Contributing to `nix-installer`

We're excited to see what you'd like to contribute to nix-installer!

Regardless of what (or how much) you contribute to nix-installer, we value your time and energy trying to improve the tool.

In order to ensure we all have a good experience, please review this document if you have any questions about the process.

Regular Rust committer? Contributing to nix-installer should feel similar to contributing to other serious Rust ecosystem projects. You may already know the process and expectations of you, this document shouldn't contain any surprises.

What kinds of contributions are needed?

nix-installer can benefit from all kinds of contributions:

Bug reports
Code improvements
Registry additions
Dependency updates or dependency feature trimming
New features (Please create an issue first!)
Documentation
Graphical/visual asset improvement
Kind words or recommendation on your own site, repo, stream, or social media account
Onboarding others to using nix-installer

What are the expectations you can have of the maintainers?

You can expect us to:

Follow the Contributor Covenant, just like you
Help diagnose bug reports (for supported platforms using supported languages)
Give constructive feedback on pull requests
Merge pull requests which:
- Have been approved of by at least 1 maintainer
- Pass all tests
- Have no complex conflicts with in-flight high priority work

The maintainers of this project use a separate issue tracker for some internal tasks. Unfortunately, the contents of this tracker is not publicly visible as it may contain sensitive or confidential data. Our maintainers will endeavor to ensure you are not 'left out' of the discussion about your contributions.

What kind of expectations do the maintainers have from you?

We expect you to:

Follow the Contributor Covenant, just like them
Make an earnest attempt to follow the contribution process described in this document
Update bug reports with a solution, if you find one before we do
Do your best to follow existing conventions
Reflect maintainer feedback if you are able
Declare if you need to abandon a PR so someone else can shepherd it

How exactly does the contribution process work?

Here are how to do various kinds of contributions.

Bug Reports

Create an issue on the issue page.

It should contain:

Your OS (Linux, Mac) and architecture (x86_64, aarch64)
Your nix-installer version (/nix/nix-installer --version)
The thing you tried to run (eg nix-installer)
What happened (the output of the command, please)
What you expected to happen
If you tried to fix it, what did you try?

Code/Documentation improvement

For minor fixes, documentation, or changes which do not have a tangible impact on user experience, feel free to open a pull request directly.

If the code improvement is not minor, such as new features or user facing changes, an issue proposing the change is required for non-maintainers.

Please:

Write civil commit messages, it's ok if they are simple like fmt or formatting
Follow existing conventions and style within the code the best you can
Describe in your PR the problem and solution so reviewers don't need to rebuild much context
Run nix flake check and nix build

Non-code contributions

Please open an issue to chat about your contribution and figure out how to best integrate it into the project.

Development

Some snippets or workflows for development.

Direnv support

While nix develop should work perfectly fine for development, contributors may prefer to enable direnv or nix-direnv support.

From the project folder:

direnv allow

If using an editor, it may be preferable to adopt an addon to enter the environment:

vim
VSCode

Testing Installs

If you're hacking on nix-installer, you likely already have Nix and cannot test locally.

That's probably a good thing! You should test in a sandbox.

Automated [qemu tests][#qemu-vm-tests] exist and should be preferred for oneshot testing of changes.

For interactive testing, tools like libvirt via virt-manager or vagrant can be used to spin up machines and run experiments.

When running such interactive tests, consider creating a snapshot of the VM right before running the installer, so you can quickly roll back if something happens.

In general, it's a good idea to test on the closest you can get to the desired target environment. For example, when testing the Steam Deck planner it's a good idea to run that test in a Steam Deck VM as described in detail in the planner.

Adding a planner for specific hardware?

Please include an full guide on how to create the best known virtual testing environment for that device.

A link is not sufficient, it may break. Please provide a full summary of steps to take, link to any original source and give them credit if it is appropriate.

It's perfectly fine if they are manual or labor intensive, as these should be a one time thing and get snapshotted prior to running tests.

`qemu` VM tests

For x86_64 Linux we have some additional QEMU based tests. In nix/tests/vm-test there exists some Nix derivations which we expose in the flake via hydraJobs.

