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nixos/doc: alter wording to explain the usage of --use-remote-sudo

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Also recommends the usage of sudo's -E flag if --use-remote-sudo cannot
be used. This should still be discouraged IMO, as it means Nix may write
root-owned files to the user's home directory.

Signed-off-by: Fernando Rodrigues <alpha@sigmasquadron.net>
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Fernando Rodrigues 2024-09-16 16:02:45 +00:00
parent 116f14ed36
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20
nixos/doc/manual/installation/changing-config.chapter.md
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@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ something](#ch-configuration) in that file, you should do
$ nixos-rebuild switch --use-remote-sudo
```
to build the new configuration, make it the default configuration for
booting, and try to realise the configuration in the running system
(e.g., by restarting system services).
to build the new configuration as your current user, and as the root user,
make it the default configuration for booting. `switch` will also try to
realise the configuration in the running system (e.g., by restarting system
services).
::: {.warning}
This command doesn't start/stop [user services](#opt-systemd.user.services)
@ -19,8 +20,17 @@ user services.
:::
::: {.warning}
These commands must be executed as root, so you should either run them
from a root shell or by prefixing them with `sudo -i`.
Applying a configuration is an action that must be done by the root user, so the
`switch`, `boot` and `test` commands should be ran with the `--use-remote-sudo`
flag. Despite its odd name, this flag runs the activation script with elevated
permissions, regardless of whether or not the target system is remote, without
affecting the other stages of the `nixos-rebuild` call. This allows unprivileged
users to rebuild the system and only elevate their permissions when necessary.
Alternatively, one can run the whole command as root while preserving user
environment variables by prefixing the command with `sudo -E`. However, this
method may create root-owned files in `$HOME/.cache` if Nix decides to use the
cache during evaluation.
:::
You can also do