Configuration and Administration¶
The nixbuild.net Shell¶
nixbuild.net does not have a web frontend for administrating your account. Instead all administration and configuration is done through a terminal-based shell accessible over SSH like this:
ssh eu.nixbuild.net shell
By default, the SSH key you used when registering is used both for performing Nix builds and for accessing the administration shell. You can, however, add more SSH keys to your account and give the keys different permissions within your account. It doesn't matter what user name you connect with, only your SSH key will be checked. This also means that the same SSH keys can't be added to multiple nixbuild.net accounts.
The nixbuild.net shell doesn't yet have support for command history or many other features that you could expect from a proper shell. However, you can use the rlwrap program to mitigate this:
rlwrap ssh eu.nixbuild.net shell
This will make things like Up/Down arrow keys and CTRL-R work as you would expect.
The greeting screen showed each time you log in to the shell also includes a list of all top-level commands, and instructions on how the help system works:
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
••••••• nixbuild.net •••••••
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Welcome to nixbuild.net!
This shell allows you to administer your account
and retrieve information about your nix builds.
Account name: bob
Unbilled CPU hours: 0
Free build time left: 49:59:59
Available shell commands:
help Show help
get Show all account settings
set Set an account settings
unset Revert an account setting to default
list List entities
show Show details about entities
usage Show resource usage
ssh-keys Manage your public SSH keys
Run 'help COMMAND' for help on individual shell commands.
For help on subcommands run 'COMMAND SUBCOMMAND --help'.
For more documentation, see:
https://docs.nixbuild.net/nixbuild-shell
Account Usage¶
To see how much you've been using nixbuild.net, run the usage command:
nixbuild.net> usage
Resources used since 2021-03-01
--------------------
Build count : 51
Successful builds : 51
Wall time : 5.79 s
CPU time : 6.26 s
The usage metrics only includes non-discarded builds and includes any free build time consumed.
To find out your currently accumulated cost, or see past invoices, use the 'billing info' command.
By default, the usage command will show your usage during the current month.
You can also show the previous month's usage with the -l option and the total
usage with the -t option:
nixbuild.net> usage -h
usage - Show resource usage
Usage: usage [(-t|--total) | (-l|--last-month) | (-m|--this-month)]
Available options:
-t,--total Show total usage
-l,--last-month Show last month's usage
-m,--this-month Show this month's usage (default)
-h,--help Show this help text
To get information on how much money you've spent on builds, use the billing commands.
Settings¶
You can get and set nixbuild.net settings with the get and set
commands.
Show all settings by just running get:
nixbuild.net> get
Account Settings
----------------
cache-build-failures true
cache-build-timeouts false
keep-builds-running false
always-substitute false
never-substitute false
Settings overrides from your SSH client environment are not
included above.
Set individual settings with set:
nixbuild.net> set keep-builds-running true
nixbuild.net> get
Account Settings
----------------
cache-build-failures true
cache-build-timeouts false
keep-builds-running true
always-substitute false
never-substitute false
Settings overrides from your SSH client environment are not
included above.
You can revert account settings back to default with unset:
nixbuild.net> unset keep-builds-running
SSH Keys¶
You can list, add and remove ssh keys associated with your account using the
ssh-keys command:
ssh-keys - Manage your public SSH keys
Usage: ssh-keys SUBCOMMAND
Available options:
-h,--help Show this help text
Available subcommands:
list List SSH keys
add Add a key
remove Remove a key
get Get settings overrides for an SSH key
set Set settings overrides for an SSH key
unset Unset settings overrides for an SSH key
Binary Caches¶
nixbuild.net supports fetching build dependencies from binary caches. This can make builds a lot faster, especially if your network upload speed is poor.
To activate substitution from binary caches you must use the Nix option builders-use-substitutes or enable the always-substitute nixbuild.net setting.
By default, cache.nixos.org is used when nixbuild.net looks for substitutions, but you can add or remove caches to your account. Currently, there is no UI for editing the list of caches, but if you contact [email protected] you'll be assisted. Also Cachix caches can be added.