These should be visible in nix flake show:

❯ nix flake show
warning: Git tree '/home/ana/git/determinatesystems/nix-installer' is dirty
git+file:///home/ana/git/determinatesystems/nix-installer
# ...
├───hydraJobs
│   └───vm-test
│       ├───all
│       │   └───x86_64-linux
│       │       └───install-default: derivation 'all'
│       ├───fedora-v36
│       │   └───x86_64-linux
│       │       └───install-default: derivation 'installer-test-fedora-v36-install-default'
│       ├───rhel-v7
│       │   └───x86_64-linux
│       │       └───install-default: derivation 'installer-test-rhel-v7-install-default'
│       ├───rhel-v8
│       │   └───x86_64-linux
│       │       └───install-default: derivation 'installer-test-rhel-v8-install-default'
│       ├───rhel-v9
│       │   └───x86_64-linux
│       │       └───install-default: derivation 'installer-test-rhel-v9-install-default'
│       └───ubuntu-v22_04
│           └───x86_64-linux
│               └───install-default: derivation 'installer-test-ubuntu-v22_04-install-default'

To run all of the currently supported tests:

nix build .#hydraJobs.vm-test.all.x86_64-linux.all -L

To run a specific distribution listed in the nix flake show output:

nix build .#hydraJobs.vm-test.rhel-v7.x86_64-linux.all -L -j 4

You may wish to set -j 4 to some other number. Some OS's (Ubuntu 16.04) exhibit problems rapidly updating their users/groups on a system running dozens of VMs.

For PR review, you can also test arbitrary branches or checkouts like so:

nix build github:determinatesystems/nix-installer/${BRANCH}#hydraJobs.vm-test.ubuntu-v22_04.x86_64-linux.install-default -L

Adding a distro?

Notice how rhel-v7 has a v7, not just 7? That's so the test output shows correctly, as Nix will interpret the first -\d (eg -7, -123213) as a version, and not show it in the output.

Using v7 instead turns:

# ...
installer-test-rhel> Unpacking Vagrant box /nix/store/8maga4w267f77agb93inbg54whh5lxhn-libvirt.box...
installer-test-rhel> Vagrantfile
installer-test-rhel> box.img
installer-test-rhel> info.json
installer-test-rhel> metadata.json
installer-test-rhel> Formatting './disk.qcow2', fmt=qcow2 cluster_size=65536 extended_l2=off compression_type=zlib size=137438953472 backing_file=./box.img backing_fmt=qcow2 lazy_refcounts=off refcount_bits=16
# ...

Into this:

# ...
installer-test-rhel-v7-install-default> Unpacking Vagrant box /nix/store/8maga4w267f77agb93inbg54whh5lxhn-libvirt.box...
installer-test-rhel-v7-install-default> Vagrantfile
installer-test-rhel-v7-install-default> box.img
installer-test-rhel-v7-install-default> info.json
installer-test-rhel-v7-install-default> metadata.json
installer-test-rhel-v7-install-default> Formatting './disk.qcow2', fmt=qcow2 cluster_size=65536 extended_l2=off compression_type=zlib size=137438953472 backing_file=./box.img backing_fmt=qcow2 lazy_refcounts=off refcount_bits=16
# ...

Container tests

For x86_64 Linux we have some additional container tests. In nix/tests/container-test there exists some Nix derivations which we expose in the flake via hydraJobs.

These should be visible in nix flake show:

❯ nix flake show
warning: Git tree '/home/ana/git/determinatesystems/nix-installer' is dirty
git+file:///home/ana/git/determinatesystems/nix-installer
# ...
├───hydraJobs
│   ├───container-test
│   │   ├───all
│   │   │   └───x86_64-linux
│   │   │       ├───all: derivation 'all'
│   │   │       ├───docker: derivation 'all'
│   │   │       └───podman: derivation 'all'
│   │   ├───ubuntu-v18_04
│   │   │   └───x86_64-linux
│   │   │       ├───all: derivation 'all'
│   │   │       ├───docker: derivation 'vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v18_04'
│   │   │       └───podman: derivation 'vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v18_04'
│   │   ├───ubuntu-v20_04
│   │   │   └───x86_64-linux
│   │   │       ├───all: derivation 'all'
│   │   │       ├───docker: derivation 'vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v20_04'
│   │   │       └───podman: derivation 'vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v20_04'
│   │   └───ubuntu-v22_04
│   │       └───x86_64-linux
│   │           ├───all: derivation 'all'
│   │           ├───docker: derivation 'vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v22_04'
│   │           └───podman: derivation 'vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v22_04'

To run all of the currently supported tests:

nix build .#hydraJobs.container-test.all.x86_64-linux.all -L -j 4

You may wish to set -j 4 to some other number. Some OS's (Ubuntu 16.04) exhibit problems rapidly updating their users/groups on a system running dozens of VMs.

To run a specific distribution listed in the nix flake show output:

nix build .#hydraJobs.container-test.ubuntu-v22_04.x86_64-linux.docker -L

For PR review, you can also test arbitrary branches or checkouts like so:

nix build github:determinatesystems/nix-installer/${BRANCH}#hydraJobs.container-test.ubuntu-v22_04.x86_64-linux.podman -L

Adding a distro?

