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Daniel Flanagan 2024-07-08 09:35:53 -05:00
commit 06c5be472a
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/result

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{
"nodes": {
"nixpkgs": {
"locked": {
"lastModified": 1720386169,
"narHash": "sha256-NGKVY4PjzwAa4upkGtAMz1npHGoRzWotlSnVlqI40mo=",
"owner": "NixOS",
"repo": "nixpkgs",
"rev": "194846768975b7ad2c4988bdb82572c00222c0d7",
"type": "github"
},
"original": {
"id": "nixpkgs",
"ref": "nixos-24.05",
"type": "indirect"
}
},
"root": {
"inputs": {
"nixpkgs": "nixpkgs"
}
}
},
"root": "root",
"version": 7
}

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{
inputs.nixpkgs.url = "nixpkgs/nixos-24.05";
outputs = {nixpkgs, ...}: let
systems = ["aarch64-linux" "aarch64-darwin" "x86_64-darwin" "x86_64-linux"];
pkgsFor = func: (nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs systems (system: (func (import nixpkgs {inherit system;}))));
in {
packages = pkgsFor (pkgs: {
what-is-my-ip = pkgs.callPackage ./what-is-my-ip.nix {};
});
};
}

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This post is a Flake-based rewrite of [Learn Nix the Fun Way on fzakaria.com]
[0]. I really enjoyed the content of the post and wanted to write it as a Nix
user who is just using flakes. It does add a few extra steps and complexity,
but I think it's still valuable and perhaps reveals a bit more about Nix and why
it's pretty fantastic.
<!--more-->
## what-is-my-ip
Let's walk through a single example of a shell script one may write: _what-is-my-ip_
```bash
#! /usr/bin/env bash
curl -s http://httpbin.org/get | \
jq --raw-output .origin
```
Sure, it's _sort of portable_, if you tell the person running it to have _curl_ and _jq_. What if you relied on a specific version of either though?
Nix **guarantees** portability.
We might leverage _[Nixpkgs' trivial builders](https://ryantm.github.io/nixpkgs/builders/trivial-builders/)_ (specifically, `writeShellScriptBin`) in a basic Nix flake to turn this into a Nix derivation (i.e. build recipe).
```nix
# flake.nix
{
inputs.nixpkgs.url = "nixpkgs/nixos-24.05";
outputs = {nixpkgs, ...}: let
systems = ["aarch64-linux" "aarch64-darwin" "x86_64-darwin" "x86_64-linux"];
pkgsFor = func: (nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs systems (system: (func (import nixpkgs {inherit system;}))));
in {
packages = pkgsFor (pkgs: {
what-is-my-ip = pkgs.callPackage ./what-is-my-ip.nix {};
});
};
}
```
```nix
# what-is-my-ip.nix
{pkgs}:
pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "what-is-my-ip" ''
${pkgs.curl}/bin/curl -s http://httpbin.org/get | \
${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq --raw-output .origin
''
```
> 😬 Avoid over-focusing on the fact I just introduced a new language and a good chunk of boilerplate. Just come along for the ride.
Here we are pinning our package to dependencies which come from NixOS/Nixpkgs release branch 24.05.
If we `nix build .#what-is-my-ip` and `readlink result` we get:
**/nix/store/lr6wlz2652r35rwzc79samg77l6iqmii-what-is-my-ip**
And, of course, we can run our result:
```bash
$ ./result/bin/what-is-my-ip
24.5.113.148
```
Or run it from the Flake:
```bash
$ nix run .#what-is-my-ip
24.5.113.148
```
Now that this is in Nix and we've modeled our dependencies, we can do _fun_ things like generate graph diagrams to view them (click the image to view larger).
```bash
$ nix-store --query --graph $(readlink result) | nix shell nixpkgs#graphviz -c dot -Tpng -o what-is-my-ip-deps.png
```
[![Image of what-is-my-ip dependencies as a graph](/assets/images/what-is-my-ip-deps.png)](/assets/images/what-is-my-ip-deps.png)
