- Status: vaporware
Instead of generating Nix code we would be generating a JSON-like data structure of facts about the machine. This can be recorded and loaded by Nix. Or added to the nixos-hardware repo. It can be used for user diagnostics. It inverts the control where the NixOS module system can now make decisions on which kernel modules to load over time.
The project has two parts:
- The binary that scans the system and outputs JSON or TOML.
- A NixOS module that can load that data and make decisions.
That's it.
The generated data should be generic enough to be embeddable in public Git repos. We can show things like hardware models, what type of graphics card is running, ... Avoid serial numbers and MAC addresses.
Another way to look at it is that the generated data should be the same if two people have the same model of hardware.
The main downside is that it adds a layer of indirection. New hardware detection requires updating both the tool and the Nix schema.