Before commit 54fa0cfe4e, the `redshift`
service was run with the environment variable `DISPLAY` set to `:0`.
Commit 54fa0cfe4e changed this to
instead use the value of the `services.xserver.display` configuration
option in the value of the `DISPLAY` variable. In so doing, no default
value was provided for the case where `services.xserver.display` is
`null`.
While the default value of `services.xserver.display` is `0`, use of
which by the `redshift` module would result in `DISPLAY` again being
set to `:0`, `services.xserver.display` may also be `null`, to which
value it is set by, e.g., the `lightdm` module.
In the case that `services.xserver.display` is `null`, with the change
made in commit 54fa0cfe4e, the `DISPLAY`
variable in the environment of the `redshift` service would be set to
`:` (a single colon), which, according to my personal experience,
would result in —
- the `redshift` service failing to start; and
- systemd repeatedly attempting to restart the `redshift` service,
looping indefinitely, while the hapless `redshift` spews error
messages into the journal.
It can be observed that the malformed value of `DISPLAY` is likely at
fault for this issue by executing the following commands in an
ordinary shell, with a suitable `redshift` executable, and the X11
display not already tinted:
- `redshift -O 2500` — This command should reduce the color
temperature of the display (making it more reddish).
- `DISPLAY=':' redshift -O 6500` — This command should raise the
color temperature back up, were it not for the `DISPLAY`
environment variable being set to `:` for it, which should cause
it to, instead, fail with several error messages.
This commit attempts to fix this issue by having the `DISPLAY`
environment variable for the `redshift` service default to its old
value of `:0` in the case that `services.xserver.display` is `null`.
I have tested this solution on NixOS, albeit without the benefit of a
system with multiple displays.
gdnc is a user process and can't be made into a NixOS module very
easily. It can still be put in the user's login script. According to the
GNUstep documentation it will be started as soon as it is needed.
- Replace hand-rolled version of nixos-install in make-disk-image by an
actual call to nixos-install
- Required a few cleanups of nixos-install
- nixos-install invokes an activation script which the hand-rolled version
in make-disk-image did not do. We remove /etc/machine-id as that's
a host-specific, impure, output of the activation script
Testing:
nix-build '<nixpkgs/nixos/release.nix>' -A tests.installer.simple passes
Also tried generating an image with:
nix-build -E 'let
pkgs = import <nixpkgs> {};
lib = pkgs.lib;
nixos = import <nixpkgs/nixos> {
configuration = {
fileSystems."/".device = "/dev/disk/by-label/nixos";
boot.loader.grub.devices = [ "/dev/sda" ];
boot.loader.grub.extraEntries = '"''"'
menuentry "Ubuntu" {
insmod ext2
search --set=root --label ubuntu
configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg
}
'"''"';
};
};
in import <nixpkgs/nixos/lib/make-disk-image.nix> {
inherit pkgs lib;
config = nixos.config;
diskSize = 2000;
partitioned = false;
installBootLoader = false;
}'
Then installed the image:
$ sudo df if=./result/nixos.img of=/dev/sdaX bs=1M
$ sudo resize2fs /dev/disk/by-label/nixos
$ sudo mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
$ sudo mount --rbind /proc /mnt/proc
$ sudo mount --rbind /dev /mnt/dev
$ sudo chroot /mnt /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration boot
[ … optionally do something about passwords … ]
and successfully rebooted to that image.
Was doing all this from inside a Ubuntu VM with a single user nix install.
- Fix --no-bootloader which didn't do what it advertised
- Hardcode nixbld GID so that systems which do not have a nixbld user
can still run nixos-install (only with --closure since they can't
build anything)
- Cleanup: get rid of NIX_CONF_DIR(=/tmp)/nix.conf and pass arguments instead
- Cleanup: don't assume that the target system has '<nixpkgs/nixos>' or
'<nixos-config>' to see if config.users.mutableUsers. Instead check if
/var/setuid-wrappers/passwd is there
Installing NixOS now works from a Ubuntu host (using --closure).
nix-build -A tests.installer.simple '<nixpkgs/nixos/release.nix>' succeeds ✓
While useless, some builds may dabble with setuid bits (e.g.,
util-linux), which breaks under grsec. In the interest of user
friendliness, we once again compromise by disabling an otherwise useful
feature ...
Closes https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/17501
