diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-from-other-distro.section.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-from-other-distro.section.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..525531a47813
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/installation/installing-from-other-distro.section.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,388 @@
+
+ Installing from another Linux distribution
+
+ Because Nix (the package manager) & Nixpkgs (the Nix packages
+ collection) can both be installed on any (most?) Linux
+ distributions, they can be used to install NixOS in various creative
+ ways. You can, for instance:
+
+
+
+
+ Install NixOS on another partition, from your existing Linux
+ distribution (without the use of a USB or optical device!)
+
+
+
+
+ Install NixOS on the same partition (in place!), from your
+ existing non-NixOS Linux distribution using
+ NIXOS_LUSTRATE.
+
+
+
+
+ Install NixOS on your hard drive from the Live CD of any Linux
+ distribution.
+
+
+
+
+ The first steps to all these are the same:
+
+
+
+
+ Install the Nix package manager:
+
+
+ Short version:
+
+
+$ curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh
+$ . $HOME/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh # …or open a fresh shell
+
+
+ More details in the
+
+ Nix manual
+
+
+
+
+ Switch to the NixOS channel:
+
+
+ If you've just installed Nix on a non-NixOS distribution, you
+ will be on the nixpkgs channel by default.
+
+
+$ nix-channel --list
+nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
+
+
+ As that channel gets released without running the NixOS tests,
+ it will be safer to use the nixos-* channels
+ instead:
+
+
+$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-version nixpkgs
+
+
+ You may want to throw in a
+ nix-channel --update for good measure.
+
+
+
+
+ Install the NixOS installation tools:
+
+
+ You'll need nixos-generate-config and
+ nixos-install, but this also makes some man
+ pages and nixos-enter available, just in case
+ you want to chroot into your NixOS partition. NixOS installs
+ these by default, but you don't have NixOS yet..
+
+
+$ nix-env -f '<nixpkgs>' -iA nixos-install-tools
+
+
+
+
+
+ The following 5 steps are only for installing NixOS to another
+ partition. For installing NixOS in place using
+ NIXOS_LUSTRATE, skip ahead.
+
+
+
+ Prepare your target partition:
+
+
+ At this point it is time to prepare your target partition.
+ Please refer to the partitioning, file-system creation, and
+ mounting steps of
+
+
+ If you're about to install NixOS in place using
+ NIXOS_LUSTRATE there is nothing to do for
+ this step.
+
+
+
+
+ Generate your NixOS configuration:
+
+
+$ sudo `which nixos-generate-config` --root /mnt
+
+
+ You'll probably want to edit the configuration files. Refer to
+ the nixos-generate-config step in
+ for more information.
+
+
+ Consider setting up the NixOS bootloader to give you the ability
+ to boot on your existing Linux partition. For instance, if
+ you're using GRUB and your existing distribution is running
+ Ubuntu, you may want to add something like this to your
+ configuration.nix:
+
+
+boot.loader.grub.extraEntries = ''
+ menuentry "Ubuntu" {
+ search --set=ubuntu --fs-uuid 3cc3e652-0c1f-4800-8451-033754f68e6e
+ configfile "($ubuntu)/boot/grub/grub.cfg"
+ }
+'';
+
+
+ (You can find the appropriate UUID for your partition in
+ /dev/disk/by-uuid)
+
+
+
+
+ Create the nixbld group and user on your
+ original distribution:
+
+
+$ sudo groupadd -g 30000 nixbld
+$ sudo useradd -u 30000 -g nixbld -G nixbld nixbld
+
+
+
+
+ Download/build/install NixOS:
+
+
+
+ Once you complete this step, you might no longer be able to
+ boot on existing systems without the help of a rescue USB
+ drive or similar.
+
+
+
+
+ On some distributions there are separate PATHS for programs
+ intended only for root. In order for the installation to
+ succeed, you might have to use
+ PATH="$PATH:/usr/sbin:/sbin" in
+ the following command.
+
+
+
+$ sudo PATH="$PATH" NIX_PATH="$NIX_PATH" `which nixos-install` --root /mnt
+
+
+ Again, please refer to the nixos-install step
+ in for more information.
+
+
+ That should be it for installation to another partition!
+
+
+
+
+ Optionally, you may want to clean up your non-NixOS
+ distribution:
+
+
+$ sudo userdel nixbld
+$ sudo groupdel nixbld
+
+
+ If you do not wish to keep the Nix package manager installed
+ either, run something like
+ sudo rm -rv ~/.nix-* /nix and remove the line
+ that the Nix installer added to your
+ ~/.profile.
