On a fresh install the web console's FIRST start always failed at the systemd
level:
punktfunk-web.service: Failed to load environment files: No such file or directory
punktfunk-web.service: Failed to spawn 'start' task: No such file or directory
Failed with result 'resources'.
`punktfunk-web.service` declares `After=punktfunk-host.service`, but that was
never a readiness gate: the host is `Type=simple`, so systemd considers it
started the instant it is SPAWNED — seconds before it writes anything. The
console's mandatory `EnvironmentFile=%h/.config/punktfunk/mgmt-token` then read
a file that did not exist yet. `StartLimitIntervalSec=0` meant the restart two
seconds later succeeded, so the console did come up — but the first enable
printed a hard failure on a perfectly good install, and every caller that
watches the exit status believed it.
Field report 2026-08-28 (Omarchy): `punktfunk-omarchy setup` enables the host
and the console back to back, so it lost that race every single time and
reported "Failed to start punktfunk management web console" on an install where
pacman, the repo and all three packages were fine.
The gate now lives in punktfunk-web-init.service, which the console already
orders after (`After=` + `Wants=`) and which is `Type=oneshot` — so blocking
there is the readiness gate the ordering already claimed to be. No new unit, no
new directive, no change to the host's startup path.
It waits for the console's OWN precondition rather than a proxy for it, which
matters because the two files it needs are written far apart: `mgmt-token` goes
out early in `serve` (main.rs, before the listeners) while the identity cert
comes LAST, inside `mgmt::run` -> `identity::load_or_adopt`. Waiting on the
token alone would only have moved the failure to the cert. The check mirrors
web/nitro-entry/tls-paths.mjs exactly: a token, plus a non-empty cert/key pair
from one directory — native, or legacy for a host that never took the identity
split.
Also drops `ConditionPathExists=!%h/.config/punktfunk/web-password` from
web-init. That skipped the unit from the second boot onward, which is precisely
when the wait must still run, and it tied a host-readiness gate to the presence
of an unrelated password file. web-init.sh is idempotent instead, and in steady
state (every start after the host's first run) it returns without sleeping.
Timing out is not fatal — it exits 0 so the console still starts and the
existing Restart backstop takes over, but says WHY, where the bare systemd error
it replaces named a missing file and never the host that owed it.
Mirrored into the NixOS module, and module-check.nix now asserts the absence of
the path condition it used to assert the presence of. All four Linux packages
(deb, RPM, Arch, and Bazzite via the RPM) ship the same two files, so the fix
reaches every one of them from here.
check-docs-drift.sh gate 8 runs the real script against a faked config dir:
it waits when nothing is there, still waits when only the token is there (the
leg a token-only fix would have missed), returns instantly for both the native
and the legacy identity, and stops waiting as soon as the files land. Each case
proved non-vacuous by reverting the fix and watching it go red.
punktfunk on NixOS / Nix
First-class Nix support via the repo's flake.nix: reproducible builds of the streaming host
and the native Linux client, a NixOS module that wires up everything the RPM/deb do
(systemd user service, udev rules, kernel modules, sysctl tuning, firewall, input group), and a
dev shell with the pinned toolchain and every system library.
Platform:
x86_64-linuxonly (the host encodes with desktop NVENC; matches the RPM'sExclusiveArch: x86_64). NixOS 24.11 or newer for thehardware.graphicsoption.
What the flake provides
| Output | Contents |
|---|---|
packages.x86_64-linux.punktfunk-host |
punktfunk-host + punktfunk-tray (built with nvenc + vulkan-encode, like CI) |
packages.x86_64-linux.punktfunk-client |
punktfunk-client (GTK4 shell) + punktfunk-session (Vulkan streamer, without the Skia OSD — see caveats) |
packages.x86_64-linux.punktfunk-web |
the management web console (bun-built Nitro SSR bundle; SPAKE2 pairing + host status) |
packages.x86_64-linux.punktfunk-scripting |
the plugin/script runner (bun-bundled Effect SDK; supervises host automation) |
packages.x86_64-linux.default |
= punktfunk-host |
nixosModules.default |
services.punktfunk.host / .client / .web / .scripting |
devShells.x86_64-linux.default |
pinned Rust (from rust-toolchain.toml) + all build deps |
checks.x86_64-linux.nixos-module |
evaluates the NixOS module against real nixpkgs and asserts on the rendered systemd units |
apps / checks / formatter |
nix run, nix flake check, nix fmt |
One binary per GPU vendor: NVENC/CUDA entry points are dlopen'd at runtime, so the host runs on
NVIDIA (zero-copy dmabuf → CUDA → NVENC), AMD/Intel (raw Vulkan-Video HEVC / VAAPI), or software.
