Merge pull request #263462 from nikstur/rebuildable-system

Rebuildable system & appliance

nixos/doc/manual/development/non-switchable-systems.section.md

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Non Switchable Systems {#sec-non-switchable-system}
+
+In certain systems, most notably image based appliances, updates are handled
+outside the system. This means that you do not need to rebuild your
+configuration on the system itself anymore.
+
+If you want to build such a system, you can use the `image-based-appliance`
+profile:
+
+```nix
+{ modulesPath, ... }: {
+  imports = [ "${modulesPath}/profiles/image-based-appliance.nix" ]
+}
+```
+
+The most notable deviation of this profile from a standard NixOS configuration
+is that after building it, you cannot switch *to* the configuration anymore.
+The profile sets `config.system.switch.enable = false;`, which excludes
+`switch-to-configuration`, the central script called by `nixos-rebuild`, from
+your system. Removing this script makes the image lighter and slightly more
+secure.

nixos/doc/manual/development/what-happens-during-a-system-switch.chapter.md

@@ -55,4 +55,5 @@ explained in the next sections.
 ```{=include=} sections
 unit-handling.section.md
 activation-script.section.md
+non-switchable-systems.section.md
 ```

nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md

@@ -345,6 +345,11 @@
 
 ## Other Notable Changes {#sec-release-23.11-notable-changes}
 
+- A new option `system.switch.enable` was added. By default, this is option is
+  enabled. Disabling it makes the system unable to be reconfigured via
+  `nixos-rebuild`. This is good for image based appliances where updates are
+  handled outside the image.
+
 - The Cinnamon module now enables XDG desktop integration by default. If you are experiencing collisions related to xdg-desktop-portal-gtk you can safely remove `xdg.portal.extraPortals = [ pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gtk ];` from your NixOS configuration.
 
 - GNOME, Pantheon, Cinnamon module no longer forces Qt applications to use Adwaita style since it was buggy and is no longer maintained upstream (specifically, Cinnamon now defaults to the gtk2 style instead, following the default in Linux Mint). If you still want it, you can add the following options to your configuration but it will probably be eventually removed:

nixos/modules/module-list.nix

@@ -1408,6 +1408,7 @@
   ./system/activation/activatable-system.nix
   ./system/activation/activation-script.nix
   ./system/activation/specialisation.nix
+  ./system/activation/switchable-system.nix
   ./system/activation/bootspec.nix
   ./system/activation/top-level.nix
   ./system/boot/binfmt.nix

nixos/modules/profiles/image-based-appliance.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# This profile sets up a sytem for image based appliance usage. An appliance is
+# installed as an image, cannot be re-built, has no Nix available, and is
+# generally not meant for interactive use. Updates to such an appliance are
+# handled by updating whole partition images via a tool like systemd-sysupdate.
+
+{ lib, modulesPath, ... }:
+
+{
+
+  # Appliances are always "minimal".
+  imports = [
+    "${modulesPath}/profiles/minimal.nix"
+  ];
+
+  # The system cannot be rebuilt.
+  nix.enable = false;
+  system.switch.enable = false;
+
+  # The system is static.
+  users.mutableUsers = false;
+
+  # The system avoids interpreters as much as possible to reduce its attack
+  # surface.
+  boot.initrd.systemd.enable = lib.mkDefault true;
+  networking.useNetworkd = lib.mkDefault true;
+}

nixos/modules/profiles/minimal.nix

@@ -18,6 +18,15 @@ with lib;
 
   documentation.nixos.enable = mkDefault false;
 
+  # Perl is a default package.
+  environment.defaultPackages = mkDefault [ ];
+
+  # The lessopen package pulls in Perl.
+  programs.less.lessopen = mkDefault null;
+
+  # This pulls in nixos-containers which depends on Perl.
+  boot.enableContainers = mkDefault false;
+
   programs.command-not-found.enable = mkDefault false;
 
   services.logrotate.enable = mkDefault false;

nixos/modules/system/activation/activatable-system.nix

@@ -1,52 +1,16 @@
-{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
+{ options, config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
 
 let
   inherit (lib)
     mkOption
-    optionalString
     types
     ;
 
-  perlWrapped = pkgs.perl.withPackages (p: with p; [ ConfigIniFiles FileSlurp ]);
-
   systemBuilderArgs = {
     activationScript = config.system.activationScripts.script;
     dryActivationScript = config.system.dryActivationScript;
   };
 