+
+
+
+
+
+ The following steps are only for installing NixOS in place
+ using NIXOS_LUSTRATE:
+
+
+
+ Generate your NixOS configuration:
+
+
+$ sudo `which nixos-generate-config` --root /
+
+
+ Note that this will place the generated configuration files in
+ /etc/nixos. You'll probably want to edit the
+ configuration files. Refer to the
+ nixos-generate-config step in
+ for more information.
+
+
+ You'll likely want to set a root password for your first boot
+ using the configuration files because you won't have a chance to
+ enter a password until after you reboot. You can initalize the
+ root password to an empty one with this line: (and of course
+ don't forget to set one once you've rebooted or to lock the
+ account with sudo passwd -l root if you use
+ sudo)
+
+
+users.users.root.initialHashedPassword = "";
+
+
+
+
+ Build the NixOS closure and install it in the
+ system profile:
+
+
+$ nix-env -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/system -f '<nixpkgs/nixos>' -I nixos-config=/etc/nixos/configuration.nix -iA system
+
+
+
+
+ Change ownership of the /nix tree to root
+ (since your Nix install was probably single user):
+
+
+$ sudo chown -R 0.0 /nix
+
+
+
+
+ Set up the /etc/NIXOS and
+ /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE files:
+
+
+ /etc/NIXOS officializes that this is now a
+ NixOS partition (the bootup scripts require its presence).
+
+
+ /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE tells the NixOS bootup
+ scripts to move everything that's in the
+ root partition to /old-root. This will move
+ your existing distribution out of the way in the very early
+ stages of the NixOS bootup. There are exceptions (we do need to
+ keep NixOS there after all), so the NixOS lustrate process will
+ not touch:
+
+
+
+
+ The /nix directory
+
+
+
+
+ The /boot directory
+
+
+
+
+ Any file or directory listed in
+ /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE (one per line)
+
+
+
+
+
+ Support for NIXOS_LUSTRATE was added in
+ NixOS 16.09. The act of "lustrating" refers to the
+ wiping of the existing distribution. Creating
+ /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE can also be used on
+ NixOS to remove all mutable files from your root partition
+ (anything that's not in /nix or
+ /boot gets "lustrated" on the
+ next boot.
+
+
+ lustrate /ˈlʌstreɪt/ verb.
+
+
+ purify by expiatory sacrifice, ceremonial washing, or some
+ other ritual action.
+
+
+
+ Let's create the files:
+
+
+$ sudo touch /etc/NIXOS
+$ sudo touch /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE
+
+
+ Let's also make sure the NixOS configuration files are kept once
+ we reboot on NixOS:
+
+
+$ echo etc/nixos | sudo tee -a /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE
+
+
+
+
+ Finally, move the /boot directory of your
+ current distribution out of the way (the lustrate process will
+ take care of the rest once you reboot, but this one must be
+ moved out now because NixOS needs to install its own boot files:
+
+
+
+ Once you complete this step, your current distribution will no
+ longer be bootable! If you didn't get all the NixOS
+ configuration right, especially those settings pertaining to
+ boot loading and root partition, NixOS may not be bootable
+ either. Have a USB rescue device ready in case this happens.
+
+
+
+$ sudo mv -v /boot /boot.bak &&
+sudo /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration boot
+
+
+ Cross your fingers, reboot, hopefully you should get a NixOS
+ prompt!
+
+
+
+
+ If for some reason you want to revert to the old distribution,
+ you'll need to boot on a USB rescue disk and do something along
+ these lines:
+
+
+# mkdir root
+# mount /dev/sdaX root
+# mkdir root/nixos-root
+# mv -v root/* root/nixos-root/
+# mv -v root/nixos-root/old-root/* root/
+# mv -v root/boot.bak root/boot # We had renamed this by hand earlier
+# umount root
+# reboot
+
+
+ This may work as is or you might also need to reinstall the boot
+ loader.
+
+
+ And of course, if you're happy with NixOS and no longer need the
+ old distribution:
+
+
+sudo rm -rf /old-root
+
+
+
+
+ It's also worth noting that this whole process can be automated.
+ This is especially useful for Cloud VMs, where provider do not
+ provide NixOS. For instance,
+ nixos-infect
+ uses the lustrate process to convert Digital Ocean droplets to
+ NixOS from other distributions automatically.
