Is it possible to install nix on dual boot Mac OS setup ?

[xamcost]

Hi there! First, thank you for your awesome work. I have been using your installer to setup Nix on my Mac, and it works like a charm. Yet I am coming with a question: I am currently using a dual-boot setup with two macOS installations hosted on the same physical machine (one for work, and one for personal use). I would like to know if it is possible to install the Nix package manager independently on both macOS systems without conflicts. Launching the installer on the second Mac installation fails because of the already created volume to host the Nix store. Is it actually possible to have two Nix store volumes for the two installations ? If it is feasible, are there any recommended steps or precautions to avoid conflicts between the two installations?

Thank you in advance!

[cole-h]

You should theoretically be able to get this to work by passing --volume-label 'Nix Store Foobar' (or any other volume name that doesn't conflict) to the installer. Let me know if that works for you!

[xamcost]

@cole-h Thank you for your very fast reply. I didn't know about this option, I should have looked more carefully. Unfortunately it does not seem to work, I get the same error message as if I don't pass the volume label option, namely:

INFO nix-installer v0.32.2
`nix-installer` needs to run as `root`, attempting to escalate now via `sudo`...
 INFO nix-installer v0.32.2
Error: 
   0: Planner error
   1: Error executing action
   2: Action `encrypt_apfs_volume` errored
   3: The keychain lacks a password for the already existing "Nix Store" volume on disk `disk1`, consider removing the volume with `diskutil apfs deleteVolume "Nix Store"` (if you receive error -69888, you may need to run `sudo launchctl bootout system/org.nixos.darwin-store` and `sudo launchctl bootout system/org.nixos.nix-daemon` first)

Location:
   src/cli/subcommand/install.rs:203

Backtrace omitted. Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 environment variable to display it.
Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=full to include source snippets.

Consider reporting this error using this URL: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer/issues/new?title=%3Cautogenerated-issue%3E&body=%23%23+Error%0A%60%60%60%0AError%3A+%0A+++0%3A+Planner+error%0A+++1%3A+Error+executing+action%0A+++2%3A+Action+%60encrypt_apfs_volume%60+errored%0A+++3%3A+The+keychain+lacks+a+password+for+the+already+existing+%22Nix+Store%22+volume+on+disk+%60disk1%60%2C+consider+removing+the+volume+with+%60diskutil+apfs+deleteVolume+%22Nix+Store%22%60+%28if+you+receive+error+-69888%2C+you+may+need+to+run+%60sudo+launchctl+bootout+system%2Forg.nixos.darwin-store%60+and+%60sudo+launchctl+bootout+system%2Forg.nixos.nix-daemon%60+first%29%0A%60%60%60%0A%0A%23%23+Metadata%0A%7Ckey%7Cvalue%7C%0A%7C--%7C--%7C%0A%7C**version**%7C0.32.2%7C%0A%7C**os**%7Cmacos%7C%0A%7C**arch**%7Cx86_64%7C%0A

Maybe this is because of this issue: #1296 ?

[Kcraft059]

@xamcost I mean maybe you could partionnate the disk with two different apfs containers, but I see that it seems quite inconvenient and it defeats the whole purpose of apfs volumes. But I’m looking at a solution to the same issue as you…