-  systemBuilderCommands = ''
-    echo "$activationScript" > $out/activate
-    echo "$dryActivationScript" > $out/dry-activate
-    substituteInPlace $out/activate --subst-var-by out ''${!toplevelVar}
-    substituteInPlace $out/dry-activate --subst-var-by out ''${!toplevelVar}
-    chmod u+x $out/activate $out/dry-activate
-    unset activationScript dryActivationScript
-
-    mkdir $out/bin
-    substitute ${./switch-to-configuration.pl} $out/bin/switch-to-configuration \
-      --subst-var out \
-      --subst-var-by toplevel ''${!toplevelVar} \
-      --subst-var-by coreutils "${pkgs.coreutils}" \
-      --subst-var-by distroId ${lib.escapeShellArg config.system.nixos.distroId} \
-      --subst-var-by installBootLoader ${lib.escapeShellArg config.system.build.installBootLoader} \
-      --subst-var-by localeArchive "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive" \
-      --subst-var-by perl "${perlWrapped}" \
-      --subst-var-by shell "${pkgs.bash}/bin/sh" \
-      --subst-var-by su "${pkgs.shadow.su}/bin/su" \
-      --subst-var-by systemd "${config.systemd.package}" \
-      --subst-var-by utillinux "${pkgs.util-linux}" \
-      ;
-
-    chmod +x $out/bin/switch-to-configuration
-    ${optionalString (pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform == pkgs.stdenv.buildPlatform) ''
-      if ! output=$(${perlWrapped}/bin/perl -c $out/bin/switch-to-configuration 2>&1); then
-        echo "switch-to-configuration syntax is not valid:"
-        echo "$output"
-        exit 1
-      fi
-    ''}
-  '';
-
 in
 {
   options = {
@@ -60,6 +24,18 @@ in
         do, but for image based systems, this may not be needed or not be desirable.
       '';
     };
+    system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands = options.system.systemBuilderCommands // {
+      description = lib.mdDoc ''
+        Like `system.systemBuilderCommands`, but only for the commands that are
+        needed *both* when the system is activatable and when it isn't.
+
+        Disclaimer: This option might go away in the future. It might be
+        superseded by separating switch-to-configuration into a separate script
+        which will make this option superfluous. See
+        https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/263462#discussion_r1373104845 for
+        a discussion.
+      '';
+    };
     system.build.separateActivationScript = mkOption {
       type = types.package;
       description = ''
@@ -71,7 +47,18 @@ in
     };
   };
   config = {
-    system.systemBuilderCommands = lib.mkIf config.system.activatable systemBuilderCommands;
+    system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands = ''
+      echo "$activationScript" > $out/activate
+      echo "$dryActivationScript" > $out/dry-activate
+      substituteInPlace $out/activate --subst-var-by out ''${!toplevelVar}
+      substituteInPlace $out/dry-activate --subst-var-by out ''${!toplevelVar}
+      chmod u+x $out/activate $out/dry-activate
+      unset activationScript dryActivationScript
+    '';
+
+    system.systemBuilderCommands = lib.mkIf
+      config.system.activatable
+      config.system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands;
     system.systemBuilderArgs = lib.mkIf config.system.activatable
       (systemBuilderArgs // {
         toplevelVar = "out";
@@ -86,7 +73,7 @@ in
         })
         ''
           mkdir $out
-          ${systemBuilderCommands}
+          ${config.system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands}
         '';
   };
 }

nixos/modules/system/activation/switchable-system.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
+
+let
+
+  perlWrapped = pkgs.perl.withPackages (p: with p; [ ConfigIniFiles FileSlurp ]);
+
+in
+
+{
+
+  options = {
+    system.switch.enable = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.bool;
+      default = true;
+      description = lib.mdDoc ''
+        Whether to include the capability to switch configurations.
+
+        Disabling this makes the system unable to be reconfigured via `nixos-rebuild`.
+
+        This is good for image based appliances where updates are handled
+        outside the image. Reducing features makes the image lighter and
+        slightly more secure.
+      '';
+    };
+  };
+
+  config = lib.mkIf config.system.switch.enable {
+    system.activatableSystemBuilderCommands = ''
+      mkdir $out/bin
+      substitute ${./switch-to-configuration.pl} $out/bin/switch-to-configuration \
+        --subst-var out \
+        --subst-var-by toplevel ''${!toplevelVar} \
+        --subst-var-by coreutils "${pkgs.coreutils}" \
+        --subst-var-by distroId ${lib.escapeShellArg config.system.nixos.distroId} \
+        --subst-var-by installBootLoader ${lib.escapeShellArg config.system.build.installBootLoader} \
+        --subst-var-by localeArchive "${config.i18n.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive" \
+        --subst-var-by perl "${perlWrapped}" \
+        --subst-var-by shell "${pkgs.bash}/bin/sh" \
+        --subst-var-by su "${pkgs.shadow.su}/bin/su" \
+        --subst-var-by systemd "${config.systemd.package}" \
+        --subst-var-by utillinux "${pkgs.util-linux}" \
+        ;
+
+      chmod +x $out/bin/switch-to-configuration
+      ${lib.optionalString (pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform == pkgs.stdenv.buildPlatform) ''
+        if ! output=$(${perlWrapped}/bin/perl -c $out/bin/switch-to-configuration 2>&1); then
+          echo "switch-to-configuration syntax is not valid:"
+          echo "$output"
+          exit 1
+        fi
+      ''}
+    '';
+  };
+
+}

nixos/tests/all-tests.nix

@@ -582,6 +582,7 @@ in {
   node-red = handleTest ./node-red.nix {};
   nomad = handleTest ./nomad.nix {};
   non-default-filesystems = handleTest ./non-default-filesystems.nix {};
+  non-switchable-system = runTest ./non-switchable-system.nix;
   noto-fonts = handleTest ./noto-fonts.nix {};
   noto-fonts-cjk-qt-default-weight = handleTest ./noto-fonts-cjk-qt-default-weight.nix {};
   novacomd = handleTestOn ["x86_64-linux"] ./novacomd.nix {};

nixos/tests/non-switchable-system.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+
+{
+  name = "non-switchable-system";
+
+  meta.maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ nikstur ];
+
+  nodes.machine = {
+    system.switch.enable = false;
+  };
+
+  testScript = ''
+    machine.succeed("test ! -e /run/current-system/bin/switch-to-configuration")
+  '';
+}