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?

The Makefile contains target recipes to The flake.nix configuration imports make_opts.nix. This file contains an attribute set generated by the Makefile. This is where the imperative options provided by the user are bridged with the declarative configuration.

Makefile documentation

📘 make-nix usage

Usage

make <help|install|home|system|all|test>
     [TGT_USER=<user>]
     [TGT_HOST=<host>]
     [TGT_TAGS=<tag1>,<tag2>,<tag3>,...]
     [TGT_SYSTEM=<system>]
     [TGT_SPEC=<spc1>,<spc2>,<spc3>,...]
     [OPTION FLAGS]

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Make Targets

Target	Description
help	View make-nix usage help.
install	Install Nix and/or Nix-Darwin.
home	Build and activate a Home-manager configuration.
system	Build and activate a NixOS or Nix-Darwin system configuration.
all	Execute both the system and home targets in that order.
test	Check all flake configurations.

---

Configuration Parameters

Variable	Description
TGT_USER	User configuration (current user will be passed by default).
TGT_HOST	System configuration host (current hostname will be passed by default).
TGT_SYSTEM	System platform to target for builds: x86_64-linux, aarch64-linux, x86_64-darwin, or aarch64-darwin (current platform will be passed by default).
TGT_SPEC	Comma-separated list of system specialisation configurations (no spaces).
TGT_TAGS	Customize home-manager user configuration based on tags, similar to specialisations for system configurations.

---

Target Option Flags

These are boolean; assigning any truthy value will enable them.

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

Install Flags

• DETERMINATE=true – Install Nix using the Determinate Systems installer.
• NIX_DARWIN=true – Install Nix-Darwin for macOS.
• SINGLE_USER=true – Install Nix for single-user mode (default installer only).
• USE_CACHE=true – Use the NIX_CACHE_URLS list from the make.env file as a proxy cache instead of cache.nixos.org. This variable accepts a comma-separated list of URLs (no spaces), in order of precidence.

Configuration Flags

• DRY_RUN=true – Evaluate the new configuration but don't activate it.
• HOME_ALONE=true – Configure options for a system running home-manager without NixOS or Nix-Darwin.
• BOOT_SPEC=true – Set the default boot menu option to the first listed specialisation.
  Note: Only supports systemd-boot configurations.

Additional Flags

• KEEP_LOGS=true – Don't erase logs after operations (for debugging).

---

Usage Examples

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

# Install Nix-Darwin using the Determinate Systems installer:
make install DETERMINATE=1 NIX_DARWIN=y

# Build and activate the home-manager config using a standalone configuration:
make home HOME_ALONE=true

# Build and activate the current system configuration:
make system

# Standalone home-manager config for user `sam` on host `xps-15`, with tags and platform:
make home user=sam host=xps-15 system=aarch64-linux HOME_ALONE=1 tags=debian,server

# Rebuild and switch system with specialisations and boot default:
make system host=workstation1 spec=wayland,x11_egpu BOOT_SPEC=1

# Rebuild and switch both system and home-manager configs:
make all

# Evaluate (but do not activate) all configurations:
make all DRY_RUN=1

# Run `nix flake check` for all configurations:
make test