Disko

Disko is a utility and NixOS module for declarative disk partitioning.

Usage

The following example creates a new GPT partition table for the disk /dev/vda including two partitions for EFI boot and a bcachefs root filesystem.

disko-config.nix

{ disks ? [ "/dev/vda" ], ... }: {
  disko.devices = {
    disk = {
      vdb = {
        device = builtins.elemAt disks 0;
        type = "disk";
        content = {
          type = "table";
          format = "gpt";
          partitions = [
            {
              name = "ESP";
              start = "1MiB";
              end = "500MiB";
              bootable = true;
              content = {
                type = "filesystem";
                format = "vfat";
                mountpoint = "/boot";
              };
            }
            {
              name = "root";
              start = "500MiB";
              end = "100%";
              part-type = "primary";
              content = {
                type = "filesystem";
                format = "bcachefs";
                mountpoint = "/";
              };
            }
          ];
        };
      };
    };
  };
}

The following command will apply the disk layout specified in the configuration and mount them afterwards. Warning: This will erase all data on the disk.

Warning: The disko commands will erase all existing data on your disk and repartition it according to the given configuration.

# sudo nix run github:nix-community/disko -- --mode zap_create_mount ./disko-config.nix

Alternativley use a disk layout configuration of a remote repository containing a flake.nix file as an entry point. The --arg parameter specifies the target disk /dev/sda.

# sudo nix run github:nix-community/disko -- --mode zap_create_mount --flake github:Lassulus/flakes-testing#fnord  --arg disks '[ "/dev/sda" ]'

The commands above requires Flake features available on your system.

To verify both partitions got mounted correctly, run

# mount | grep /mnt

Configuration

In case the NixOS base system was installed on a partition layout bootstrapped with Disko, the disk config itself can be integrated into the system. First copy the the file, for example disko-config.nix into your system configuration directory

# cp disko-config.nix /etc/nixos/

Add the Disko module on a flake-enabled system. Insert the required input and reference it and your disko-config.nix in the modules section. For alternative installation methods consult the Disko quickstart guide.

/etc/nixos/flake.nix

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-23.05";
    disko.url = "github:nix-community/disko";
    disko.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
  };

  outputs = {self, nixpkgs, disko, ...}@inputs: {

    nixosConfigurations.mysystem = inputs.nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      specialArgs.inputs = inputs;
      modules = [
        disko.nixosModules.disko
        ./disko-config.nix
        {
          _module.args.disks = [ "/dev/vda" ];
        }
        ./configuration.nix
      ];
    };
  };
}

Ensure that there are no automatically generated entries of fileSystems options in /etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix. Disko will automatically generate them for you. Rebuild your system to apply the Disko configuration.