Quick start (no NixOS required)
# Build
nix build git+https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk#punktfunk-host
nix build git+https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk#punktfunk-client
# Run
nix run git+https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk#punktfunk-host -- serve --gamestream
nix run git+https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk#punktfunk-client
GPU drivers are resolved at runtime from /run/opengl-driver/lib. On non-NixOS distros use
nixGL so that path is populated (nixGL nix run …); on
NixOS the module (below) sets hardware.graphics.enable = true for you.
Do this first, or the commands above compile the world: without the binary cache,
nix buildhere means the whole Rust workspace and a gamescope build from source — roughly an hour on a fast machine. See below.
Binary cache (do this before your first build)
CI publishes every punktfunk package to https://nix.unom.io on each push to main that moves
the flake, so you get prebuilt binaries instead of an hour of rustc. It covers
punktfunk-host, -client, -tray, -web, -scripting and -gamescope — everything the flake
builds from source. Everything else in the closure is stock nixpkgs and comes from cache.nixos.org
as usual, so the cache is deliberately small and adding it costs you nothing on unrelated builds.
NixOS — in your system configuration:
nix.settings = {
substituters = [ "https://nix.unom.io" ];
trusted-public-keys = [ "punktfunk-cache-1:yhOJmHxzg6tzXpxSFzlYn6Pc6r0jHprsWqt8MZC654o=" ];
};
Anywhere else — in /etc/nix/nix.conf (or ~/.config/nix/nix.conf if you are a trusted user):
extra-substituters = https://nix.unom.io
extra-trusted-public-keys = punktfunk-cache-1:yhOJmHxzg6tzXpxSFzlYn6Pc6r0jHprsWqt8MZC654o=
The current public key is served by the cache itself, so you can always check it against the source of truth:
curl https://nix.unom.io/punktfunk-cache.pub
Verify the cache is being used — this should print the store paths without compiling anything:
nix build --dry-run git+https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk#punktfunk-host
⚠ nixpkgs.follows turns the cache off
Every store path is keyed by the exact inputs it was built from. Pointing punktfunk's nixpkgs at yours changes those inputs, so every path misses and you compile the workspace anyway:
# Convenient, but it costs you the entire binary cache:
inputs.punktfunk.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
That is a real trade, not a bug — follows buys you one shared nixpkgs in the closure instead of
two. Take it if closure size matters more to you than build time; leave it out to get binaries.
Why not cachix?
Nothing against it — punktfunk simply self-hosts every other channel (flatpak, deb, rpm, Arch, docker, winget), and a Nix cache is static files behind a web server, so it rides the same unom-1 box and the same deploy key as the rest. Nothing about the cache is punktfunk-specific: it speaks plain HTTP binary-cache protocol, so any nix client works with it.
NixOS module
Add the flake and enable the host and/or client:
{
inputs.punktfunk.url = "git+https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk";
