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vikanezrimaya/nixos-super-minimal

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vikanezrimaya/nixos-super-minimal.json
{
  "createdAt": "2020-11-02T03:10:09Z",
  "defaultBranch": "master",
  "description": null,
  "fullName": "vikanezrimaya/nixos-super-minimal",
  "homepage": null,
  "language": "Nix",
  "name": "nixos-super-minimal",
  "pushedAt": "2020-11-02T03:19:12Z",
  "stargazersCount": 30,
  "topics": [],
  "updatedAt": "2025-07-31T12:17:26Z",
  "url": "https://github.com/vikanezrimaya/nixos-super-minimal"
}

NixOS (but super-minimal)

Section titled “NixOS (but super-minimal)”

What is this?

Section titled “What is this?”

This started as a response to the Nixpkgs issue #21315 - a request for a super-minimal NixOS image with almost nothing in $PATH but strictly neccesary software. Everything else could be installed separately.

What’s the progress?

Section titled “What’s the progress?”

Right now the PATH is a little bit smaller - 90 packages vs. 117. You can see the following nix-repl snippet to investigate the results of this work.

nix-repl> self = builtins.getFlake "github:kisik21/nixos-super-minimal"


nix-repl> deprecatedPrograms = ["bash" "info" "man" "oblogout" "way-cooler"]


nix-repl> deprecatedServices = ["beegfs" "beegfsEnable" "buildkite-agent" "cgmanager" "chronos" "d
eepin" "dnscrypt-proxy" "fourStore" "fourStoreEndpoint" "marathon" "mathics" "meguca" "mesos" "openvpn" "osquery" "prey" "rmilter" "seeks" "winstone"]


nix-repl> closure = self.inputs.nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem ({ modules = [ self.nixosModule ]; })


nix-repl> builtins.length closure.config.environment.systemPackages # profiles/minimal.nix == 117
90


nix-repl> nix-repl> builtins.filter (name: system.config.programs.${name}.enable or false) (builtins.attrNames (builtins.removeAttrs system.config.programs deprecatedPrograms))
[ "command-not-found" ]


nix-repl> builtins.filter (name: system.config.services.${name}.enable or false) (builtins.attrNames (builtins.removeAttrs system.config.services deprecatedServices))
[ "dbus" "nscd" "timesyncd" ]

How to use this?

Section titled “How to use this?”

Use this repository as a flake. nixosModule contains the NixOS module, based upon the minimal.nix in Nixpkgs.

The checks.x86_64-linux attribute set contains toplevelClosure - the top-level closure for evaluating closure size - and vm - a VM that autologins you as root and allows you to inspect the system to ensure things don’t break.