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Nix on macOS

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“There are still many issues with the Darwin platform but most of it is quite usable.” — http://yves.gnu-darwin.org195 Servers

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23 Feb 2026
@benjaminsparks:chat.alugha.appBen Sparks let multiOutputBundle = stdenv.mkDerivation { ... }; let singleProg = writers.makeShellScript { "${multiOutputBundle}/bin/$MY-SINGLE-PROGRAM $@" } 11:23:52
@benjaminsparks:chat.alugha.appBen Sparkssomething like this perhaps?11:23:57
@rebmit:rebmit.moerebmit[reb]
In reply to @benjaminsparks:chat.alugha.app
consider not setting a meta.mainProgram, then providing script aliases that point at the executables of that bundle
i don't get it, your example seems pretty similar to using a (shell) wrapper
11:35:44
@benjaminsparks:chat.alugha.appBen Sparksexcept that you don't rebuild the multiOutputBundle when you use overrideAttrs to make a new meta.mainProgram for each program11:36:25
@benjaminsparks:chat.alugha.appBen Sparksahh im sorry i have misread the message 😄 is what I have written even helpful to you, probably not 😂11:37:33
@michael:zortek.cloudMichael set a profile picture.14:34:01
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHet I think the last option forces macl to be set and then nix-collect-garbage would fail 17:49:49
@emilazy:matrix.orgemily does meta.mainProgram = "../Applications/…"; work 17:51:50
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHet I think it should, it would with my nix-run 17:54:00
@emilazy:matrix.orgemilyit's kind of awful and shouldn't work17:57:08
@emilazy:matrix.orgemilybut if it does…17:57:09
@emilazy:matrix.orgemily meta.mainProgram = "../../../../usr/bin/hello"; 17:57:35
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHet
nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run --impure -E "((import <nixpkgs> {}).hello).overrideAttrs { doInstallCheck = false;  meta.mainProgram = \"../../../../usr/bin/true\"; }"
❮ echo $status
0
18:34:58
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHet *
❮ nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run --impure -E "((import <nixpkgs> {}).hello).overrideAttrs { doInstallCheck = false;  meta.mainProgram = \"../../../../usr/bin/true\"; }"
❮ echo $status
0
18:35:03
@magpi:matrix.orgLuke changed their display name from magpi to Luke Worth.21:17:05
@magpi:matrix.orgLuke changed their display name from Luke Worth to Luke.21:17:36
@msgilligan:matrix.orgmsgilliganI didn't get any responses and also did some searching and didn't find quite what I'm looking for. So I created a repo (with just a README) explaining what I'm trying to do and as a starting point for pulling things together: https://github.com/msgilligan/max-nix-on-macos23:20:12
24 Feb 2026
@ihar.hrachyshka:matrix.orgIhar Hrachyshka @msgilligan:matrix.org: FWIW 5 and 6 can be covered by native nixpkgs qemu based VMs, unless you really care it's Lima / Apple vz. 13:06:51
@msgilligan:matrix.orgmsgilligan

Thanks for the reminder. I'm looking for maximum performance and seamless integration with the host. In my experience, Lima is best (among OSS solutions, at least) for headless and UTM for GUI, but I can't say that I've tried (the latest versions of) everything.

VZ is not Open Source but is built-in to macOS and is (in theory) higher-performance (especially for local file access. Given that we're already running on a closed-source system I make an exception to my Open Source rule for it.

One of my goals is to have a GUI NixOS VM that is performant enough to be a daily-driver. I'm hoping the latest UTM with VZ will be able to deliver that.

For headless Linux, I really like Lima (though it is adding support for displays and for macOS guests, too) and have been using it for much longer than I've been using Nix. I created the nixos-lima project based on the work of others so there could be an actively maintained public repo for NixOS VMs on Lima.

I use nixpkgs qemu via Nix Darwin for a Linux Builder VM, but to date I haven't found it nearly as friendly as Lima or UTM. I definitely need to take a another look. Do people use it for creating interactive VMs for development?

16:40:48
@msgilligan:matrix.orgmsgilligan *

Thanks for the reminder. I'm looking for maximum performance and seamless integration with the host. In my experience, Lima is best (among OSS solutions, at least) for headless and UTM for GUI, but I can't say that I've tried (the latest versions of) everything.

VZ is not Open Source but is built-in to macOS and is (in theory) higher-performance (especially for local file access.) Given that we're already running on a closed-source system I make an exception to my Open Source rule for it.

One of my goals is to have a GUI NixOS VM that is performant enough to be a daily-driver. I'm hoping the latest UTM with VZ will be able to deliver that.

For headless Linux, I really like Lima (though it is adding support for displays and for macOS guests, too) and have been using it for much longer than I've been using Nix. I created the nixos-lima project based on the work of others so there could be an actively maintained public repo for NixOS VMs on Lima.

I use nixpkgs qemu via Nix Darwin for a Linux Builder VM, but to date I haven't found it nearly as friendly as Lima or UTM. I definitely need to take a another look. Do people use it for creating interactive VMs for development?

16:41:21
@ihar.hrachyshka:matrix.orgIhar Hrachyshka"is (in theory) higher-performance" - we discussed these claims in this channel before, there was nothing conclusive. so I'm not sure why we have to use proprietary software. there are some vz benefits with rosetta I think, so this may be a good reason. but rosetta goes away.16:43:49
@ihar.hrachyshka:matrix.orgIhar Hrachyshkabtw I'm not saying lima or UTM is not better, it may be, I just don't know16:45:05
@msgilligan:matrix.orgmsgilligan *

Thanks for the reminder. I'm looking for maximum performance and seamless integration with the host. In my experience, Lima is best (among OSS solutions, at least) for headless and UTM for GUI, but I can't say that I've tried (the latest versions of) everything.

VZ is not Open Source but is built-in to macOS and is (in theory) higher-performance (especially for local file access.) Given that we're already running on a closed-source system I make an exception to my Open Source rule for it.

One of my goals is to have a GUI NixOS VM that is performant enough to be a daily-driver. I'm hoping the latest UTM with VZ will be able to deliver that.

For headless Linux, I really like Lima (though it is adding support for displays and for macOS guests, too) and have been using it for much longer than I've been using Nix. I created the nixos-lima GitHub organization with a fork of the original nixos-lima project so there could be an actively maintained public org/repo for NixOS VMs on Lima.

I use nixpkgs qemu via Nix Darwin for a Linux Builder VM, but to date I haven't found it nearly as friendly as Lima or UTM. I definitely need to take a another look. Do people use it for creating interactive VMs for development?

16:45:08
@ihar.hrachyshka:matrix.orgIhar Hrachyshka fwiw I used nixpkgs vms for my development when I didn't have my proxmox cluster. these days I mostly use it to try out changes before deploying on "real" machines. (I have intricate wiring in my flake where I can do nix run .#vm -- <name-of-machine> and get a nixpkgs VM running that replicates the real machine. if interested: https://github.com/booxter/nix/blob/1ce1adc071547996e791113c895b27856f6eaa25/lib/fleet.nix#L93 16:49:30
@msgilligan:matrix.orgmsgilliganThanks for the link, I will check it out!17:01:27
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHetWait what19:21:20
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHethttps://developer.apple.com/documentation/FSKit19:21:23
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHetHow did I miss this19:21:27
@hythera:matrix.org@hythera:matrix.org left the room.19:26:32
@weethet:catgirl.cloudWeetHetOkay it's less useful then I thought19:31:38

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