# (optional) share your nixpkgs: inputs.punktfunk.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
# ⚠ this DISABLES the binary cache — different inputs, different store paths, so every
# package is rebuilt from source (~1h). See "Binary cache" above.
outputs = { self, nixpkgs, punktfunk, ... }: {
nixosConfigurations.myhost = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
system = "x86_64-linux";
modules = [
punktfunk.nixosModules.default
({ ... }: {
services.punktfunk.host = {
enable = true;
users = [ "alice" ]; # → `input` group for gamepads, AND scopes the units to alice
openFirewall = true; # native + GameStream ports
desktopSession = true; # a machine you log into — restart the host with the desktop
settings = {
PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_SOURCE = "virtual";
RUST_LOG = "info";
# PUNKTFUNK_444 = true; # booleans render as 1/0
};
};
# …and/or the client on the same or another box:
services.punktfunk.client = {
enable = true;
openFirewall = true; # UDP 5353 for mDNS discovery
};
})
];
};
};
}
Then, in your graphical session (the console follows with punktfunk-web; the plugin runner is
already started for you — see scripting.autoStart below):
systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host punktfunk-web
Options
services.punktfunk.host:
| Option | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
enable |
false |
Install the host + wire udev/sysctl/kernel-modules/firewall and the user service. |
gamestream |
true |
serve --gamestream (Moonlight-compatible). false = native-only, more secure. |
autoStart |
false |
Add the user service to default.target (appliance mode — pair with lingering). |
desktopSession |
false |
Bind the host to graphical-session.target — turn this on for a machine somebody logs into (see below). |
users |
[ ] |
Users added to the input and punktfunk groups (virtual gamepads; the second covers the usbip/vhci nodes the virtual Steam Deck pad attaches through — it can emulate arbitrary USB hardware, so list only users you'd trust with that). |
settings |
{ } |
host.env key/values (see ${package}/share/punktfunk-host/host.env.example). |
environmentFile |
null |
Extra EnvironmentFile for secrets (e.g. PUNKTFUNK_MGMT_TOKEN); loaded optionally. |
openFirewall |
false |
Open the inbound ports (see below). |
gamescopeHdr |
true |
Put punktfunk-gamescope (gamescope + our pipewire-hdr patches) on the service PATH, so a 10-bit client can stream true HDR10 off a gamescope output. Costs a gamescope build from source — set false to skip it and stay SDR on that backend. |
gamescopePackage |
flake's | The patched gamescope used when gamescopeHdr = true. |
package |
flake's | Override the package. |
desktopSession — set it on a desktop, leave it off on an appliance. On a machine somebody logs
into, a compositor restart (a crash, a logout/login, "restart the shell") otherwise leaves the host
running while it holds a Wayland socket and a portal D-Bus connection that both died with the old
compositor. It cannot recover either in-process, and the failure is silent: the host still
listens, still answers, and every session it then serves fails at capture. desktopSession = true
adds PartOf=/WantedBy=graphical-session.target (in addition to default.target), so the host
restarts with the session. Leave it false for an appliance — a pinned PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR, a
headless KWin or a gamescope box — which may never reach that target and would be left permanently
stopped. sway/Hyprland and anything else not under systemd session management never reach it
either; there, start the host from the compositor's config after systemctl --user import-environment.
Portals. The host reaches the desktop through xdg-desktop-portal on several backends (Mutter's
ScreenCast/RemoteDesktop, and the libei input path), so a hand-assembled machine wants
xdg.portal.enable = true plus the backend for its compositor
(xdg-desktop-portal-kde / -gnome / -hyprland / -wlr). The KDE and GNOME desktop-manager
modules already do this. The module emits a warning if the host is enabled and portals are not —
the KWin backend's own virtual output uses the privileged zkde_screencast protocol and needs no
portal, so KDE-only setups are unaffected in practice.
services.punktfunk.client: enable, openFirewall (UDP 5353), package.
services.punktfunk.web (the management console — on by default whenever the host is enabled,
mirroring the RPM's Recommends: punktfunk-web):
| Option | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
enable |
host.enable |
Run the console as a systemd --user service on TCP 47992 (HTTPS). Set false for a console-less host. |
openFirewall |
host.openFirewall |
Open TCP 47992 so other devices on the LAN can reach it. |
autoStart |
host.autoStart |
Add the console user service to default.target (appliance mode). |
package |
flake's | Override the package. |
The console is auto-wired to the host on the same box: it reads the host's per-user
~/.config/punktfunk/{mgmt-token,cert.pem,key.pem} (written by serve), serves HTTPS with the
host's own identity cert, and proxies the loopback mgmt API with the bearer token injected
server-side (never sent to the browser). A login password is generated on first start — read it
with journalctl --user -u punktfunk-web-init (or ~/.config/punktfunk/web-password). Then open
https://<host-ip>:47992 and trust the self-signed host cert once. Enable it (with the host) via
systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-web.
