not-os VS NixOS-docker

Hi. I'm new to nix and want to ask if you have an idea how to build an ISO image file of not-os and run it on QEMU virt vanager?

Maybe not-os?

oh oops, I think I was intending to type "crowd source" but I really met "crowd fund".

I do want to finish my FreeBSD cross PR, but is is hard. We already have NetBSD working, including building the kernel, so I think it is better to start there.

I opened https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os/issues/16 because I think that would be the absolute easiest first step, with the fewest moving parts. But I don't know how kernels, even Linux, are packaged into bootable thingies at all.

I also found this: https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os

It's like an OS that has builtin salt/ansible/chef/puppet.

Because Nix language describe the OS instead of what to change/configure it's superior to these tools, and solves the problem that supposedly same machines are drifting apart.

For example if in the CM you tell it to install a package, then change your mind and remove the entry that does it. The package will remain installed.

With NixOS if you remove the package from configuration, it's gone.

I personally really like Nix's building capability. For example I can use it to generate a minimal docker container. It requires some knowledge, but I can also modify compilation options in dependencies (like remove unneeded functionality).

It looks like there's also an option to similarly build lightweight OS images[1]. I haven't tried it yet but looks cool.

[1] https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os

You might want to check out https://github.com/telent/nixwrt and https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os as solutions with similar goals. The former is a promising but yet-unfinished way of using Nix to manage a router, while the latter is a similar way of using Nix to generate an immutable OS image.

Luckily, I did not have to start from scratch as Nix serves their own docker image. I mounted one of my directories and was able to drop into a Nix shell with my configuration file.

There is one: https://github.com/NixOS/docker

But it's more of a Nix docker image than a NixOS one, because half of the things that NixOS gives you don't really make much sense in a docker image (systemd in a container?).

I only know of the nix package manager. https://hub.docker.com/r/nixos/nix

Ability to run buildkite agents inside a kubernetes cluster on preemble instances without need to modify agent’s Dockerfile every time new dependency comes up - was one of major reasons to learn Nix. I’m just using nixos/docker image as a base, install buildkite-agent and some base stuff like bash via nix-env inside Dickerfile, everything else lays in flake.nix of every project my dockerized nixified buildkite agent run.