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing-from-other-distro.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing-from-other-distro.section.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d9060eb89c37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing-from-other-distro.section.md
@@ -0,0 +1,279 @@
+# Installing from another Linux distribution {#sec-installing-from-other-distro}
+
+Because Nix (the package manager) & Nixpkgs (the Nix packages
+collection) can both be installed on any (most?) Linux distributions,
+they can be used to install NixOS in various creative ways. You can, for
+instance:
+
+1. Install NixOS on another partition, from your existing Linux
+ distribution (without the use of a USB or optical device!)
+
+1. Install NixOS on the same partition (in place!), from your existing
+ non-NixOS Linux distribution using `NIXOS_LUSTRATE`.
+
+1. Install NixOS on your hard drive from the Live CD of any Linux
+ distribution.
+
+The first steps to all these are the same:
+
+1. Install the Nix package manager:
+
+ Short version:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh
+ $ . $HOME/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh # …or open a fresh shell
+ ```
+
+ More details in the [ Nix
+ manual](https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#chap-quick-start)
+
+1. Switch to the NixOS channel:
+
+ If you\'ve just installed Nix on a non-NixOS distribution, you will
+ be on the `nixpkgs` channel by default.
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ nix-channel --list
+ nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
+ ```
+
+ As that channel gets released without running the NixOS tests, it
+ will be safer to use the `nixos-*` channels instead:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-version nixpkgs
+ ```
+
+ You may want to throw in a `nix-channel --update` for good measure.
+
+1. Install the NixOS installation tools:
+
+ You\'ll need `nixos-generate-config` and `nixos-install`, but this
+ also makes some man pages and `nixos-enter` available, just in case
+ you want to chroot into your NixOS partition. NixOS installs these
+ by default, but you don\'t have NixOS yet..
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ nix-env -f '' -iA nixos-install-tools
+ ```
+
+1. ::: {.note}
+ The following 5 steps are only for installing NixOS to another
+ partition. For installing NixOS in place using `NIXOS_LUSTRATE`,
+ skip ahead.
+ :::
+
+ Prepare your target partition:
+
+ At this point it is time to prepare your target partition. Please
+ refer to the partitioning, file-system creation, and mounting steps
+ of [](#sec-installation)
+
+ If you\'re about to install NixOS in place using `NIXOS_LUSTRATE`
+ there is nothing to do for this step.
+
+1. Generate your NixOS configuration:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo `which nixos-generate-config` --root /mnt
+ ```
+
+ You\'ll probably want to edit the configuration files. Refer to the
+ `nixos-generate-config` step in [](#sec-installation) for more
+ information.
+
+ Consider setting up the NixOS bootloader to give you the ability to
+ boot on your existing Linux partition. For instance, if you\'re
+ using GRUB and your existing distribution is running Ubuntu, you may
+ want to add something like this to your `configuration.nix`:
+
+ ```nix
+ boot.loader.grub.extraEntries = ''
+ menuentry "Ubuntu" {
+ search --set=ubuntu --fs-uuid 3cc3e652-0c1f-4800-8451-033754f68e6e
+ configfile "($ubuntu)/boot/grub/grub.cfg"
+ }
+ '';
+ ```
+
+ (You can find the appropriate UUID for your partition in
+ `/dev/disk/by-uuid`)
+
+1. Create the `nixbld` group and user on your original distribution:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo groupadd -g 30000 nixbld
+ $ sudo useradd -u 30000 -g nixbld -G nixbld nixbld
+ ```
+
+1. Download/build/install NixOS:
+
+ ::: {.warning}
+ Once you complete this step, you might no longer be able to boot on
+ existing systems without the help of a rescue USB drive or similar.
+ :::
+
+ ::: {.note}
+ On some distributions there are separate PATHS for programs intended
+ only for root. In order for the installation to succeed, you might
+ have to use `PATH="$PATH:/usr/sbin:/sbin"` in the following command.
+ :::
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo PATH="$PATH" NIX_PATH="$NIX_PATH" `which nixos-install` --root /mnt
+ ```
+
+ Again, please refer to the `nixos-install` step in
+ [](#sec-installation) for more information.
+
+ That should be it for installation to another partition!
