Anyone with experience using NixOS to create a Lemmy instance, please share any caveats and troubleshooting tips you have.

      • neoney@lemmy.neoney.dev
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        1 year ago

        Okay, I’ve actually figured simplifying it out, it’s not that bad. Let me share my config:

        First, since the PR isn’t in nixos-unstable yet, I’m adding the fork as a flake input

        inputs = {
          nixpkgs-lemmy.url = "github:CobaltCause/nixpkgs/lemmy-module-improvements";
        };
        

        then, in my system configuration, I add this:

        # Not sure if this is required, maybe caddy auto-allows it
        networking.firewall.interfaces.eth0.allowedTCPPorts = [443 80];
        
        # Override the lemmy module with the one from the PR
        disabledModules = ["services/web-apps/lemmy.nix"];
        imports = [
          "${inputs.nixpkgs-lemmy}/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/lemmy.nix"
        ];
        
        services.lemmy = {
          database.createLocally = true;
          database.uri = "postgres:///lemmy?host=/run/postgresql&user=lemmy";
          enable = true;
          settings = {
            hostname = "<YOUR_HOSTNAME>";
          };
          caddy.enable = true;
        };
        

        and, that’s it!
        However, I’m not sure if it will cleanly deploy, as you might get an error while starting.
        If so, please check postgresql logs sudo journalctl -fu postgresql. The error will most likely be something like this:
        […] [10289] ERROR: permission denied: "RI_ConstraintTrigger_a_16639" is a system trigger […]

        If that happens, you need to manually run the migration until the fix is merged into Lemmy. Here’s how I did it:

        1. sudo su - postgres
        2. psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 lemmy postgres
        3. (in psql) SET ROLE lemmy;
        4. Paste the SQL code from here: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/2784#issuecomment-1578337686

        After that’s done, you can exit the postgres CLI by typing \q, exit the postgres user and just simply sudo systemctl restart lemmy which should start properly now, and be accessible to the outside network.
        Open it and it will give you the initial setup screen. Good luck!