Pierre Kisters
18c261a0a7
- The nix.mount drop-in is also removed when the uninstall fails or is interrupted (exit trap), and when daemon-reload failed after writing it. - --dir with a trailing slash no longer puts the temporary clone inside the directory it replaces. - The template's repository uses Nix's git when SteamOS has none, so the template marker exists there too (--clone needs it). - A failed Nix uninstall during the reinstall of a broken Nix says so. - clone_config: one branch per case; shorter comments, help and docs. - Tests: an interrupted uninstall, --dir with a trailing slash; a redundant "used as it is" case dropped.
6.2 KiB
Cleanup and installer
How steam-frame-nix-cleanup and install.sh work. What steam-frame-nix
writes outside the Nix store, how to remove it, rollback and uninstall:
README, Changes outside Nix,
Rollback, Uninstall.
Cleanup
steam-frame-nix-cleanup (steamFrame.cleanup.package, module cleanup,
imported by every module) is install.sh cleanup, so the same code runs
with Nix (on every switch: cleanup --orphans --keep <what the configuration still uses>) and without it, from the script (bash, coreutils, findutils,
grep, sed, awk, jq, all in SteamOS' /usr/bin). Home Manager's
uninstall = true; runs cleanup --all from the activation. --quiet
prints only actions, deferrals and warnings.
It removes an artifact only when it is proven to be its own; anything else is reported as "left alone" and never touched:
| Artifact | Proof / rule |
|---|---|
debugger: VRWebHelper.DebuggerEnabled in steamvr.vrsettings |
~/.local/state/steam-frame-nix/steamvr-debugger.armed holds the value before (older versions: the empty marker steamvr-debugger, value before = absent). Restored once SteamVR is stopped; while it runs the runtime drop-in restores it when SteamVR stops. Also the runtime drop-in and restore script themselves. |
icons: hicolor/scalable/apps/<name>.svg |
links to Breeze in the store, listed in ~/.local/state/steam-frame-nix/icon-fallbacks (the icon-fallbacks script of 2026-09) |
firefox: user.js in Firefox profiles |
links to /app/etc/firefox/steam-frame-nix-desktop-user.js (left alone while the profile is in use), older links to *-firefox-*user.js and copies starting with the steam-frame-nix marker comment, and the values they left in prefs.js (only with Firefox closed) |
jellyfin |
the hwdec shim entries in the Jellyfin Flatpak's user override ~/.local/share/flatpak/overrides/org.jellyfin.JellyfinDesktop (nix-flatpak), an empty override file, and the shim copy of earlier versions in ~/.var/app/org.jellyfin.JellyfinDesktop (marker ~/.local/state/steam-frame-nix/jellyfin-hwdec-shim) |
ui-state: ~/.local/state/steam-frame-nix/ui-patches/<name>.json |
the dashboard patches' saved choices; --all only, never --orphans; stray *.json.tmp files |
launchers: /run/user/1000/steam-frame-nix/applications |
the entries of launchers (tmpfs); --all only (switches remove those of removed launchers themselves) |
screenshots: /run/user/1000/steam-frame-nix/screenshots |
a link to */userdata/*/760/remote/250820/screenshots (SteamVR screenshots); kept by --orphans --keep screenshots (while steamUserId is unset) |
pet: /run/user/1000/steam-frame-nix/vr-pet |
icon.png, a link to *-vr-pet-icons/*.png in the store (VR pet), its empty .lock and stray .icon.tmp.* links, then the directory if empty; kept by --orphans --keep pet (while pet.enable) |
dirs |
~/.local/state/steam-frame-nix and /run/user/1000/steam-frame-nix when empty |
Left by older versions
Of the rows above, only older versions wrote: the icon fallback links and
their list, the debugger marker steamvr-debugger, Firefox user.js copies
and links and their prefs.js values, the Jellyfin hwdec override entries
(and an empty override file) and the old shim copy.
Installer
What install.sh install sets up is listed in the README under
Set up by install.sh. The installer runs
systemctl --user against the outer session's user manager (the nested
desktop can't reach it with its own environment) and uses the installed
home-manager if there is one, else Home Manager's master.
install --clone takes SteamOS' git, else nix run nixpkgs#git, always
with GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0. "The unchanged template": create_config
writes the hash of the configuration's files (without .git) to
.git/steam-frame-nix-template; it must still match, with at most one
commit. Any other directory is used as it is, --ref ignored. The template
is created and activated only into an empty target without
~/.config/home-manager; with another configuration linked, git clones
with that one's helpers. The switch to an existing template is skipped when
it is linked, Home Manager is installed and git has a credential helper.
The clone goes to .<dir>.clone.XXXXXX next to the target (removed on
failure or exit), then replaces the template (checked unchanged again).
gh auth login --hostname github.com --git-protocol https, with the Home
Manager profile's gh, is offered only for https://github.com/ URLs and
with a terminal. Tests: section G of modules/cleanup/check.nix (a logging
git, a fake nix, STEAM_FRAME_NIX_TTY instead of /dev/tty).
restart-check (run by the session module's activation after
steamFrameUserServices, and by install at its end) compares the
keyboard layout drop-in on gamescope-session.service with
XKB_DEFAULT_* in the environment of the first readable process in that
unit's cgroup (gamescope's own isn't readable), and, while SteamVR runs
with the debugger drop-in, looks for a listener on port 8087 in
/proc/net/tcp*. Tests use STEAM_FRAME_NIX_PROC and
STEAM_FRAME_NIX_CGROUP (section F of modules/cleanup/check.nix).
uninstall removes Nix with nix-installer (from a root-owned copy in
/tmp), whose systemctl stop nix.mount fails while a process uses /nix;
in the Steam session some always do until logout (e.g. Steam and
xdg-desktop-portal, once they mapped a file from the store). So a runtime
drop-in, /run/systemd/system/nix.mount.d/50-steam-frame-nix-lazy-unmount.conf
with LazyUnmount=yes, makes that stop detach /nix (umount -l): the
programs keep their open files until they exit. The drop-in is removed
afterwards, also on failure or Ctrl+C. Listed first, for information: the
processes whose exe, cwd, root or an fd links into /nix, or whose
maps names a file there (only the user's own are readable), except the
script itself, its subshells and its process group (the curl | bash
pipeline). Tests: section H of modules/cleanup/check.nix
(STEAM_FRAME_NIX_PROC as a fake /proc, STEAM_FRAME_NIX_SYSTEM_RUNTIME
for the drop-in, a logging nix-installer).