Merge pull request #3212 from LnL7/darwin-10.15-install

install: configure and bootstrap synthetic.conf on darwin

doc/manual/installation/installing-binary.xml

@@ -6,16 +6,30 @@
 
 <title>Installing a Binary Distribution</title>
 
-<para>If you are using Linux or macOS, the easiest way to install Nix
+<para>
-is to run the following command:
+  If you are using Linux or macOS versions up to 10.14 (Mojave), the
+  easiest way to install Nix is to run the following command:
+</para>
 
 <screen>
   $ sh &lt;(curl https://nixos.org/nix/install)
 </screen>
 
-As of Nix 2.1.0, the Nix installer will always default to creating a
+<para>
-single-user installation, however opting in to the multi-user
+  If you're using macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or newer, consult
-installation is highly recommended.
+  <link linkend="sect-macos-installation">the macOS installation instructions</link>
+  before installing.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+  As of Nix 2.1.0, the Nix installer will always default to creating a
+  single-user installation, however opting in to the multi-user
+  installation is highly recommended.
+  <!-- TODO: this explains *neither* why the default version is
+  single-user, nor why we'd recommend multi-user over the default.
+  True prospective users don't have much basis for evaluating this.
+  What's it to me? Who should pick which? Why? What if I pick wrong?
+  -->
 </para>
 
 <section xml:id="sect-single-user-installation">
@@ -36,7 +50,7 @@ run this under your usual user account, <emphasis>not</emphasis> as
 root.  The script will invoke <command>sudo</command> to create
 <filename>/nix</filename> if it doesn’t already exist.  If you don’t
 have <command>sudo</command>, you should manually create
-<command>/nix</command> first as root, e.g.:
+<filename>/nix</filename> first as root, e.g.:
 
 <screen>
 $ mkdir /nix
@@ -47,7 +61,7 @@ The install script will modify the first writable file from amongst
 <filename>.bash_profile</filename>, <filename>.bash_login</filename>
 and <filename>.profile</filename> to source
 <filename>~/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh</filename>. You can set
-the <command>NIX_INSTALLER_NO_MODIFY_PROFILE</command> environment
+the <envar>NIX_INSTALLER_NO_MODIFY_PROFILE</envar> environment
 variable before executing the install script to disable this
 behaviour.
 </para>
@@ -81,12 +95,10 @@ $ rm -rf /nix
   <para>
     You can instruct the installer to perform a multi-user
     installation on your system:
-
-    <screen>
-  sh &lt;(curl https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon
-</screen>
   </para>
 
+  <screen>sh &lt;(curl https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon</screen>
+
   <para>
     The multi-user installation of Nix will create build users between
     the user IDs 30001 and 30032, and a group with the group ID 30000.
@@ -136,6 +148,273 @@ sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist
 
