0.16 nixcon2020 2020-10-16 2020-10-18 3 00:05 https://talks.nixcon.org UTC Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T11:15:00+00:00 11:15 00:25 Nix's configuration language is quite powerful, but suffers from a lack of discoverability, usability and consistency. In this talk, I'll describe an experimental Nix module system that provides a consistent, discoverable mechanism to write configurations such as packages and NixOS systems, and show how this enables a better user experience for both new and advanced users. nixcon2020-35394-nix-modules-improving-nix-s-discoverability-and-usability Eelco Dolstra en Nix's configuration language is quite powerful, but suffers from a lack of discoverability, usability and consistency. To name just a few examples: * There is no easy way to find out from the command line or from the REPL what arguments are supported by functions like `stdenv.mkDerivation` or `buildPythonPackage`. * Mechanisms like the .override attribute provide an almost unlimited ability to customize packages, but the only way to figure out what you can override is to read the source of the Nix package, and *writing* overrides is often black magic. * NixOS has a nice self-documenting module system, but Nix packages are written in a completely different functional style. * The Nix CLI doesn't know anything about package functions, `.override` and `.overrideDerivation`, the NixOS module system, the Nixpkgs `config` attribute set, Nixpkgs overlays, or any other customization mechanisms that have emerged over the years. * The syntax and semantics of Nix expressions are often an obstacle to new users and have a steep learning curve. In this talk, I'll show an experimental Nix module system, similar to the NixOS module system, to replace the "functional" package style using in Nixpkgs. This means that functions like `mkDerivation` or `buildPythonPackage` as well as packages become modules that can build on each other. For instance, the "GNU Hello" package is a module that inherits from the `unixPackage` module, which in turn inherits from other modules like `derivation`. Package customization is done in the same way: by inheriting a module. These modules, just like in NixOS, have types and documentation. As a result, everything becomes discoverable and modifiable from the command line. For instance, there is a command `nix list-options` that shows everything that can be customized in a package. It also provides a standard for documentation: the command `nix doc` generates HTML documentation for the modules in a flake. false Slides https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/K89WJY/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/K89WJY/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T11:45:00+00:00 11:45 00:25 In this talk I will discuss the idea of recommending configurations automatically, as well as its applications and challenges, as well as how it functions within the larger community. nixcon2020-35395-an-intelligent-system-to-recommend-configurations Yisroel Newmark en I will be demonstrating the system in action, while explaining how and why it works the way it does. false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/88S9QQ/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/88S9QQ/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T12:15:00+00:00 12:15 00:25 People already familiar with Nix already know its benefits but what is the best way to tell others what they are missing out? How do you convince your employer and colleagues that using Nix is a good idea? Let me tell you how I did it at Chatroulette (https://about.chatroulette.com/) and show you that you can easily do it at your company too. nixcon2020-35396-nix-at-chatroulette-v2 Gabriel Volpe en The main programming language at Chatroulette is Scala, a hybrid OOP-FP language that runs on the JVM, even though we only make use of the functional subset. We run the entire system on Kubernetes (Istio / Envoy) and deploy our microservices as Docker containers. Introducing Nix in such a big system - running in different platforms - might not seem trivial but you would never know if you never try! The talk will also touch on the current state of Nix in the Scala community. How many use Nix? How many don't know what Nix is? What can we do better? The ultimate goal of this talk is to give you the itch to at least think about introducing it at your company. false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/XSF8GD/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/XSF8GD/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T12:45:00+00:00 12:45 00:25 At Serokell, we have been using Nix for over 5 years. In the last half-year, we have started an effort to use flakes to build our infrastructure and projects. In this talk, I would like to give a refresher of what flakes are, explain why we are so excited about them, and share experiences, thoughts, and advice on the matter. nixcon2020-35397-nix-flakes-in-production-what-why-and-how Alexander Bantyev en false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/ZJQAMF/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/ZJQAMF/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T15:00:00+00:00 15:00 00:25 Nix is almost 20 years old. The innovation Nix brought is now present in almost all recent packaging tooling, while Nix hasn't been adopted yet by a larger audience. Why should we care about that? What can we do to