[Nix-dev] Where to start when nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade goes wrong

[Evan Rowley]

Hi Everyone,

I performed a nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade and after rebooting, was
not able to see my usual KDE session. There was no X session. I
selected a previous generation in gummiboot and was able to have my
KDE session back. What can I do about the upgraded components which
did not work? I could issue a nixos-rebuild switch --rollback, but
would the development community benefit from finding out what went
wrong? This is a very rudimentary and unsophisticated NixOS
installation. Aside from the failed upgrade, nothing out of the
ordinairy has been done to it.

configuration.nix:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
  imports =
    [ # Include the results of the hardware scan.
      ./hardware-configuration.nix
    ];

  # Use the gummiboot efi boot loader.
  boot.loader.gummiboot.enable = true;
  boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;

  networking.hostName = "ejr-e465"; # Define your hostname.
  networking.wireless.enable = true;  # Enables wireless support via
wpa_supplicant.

  # Select internationalisation properties.
  i18n = {
    consoleFont = "Lat2-Terminus16";
    consoleKeyMap = "us";
    defaultLocale = "en_US.UTF-8";
  };

  # Set your time zone.
  time.timeZone = "America/New_York";

  # List packages installed in system profile. To search by name, run:
  # $ nix-env -qaP | grep wget
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    wget
    vim
    pkgs.kde4.kdemultimedia
    pkgs.kde4.kdegraphics
    pkgs.kde4.kdeutils
    pkgs.kde4.applications
    pkgs.kde4.kdebindings
    pkgs.kde4.kdeaccessibility
    pkgs.kde4.kde_baseapps
    pkgs.kde4.kactivities
    pkgs.kde4.kdeadmin
    pkgs.kde4.kdeartwork
    pkgs.kde4.kde_base_artwork
    pkgs.kde4.kdenetwork
    pkgs.kde4.kdepim
    pkgs.kde4.kdepimlibs
    pkgs.kde4.kdeplasma_addons
    pkgs.kde4.kdesdk
    pkgs.kde4.kdetoys
    pkgs.kde4.kdewebdev
    pkgs.kde4.oxygen_icons
    pkgs.kde4.kdebase_workspace
    pkgs.kde4.kdelibs
    pkgs.kde4.kdevelop
    pkgs.kde4.kdevplatform
  ];

  # List services that you want to enable:

  # Enable the OpenSSH daemon.
  # services.openssh.enable = true;

  # Enable CUPS to print documents.
  # services.printing.enable = true;

  # Enable the X11 windowing system.
  services.xserver.enable = true;
  services.xserver.layout = "us";
  #services.xserver.xkbOptions = "eurosign:e";

  # Enable the KDE Desktop Environment.
  services.xserver.displayManager.kdm.enable = true;
  services.xserver.desktopManager.kde4.enable = true;

  fonts = {
    enableFontDir = true;
    enableGhostscriptFonts = true;
    fonts = with pkgs; [
      corefonts  # Micrsoft free fonts
      inconsolata  # monospaced
    ];
  };

  users.extraUsers.ejr = {
    name = "ejr";
    group = "users";
    uid = 1001;
    createHome = true;
    home = "/home/ejr";
    useDefaultShell = true;
    description = "Evan Johannes Rowley";
    password = "password";
    extraGroups = [
      "wheel"
      "libvirtd"
      "audio"
      "kvm"
      "cdrom"
      "docker"
    ];
  };

# release to be compatible with for stateful data such as databases.
  system.stateVersion = "16.03";

  system.autoUpgrade.enable = true;
  system.autoUpgrade.channel = https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-16.03;
}

-- 
 - EJR