Mutable Linux

Developing the NixOS Configuration on a traditional, mutable Linux distribution (like Arch Linux) is a common and efficient workflow. You can run Nix side-by-side with your native package manager and use QEMU for full-system validation.

Install Nix

Install the Nix package using your distribution's package manager.

Example for Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S nix

Enable and start the Nix daemon:

sudo systemctl enable --now nix-daemon.service

Add your user to the nix-users group to allow running Nix commands without sudo:

sudo usermod -aG nix-users $USER

Note: You may need to log out and back in for the group change to take effect.

Enable Flakes

Create or edit the Nix configuration file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/nix

cat > ~/.config/nix/nix.conf <<'EOF'
experimental-features = nix-command flakes
EOF

Install Development Tools

Install the core tools required by this repository:

sudo pacman -S just qemu-full qemu-img libvirt virt-manager

Note: qemu-full is recommended to ensure all virtualization features are available.