+
+1. Optionally, you may want to clean up your non-NixOS distribution:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo userdel nixbld
+ $ sudo groupdel nixbld
+ ```
+
+ If you do not wish to keep the Nix package manager installed either,
+ run something like `sudo rm -rv ~/.nix-* /nix` and remove the line
+ that the Nix installer added to your `~/.profile`.
+
+1. ::: {.note}
+ The following steps are only for installing NixOS in place using
+ `NIXOS_LUSTRATE`:
+ :::
+
+ Generate your NixOS configuration:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo `which nixos-generate-config` --root /
+ ```
+
+ Note that this will place the generated configuration files in
+ `/etc/nixos`. You\'ll probably want to edit the configuration files.
+ Refer to the `nixos-generate-config` step in
+ [](#sec-installation) for more information.
+
+ You\'ll likely want to set a root password for your first boot using
+ the configuration files because you won\'t have a chance to enter a
+ password until after you reboot. You can initalize the root password
+ to an empty one with this line: (and of course don\'t forget to set
+ one once you\'ve rebooted or to lock the account with
+ `sudo passwd -l root` if you use `sudo`)
+
+ ```nix
+ users.users.root.initialHashedPassword = "";
+ ```
+
+1. Build the NixOS closure and install it in the `system` profile:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ nix-env -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/system -f '' -I nixos-config=/etc/nixos/configuration.nix -iA system
+ ```
+
+1. Change ownership of the `/nix` tree to root (since your Nix install
+ was probably single user):
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo chown -R 0.0 /nix
+ ```
+
+1. Set up the `/etc/NIXOS` and `/etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE` files:
+
+ `/etc/NIXOS` officializes that this is now a NixOS partition (the
+ bootup scripts require its presence).
+
+ `/etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE` tells the NixOS bootup scripts to move
+ *everything* that\'s in the root partition to `/old-root`. This will
+ move your existing distribution out of the way in the very early
+ stages of the NixOS bootup. There are exceptions (we do need to keep
+ NixOS there after all), so the NixOS lustrate process will not
+ touch:
+
+ - The `/nix` directory
+
+ - The `/boot` directory
+
+ - Any file or directory listed in `/etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE` (one per
+ line)
+
+ ::: {.note}
+ Support for `NIXOS_LUSTRATE` was added in NixOS 16.09. The act of
+ \"lustrating\" refers to the wiping of the existing distribution.
+ Creating `/etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE` can also be used on NixOS to remove
+ all mutable files from your root partition (anything that\'s not in
+ `/nix` or `/boot` gets \"lustrated\" on the next boot.
+
+ lustrate /ˈlʌstreɪt/ verb.
+
+ purify by expiatory sacrifice, ceremonial washing, or some other
+ ritual action.
+ :::
+
+ Let\'s create the files:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo touch /etc/NIXOS
+ $ sudo touch /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE
+ ```
+
+ Let\'s also make sure the NixOS configuration files are kept once we
+ reboot on NixOS:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ echo etc/nixos | sudo tee -a /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE
+ ```
+
+1. Finally, move the `/boot` directory of your current distribution out
+ of the way (the lustrate process will take care of the rest once you
+ reboot, but this one must be moved out now because NixOS needs to
+ install its own boot files:
+
+ ::: {.warning}
+ Once you complete this step, your current distribution will no
+ longer be bootable! If you didn\'t get all the NixOS configuration
+ right, especially those settings pertaining to boot loading and root
+ partition, NixOS may not be bootable either. Have a USB rescue
+ device ready in case this happens.
+ :::
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ $ sudo mv -v /boot /boot.bak &&
+ sudo /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration boot
+ ```
+
+ Cross your fingers, reboot, hopefully you should get a NixOS prompt!
+
+1. If for some reason you want to revert to the old distribution,
+ you\'ll need to boot on a USB rescue disk and do something along
+ these lines:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ # mkdir root
+ # mount /dev/sdaX root
+ # mkdir root/nixos-root
+ # mv -v root/* root/nixos-root/
+ # mv -v root/nixos-root/old-root/* root/
+ # mv -v root/boot.bak root/boot # We had renamed this by hand earlier
+ # umount root
+ # reboot
+ ```
+
+ This may work as is or you might also need to reinstall the boot
+ loader.
+
+ And of course, if you\'re happy with NixOS and no longer need the
+ old distribution:
+
+ ```ShellSession
+ sudo rm -rf /old-root
+ ```
+
+1. It\'s also worth noting that this whole process can be automated.
