v0.10.0

This release includes a number of small features (notably for Mac and SteamOS) as well as additional install validation.

We now support nix's new ssl-cert-file option (NixOS/nix#8062) through our ssl-cert-file option, instead of modifying your shell profiles. This improves install consistency between operating systems and should improve the robustness of SSL support. (#527)

Before completing installation, we now perform a robust self-test. The installer invokes something like this to make sure your system works (#506):

nix build --no-link --expr '
derivation {
  name = "self-test-{executable}-{timestamp_millis}";
  system = "x86_64-linux";
  builder = "/bin/sh"; args = ["-c" "echo hello > \$out"];
}'

For Steam Deck users, if you've been exploring the new main channel releases of the Steam Deck, you may have noticed the appearance of a /home/.steamos/offload/nix folder! We now support the offload if we detect it, otherwise sticking to the old method of creating our own bind mount. (#495)

Primarily benefiting Steam Deck users for now (but also to support #389 in the future) we now do some /etc/os-release heuristics to determine which planner should used by default on your system. This means Steam Deck users shouldn't need to specify the steam-deck planner anymore. (#501)

For Mac users, we added time machine exclusions for /nix since you most likely don't want to back up your Nix store with Time Machine (#480). We were further motivated because it was possible for users to be unable to uninstall Nix because time machine was making a backup. We also now better handle cases where diskutil does not return a volume name (#490).

Unfortunately, our experiment in 0.9.x with the new auto-uid-allocation was not as successful on Mac as it was on Linux. While we've not found any issues with the feature on Linux, on Mac is creates issues in any builds that use something like whoami. For Mac users, the _nixbld user creation has returned, and your Mac installs will feel as fast as they were in 0.8.0. (#524)

Bug fixes

• APFS volumes don't necessarily have names by @Hoverbear in #490
• Restore user creation on Mac by @Hoverbear in #524
• Uninstalling should change directory if in nix by @Hoverbear in #526

What's Changed

• Add time machine exclusions for Mac by @Hoverbear in #480
• Improve messaging when /nix/receipt.json is already found by @Hoverbear in #491
• Add full path to nix-installer in bug report instructions by @cole-h in #499
• Support for SteamOS Nix Offload in SteamOS 20230522.1000 by @Hoverbear in #495
• Use os-release to determine appropriate planner by @Hoverbear in #501
• Fix uninstalling on latest steam deck with offload by @Hoverbear in #502
• typo fix for auto-allocate-uids by @georgyo in #505
• Add self test functionality by @Hoverbear in #506
• Fix darwin devShell by @mkenigs in #514
• swap fortune for hello in CI workflow by @abathur in #525
• Add flake checker action to GHA lints by @lucperkins in #515
• Use ssl-cert-file config by @Hoverbear in #527
• ci: use our cacher action by @cole-h in #532
• Fix devshell on i686 by @Hoverbear in #533

New Contributors

• @georgyo made their first contribution in #505
• @mkenigs made their first contribution in #514
• @abathur made their first contribution in #525

Full Changelog: v0.9.1...v0.10.0