services.punktfunk.scripting (the plugin/script runner — installed and started with the host,
matching the deb/rpm, which systemctl --global enable it):
| Option | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
enable |
host.enable |
Install the runner + define its systemd --user unit punktfunk-scripting. |
autoStart |
scripting.enable |
Add the unit to default.target. On by default — the game-library scanners are plugins, so a host without the runner has an empty library. |
package |
flake's | Override the package. |
The runner discovers loose scripts under ~/.config/punktfunk/scripts and installed
punktfunk-plugin-* packages under ~/.config/punktfunk/plugins, and supervises each as an Effect
fiber (SIGTERM shuts the tree down structurally so plugin finalizers run). A plugin auto-wires to
the host's mgmt token + identity cert.
It used to ship un-started here, on the reasoning that the runner is inert until you add
automation. That stopped being true when the library scanners became plugins — a host with the
runner off comes up with an empty library and no obvious reason why — so it now runs by default,
as it already did on every other channel. Opt out with scripting.autoStart = false, or per user
systemctl --user mask punktfunk-scripting (mask, not disable).
The runner is sandboxed exactly as the deb/rpm unit is (NoNewPrivileges, ProtectSystem=strict,
ReadWritePaths=%h /tmp, RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX AF_INET AF_INET6) — with PrivateTmp
deliberately off, because plugins integrate with things that talk over /tmp. ProtectSystem
on a user unit needs unprivileged user namespaces; drop it with
systemctl --user edit punktfunk-scripting on a kernel that restricts them.
What the host module configures for you
Everything the RPM's %install + %post do, declaratively:
- systemd
--userservicepunktfunk-host→serve [--gamestream],EnvironmentFilefromsettings(+ optional secret file),Restart=on-failure, and — withdesktopSession—PartOf=graphical-session.target. - udev rules (
60-punktfunk.rules):/dev/uinput+/dev/uhidgroup access and the vhci sysfs perms for the virtual Steam Deck. - kernel modules:
uinput,uhid,vhci-hcd(usbip transport so Steam Input adopts the virtual Deck). - sysctl:
net.core.{r,w}mem_max = 32 MB(high-bitrate UDP headroom;mkDefault). inputandpunktfunkgroups, declared and joined forusers. Both are required: the udev rulechgrp punktfunks the vhci nodes and fails outright if nothing ever created that group.- A
security.wrappersentry forpunktfunk-encode-workercarryingcap_sys_nice=ep, withPUNKTFUNK_ENCODE_WORKERpointed at it. A file capability cannot live on a read-only store path, so a wrapper is the only mechanism NixOS has. The capability is deliberately not on the host itself — see the caveat below. hardware.graphics.enable = true(mkDefault) so/run/opengl-driver/libhas the driver libs the binariesdlopen.- firewall (when
openFirewall): native UDP 9777/5353 + TCP 47990; withgamestreamalso TCP 47984/47989/48010 + UDP 47998/47999/48000; with the console, TCP 47992 + 47993. The media data plane is an ephemeral, hole-punched UDP port — nothing fixed to open. - tray autostart entry (
--autostart; self-gates to users who actually run a host). - A warning if
xdg.portal.enableis off (see the portal note above).
Why the capability is on the worker and not the host. KWin only advertises its restricted protocols (
zkde_screencast_unstable_v1for the virtual output,org_kde_kwin_fake_inputfor input) to a client it can identify, by resolving that client's/proc/<pid>/exeand matching an installed.desktop'sExec=. The kernel refuses that readlink to any reader whose effective set is not a superset of the target's permitted set, and KWin holds no capabilities. A NixOS wrapper does not dodge this — it raises the capability into the ambient set before exec'ing, which lands it in the permitted set and fails the readlink identically. Giving the hostcap_sys_nicebroke desktop streaming on every KDE box in 0.26.0-1. The encode worker is a separate binary that nothing ever has to identify, so the grant is safe there.