 </section>
 
+<section xml:id="sect-macos-installation">
+  <title>macOS Installation</title>
+
+  <para>
+    Starting with macOS 10.15 (Catalina), the root filesystem is read-only.
+    This means <filename>/nix</filename> can no longer live on your system
+    volume, and that you'll need a workaround to install Nix.
+  </para>
+
+  <para>
+    The recommended approach, which creates an unencrypted APFS volume
+    for your Nix store and a "synthetic" empty directory to mount it
+    over at <filename>/nix</filename>, is least likely to impair Nix
+    or your system.
+  </para>
+
+  <note><para>
+    With all separate-volume approaches, it's possible something on
+    your system (particularly daemons/services and restored apps) may
+    need access to your Nix store before the volume is mounted. Adding
+    additional encryption makes this more likely.
+  </para></note>
+
+  <para>
+    If you're using a recent Mac with a
+    <link xlink:href="https://www.apple.com/euro/mac/shared/docs/Apple_T2_Security_Chip_Overview.pdf">T2 chip</link>,
+    your drive will still be encrypted at rest (in which case "unencrypted"
+    is a bit of a misnomer). To use this approach, just install Nix with:
+  </para>
+
+  <screen>$ sh &lt;(curl https://nixos.org/nix/install) --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume</screen>
+
+  <para>
+    If you don't like the sound of this, you'll want to weigh the
+    other approaches and tradeoffs detailed in this section.
+  </para>
+
+  <note>
+    <title>Eventual solutions?</title>
+    <para>
+      All of the known workarounds have drawbacks, but we hope
+      better solutions will be available in the future. Some that
+      we have our eye on are:
+    </para>
+    <orderedlist>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          A true firmlink would enable the Nix store to live on the
+          primary data volume without the build problems caused by
+          the symlink approach. End users cannot currently
+          create true firmlinks.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          If the Nix store volume shared FileVault encryption
+          with the primary data volume (probably by using the same
+          volume group and role), FileVault encryption could be
+          easily supported by the installer without requiring
+          manual setup by each user.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
+    </orderedlist>
+  </note>
+
+  <section xml:id="sect-macos-installation-change-store-prefix">
+    <title>Change the Nix store path prefix</title>
+    <para>
+      Changing the default prefix for the Nix store is a simple
+      approach which enables you to leave it on your root volume,
+      where it can take full advantage of FileVault encryption if
+      enabled. Unfortunately, this approach also opts your device out
+      of some benefits that are enabled by using the same prefix
+      across systems:
+
+      <itemizedlist>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Your system won't be able to take advantage of the binary
+            cache (unless someone is able to stand up and support
+            duplicate caching infrastructure), which means you'll
+            spend more time waiting for builds.
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            It's harder to build and deploy packages to Linux systems.
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+        <!-- TODO: may be more here -->
+      </itemizedlist>
+
+      <!-- TODO: Yes, but how?! -->
+
+      It would also possible (and often requested) to just apply this
+      change ecosystem-wide, but it's an intrusive process that has
+      side effects we want to avoid for now.
+      <!-- magnificent hand-wavy gesture -->
+    </para>
+    <para>
+    </para>
+  </section>
+
+  <section xml:id="sect-macos-installation-encrypted-volume">
+    <title>Use a separate encrypted volume</title>
+    <para>
+      If you like, you can also add encryption to the recommended
+      approach taken by the installer. You can do this by pre-creating
+      an encrypted volume before you run the installer--or you can
+      run the installer and encrypt the volume it creates later.
+      <!-- TODO: see later note about whether this needs both add-encryption and from-scratch directions -->
+    </para>
+    <para>
+      In either case, adding encryption to a second volume isn't quite
+      as simple as enabling FileVault for your boot volume. Before you
+      dive in, there are a few things to weigh:
+    </para>
+    <orderedlist>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          The additional volume won't be encrypted with your existing
+          FileVault key, so you'll need another mechanism to decrypt
+          the volume.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          You can store the password in Keychain to automatically
+          decrypt the volume on boot--but it'll have to wait on Keychain
+          and may not mount before your GUI apps restore. If any of
+          your launchd agents or apps depend on Nix-installed software
+          (for example, if you use a Nix-installed login shell), the
+          restore may fail or break.
+        </para>
+        <para>
+          On a case-by-case basis, you may be able to work around this
+          problem by using <command>wait4path</command> to block
+          execution until your executable is available.
+        </para>
+        <para>
+          It's also possible to decrypt and mount the volume earlier
+          with a login hook--but this mechanism appears to be
+          deprecated and its future is unclear.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          You can hard-code the password in the clear, so that your
+          store volume can be decrypted before Keychain is available.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
+    </orderedlist>
+    <para>
+      If you are comfortable navigating these tradeoffs, you can encrypt the volume with
+      something along the lines of:
+      <!-- TODO:
+      I don't know if this also needs from-scratch instructions?
+      can we just recommend use-the-installer-and-then-encrypt?
+      -->
+    </para>
+    <!--
+    TODO: it looks like this option can be encryptVolume|encrypt|enableFileVault
+
+    It may be more clear to use encryptVolume, here? FileVault seems
+    heavily associated with the boot-volume behavior; I worry
+    a little that it can mislead here, especially as it gets
+    copied around minus doc context...?
+    -->
+    <screen>alice$ diskutil apfs enableFileVault /nix -user disk</screen>
+
+    <!-- TODO: and then go into detail on the mount/decrypt approaches? -->
+  </section>
+
+  <section xml:id="sect-macos-installation-symlink">
+    <!--
+    Maybe a good razor is: if we'd hate having to support someone who
+    installed Nix this way, it shouldn't even be detailed?
+    -->
+    <title>Symlink the Nix store to a custom location</title>
+    <para>
+      Another simple approach is using <filename>/etc/synthetic.conf</filename>
+      to symlink the Nix store to the data volume. This option also
+      enables your store to share any configured FileVault encryption.
+      Unfortunately, builds that resolve the symlink may leak the
+      canonical path or even fail.
+    </para>
+    <para>
+      Because of these downsides, we can't recommend this approach.
+    </para>
+    <!-- Leaving out instructions for this one. -->
+  </section>
+
+  <section xml:id="sect-macos-installation-recommended-notes">
+    <title>Notes on the recommended approach</title>
+    <para>
+      This section goes into a little more detail on the recommended
+      approach. You don't need to understand it to run the installer,
+      but it can serve as a helpful reference if you run into trouble.
+    </para>
+    <orderedlist>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          In order to compose user-writable locations into the new
+          read-only system root, Apple introduced a new concept called
+          <literal>firmlinks</literal>, which it describes as a
+          "bi-directional wormhole" between two filesystems. You can
+          see the current firmlinks in <filename>/usr/share/firmlinks</filename>.
+          Unfortunately, firmlinks aren't (currently?) user-configurable.
+        </para>
+
+        <para>
+          For special cases like NFS mount points or package manager roots,
+          <link xlink:href="https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/System/Conceptual/ManPages_iPhoneOS/man5/synthetic.conf.5.html">synthetic.conf(5)</link>
+          supports limited user-controlled file-creation (of symlinks,
+          and synthetic empty directories) at <filename>/</filename>.
+          To create a synthetic empty directory for mounting at <filename>/nix</filename>,
+          add the following line to <filename>/etc/synthetic.conf</filename>
+          (create it if necessary):
+        </para>
+
+        <screen>nix</screen>
+      </listitem>
+
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          This configuration is applied at boot time, but you can use
+          <command>apfs.util</command> to trigger creation (not deletion)
+          of new entries without a reboot:
+        </para>
+
+        <screen>alice$ /System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs.util -B</screen>
+      </listitem>
+
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          Create the new APFS volume with diskutil:
+        </para>
+
+        <screen>alice$ sudo diskutil apfs addVolume diskX APFS 'Nix Store' -mountpoint /nix</screen>
+      </listitem>
+
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          Using <command>vifs</command>, add the new mount to
+          <filename>/etc/fstab</filename>. If it doesn't already have
+          other entries, it should look something like:
+        </para>
+
+<screen>
+#
+# Warning - this file should only be modified with vifs(8)
+#
+# Failure to do so is unsupported and may be destructive.
+#
+LABEL=Nix\040Store /nix apfs rw,nobrowse
+</screen>
+
+        <para>
+          The nobrowse setting will keep Spotlight from indexing this
+          volume, and keep it from showing up on your desktop.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
+    </orderedlist>
+  </section>
+
+</section>
+
 <section xml:id="sect-nix-install-pinned-version-url">
   <title>Installing a pinned Nix version from a URL</title>
 