remove the barriers to mainstream adoption? We'll look at examples from books, similar stories and what people and leaders of our industry are saying. We'll dive into each topic briefly, providing an opinionated set of goals to get Nix in hands of everyone. nixcon2020-35398-how-to-change-the-nix-ecosystem-to-become-mainstream Domen Kožar en false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/RKPT7U/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/RKPT7U/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T15:30:00+00:00 15:30 00:25 At Yakkertech we use NixOS and Nixops to deploy software in a safe, reproducible, and manageable way to our embedded baseball pitch tracking machines installed in ball fields in the US. nixcon2020-35399-remote-deployments-with-nixos-and-nixops-at-yakkertech Aden Seaman en In this talk I'll discuss what we do at Yakkertech, some of the software and computer-related challenges that this brings, the aspects of NixOS that help us address these challenges and why we chose it, how we use it in practice, and our experience of having used it. false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/R7LSXJ/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/R7LSXJ/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T16:00:00+00:00 16:00 00:25 Robotnix enables a user to build Android (AOSP) images using the Nix package manager. AOSP projects often contain long and complicated build instructions requiring a variety of tools for fetching source code and executing the build. This applies not only to Android itself, but also to projects which are to be included in the Android build, such as the Linux kernel, Chromium webview, MicroG, other external/prebuilt privileged apps, etc. Robotnix orchestrates the diverse build tools across these multiple projects using Nix, inheriting its reliability and reproducibility benefits, and consequently making the build and signing process very simple for an end-user. nixcon2020-35400-robotnix-build-android-aosp-using-nix Daniel Fullmer en false Slides https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/AK98WZ/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/AK98WZ/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T16:30:00+00:00 16:30 00:25 EPITA, a French school of engineers in computer science, is bringing NixOS to its students. Here is a presentation of the challenges of maintaining an infrastructure of more than 800 machines used by students. nixcon2020-35401-bringing-nixos-to-my-school Marc Schmitt en The presentation will start with a current state of our learning infrastructure running on Arch Linux, the challenges we face with it, the up- and downsides of migrating to NixOS and what has already been done. false Talk slides https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/DHGPLN/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/DHGPLN/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-16T17:00:00+00:00 17:00 00:25 Java is one of the most popular languages (ranked 2nd by PYPL [1]), however there is a fragmented and incomplete solution when it comes to tooling available by NixPkgs. This talk will go over the current state of affairs (what's available today), what's so difficult about Java compared to other supported languages in NixPkg and a proposed solution (mvn2nix [2]) aimed at filling the gap. [1] http://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html [2]https://github.com/fzakaria/mvn2nix nixcon2020-35402-nix-in-the-java-ecosystem Farid Zakaria en submission outline: - discuss how other languages integrate with Nix; mainly by creating fixed-output derivations for their dependencies which are fetched to construct a build environment. - communicate that Java's main build systems (Maven & Gradle) go beyond much more than simple dependency retrieval; generate sources or even bytecode weaving/ - touch on Maven specifically; whose initial release was in 2004. The tool is immensly complex and it is non-trivial to determine all the necessary dependencies. - go over the "double invocation" pattern as a workable solution - announce / release mvn2nix as a forward looking solution false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/PSLELK/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/PSLELK/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-17T11:15:00+00:00 11:15 00:25 The talk explains use of NixOS code as a library instead of a framework: the present, the possible even better future, and some of the payoff. nixcon2020-35403-bridging-the-stepping-stones-using-pieces-of-nixos-without-full-commitment Michael Raskin en Nix package manager has a lot of useful properties, and NixOS permits to expand the use of such properties beyond just installing packages. However, while Nixpkgs behaves mostly like a library, with overrides sometimes used to change even the fundamental assumptions if these are not used by some packages (see, e.g., pkgsMusl), NixOS is typically perceived closer to a framework. Using NixOS service management means committing to the module system (but Nixpkgs overrides are still useful), nonatomic /etc switch, systemd, NixOS driver management, etc. This creates a leap of faith, as installing Nix side-by-side breaks only storage quotas, but installing NixOS breaks everything; and leads to some duplication with nix-darwin and similar projects. In the talk I will tell what and how to reuse from NixOS now, what NixOS changes could simplify