althaea.zone
ALPHA: wire is a tool to deploy nixos systems
wire.althaea.zone/
1---
2comment: true
3title: Migrate to wire
4description: How-to migrate from other tools to wire tool.
5---
6
7# Migrate to wire
8
9{{ $frontmatter.description }}
10
11Migrate from...
12
13- [Colmena](#from-colmena)
14- [`nixos-rebuild`](#from-nixos-rebuild)
15
16## From Colmena
17
18If you're familiar with colmena, wire will hopefully come quickly to you! (or,
19atleast that was the intention when writing it!). There are a few changes you
20should know:
21
22- [You don't have to use a root user](/guides/non-root-user.html)
23- `apply-local` does not exist, `apply` will apply locally when appropriate
24- [Many options have been aliased to nicer names](/reference/module.html)
25 (ie, `deployment.targetUser` <=> `deployment.target.user`)
26- You may pass a list of hosts to `deployment.targetHost` (no more fiddling with
27 your hive whenever DNS is down, for example)
28- `--path` optionally takes a flakeref! You can pass `--path github:foo/bar`,
29 `--path git+file:///...`, `--path https://.../main.tar.gz`, etc.
30 (plain paths like `--path ~/my-hive` still work as always)
31
32::: tip
33You should also follow [installation](/guides/installation) to install the
34binary.
35:::
36
37### Convert a Hive as a Flake
38
39```nix [flake.nix]
40{
41 inputs = {
42 nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
43 colmena.url = "github:zhaofengli/colmena"; # [!code --]
44 wire.url = "github:forallsys/wire/stable"; # [!code ++]
45 };
46 outputs =
47 { nixpkgs, colmena, ... }:
48 {
49 colmenaHive = colmena.lib.makeHive { # [!code --]
50 wire = wire.lib.makeHive { # [!code ++]
51 # ..
52 };
53 };
54}
55```
56
57### Convert a Hive with npins
58
59::: tip
60You should also follow [installation](/guides/installation) to setup
61npins and install the binary.
62:::
63
64Unlike colmena, you must call `makeHive` directly even in non-flake hives.
65
66```nix [hive.nix]
67let
68 sources = import ./npins;
69 wire = import sources.wire;
70in
71{ # [!code --]
72wire.makeHive { # [!code ++]
73
74 meta.nixpkgs = <nixpkgs>; # [!code --]
75 meta.nixpkgs = import sources.nixpkgs { }; # [!code ++]
76
77 # ...
78}
79```
80
81Replacing `<nixpkgs>` with a pinned source is optional, but you should
82probably use one if you ask me \:)
83
84## From `nixos-rebuild`
85
86You can keep using `nixos-rebuild` alongside wire!
87
88Follow the instructions in [the relevant page](/guides/flakes/nixos-rebuild.html).