GPU drivers (out of scope of the module — set these yourself)
- NVIDIA:
hardware.nvidia+hardware.graphics.enable = true. NVENC/CUDA come from the driver at runtime (nothing pinned in the closure). - AMD/Intel:
hardware.graphics.enable = truewithextraPackages = [ vaapiVdpau … ]/intel-media-driverfor VAAPI encode; the host's raw Vulkan-Video HEVC path needs only Mesa.
Headless / appliance
Set autoStart = true, enable lingering, and — for a dedicated single-session appliance —
pin a backend in settings (pinning PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR disables live-session auto-detection,
so leave it out on any box that switches between a desktop and Game Mode):
services.punktfunk.host = {
enable = true;
autoStart = true;
users = [ "streamer" ];
settings = { PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR = "gamescope"; }; # appliance-only; omit to auto-detect
};
users.users.streamer.linger = true;
Set users whenever autoStart is on. systemd.user.* installs into every user's systemd
manager — root's included, and root gets one the moment anybody logs in as root. Without users to
scope them, autoStart therefore starts a second host in root's manager, which wins the race for
the fixed ports and leaves the real one restarting forever on bind RTSP 48010: Address already in use (every other listener having bound fine, so it reads like a clash with an unrelated program).
The module renders ConditionUser= from this list to prevent that; with the list empty it falls
back to refusing system users, which keeps root out but cannot tell two logins apart.
Leave desktopSession off here — an appliance starts its own compositor and may never reach
graphical-session.target, which would leave the host permanently stopped. gamescopeHdr (on by
default) already puts the patched punktfunk-gamescope on the service PATH, so the gamescope
backend needs no PATH surgery; extend it only for a helper the module doesn't know about:
# systemd.user.services.punktfunk-host.path = [ pkgs.some-helper ];
The ${package}/share/punktfunk-host/headless/ helpers (KDE/Sway session scripts, example
host.env files, the OpenAPI doc) are installed for reference.
Development
nix develop # pinned toolchain (rust-toolchain.toml) + all system libs
cargo build --release -p punktfunk-host -p punktfunk-client-linux -p punktfunk-client-session
# The tray gets its OWN invocation — co-building it with the host unifies the host's
# ashpd -> zbus/tokio onto the tray's zbus (which runs ksni's async-io executor, no tokio runtime),
# and the resulting binary panics at launch: "there is no reactor running, must be called from the
# context of a Tokio 1.x runtime". Same split the .deb / RPM / Arch packaging does.
cargo build --release -p punktfunk-tray
The shell exports an
LD_LIBRARY_PATH that includes /run/opengl-driver/lib so cargo run finds the GPU driver.
nix fmt formats the .nix files.
Notes & caveats
-
Build tool: crane. The lockfile carries
windows 0.62.2from both crates.io and a pinnedmicrosoft/windows-rsgit rev (the Windows client), whichrustPlatform.importCargoLockcan't vendor (collidingname-version); crane vendors per-source and fetches the git rev viabuiltins.fetchGit(no output hash to maintain). Those crates arecfg(windows)-gated — vendored, never compiled on Linux. -
First build compiles from scratch (no split dep cache — pyrowave-sys builds a CMake tree in its build.rs that a crane "dummy" source would drop) and has no public binary cache, so expect a long initial build.
nix developgives incremental rebuilds. -
The status tray is built in its own derivation, on purpose.
