALL_DARWIN	Install Nix-Darwin for MacOS.
USE_HOMEBREW	Install Homebrew (MacOS only).
SINGLE_USER	Install Nix in single-user mode. Only supported with the default installer.
USE_CACHE	Use additional binary cache substituters defined in make.env as NIX_CACHE_URLS (comma-separated URLs, no spaces).
USE_KEYS	Trust additional public keys defined in make.env as TRUSTED_PUBLIC_KEYS (comma-separated key pairs).

Configuration Flags (check | build | switch | all)

Flag	Description
DRY_RUN	Evaluate the configuration without building or activating it. Passes --dry-run to Nix. No outputs will be produced.
HOME_ALONE	Configure for a system running Home Manager without NixOS or Nix-Darwin. Autodetected from the current system if not set.
USE_HOMEBREW	Enable Homebrew package options in a Nix-Darwin configuration.
USE_CACHE	Use additional binary cache substituters (see install flags above).
USE_KEYS	Trust additional public keys (see install flags above).

Universal Flags (any target)

Flag	Description
KEEP_LOGS	Preserve logs after operations instead of cleaning up. Log paths are printed at startup.

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Usage Examples

# Install Nix using the default installer in single-user mode:
make install SINGLE_USER=true

# Install Nix using the Determinate Systems installer with Nix-Darwin on MacOS:
make install USE_DETERMINATE=true INSTALL_DARWIN=true

# Validate flake configurations for the current user and host:
make check

# Validate only the Home Manager configuration for the current user:
make check-home

# Build and activate the Home Manager configuration on a standalone system:
make switch-home HOME_ALONE=true

# Build and activate the current system configuration; autodetect all settings:
make switch-system

# Build and activate the Home Manager configuration for user sam on host xps-15,
# with tags 'debian' and 'server', targeting aarch64-linux:
make switch-home TGT_USER=sam TGT_HOST=xps-15 \
  TGT_SYSTEM=aarch64-linux CFG_TAGS=debian,server HOME_ALONE=true

# Dry-run evaluation of both system and home configurations:
make switch DRY_RUN=true

# Full bootstrap of a bare system — install Nix and activate all configurations:
make all