Note, that path substitution can happen even though the
builders-use-substitutes option hasn't been activated. If another user has
triggered substitution previously, and your build depends on any of the
substituted paths, they will be used directly. Only paths that come from a
substituter that is trusted by your account will be used. Nix public-key
signatures are used to validate paths downloaded from substituters. Unsigned
paths are not used.
Using nixbuild.net as a substituter¶
You can set up Nix to use nixbuild.net as a substituter. This can improve performance in some situtations, and it is very useful in custom CI setups where you want to integrate nixbuild.net. Note that even if you set up nixbuild.net as a substituter, you still need to use an SSH key to access it.
To set up nixbuild.net as a substituter, first fetch your public signing key through the shell:
nixbuild.net> signing-keys account-keys
nixbuild.net/bob-1:8tJU22/XxyINhP+wM65gwSIlg0rrQrmWhFf5+8u8F/s=
Then add the substituter and signing key to your existing configuration in
nix.conf:
substituters = ... ssh://eu.nixbuild.net
trusted-public-keys = ... nixbuild.net/bob-1:8tJU22/XxyINhP+wM65gwSIlg0rrQrmWhFf5+8u8F/s=
You can use trusted-substituters instead of substituters to not use nixbuild.net as a substituter by default, but make it available for selection on the command line.
Billing¶
The billing commands let you manage billing for your account:
nixbuild.net> billing --help
billing - Billing activation and info
Usage: billing SUBCOMMAND
Available options:
-h,--help Show this help text
Available subcommands:
activate Enable non-free usage
edit Edit your credit card details
info Display billing details
To be able to use nixbuild.net beyond the initial free build hours you need
to enable billing by running billing activate. You can do this at any time,
and as soon as you've done it your account will be able to run non-free builds.
If you run out of free build hours before you have activated billing, you will
not be able to run any more builds. As soon as you activate billing, you will
be able to run builds again.
When activating billing, you will be directed to a
Stripe-hosted web page where you can enter your billing
address and credit card details. When running billing activate you need to
provide your company name or full name (for personal accounts) like this:
nixbuild.net> billing activate Acme LLC
Billing has been activated for your account.
You will now be able to use nixbuild.net beyond your free CPU hours.
If you still have free CPU hours left, you will not be charged until they have been used up.
IMPORTANT: Visit the time-limited url below to enter your credit card details and billing address.
https://billing.stripe.com/session/_J7U1XtINfG0dMoQayAJegz3kcfSsryu
If you want to change your payment method after the above url has expired, use the command 'billing edit'.
If you need to make any other billing changes, please contact [email protected]
If you fail to provide valid billing details your account may be locked.
If you need to change your credit card details at any time, you can use the
billing edit command. If you need to change any other billing details, you
must contact [email protected].
The billing info command lets you see the amount of the upcoming invoice, as
well as past invoices.
List Builds¶
Use the command list builds -r to list your currently running builds:
nixbuild.net> list builds -r
70196 2020-08-23 21:05:10Z 3.21 s 1 CPU [In queue]
/nix/store/ky3fzyaw0hibjpkpyx8s89fhaprxhrba-zlib-1.2.11.drv
70195 2020-08-23 21:05:10Z 3.66 s 1 CPU [In queue]
/nix/store/k8ir9nqbqhlriqs6r97vi19im5rn9nkd-xz-5.2.5.drv
70194 2020-08-23 21:05:09Z 3.40 s 4 CPUs [Running]
/nix/store/5k1i3j15dzqkf8rcga0ap7fjk1q7xj9a-perl-5.30.3.drv
70193 2020-08-23 21:05:08Z 4.18 s 2 CPUs [Running]
/nix/store/7cgb9m0dm9facpzqbyfkz1i0snd2n1y7-gnum4-1.4.18.drv
Remove the -r option to also show historic builds. By default, at most 500
builds are listed, but that can be adjusted with the -l option.