use of NixOS as a shared knowledge collection about running services between different projects with different commitment level, and how a bit of commitment to dumping the core assumptions turns some features from a weird dream into table stakes. false Talk slides https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/38MEX7/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/38MEX7/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-17T11:45:00+00:00 11:45 00:25 Nix is package manager that offers all kinds of powerful features to make package deployments reliable and reproducible. Although Nix can be used to conveniently deploy packages, on various operating systems (such as Linux and macOS), and even allows unprivileged users to deploy packages, deploying services (such as PostgreSQL and Apache HTTPD) still has its limitations. Currently, Nix-based service deployment is solved by a small number of solutions: * NixOS requires you to adopt a fully Nixified Linux system and uses systemd as a process manager. * nix-darwin only works on macOS with launchd as a process manager If you are using Nix on a conventional Linux distribution, a different operating system (e.g. FreeBSD), with a different process manager (e.g. supervisord), or as an unprivileged user, then there is no off-the-shelf solution that can help you (yet) to conveniently deploy Nix-provided services. The nix-processmgmt framework (https://github.com/svanderburg/nix-processmgmt) is a prototype that tries to provide universal Nix-based service deployment on all systems where Nix can be used. It offers the following features: * It uses simple conventions for describing process instances, e.g. function definitions and function invocations * It works with high-level deployment specifications that can universally target the following process managers: sysvinit, bsdrc, systemd, supervisord, cygrunsrv and launchd * Tested on the following operating systems: Linux, macOS, Cygwin and FreeBSD * Automatically derives the activation order from process dependencies * Allows you to deploy multiple instances of the same service * Unprivileged user deployments In this talk, I will provide background information about this framework, describe how it works, and show a number of real-life usage scenarios using commonly used services (PostgreSQL, Apache HTTPD etc.) in a number of interesting usage scenarios (unprivileged user deployments, deployment on FreeBSD etc.) (Although the tool advertises itself as a prototype, it is already quite usable) nixcon2020-35404-nix-processmgmt-an-experimental-nix-based-process-manager-agnostic-framework Sander van der Burg en false Slides https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/TW79FU/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/TW79FU/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-17T12:15:00+00:00 12:15 00:25 Introduction to Hercules CI, NixOps and a step by step demonstration of setting up a continuous delivery pipeline with these tools. nixcon2020-35405-automating-deployment-with-hercules-ci-and-nixops /media/nixcon2020/submissions/DDXWDY/2020-10-17_10-11-07-00.00.02.678_ywh96mf_g6r2S2V.jpeg Robert Hensing en Hercules CI is a continuous integration service that coordinates build agents on your own infrastructure. It is built around Nix for the best developer user experience. NixOps is the Nix ecosystem's primary deployment tool, supporting multiple clouds through its Nix-based input format. By integrating the two, we achieve a continuous delivery pipeline that is configured entirely with Nix. false Hercules CI Effects and NixOps.pdf https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/DDXWDY/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/DDXWDY/feedback/ Main Stream Lightning Talk 2020-10-17T12:40:00+00:00 12:40 00:05 This is part of the Intensional Store model. See https://github.com/NixOS/rfcs/pull/62 nixcon2020-35406-content-addressed-derivations Théophane Hufschmitt en false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/TTTNYK/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/TTTNYK/feedback/ Main Stream Lightning Talk 2020-10-17T12:50:00+00:00 12:50 00:05 Short comments from the trenches of High Performance Clusters on working with Nix on kernel locked-in systems without proot support. nixcon2020-35407-nix-from-the-dark-ages-without-root Rohit Goswami en Mostly an exploratory exposition, with some suggestions on moving forward. Meant to call attention to this user-base! See this for some context: https://rgoswami.me/posts/local-nix-no-root/ Discussion Post: https://rgoswami.me/posts/nixcon-in-2020-meta Slides: https://speakerdeck.com/rgoswami/nix-from-the-dark-ages-without-root false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/CUE78W/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/CUE78W/feedback/ Main Stream Lightning Talk 2020-10-17T13:00:00+00:00 13:00 00:05 A quick presentation of Nickel, a general configuration language which is inspired from Nix expressions to which it adds some cool features. nixcon2020-35408-meet-nickel-better-configuration-for-less Yann Hamdaoui en Have you ever wished once that you could use the Nix language for something else than Nix ? To write a small project-specific script, or to generate a configuration when having to deal with horrendous YAML templating languages ? Nix may have its flaws, but it uses a simple yet powerful language - fundamentally, a lazy JSON with higher-order