punktfunk-trayusesksni'sasync-iozbus executor with no tokio runtime (by design — seecrates/punktfunk-tray/Cargo.toml). Cargo unifies features across everything in onecargo build, so co-building the tray with the host would pull the host'sashpd → zbus/tokioonto the tray's sharedzbus, and the tray then panics at startup (there is no reactor running, must be called from the context of a Tokio 1.x runtime). Building it as a separate-p punktfunk-trayinvocation keeps itszbuson async-io; the host package copies the resulting binary into its$out. (The rpm/arch builds split it the same way. The .deb did not, despite its sibling comments claiming otherwise:deb.ymlco-built-p punktfunk-host -p punktfunk-tray, andbuild-deb.sh's own standalone build was skipped because the poisoned artifact already existed — so this shipped as a real crash-at-launch on Debian/Ubuntu, not a latent one. Fixed 2026-07-27: the workflow no longer co-builds it andbuild-deb.shnow rebuilds it unconditionally.) -
The bun packages (
punktfunk-web,punktfunk-scripting) use bun2nix. Theirnode_modulesis fetched onefetchurlper package, straight from the integrity hashes already in the lockfile, via a generated-and-committedbun.nix(web/bun.nix,sdk/bun.nix). There is no aggregate deps hash to bump — the previous design putbun installin a fixed-output derivation whose singleoutputHashsilently went stale on every lockfile change and broke the build.bun2nixis a devDependency of both packages and regeneratesbun.nixon everybun install(web'spostinstall; the SDK'sprepare, since sdk/ is the published@punktfunk/hostpackage and apostinstallwould then fire on consumers' installs). The@unomscope needs no special handling:web/bun.lockrecords those tarballs' fullhttps://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/npm/…URLs and the registry is read-public (the same anonymous pull CI's rpm/deb builds do).⚠⚠ That devDependency hook is a convenience, NOT the guarantee —
bun.nixstill drifts. It fires only on a localbun installthat runs lifecycle scripts. It does not fire underbun install --ignore-scripts, which is what every bun install in CI uses; and it cannot fire on a merge or rebase, where git carries someone else'sbun.lockchange past abun.nixgenerated before it and reports no conflict. That is howweb/bun.nixshipped on main holdingbrace-expansion@5.0.7whileweb/bun.locksaid5.0.8— for 553 commits (2026-07-27 → 2026-08-05), withnix build .#punktfunk-webbroken the whole time, until an unrelated advisory bump happened to rerun a realbun installand closed it by accident.The enforcement point is
scripts/ci/check-bun-nix.sh(thebun-nixjob inci.yml, unfiltered so it sees the innocuous-looking commits drift arrives through). It regenerates eachbun.nixfrom its committedbun.lockand diffs. Fix any report with:scripts/ci/check-bun-nix.sh --fixNever regenerate with a bare
bunx bun2nix:bun.nixhas no schema stability across bun2nix versions, and an unpinnedbunxuses whatever is newest. The flake input (github:nix-community/bun2nix?ref=2.1.2) and the npm devDependency inweb/package.json+sdk/package.jsonmust name the same exact version — the script checks that too, and always generates with the pinned one. Move all three together, then rerun it with--fix.Everything past the deps fetch is offline (the console's codegen + vite build; the runner's
bun build --target=bunbundle). Both launchers execpkgs.bunfrom the store — unlike the deb/rpm, which vendor a bun binary because apt/dnf have none. -
Commit
flake.lock: it pins the input revisions (nixpkgs / crane / rust-overlay / bun2nix). It is generated on first eval and checked in. -
Session Skia OSD is off under Nix.
punktfunk-session's defaultuifeature draws its on-screen stats/console overlay withskia-safe, whose build downloads a prebuilt Skia from the rust-skia releases — which Nix's network-less build sandbox forbids, and a from-source Skia build pulls the whole gn/ninja/python toolchain plus network-fetched third-party. The feature is explicitly droppable ("same streaming, stats on stdout only"), so the Nix build compiles the session with--no-default-features --features pyrowave. Everything streams; only the session binary's optional on-glass stats overlay is absent, and the GTK shell (punktfunk-client) is skia-free and fully featured. Re-adding it means teaching skia-bindings to consume a prebuilt Skia offline (a fixed-output derivation of the rust-skia tarball) or a vendored from-source Skia build — a tracked follow-up. For the same reason this build does not installio.unom.Punktfunk.Console.desktop(the deb/rpm/arch/flatpak couch launcher): it runs--browse, which needs that feature, so the entry would be a launcher that only prints an error. -
⚠
nix flake checkdoes NOT check the NixOS module — that is whymodule-check.nixexists. FornixosModules, nix forces the value and asserts it is a lambda taking an open attribute set, and stops there (its source still carries// FIXME: if we have a 'nixpkgs' input, use it to check the module.). Measured: a module setting a nonexistent option, referencing a nonexistentpkgsattribute and calling a nonexistentlibfunction passes clean, printingchecking NixOS module 'nixosModules.default'... all checks passed!. So the reassuring line means nothing.checks.<system>.nixos-module(packaging/nix/module-check.nix) closes it: it evaluates the module against real nixpkgs in four scenarios and asserts on the rendered systemd units. Two rules if you edit it — keep every assertion pure Nix (instantiating the derivation is what runs them, which is what lets the cheap--no-buildCI leg cover it; a shell script in therunCommandbody would only run under a fullnix flake check, i.e. an hour of Rust), and assert list-valued unit fields on the evaluated lists, not the rendered text — systemd rendersAfter=as one space-separated line, so anhasInfixon it silently depends on ordering.