Notice how ubuntu-v20_02 has a v20, not just 20? That's so the test output shows correctly, as Nix will interpret the first -\d (eg -20, -123213) as a version, and not show it in the output.

Using v20 instead turns:

# ...
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu> machine # [   23.385182] dhcpcd[670]: vethae56f366: deleting address fe80::c036:c8ff:fe04:5832
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu> machine # this derivation will be built:
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu> machine #   /nix/store/9qb0l9n1gsmcyynfmndnq3qpmlvq8rln-foo.drv
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu> machine # [   23.424605] dhcpcd[670]: vethae56f366: removing interface
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu> machine # building '/nix/store/9qb0l9n1gsmcyynfmndnq3qpmlvq8rln-foo.drv'...
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu> machine # [   23.371066] systemd[1]: crun-buildah-buildah1810857047.scope: Deactivated successfully.
# ...

Into this:

# ...
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v18_04> machine # [   23.385182] dhcpcd[670]: vethae56f366: deleting address fe80::c036:c8ff:fe04:5832
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v20_04> machine # this derivation will be built:
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v20_04> machine #   /nix/store/9qb0l9n1gsmcyynfmndnq3qpmlvq8rln-foo.drv
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v18_04> machine # [   23.424605] dhcpcd[670]: vethae56f366: removing interface
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v20_04> machine # building '/nix/store/9qb0l9n1gsmcyynfmndnq3qpmlvq8rln-foo.drv'...
vm-test-run-container-test-ubuntu-v20_04> machine # [   23.371066] systemd[1]: crun-buildah-buildah1810857047.scope: Deactivated successfully.
# ...

WSL tests

On a Windows Machine with WSL2 enabled (and updated to support systemd) you can test using WSL the scripts in tests/windows:

.\tests\windows\test-wsl.ps1
.\tests\windows\test-wsl.ps1 -Systemd

If something breaks you may need to unregister the test WSL instance. First, look for the distro prefixed with nix-installer-test:

$ wsl --list
Windows Subsystem for Linux Distributions:
Ubuntu (Default)
nix-installer-test-ubuntu-jammy

Then delete it:

wsl --unregister nix-installer-test-ubuntu-jammy

You can also remove your $HOME/nix-installer-wsl-tests-temp folder whenever you wish.

Releases

This package uses Semantic Versioning. When determining the version number for a new release refer to Semantic Versioning for guidance. You can use the check-semver command alias from within the development environment to validate your changes don't break semver.

To cut a release:

Create a release branch from main (git checkout -b release-v0.0.1)
- Release PRs should not contain any installer-related changes which require review
Ensure the flake.lock, Cargo.lock, and Rust dependencies are up-to-date with the following:
- nix flake update --commit-lock-file
- cargo update --aggressive
- cargo outdated --ignore-external-rel --aggressive
Ensure the VM / container tests still pass with the following:
- NOTE: At time of writing, these are run in CI on release branches
- nix flake check -L
- nix build .#hydraJobs.container-test.all.x86_64-linux.all -L -j 6
- nix build .#hydraJobs.vm-test.all.x86_64-linux.all -L -j 6
Update the versions in the fixture data in test/fixtures/**/*.json
Push the branch, create a PR ("Release v0.0.1")
Once the PR tests pass and it has been reviewed, merge it
Checkout the main branch and git pull
Prepare a draft release that creates the new tag on publish
- Create a changelog following the format of the last release
Undraft the release
CI will produce artifacts and upload them to the release
Once you are certain the release is good, cargo publish it
- Warning: While you can re-release Github releases, it is not possible to do the same on crates.io

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CONTRIBUTING.md

CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to `nix-installer`

What kinds of contributions are needed?

What are the expectations you can have of the maintainers?

What kind of expectations do the maintainers have from you?

How exactly does the contribution process work?

Bug Reports

Code/Documentation improvement

Non-code contributions

Development

Direnv support

Testing Installs

`qemu` VM tests

Container tests

WSL tests

Releases

Files

CONTRIBUTING.md

Latest commit

History

CONTRIBUTING.md

File metadata and controls

Contributing to nix-installer

What kinds of contributions are needed?

What are the expectations you can have of the maintainers?

What kind of expectations do the maintainers have from you?

How exactly does the contribution process work?

Bug Reports

Code/Documentation improvement

Non-code contributions

Development

Direnv support

Testing Installs

qemu VM tests

Container tests

WSL tests

Releases

Contributing to `nix-installer`

`qemu` VM tests