functions - that could very well be used to generate other configurations than Nix packages. In this short talk, I present the Nickel configuration language, which is an ongoing effort to make a standalone offspring of the Nix language , and while doing so, takes the opportunity to add new capabilities to the language. false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/NPVFK9/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/NPVFK9/feedback/ Main Stream Lightning Talk 2020-10-17T13:10:00+00:00 13:10 00:05 home-manager template provides a quick-start template for using home-manager in a more reproducible way. You don't have to install home-manager, and it uses pinning. [Learn more](https://github.com/ryantm/home-manager-template). nixcon2020-35409-home-manager-template Ryan Mulligan en false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/HSWMGQ/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/HSWMGQ/feedback/ Main Stream Lightning Talk 2020-10-17T13:20:00+00:00 13:20 00:05 We will explore how to host a DevOps exam consisting in deploying a Bastion host and a KVM virtual machine per student in order for them to deploy a website which will be auto-validated. nixcon2020-35410-host-a-devops-exam-using-nixos Ryan Lahfa en DevOps students have to test their skills in a real-world exam, what's better than scripting this using NixOps in order to reuse it ? They will be provided with their own user account on the Bastion and access to a jump user account, WireGuard will be autoconfigured on the host to enable access to their KVM host directly. The main point is controlling the KVM guests "declaratively" and giving choice to the students to choose their guest OS: Debian or NixOS. We will see how we can easily generate Nix expression from a scripting language, e.g. Python and feed it to NixOS. false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/CTUZUG/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/CTUZUG/feedback/ Main Stream Rain Talk 2020-10-17T13:30:00+00:00 13:30 00:10 IPFS is a natural way to distribute sources and build artifacts for Nix because of their shared focus on immutability, content addressing, and decentralization. We at Obsidian Systems have spent the past several months integrating the two, and we're excited to present the result to the the Nix community, along with the future directions this work unlocks. nixcon2020-35411-nix-ipfs John Ericson en See also https://github.com/obsidiansystems/ipfs-nix-guide for a tutorial. false Slides https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/EUKUDK/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/EUKUDK/feedback/ Main Stream Thunder Talk 2020-10-17T13:45:00+00:00 13:45 00:05 We will explore how to build and manage dozens of NixOS virtual machines in a Proxmox cluster using NixOps in a declarative fashion. nixcon2020-35412-nixops-for-proxmox Ryan Lahfa en Managing a fleet of NixOS machines can be achieved using supported backends of NixOps or other tooling (Disnix, Krops, Morph, etc.), but most of them do not solve the "initialization" of your host, e.g. installing NixOS, starting the node, except if you're using a major cloud provider like AWS for example. If you're running your own mini-datacenter and want to manage the whole infrastructure end to end, using the Nix language, it would prove quite difficult. nixops-proxmox is one step towards a NixOS-heavy datacenter, e.g. storage backends, PCI devices, network adapters can be considered as resources and ultimately all of them can be controlled from a "reproducible" and centralized Nix expression. This talk will feature how to use IPv6 (!) inside a NixOps plugin, especially useful for IPv6-only networks. false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/7RKBTE/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/7RKBTE/feedback/ Main Stream Talk 2020-10-17T14:05:00+00:00 14:05 00:25 In my talk I'd like to go over: 1. Why Nix community needs a marketing team 2. What have we been up to in marketing team in the last 6 months 3. What are the plans for the next 6 months Marketing, and non-technical work in general, is all too often an afterthought for developers or worse it is viewed as something negative. I really wish it weren’t the case. Having clearly defined problems, audience and strategy should be as important to us as having clean and tested code. This is important for Nix. This is important for any project that aims to succeed. nixcon2020-35413-how-nix-grew-a-marketing-team Rok Garbas en false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/83RFWZ/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/83RFWZ/feedback/ Main Stream Lightning Talk 2020-10-18T11:05:00+00:00 11:05 00:05 #!/usr/bin/env bash places=("Jitsi" "IRC" "Matrix" "Discord" "\$other_platform" ) activities=( "meet other Nix users" "find a bug to fix" "discuss the future of NixOS" "collaborate on a project" "do something" "gain knowledge" ) oneOf () { eval echo "\${$1[$RANDOM % \${#$1[@]}]}" # this code was translated to be more abstract } echo "Join us on $(oneOf places) and let's $(oneOf activities)." nixcon2020-35414-hack-day-join-point Nick Bathum en # Self-organize Meet up together online, organize, and hack away. ## PAD w/ ideas https://cryptpad.piratenpartei.de/code/#/2/code/edit/nNNcnWiDb1S0EYH3fTYo+FoM/ false https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/JLX3T9/ https://talks.nixcon.org/nixcon2020/talk/JLX3T9/feedback/