Verified
The packages build, install, and run on real Nix hardware (NixOS-equivalent: CachyOS + Nix,
RTX 5070 Ti, driver 610). punktfunk-host --version and punktfunk-session run; the driver
RUNPATH (/run/opengl-driver/lib) and the GTK GApps wrapper (GSettings schemas + pixbuf loaders)
are present. Fixes discovered during that bring-up: CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 (CMake ≥ 4),
system libopus (audiopus_sys), and the session Skia note above.
In CI (.gitea/workflows/nix.yml), three tiers: nix flake check --no-build evaluates every output
including the module check above; punktfunk-web + punktfunk-scripting are built for real on
every PR; and on a push to main the Rust packages and punktfunk-gamescope are built and
published to the binary cache. A flake.lock bump that breaks the gamescope patches therefore goes
red on main rather than in an operator's rebuild. The build-rust / build-gamescope
workflow_dispatch inputs remain, for checking those on a branch before merging.
Cache infrastructure (maintainers)
https://nix.unom.io is a caddy:2-alpine container on unom-1 serving a static directory —
packaging/nix/server/ — exactly like the flatpak repo (3230) and the winget source (3240). A Nix
binary cache is just nix-cache-info + <hash>.narinfo + nar/<hash>.nar.xz behind a web
server; there is no cache daemon to run.
Why not Gitea, and why not storage.unom.io:
- Gitea has 23 package registry types and none is Nix. It is not a missing label — the protocol
needs fixed anonymous paths at a URL root (
/nix-cache-info,/<hash>.narinfo,/nar/…), and/api/packages/{owner}/generic/{name}/{version}/{file}cannot express them. - The RustFS S3 at
storage.unom.iowould work mechanically (nix speakss3://…?endpoint=, and the sccache credentials already exist), but it is a local box on the home uplink with no CDN, so every user download competes with CI. It also answers 403 for a missing key unless the bucket policy grants anonymousListBucket— and nix treats anything other than 404 as a hard error rather than a cache miss, which would break users' builds for packages the cache never held.
One-time setup — in this order. The publish step ends by fetching nix.unom.io to prove the
cache really answers (and answers 404, not 403, for a path it does not hold), so stand the
service up before you set the secrets that switch publishing on. They are the last steps for
exactly that reason: until they exist the publish no-ops with a warning and main stays green,
the same way flatpak.yml's repo deploy does.
-
Ingress — both halves live in
unom/infra, and they must move together. Neither the DNS record nor the vhost is a click:terraform/cloudflare/records.tfowns the zone andcaddy/Caddyfileowns the vhosts, and that file says so itself — "a name here with no vhost 404s, a vhost with no name here never cuts over."-
terraform/cloudflare/records.tf— add"nix"tolocal.hostnames. It inheritsproxied = false, which this service specifically needs: a proxy that masked the origin's 404s would fail users' builds for every package the cache does not hold. -
caddy/Caddyfile— next to thedocs.punktfunk.unom.ioblock:nix.unom.io { import security_headers reverse_proxy localhost:3250 }
Apply with the
dns-cutover.ymlworkflow (target=hcloud,action=planfirst — expect a single addedcloudflare_record.a["nix"], stop if it shows anything else) anddeploy-allfor the Caddyfile.⚠ Neither by hand. A record added in the Cloudflare dashboard is out-of-band and risks the duplicate-record round-robin
records.tfdocuments;~/caddy/Caddyfileon unom-1 looks like the config but is a copydeploy-all.shrsyncs from the repo, with no.gitto warn you — a vhost added only on the box survives until the next deploy and no longer (this bit the winget source on 2026-07-26; seepackaging/winget/server/README.md).Until both land the hostname fails the TLS handshake, because Caddy has no certificate for a name it does not serve. Expected on first setup — and also exactly how a later clobber presents. Diagnose by SNI, not by port 80 (Caddy 308s every Host to https, including names it has never heard of, so a redirect proves nothing):
openssl s_client -connect nix.unom.io:443 -servername nix.unom.io </dev/null 2>&1 \ | grep -E '^subject=|alert' -
-
Dispatch
deploy-services.yml(orunom/infra'sdeploy-all) to bring the container up. It serves an empty cache — every path 404s, which is exactly what a healthy empty cache does. -
Signing key — done.