+ This is especially useful for Cloud VMs, where provider do not
+ provide NixOS. For instance,
+ [nixos-infect](https://github.com/elitak/nixos-infect) uses the
+ lustrate process to convert Digital Ocean droplets to NixOS from
+ other distributions automatically.
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing-from-other-distro.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing-from-other-distro.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 63d1d52b01b2..000000000000
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing-from-other-distro.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,364 +0,0 @@
-
-
- Installing from another Linux distribution
-
-
- Because Nix (the package manager) & Nixpkgs (the Nix packages collection)
- can both be installed on any (most?) Linux distributions, they can be used to
- install NixOS in various creative ways. You can, for instance:
-
-
-
-
-
- Install NixOS on another partition, from your existing Linux distribution
- (without the use of a USB or optical device!)
-
-
-
-
- Install NixOS on the same partition (in place!), from your existing
- non-NixOS Linux distribution using NIXOS_LUSTRATE.
-
-
-
-
- Install NixOS on your hard drive from the Live CD of any Linux
- distribution.
-
-
-
-
-
- The first steps to all these are the same:
-
-
-
-
-
- Install the Nix package manager:
-
-
- Short version:
-
-
-$ curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh
-$ . $HOME/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh # …or open a fresh shell
-
- More details in the
-
- Nix manual
-
-
-
-
- Switch to the NixOS channel:
-
-
- If you've just installed Nix on a non-NixOS distribution, you will be on
- the nixpkgs channel by default.
-
-
-$ nix-channel --list
-nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
-
- As that channel gets released without running the NixOS tests, it will be
- safer to use the nixos-* channels instead:
-
-
-$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-version nixpkgs
-
- You may want to throw in a nix-channel --update for good
- measure.
-
-
-
-
- Install the NixOS installation tools:
-
-
- You'll need nixos-generate-config and
- nixos-install, but this also makes some man pages
- and nixos-enter available, just in case you want to chroot into your
- NixOS partition. NixOS installs these by default, but you don't have
- NixOS yet..
-
- $ nix-env -f '<nixpkgs>' -iA nixos-install-tools
-
-
-
-
- The following 5 steps are only for installing NixOS to another partition.
- For installing NixOS in place using NIXOS_LUSTRATE,
- skip ahead.
-
-
-
- Prepare your target partition:
-
-
- At this point it is time to prepare your target partition. Please refer to
- the partitioning, file-system creation, and mounting steps of
-
-
-
- If you're about to install NixOS in place using
- NIXOS_LUSTRATE there is nothing to do for this step.
-
-
-
-
- Generate your NixOS configuration:
-
-$ sudo `which nixos-generate-config` --root /mnt
-
- You'll probably want to edit the configuration files. Refer to the
- nixos-generate-config step in
- for more
- information.
-
-
- Consider setting up the NixOS bootloader to give you the ability to boot on
- your existing Linux partition. For instance, if you're using GRUB and your
- existing distribution is running Ubuntu, you may want to add something like
- this to your configuration.nix:
-
-
- = ''
- menuentry "Ubuntu" {
- search --set=ubuntu --fs-uuid 3cc3e652-0c1f-4800-8451-033754f68e6e
- configfile "($ubuntu)/boot/grub/grub.cfg"
- }
-'';
-
- (You can find the appropriate UUID for your partition in
- /dev/disk/by-uuid)
-
-
-
-
- Create the nixbld group and user on your original
- distribution:
-
-
-$ sudo groupadd -g 30000 nixbld
-$ sudo useradd -u 30000 -g nixbld -G nixbld nixbld
-
-
-
- Download/build/install NixOS:
-
-
-
- Once you complete this step, you might no longer be able to boot on
- existing systems without the help of a rescue USB drive or similar.
-
-
-
-
- On some distributions there are separate PATHS for programs intended only for root.
- In order for the installation to succeed, you might have to use PATH="$PATH:/usr/sbin:/sbin"
- in the following command.
-
-
-$ sudo PATH="$PATH" NIX_PATH="$NIX_PATH" `which nixos-install` --root /mnt
-
- Again, please refer to the nixos-install step in
- for more information.
-
-
- That should be it for installation to another partition!
-
-
-
-
- Optionally, you may want to clean up your non-NixOS distribution:
-
-
-$ sudo userdel nixbld
-$ sudo groupdel nixbld
-
- If you do not wish to keep the Nix package manager installed either, run
- something like sudo rm -rv ~/.nix-* /nix and remove the
- line that the Nix installer added to your ~/.profile.
