117 lines
3.5 KiB
Text
117 lines
3.5 KiB
Text
NixOS installation HOWTO -- August 28, 2006
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This is small HOWTO of how to build and install the current version of
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NixOS.
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Building
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Install Nix. Checkout nixpkgs from Subversion, as well as nixu. Adapt the
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scripts in nixu to reflect the location of nixpkgs (default /nixpkgs).
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Make sure mktemp is installed. Run ./make-disk.sh. Wait.
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Burning
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Use your favourite tool to burn the ISO image to a CD.
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Installing
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Currently NixOS can only be installed with machines that have a specific
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hardware set up:
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An ATA harddisk on the first ATA controller (hda) with:
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- data partition
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- swap partition
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All data on these two partitions will be wiped and the bootloader in the
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Master Boot Record (MBR) will be overwritten with GRUB.
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The NixOS installer will drop you into a shell, from which you can run
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fdisk. Then it expects to find a file called "disklayout" with three
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variables:
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SWAP :: partition to use as swap
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INSTALLDEVICE :: partition that will be /root
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TARGETDRIVE :: drive on which grub will be installed
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This file will be read by the install script automatically when you launch
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the script:
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# sh fill-disk.sh
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The configuration data that grub writes to disk might not be correct (should
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be). When something goes wrong you probably won't have to reinstall. The
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manual for grub is quite helpful in these cases.
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Configuring
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To get NixOS in a working state, do the following:
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- load the networkdriver. This is machine dependent. On the labmachines (Dell
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Optiplex GX-260) this is the e1000 driver:
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# modprobe e1000
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In vmware the driver is "pcnet32".
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- bring the interface up:
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# ifconfig eth0 up
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If the interface is different (say, eth1) replace eth0 with the right
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interface.
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- if DHCP is used, run a DHCP client to obtain an IP address, routing
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and resolving information:
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# dhclient eth0
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Otherwise, do this yourself:
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# ifconfig eth0 <ip address> netmask <netmask>
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# route add default gw <gateway ip address>
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# vim /etc/resolv.conf
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Making syslog work.
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- copy /etc/services from a working Linux machine to /etc/services on the
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NixOS machine (needed for sysklogd)
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- copy /etc/syslog.conf from a working Linux machine to /etc/syslog.conf on the
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NixOS machine (needed for sysklogd)
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- launch sysklogd
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Making logins on virtual consoles work.
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Logins on virtual consoles are disabled by default. To make them work:
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- edit /etc/inittab and outcomment the lines with "mingetty" in them
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- copy /etc/login.defs from a working Linux machine to /etc/login.defs on the
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NixOS machine (needed for mingetty). Alternatively, do:
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# touch /etc/login.defs
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- relaunch init
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Making hotplugging work -- BROKEN RIGHT NOW
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Many devices (USB, Firewire) are controlled by so called "hot plugging". The
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kernel executes a program -- usually /sbin/hotplug, but this is configurable
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at boottime by setting the right path in /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug -- when a
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new device is added to the machine. This program makes sure the right kernel
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modules are loaded and optionally, if enabled, sends a message to udev to
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create the right device node in /dev (NOTE: this is not enabled in NixOS right
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now).
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- mount usbfs (for USB):
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# mount -t usbfs usbfs /proc/bus/usb
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- install hotplug package
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- make symlinks /etc/hotplug, /etc/hotplug.d, /sbin/hotplug (TODO: make
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this pure)
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- make sure the kernel and additional modules are prepared well (currently
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this is hackish, but workable: see kernelscripts/make-kernel.sh for an
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example)
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- (optionally:) install udev
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- make a symlink to /etc/udev/udev.conf
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- launch udev
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- plug in a device
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