system-flakes — NixOS-WSL/Home Manger configuration

This project is based on the flake-parts' ez-configs module, with binary caching supported by Cachix.

Custom commands

To push a specific version of the flake inputs to the cache, run this command on the root of a local checkout of this repository:

flake-archive | cachix-cache push

Useful commands

nix flake show

Show the outpus provided by a flake.

Variants:

• nix flake show . --no-pure-eval
• nix flake show 'github:nix-community/NixOS-WSL'
• nix flake show 'github:karaolidis/NixOS-WSL/wl-clipboard-wsl'
• nix flake show 'github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-unstable'

nix run

Run a Nix application.

Variants:

• nix run 'github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-unstable#jq'

glxinfo -B

Variants:

• nix run 'github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-unstable#jq'
• GALLIUM_DRIVER=d3d12 MESA_D3D12_DEFAULT_ADAPTER_NAME=NVIDIA glxinfo -B | grep "OpenGL renderer"

vulkaninfo

Variants:

• vulkaninfo --summary

Garbage collecting

nix-collect-garbage --delete-old 2>&1 | tail -n 10

deleting '/nix/store/63gkcqs26wpv2zjd4s2i78azwzvd9hs6-python3.14-tomli-w-1.2.0'
deleting '/nix/store/7i9fbf2jajdc9l057vlw0yprdgzdp6z9-env-manifest.nix'
deleting '/nix/store/fq6xkzyq2wv4sv31ybnqx44n1808jva6-setuptools_rust-1.13.0.tar.gz.drv'
deleting '/nix/store/7nmh864alhk3322c786w2vskfp9n8knd-python312-compat.patch.drv'
deleting '/nix/store/yizz72bdc775f2lcas34c7xwsmvgzjqx-python3.14-six-1.17.0'
deleting '/nix/store/f4s31w8mfym4fs375v3dkiv5b130zkm0-source.drv'
deleting '/nix/store/xw09m9cnc9ayb2j53y2rj8jhm1h7kkxa-diffutils-3.12'
deleting unused links...
note: hard linking is currently saving 26.6 GiB
419 store paths deleted, 2.6 GiB freed

sudo nix-collect-garbage --delete-old 2>&1 | tail -n 10

deleting '/nix/store/i7lws36vq73n0qzlsdpylamhf2jy35xw-X-Restart-Triggers-dbus-broker'
deleting '/nix/store/7jyj576bz0gzq1i0q3b6sjfcd9vnxh01-dbus-1'
deleting '/nix/store/50wmmjz4xic5c135aiczn4nq7bpvv6n2-system-path'
deleting '/nix/store/fvxn8cqz3b5qk8grmdamn3wv7c8hk4gb-unit-dbus-broker.service.drv'
deleting '/nix/store/vvmby14n1ydkhsdqk6qwbwkc0w2frd93-X-Restart-Triggers-dbus-broker.drv'
deleting '/nix/store/yzfak12kzgwd5sg17n7flxr0gk8j477l-dbus-1.drv'
deleting '/nix/store/50m3xwsnqz05kg3i5bnvsk5kaa0pmhc5-system-path.drv'
deleting unused links...
note: hard linking is currently saving 26.6 GiB
19 store paths deleted, 149.4 KiB freed

nix fmt

Calls the flake default formatter.

Warning

This will run commands embedded in markdown.

After a successful and non-idempotent just switch, it may make sense to free up disk space by running nix-collect-garbage. Formatting the README.md file is an unusual way to accomplish this:

touch README.md
nix fmt

Optimizing VHD size

Be sure to know the name of your WSL distribution:

wsl --list -v

  NAME                      STATE           VERSION
* NixOS                     Running         2
  podman-machine-default    Stopped         2
  docker-desktop            Stopped         2

It must not be sparsed already:

wsl --manage NixOS --set-sparse false

Learn the path of its VHDX file:

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss\*"

State               : 1
Version             : 2
BasePath            : C:\Users\tarci\AppData\Local\wsl\{7527fb51-83d7-4564-bc19-617c2e6b096a}
Flags               : 15
DefaultUid          : 0
RunOOBE             : 0
VhdFileName         : ext4.vhdx
DistributionName    : NixOS
Modern              : 1
ShortcutPath        : C:\Users\tarci\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\NixOS.lnk
TerminalProfilePath : C:\Users\tarci\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Terminal\Fragments\Microsoft.WSL\{96dc692a-1006-5fa5-bc6b-f63e8df2226b}.json
Flavor              : nixos
OsVersion           : 26.11
PSPath              : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss\{7527fb51-83d7-4564-bc19-617c2e6b096a}
PSParentPath        : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss
PSChildName         : {7527fb51-83d7-4564-bc19-617c2e6b096a}
PSDrive             : HKCU
PSProvider          : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry

Optimize the disk:

optimize-vhd -Path  'C:\Users\tarci\AppData\Local\wsl\{7527fb51-83d7-4564-bc19-617c2e6b096a}\ext4.vhdx'  -Mode full

(Re)Enable sparse mode:

wsl --manage NixOS --set-sparse true --allow-unsafe

Related projects

• ez-configs's author own dotfiles: ehllie/dotfiles

References

• NVIDIA (Official NixOS Wiki)
• CUDA (Official NixOS Wiki)

Troubleshooting

• How would i set a cursor on NixOS using Home Manager?

home.pointerCursor = {
  gtk.enable = true;
  x11.enable = true;
  package = pkgs.vanilla-dmz;
  name = "Vanilla-DMZ";
  size = 28;
};

Verify:

env | grep -i cursor

Expected:

XCURSOR_PATH=/home/tarci/.nix-profile/share/icons:/home/tarci/.icons:/home/tarci/.local/share/icons:/home/tarci/.nix-profile/share/icons:/home/tarci/.nix-profile/share/pixmaps:/nix/profile/share/icons:/nix/profile/share/pixmaps:/home/tarci/.local/state/nix/profile/share/icons:/home/tarci/.local/state/nix/profile/share/pixmaps:/etc/profiles/per-user/tarci/share/icons:/etc/profiles/per-user/tarci/share/pixmaps:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/share/icons:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/share/pixmaps:/run/current-system/sw/share/icons:/run/current-system/sw/share/pixmaps
XCURSOR_SIZE=28
XCURSOR_THEME=Vanilla-DMZ