[24.11] nix: add nix.enable option to disable Nix management
#1326
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(cherry picked from commit e197661)
(cherry picked from commit 8f227c4)
This is an equivalent of the `nix.enable` option from NixOS and Home Manager. On NixOS, it mostly serves to allow building fixed‐configuration systems without any Nix installation at all. It should work for that purpose with nix-darwin too, and the implementation is largely the same, but the main use case is more similar to the Home Manager option: to allow the use of nix-darwin with an unmanaged system installation of Nix, including when there is another service expecting to manage it, as with Determinate. By providing an escape hatch to opt out of Nix management entirely, this will also allow us to consolidate and simplify our existing Nix installation management, by being more opinionated about things like taking ownership of the daemon and the build users. Porting one option from NixOS lets us drop two that only ever existed in nix-darwin and reduce overall complexity. (cherry picked from commit e182d8d)
Currently, the `bin` directory of the configured system is embedded in the `$PATH` of activation scripts, but not other elements of the default `environment.systemPath` like `/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin` or `/usr/local/bin`. This means that when nix-darwin is not managing the Nix installation, activation scripts like Home Manager’s that want to look up the system‐managed Nix can’t find it. Search for it on the entire `environment.systemPath` and add the appropriate directory if found. We leave the launchd `activate-system` daemon alone, because it has erroneously referred to `@out@/sw/bin` forever and therefore never got a Nix on the path to begin with. That’s a problem for another time. (The more ideal solution is probably for Home Manager activation to be driven by launchd or something, but that’s a longer‐term goal.) (cherry picked from commit fb2bc03)
This provides a more useful error message than the `/etc/nix/nix.conf` hash mismatch error that would otherwise occur. (cherry picked from commit 0387775)
Ideally we’d have separate manuals per release, but in the meantime this should help avoid user confusion.
Enzime
approved these changes
Feb 9, 2025
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Backport of #1278 and #1313, with the breaking changes omitted and some changes to accommodate that.
Note: This work was funded by Determinate Systems.