WIP: Add guide on using nix in marenostrum 5 #3
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title: "Using nix in marenostrum"
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description: "How to use nix-portable to run nix on marenostrum without privileges"
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date: 2026-03-04
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---
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# Obtaining nix-portable
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[nix-portable][1] provides a static nix with a virtualised `/nix/store` that
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allows running `nix` without root.
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There is version already installed in `/gpfs/projects/bsc15/nix-portable/bin`,
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you can use that and skip to [Set up](#set-up).
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If you want to obtain it yourself by following the instructions on [nix-portable][1]
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summarized below:
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```bash
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curl -L https://github.com/DavHau/nix-portable/releases/latest/download/nix-portable-$(uname -m) > ./nix-portable
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chmod +x ./nix-portable
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ln -s nix-portable nix
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ln -s nix-portable nix-build
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ln -s nix-portable nix-channel
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ln -s nix-portable nix-collect-garbage
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ln -s nix-portable nix-copy-closure
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ln -s nix-portable nix-daemon
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ln -s nix-portable nix-env
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ln -s nix-portable nix-hash
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ln -s nix-portable nix-instantiate
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ln -s nix-portable nix-prefetch-url
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ln -s nix-portable nix-shell
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ln -s nix-portable nix-store
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```
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# Set up
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Add `nix-portable` and the symlinks to your `$PATH`. The default virtualisation
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method does not work, so you must set `NP_RUNTIME` to `bwrap` to override it. If
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that is not set, you will get an error when setting up the namespace.
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Optionally, you can set `NP_LOCATION` to change the location of your `/nix/store`.
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By default it will be at `$HOME/.nix-portable`:
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```bash
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export PATH="$PATH:/gpfs/projects/bsc15/nix-portable/bin" # or the path of your install
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export NP_RUNTIME=bwrap
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export NP_LOCATION="$HOME" # defaults to $HOME if not set
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```
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## Configuring nix
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After its first run, `nix-portable` will download and populate a local
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`/nix/store` along with `bwrap`, `busybox` and all the other tools it needs.
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These files are located inside `$NP_LOCATION/.nix-portable` with the nix store in `$NP_LOCATION/.nix-portable/nix` and the nix configuration file (`man nix.conf`)
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in `$NP_LOCATION/.nix-portable/conf/nix.conf`.
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When using jungle, we recommend adding our substituter to `nix.conf` with:
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```ini
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extra-substituters = https://jungle.bsc.es/cache
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extra-trusted-public-keys = jungle.bsc.es:pEc7MlAT0HEwLQYPtpkPLwRsGf80ZI26aj29zMw/HH0=
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```
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See [hut#binary-cache][2] for more details.
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Additionally, you can add an registry entry for jungle:
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```
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nix registry add jungle git+https://jungle.bsc.es/git/rarias/jungle
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```
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This should allow running builds with: `nix build jungle#<package>`.
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**NOTE:** This does not pin jungle to any commit, and it may move once
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the repository changes. To have proper reproducible builds, use [flakes][3].
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# Building and Running
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If everything has gone well, you should now be able to use nix in marenostrum,
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provided your node has internet access.
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```bash
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nix build nixpkgs#hello
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```
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Keep in mind that the resulting symlink will be broken, since it requires the
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`nix-portable` virtualised filesystem to run:
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```console
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$ file result
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result: broken symbolic link to /nix/store/8qi947kixhz1nw83dkwxm6d0wndprqkj-hello-2.12.2
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```
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You will have to either use `nix run` to run the binary through nix or enter
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a shell with `nix shell/develop` where `/nix/store` will be available:
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```console
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$ nix run nixpkgs#hello
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Hello, world!
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$ nix shell nixpkgs#hello
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bash-5.1$ hello
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Hello, world!
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bash-5.1$ exit
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$ nix run nixpkgs#bashInteractive
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[user@glogin4 ~]$ readlink -f result
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/nix/store/8qi947kixhz1nw83dkwxm6d0wndprqkj-hello-2.12.2
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[user@glogin4 ~]$ ./result/bin/hello
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Hello, world!
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[user@glogin4 ~]$ exit
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```
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# Transferring derivations
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You can transfer derivations between your local machine and marenostrum. You can
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check if communication works with `nix store info`:
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```console
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$ nix store info --store ssh-ng://<user>@glogin1.bsc.es
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Store URL: ssh://<user>@glogin1.bsc.es
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Version: 2.20.6
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Trusted: 1
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```
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Then, you can send derivations between mn5 and another nix machine through ssh
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with:
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```bash
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nix copy --to ssh-ng://<user>@glogin1.bsc.es jungle#ovni
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nix copy --from ssh-ng://<user>@glogin1.bsc.es /nix/store/<path>
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```
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Note that when copying *from* mn5, you must provide the full path in the nix
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store.
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# Known issues
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- `builtins.fetchGit` is currently broken due to permission issues with the ssh
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configuration files.
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[1]: https://github.com/DavHau/nix-portable
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[2]: /hut/#binary-cache
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[3]: /doc/quickstart/#creating-a-flakenix
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