When logging into a container by using
nixos-container root-login
all nix-related commands in the container would fail, as they
tried to modify the nix db and nix store, which are mounted
read-only in the container. We want nixos-container to not
try to modify the nix store at all, but instead delegate
any build commands to the nix daemon of the host operating system.
This already works for non-root users inside a nixos-container,
as it doesn't 'own' the nix-store, and thus defaults
to talking to the daemon socket at /nix/var/nix/daemon-socket/,
which is bind-mounted to the host daemon-socket, causing all nix
commands to be delegated to the host.
However, when we are the root user inside the container, we have the
same uid as the nix store owner, eventhough it's not actually
the same root user (due to user namespaces). Nix gets confused,
and is convinced it's running in single-user mode, and tries
to modify the nix store directly instead.
By setting `NIX_REMOTE=daemon` in `/etc/profile`, we force nix
to operate in multi-user mode, so that it will talk to the host
daemon instead, which will modify the nix store for the container.
This fixes #40355
By enabling ‘services.openssh.startWhenNeeded’, sshd is started
on-demand by systemd using socket activation. This is particularly
useful if you have a zillion containers and don't want to have sshd
running permanently. Note that socket activation is not noticeable
slower, contrary to what the manpage for ‘sshd -i’ says, so we might
want to make this the default one day.
The ability for unprivileged users to mount external media is useful
regardless of the desktop environment. Also, since udisks2 is
activated on-demand, it doesn't add any overhead if you're not using it.
This used to work with systemd-nspawn 203, because it bind-mounted
/etc/resolv.conf (so openresolv couldn't overwrite it). Now it's just
copied, so we need some special handling.