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Nixos management

This document is a WORK IN PROGRESS.
This is just a quick personal cheat sheet: treat its contents with caution!

How to update when using flakes

  • Go to https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes, and look for the latest release note: the latest one that is passed, e.g. release 23.05 ("Stoat", 2023.05/31) that has been done in may 2023.

  • Read carefully the release note, in particular: pay attention to the "Backward Incompatibilities" section!

  • Update your packages:

    # vi /etc/nixos/flake.nix
    > {
  ~ >   inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-23.05"
    >   ...

# nixos-rebuild test

  • Make sure that any manual migration steps required has been followed (according to the latest release note, e.g. release 23.05 ("Stoat", 2023.05/31)).

  • Update stateVersion in /etc/nixos like described here: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/FAQ/When_do_I_update_stateVersion:

    # vi /etc/nixos/flake.nix
    >   ...
  ~ >   system.stateVersion = "23.05"; 
    >   ...

# nixos-rebuild test
# nixos-rebuild boot

# reboot

# cd /etc/nixos
# git add *
# git commit -m "feat: update nixos to release 23.05"
# git push

  • Check versions updates:

    $ nix profile diff-closures --profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/system

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