install-nix-action/README.md
Gabor Greif 3d1155ed72
readme: don't perpetuate old versions
(actually, `@v17` will still cause deprecation warnings, but I'll leave this for the upcoming release)
2022-10-12 14:29:44 +02:00

4.2 KiB

install-nix-action

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Installs Nix on GitHub Actions for the supported platforms: Linux and macOS.

By default it has no nixpkgs configured, you have to set nix_path by picking a channel or pin nixpkgs yourself (see also pinning tutorial).

Features

  • Quick installation (~4s on Linux, ~20s on macOS)
  • Multi-User installation (with sandboxing enabled only on Linux)
  • Self-hosted github runner support
  • Allows specifying Nix installation URL via install_url (the oldest supported Nix version is 2.3.5)
  • Allows specifying extra Nix configration options via extra_nix_config
  • Allows specifying $NIX_PATH and channels via nix_path
  • Share /nix/store between builds using cachix-action for simple binary cache setup to speed up your builds and share binaries with your team
  • Enables flakes and nix-command experimental features by default (to disable, set experimental-features via extra_nix_config)

Usage

Create .github/workflows/test.yml in your repo with the following contents:

name: "Test"
on:
  pull_request:
  push:
jobs:
  tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v17
      with:
        nix_path: nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable
    - run: nix-build

Usage with Flakes

name: "Test"
on:
  pull_request:
  push:
jobs:
  tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v17
      with:
        extra_nix_config: |
          access-tokens = github.com=${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}          
    - run: nix build
    - run: nix flake check

To install Nix from any commit, go to the corresponding installer_test action and click on "Run cachix/install-nix-action@XX" step and expand the first line.

Inputs (specify using with:)

  • install_url: specify URL to install Nix from (useful for testing non-stable releases or pinning Nix for example https://releases.nixos.org/nix/nix-2.3.7/install)

  • nix_path: set NIX_PATH environment variable, for example nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable

  • extra_nix_config: append to /etc/nix/nix.conf


FAQ

How do I print nixpkgs version I have configured?

- name: Print nixpkgs version
  run: nix-instantiate --eval -E '(import <nixpkgs> {}).lib.version'

How can I run NixOS tests?

With the following inputs:

- uses: cachix/install-nix-action@vXX
  with:
    extra_nix_config: "system-features = nixos-test benchmark big-parallel kvm"

Note that there's no hardware acceleration on GitHub Actions..

How can I install packages via nix-env from the specified nix_path?

nix-env -i mypackage -f '<nixpkgs>'

How do I add a binary cache?

If the binary cache you want to add is hosted on Cachix and you are using cachix-action, you should use their extraPullNames input like this:

- uses: cachix/cachix-action@vXX
   with:
     name: mycache
     authToken: '${{ secrets.CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN }}'
     extraPullNames: nix-community

Otherwise, you can add any binary cache to nix.conf using install-nix-action's own extra_nix_config input:

- uses: cachix/install-nix-action@vXX
  with:
    extra_nix_config: |
      trusted-public-keys = hydra.iohk.io:f/Ea+s+dFdN+3Y/G+FDgSq+a5NEWhJGzdjvKNGv0/EQ= cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY=
      substituters = https://hydra.iohk.io https://cache.nixos.org/      

Hacking

Install the dependencies

$ yarn install

Build the typescript

$ yarn build

Run the tests ✔️

$ yarn test