user-manager

This Nix module provides automatic user group management for a NixOS system. It automatically discovers users defined in currentHostUsers and configures them with default settings and specified extra groups. This simplifies user management, especially when deploying NixOS to multiple hosts with similar user configurations. It also automatically enables fish shell support if any of the discovered users are configured to use it.

Options

This module defines the following options under the local.userManager namespace:

local.userManager.enable

Type: Boolean

Default: false

This option enables or disables the automatic user group management provided by this module. When enabled, the module configures discovered users with default settings and specified extra groups.

local.userManager.extraGroups

Type: List of String

Default: [ "wheel" "networkmanager" "input" "docker" ]

Example: [ "wheel" "networkmanager" "input" "video" "audio" "docker" ]

This option specifies a list of groups to assign to all auto-discovered users on the host. These groups are added to the extraGroups attribute of each user definition. Common groups include wheel (for sudo access), networkmanager (for network configuration), input (for access to input devices), and docker (for Docker access). Customize this list based on the specific needs of your system.

Configuration Details

This module performs the following configurations:

• Disables Sudo Password for Wheel Group: Sets security.sudo.wheelNeedsPassword to false, allowing users in the wheel group to use sudo without a password.

• Configures Users: Uses lib.genAttrs to iterate through the currentHostUsers and configure each user. For each user:

  • Sets isNormalUser to true.
  • Sets extraGroups to the value of cfg.extraGroups. This ensures that all discovered users have the specified groups assigned.

• Enables Fish Shell Support: If any of the discovered users are configured to use the fish shell (i.e., config.users.users.${u}.shell == pkgs.fish), the module enables the programs.fish.enable option.

Usage Example

To enable automatic user group management and add users to the video and audio groups, add the following configuration to your configuration.nix:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
  imports = [
    ./my-user-manager-module.nix  # Assuming this module is defined in a separate file
  ];

  local.userManager.enable = true;
  local.userManager.extraGroups = [ "wheel" "networkmanager" "input" "video" "audio" "docker" ];

  users.users.myuser = {
    isNormalUser = true;
    shell = pkgs.fish;
  };

  users.users.anotheruser = {
    isNormalUser = true;
  };
}

In this example:

• The module is enabled.
• All discovered users (e.g., myuser and anotheruser defined under users.users) will automatically be added to the wheel, networkmanager, input, video, audio, and docker groups.
• fish shell support will be enabled automatically because myuser is configured to use fish.

Notes

• Make sure that the users defined in currentHostUsers are properly defined in users.users.
• This module assumes that you want to treat all auto-discovered users as normal users (isNormalUser = true). If you have specific users that require different settings, you might need to adjust the module or override the settings for those users individually.
• This module is designed for simplifying user management across multiple hosts. It might not be suitable for all use cases, especially if you need fine-grained control over individual user configurations.