-
-
-
-
-
- The following steps are only for installing NixOS in place using
- NIXOS_LUSTRATE:
-
-
-
- Generate your NixOS configuration:
-
-$ sudo `which nixos-generate-config` --root /
-
- Note that this will place the generated configuration files in
- /etc/nixos. You'll probably want to edit the
- configuration files. Refer to the nixos-generate-config
- step in for more
- information.
-
-
- You'll likely want to set a root password for your first boot using the
- configuration files because you won't have a chance to enter a password
- until after you reboot. You can initalize the root password to an empty one
- with this line: (and of course don't forget to set one once you've rebooted
- or to lock the account with sudo passwd -l root if you
- use sudo)
-
-
-users.users.root.initialHashedPassword = "";
-
-
-
-
- Build the NixOS closure and install it in the system
- profile:
-
-$ nix-env -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/system -f '<nixpkgs/nixos>' -I nixos-config=/etc/nixos/configuration.nix -iA system
-
-
-
- Change ownership of the /nix tree to root (since your
- Nix install was probably single user):
-
-$ sudo chown -R 0.0 /nix
-
-
-
- Set up the /etc/NIXOS and
- /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE files:
-
-
- /etc/NIXOS officializes that this is now a NixOS
- partition (the bootup scripts require its presence).
-
-
- /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE tells the NixOS bootup scripts to
- move everything that's in the root partition to
- /old-root. This will move your existing distribution out
- of the way in the very early stages of the NixOS bootup. There are
- exceptions (we do need to keep NixOS there after all), so the NixOS
- lustrate process will not touch:
-
-
-
-
- The /nix directory
-
-
-
-
- The /boot directory
-
-
-
-
- Any file or directory listed in /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE
- (one per line)
-
-
-
-
-
- Support for NIXOS_LUSTRATE was added in NixOS 16.09.
- The act of "lustrating" refers to the wiping of the existing distribution.
- Creating /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE can also be used on NixOS
- to remove all mutable files from your root partition (anything that's not
- in /nix or /boot gets "lustrated" on
- the next boot.
-
-
- lustrate /ˈlʌstreɪt/ verb.
-
-
- purify by expiatory sacrifice, ceremonial washing, or some other ritual
- action.
-
-
-
- Let's create the files:
-
-
-$ sudo touch /etc/NIXOS
-$ sudo touch /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE
-
-
- Let's also make sure the NixOS configuration files are kept once we reboot
- on NixOS:
-
-
-$ echo etc/nixos | sudo tee -a /etc/NIXOS_LUSTRATE
-
-
-
-
- Finally, move the /boot directory of your current
- distribution out of the way (the lustrate process will take care of the
- rest once you reboot, but this one must be moved out now because NixOS
- needs to install its own boot files:
-
-
-
- Once you complete this step, your current distribution will no longer be
- bootable! If you didn't get all the NixOS configuration right, especially
- those settings pertaining to boot loading and root partition, NixOS may
- not be bootable either. Have a USB rescue device ready in case this
- happens.
-
-
-
-$ sudo mv -v /boot /boot.bak &&
-sudo /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration boot
-
-
- Cross your fingers, reboot, hopefully you should get a NixOS prompt!
-
-
-
-
- If for some reason you want to revert to the old distribution, you'll need
- to boot on a USB rescue disk and do something along these lines:
-
-
-# mkdir root
-# mount /dev/sdaX root
-# mkdir root/nixos-root
-# mv -v root/* root/nixos-root/
-# mv -v root/nixos-root/old-root/* root/
-# mv -v root/boot.bak root/boot # We had renamed this by hand earlier
-# umount root
-# reboot
-
- This may work as is or you might also need to reinstall the boot loader
-
-
- And of course, if you're happy with NixOS and no longer need the old
- distribution:
-
-sudo rm -rf /old-root
-
-
-
- It's also worth noting that this whole process can be automated. This is
- especially useful for Cloud VMs, where provider do not provide NixOS. For
- instance,
- nixos-infect
- uses the lustrate process to convert Digital Ocean droplets to NixOS from
- other distributions automatically.
-
-
-
-
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing.xml
index 55375469447f..4f7db8bc6072 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/installation/installing.xml
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ Retype new UNIX password: ***
-
+