NIX_CACHE_SIGNING_KEYis installed as a repo Actions secret, and its public half is pinned in the "Binary cache" section above and indocs-site/content/docs/install.md. Regenerate only deliberately: a new key invalidates every signature already published, and every user pinning the old one starts failing. If you ever must:nix key generate-secret --key-name punktfunk-cache-1 # on a Nix box docker run --rm nixos/nix nix --extra-experimental-features nix-command \ key generate-secret --key-name punktfunk-cache-1 # or anywhere with docker -
Deploy host key.
DEPLOY_KNOWN_HOSTSis a repo Actions secret holding unom-1's SSH host key —ssh-keyscan -p "$DEPLOY_PORT" "$DEPLOY_HOST"— and the publishsshes withStrictHostKeyChecking=yesagainst it. Every run starts with an emptyknown_hosts, soaccept-newwould make every run a first contact, handingDEPLOY_SSH_KEYand the signed publish to whatever won the race for the address. It gates the step alongsideNIX_CACHE_SIGNING_KEY/DEPLOY_HOST: until it is set the publish skips with a warning. Re-keyscan and re-set it if unom-1's host key ever changes, or the deploy fails closed.Key it port-agnostically, because
sshlooks a host key up by the exact string it dialled andDEPLOY_PORTis a secret nobody re-reads when re-keying — a plain entry silently fails to match once the port is not 22, and the failure looks like a host-key error rather than a formatting one. One line covers both forms:<DEPLOY_HOST>,[<DEPLOY_HOST>]:* ssh-ed25519 AAAA…Pin ed25519 only. Pinning every type
ssh-keyscanprints lets a host offering just RSA satisfy the check on an RSA line, so the weakest pinned key is the one that decides; one modern key is both stronger and shorter.DEPLOY_HOSTis unom-1's public IP (Hetzner, since the 2026-07-12 cutover off proxmox), so scan that address — not a private one from an SSH config. -
Push to
maintouching the flake. The publish step also writes the public key tohttps://nix.unom.io/punktfunk-cache.pub, so users can always check the docs against the cache.
scripts/setup-nix-cache.sh walks through it interactively, and each stage detects work already
done — so it is safe to run now that the key exists.
Operational notes:
- Only punktfunk's own store paths are published (
nix path-info -r … | grep -- '-punktfunk'). Everything else in a closure is stock nixpkgs, already oncache.nixos.orgbehind a real CDN; mirroring it would cost disk and home-to-cloud bandwidth to serve a worse copy. The publish step asserts every built output is matched by that filter, so a futurepnamechange fails the build instead of silently dropping a package from the cache. rsyncruns without--delete(a client mid-download is never pulled out from under), and NARs are uploaded before narinfos — a narinfo whose NAR has not landed is a hard download failure for whoever fetches it in that window, while an unreferenced NAR is merely invisible.- Growth is bounded by
packaging/nix/server/prune.sh(evicts narinfos untouched for 180 days, then sweeps NARs nothing references). The flatpak repo next door reached 3.84 GB publishing the same way with no sweep, on a box that has run out of disk before — hence the sweep from the first publish. Run its self-check withsh packaging/nix/server/prune.sh --self-test. - A user on a pinned rev older than the eviction window falls back to building from source, which is the pre-cache status quo.