Nix Variant#

The Nix variant of Immutablue integrates the Nix package manager for users who want access to the Nix ecosystem.

Overview#

This variant includes:

Nix package manager
Nix store mounted at /nix
Systemd service for Nix store mounting

Installation#

sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/immutablue/immutablue-nix:latest
sudo reboot

Using Nix#

Install Packages#

# Install a package
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.ripgrep

# Search for packages
nix search nixpkgs firefox

# Run without installing
nix-shell -p ripgrep --run "rg --version"

Nix Flakes#

Enable flakes in ~/.config/nix/nix.conf:

experimental-features = nix-command flakes

Then use:

# Run from flake
nix run nixpkgs#hello

# Development shell
nix develop

Systemd Integration#

Service	Description
`mount-nix.service`	Mounts the Nix store

The Nix store is mounted automatically at boot.

Comparison with Other Package Managers#

Feature	Nix	Flatpak	Distrobox	Homebrew
Reproducibility	✓✓✓	✓	✓	✓
Rollback	✓✓✓	✗	✗	✗
GUI Apps	✓	✓✓✓	✓	✗
Development	✓✓✓	✗	✓✓	✓
Disk Usage	High	Medium	Low	Medium

When to Use Nix#

Good for:

Reproducible development environments
Specific package versions
Declarative system configuration
NixOS users transitioning to Immutablue

Consider alternatives for:

Simple GUI app installation (use Flatpak)
Quick CLI tools (use Homebrew)
Isolated environments (use Distrobox)

Configuration#

Multi-user vs Single-user#

The Nix variant uses multi-user installation by default, which provides:

Builds run as unprivileged users
Multiple users can share the Nix store
Better security

Garbage Collection#

Clean up old packages:

# Remove old generations
nix-collect-garbage -d

# Remove packages older than 30 days
nix-collect-garbage --delete-older-than 30d

Troubleshooting#

Nix commands not found#

Ensure the Nix profile is sourced:

source /nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/profile.d/nix-daemon.sh

Store not mounted#

# Check service status
systemctl status mount-nix.service

# Manual mount
sudo systemctl start mount-nix.service