Let's create a _developer environment_ and bring in our new tool.
This is a great way to create developer environment with reproducible tools
```nix
let
pkgs = import (fetchTarball "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-24.05.tar.gz") {};
what-is-my-ip = import ./what-is-my-ip.nix {inherit pkgs;};
in
pkgs.mkShell {
packages = [what-is-my-ip];
shellHook = ''
echo "Hello, Nix!"
'';
}
```
```
nix-shell what-is-my-ip-shell.nix
Hello, Nix!
[nix-shell:~/tutorial]$ which what-is-my-ip
/nix/store/lr6wlz2652r35rwzc79samg77l6iqmii-what-is-my-ip/bin/what-is-my-ip
```
🕵️ Notice that the hash **lr6wlz2652r35rwzc79samg77l6iqmii** is _exactly_ the same which we built earlier.
We can now do binary or source deployments 🚀🛠️📦 since we know the full dependency closure of our tool. We simply copy the necessary _/nix/store_ paths to another machine with Nix installed.
```bash
nix copy --to ssh://nixie.tail9f4b5.ts.net \
$(nix-build what-is-my-ip.nix) --no-check-sigs
ssh nixie.tail9f4b5.ts.net
[fmzakari@nixie:~]$ /nix/store/lr6wlz2652r35rwzc79samg77l6iqmii-what-is-my-ip/bin/what-is-my-ip
98.147.178.19
```
Maybe though you are stuck with Kubernetes or Docker. Let's use Nix to create an OCI compatible image.
```nix
let
pkgs = import (fetchTarball "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-24.05.tar.gz") {};
what-is-my-ip = import ./what-is-my-ip.nix {inherit pkgs;};
in
pkgs.dockerTools.buildImage {
name = "what-is-my-ip-docker";
config = {
Cmd = ["${what-is-my-ip}/bin/what-is-my-ip"];
};
}
```
```bash
docker load < $(nix-build what-is-my-ip-docker.nix)
Loaded image: what-is-my-ip-docker:c9g6x30invdq1bjfah3w1aw5w52vkdfn
docker run -it what-is-my-ip-docker:c9g6x30invdq1bjfah3w1aw5w52vkdfn
24.5.113.148
```
Cool! Nix + Docker integration perfectly. The image produced has only the files exactly necessary to run the tool provided, effectively **distroless**.
Finally, let's take the last step and create a reproducible operating system using NixOS to contain only the programs we want.
```nix
let
nixpkgs = fetchTarball "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-24.05.tar.gz";
pkgs = import nixpkgs {};
what-is-my-ip = import ./what-is-my-ip.nix {inherit pkgs;};
nixos = import "${nixpkgs}/nixos" {
configuration = {
users.users.alice = {
isNormalUser = true;
# enable sudo
extraGroups = ["wheel"];
packages = [
what-is-my-ip
];
initialPassword = "swordfish";
};
system.stateVersion = "24.05";
};
};
in
nixos.vm
```
```console
nix-build what-is-my-ip-vm.nix
QEMU_KERNEL_PARAMS=console=ttyS0 ./result/bin/run-nixos-vm -nographic; reset
<<< Welcome to NixOS 24.05pre-git (x86_64) - ttyS0 >>>
Run 'nixos-help' for the NixOS manual.
nixos login: alice
Password:
[alice@nixos:~]$ which what-is-my-ip
/etc/profiles/per-user/alice/bin/what-is-my-ip
[alice@nixos:~]$ readlink $(which what-is-my-ip)
/nix/store/lr6wlz2652r35rwzc79samg77l6iqmii-what-is-my-ip/bin/what-is-my-ip
[alice@nixos:~]$ what-is-my-ip
24.5.113.148
```
💥 Hash **lr6wlz2652r35rwzc79samg77l6iqmii** present again!
We took a relatively simple script through a variety of applications in the Nix ecosystem: build recipe, shell, docker image and finally NixOS VM.
Hopefully, seeing the _fun things_ you can do with Nix might inspire you to push through the hard parts.
There is a golden pot 💰 at the end of this rainbow 🌈 awaiting you.
**Learn Nix the fun way.**
[0]: https://fzakaria.com/2024/07/05/learn-nix-the-fun-way.html

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{pkgs}:
pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "what-is-my-ip" ''
${pkgs.curl}/bin/curl -s http://httpbin.org/get | \
${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq --raw-output .origin
''