punktfunk/packaging/nix/README.md

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-linux only (the host encodes with desktop NVENC; matches the RPM's ExclusiveArch: x86_64). NixOS 24.11 or newer for the hardware.graphics option.

---

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
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.

---

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";

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, punktfunk, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.myhost = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        punktfunk.nixosModules.default
        ({ ... }: {
          services.punktfunk.host = {
            enable = true;
            users = [ "alice" ];        # → added to the `input` group for virtual gamepads
            openFirewall = true;        # native + GameStream ports
            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:

systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host

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).
users	[ ]	Users added to the input group (virtual gamepads).
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).
package	flake's	Override the package.

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 with the host, but opt-in to run):

Option	Default	Meaning
enable	host.enable	Install the runner + define its systemd --user unit punktfunk-scripting.
autoStart	false	Add the unit to default.target. Off even on an auto-start host — running operator scripts/plugins is a deliberate opt-in.
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's inert until you add automation, so the unit ships un-started; turn it on with systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-scripting.

What the host module configures for you

Everything the RPM's %install + %post do, declaratively:

• systemd --user service punktfunk-host → serve [--gamestream], EnvironmentFile from settings (+ optional secret file), Restart=on-failure.
• udev rules (60-punktfunk.rules): /dev/uinput + /dev/uhid group 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).
• input group membership for users.
• hardware.graphics.enable = true (mkDefault) so /run/opengl-driver/lib has the driver libs the binaries dlopen.
• firewall (when openFirewall): native UDP 9777/5353 + TCP 47990; with gamestream also TCP 47984/47989/48010 + UDP 47998/47999/48000. 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).

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 = true with extraPackages = [ vaapiVdpau … ] / intel-media-driver for 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;
# For the gamescope/KWin backends extend the service PATH, e.g.:
# systemd.user.services.punktfunk-host.path = [ pkgs.gamescope ];

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 PF_FFVK_VULKAN_INCLUDE (Vulkan headers for pf-ffvk bindgen) and 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 0.62.2 from both crates.io and a pinned microsoft/windows-rs git rev (the Windows client), which rustPlatform.importCargoLock can't vendor (colliding name-version); crane vendors per-source and fetches the git rev via builtins.fetchGit (no output hash to maintain). Those crates are cfg(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 develop gives incremental rebuilds.
• The status tray is built in its own derivation, on purpose. punktfunk-tray uses ksni's async-io zbus executor with no tokio runtime (by design — see crates/punktfunk-tray/Cargo.toml). Cargo unifies features across everything in one cargo build, so co-building the tray with the host would pull the host's ashpd → zbus/tokio onto the tray's shared zbus, 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-tray invocation keeps its zbus on 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.yml co-built -p punktfunk-host -p punktfunk-tray, and build-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 and build-deb.sh now rebuilds it unconditionally.)
• The bun packages (punktfunk-web, punktfunk-scripting) — their bun install deps hashes. Both build their node_modules in a fixed-output derivation (bun install needs the network + the read-public @unom npm registry). Each outputHash (in packaging/nix/packages.nix) is pinned to a resolved dependency set and must be refreshed when its lockfile changes — web/bun.lock for the console, sdk/bun.lock for the runner: set that outputHash = lib.fakeHash, run nix build .#punktfunk-web (or .#punktfunk-scripting), and copy the got: sha256-… value Nix prints back into the field. Everything downstream is offline (the console's codegen + vite build; the runner's bun build --target=bun bundle), so only the deps FODs ever need network. Both launchers exec pkgs.bun from 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). It is generated on first eval and checked in.
• Session Skia OSD is off under Nix. punktfunk-session's default ui feature draws its on-screen stats/console overlay with skia-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.

Verified

Both 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.