finn.markwitz
539fb26791
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01CfozKLQdUh5TzqyjSigLUx
62 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
62 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
# mibook: choose terminal-only vs desktop at boot
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## Goal
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Let mibook boot to a text console by default, with KDE fully installed and
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launchable on demand. The user decides after boot whether they need the
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graphical desktop, without rebuilding the system.
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## Behavior
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- mibook boots to a text console (`multi-user.target`). SDDM and Plasma do
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**not** start automatically.
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- KDE (SDDM + Plasma 6) remains fully installed.
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- Running `desktop` in the terminal starts the SDDM display manager, which
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presents the graphical login screen; logging in there enters a Plasma 6
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session.
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- No reverse command. To return to a text console, stop the display manager
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(`sudo systemctl stop display-manager`) or reboot.
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- Other machines that enable the `kde-desktop` profile are unaffected; their
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desktop still starts on boot.
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## Implementation
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### `modules/environments/kde-desktop/default.nix`
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Add an opt-out option to the existing profile:
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- New option `my.profiles.kde-desktop.startOnBoot`, a boolean defaulting to
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`true`. The default preserves the current behavior for every consumer.
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- The existing `config` block (SDDM, Plasma 6, user packages) stays enabled
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whenever the profile is enabled, regardless of `startOnBoot`.
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- When `startOnBoot = false`, additionally apply:
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- `systemd.services.display-manager.wantedBy = lib.mkForce [ ];` so SDDM is
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defined but not pulled in by any boot target.
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- `systemd.defaultUnit = "multi-user.target";` so the boot target is the
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text console.
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- A `desktop` command provided via
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`pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "desktop" "exec sudo systemctl start display-manager.service"`,
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added to `environment.systemPackages`.
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### `machines/mibook/environments.nix`
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Set `kde-desktop.startOnBoot = false;` alongside the existing
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`kde-desktop.enable = true;`.
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## Testing / verification
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- `nix build '.#nixosConfigurations.mibook.config.system.build.toplevel'`
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builds without error.
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- After `nixos-rebuild switch` on mibook: system boots to a TTY, no SDDM;
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running `desktop` brings up the SDDM login and a working Plasma session.
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- Confirm jupiter (or any non-mibook consumer) is unchanged: its evaluated
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`systemd.defaultUnit` / display-manager wantedBy are not altered.
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## Trade-offs
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- `desktop` relies on `sudo`; the user has sudo access, so no extra
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configuration is required.
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- Chose "boot to terminal, launch on demand" over a GRUB boot-menu entry
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because it is more robust across NixOS generations and needs no fragile
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static kernel entries.
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