release.nix

@@ -177,10 +177,10 @@ let
         }
         ''
           cp ${installerClosureInfo}/registration $TMPDIR/reginfo
+          cp ${./scripts/create-darwin-volume.sh} $TMPDIR/create-darwin-volume.sh
           substitute ${./scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh} $TMPDIR/install \
             --subst-var-by nix ${toplevel} \
             --subst-var-by cacert ${cacert}
-
           substitute ${./scripts/install-darwin-multi-user.sh} $TMPDIR/install-darwin-multi-user.sh \
             --subst-var-by nix ${toplevel} \
             --subst-var-by cacert ${cacert}
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ let
             # SC1090: Don't worry about not being able to find
             #         $nix/etc/profile.d/nix.sh
             shellcheck --exclude SC1090 $TMPDIR/install
+            shellcheck $TMPDIR/create-darwin-volume.sh
             shellcheck $TMPDIR/install-darwin-multi-user.sh
             shellcheck $TMPDIR/install-systemd-multi-user.sh
 
@@ -210,6 +211,7 @@ let
           fi
 
           chmod +x $TMPDIR/install
+          chmod +x $TMPDIR/create-darwin-volume.sh
           chmod +x $TMPDIR/install-darwin-multi-user.sh
           chmod +x $TMPDIR/install-systemd-multi-user.sh
           chmod +x $TMPDIR/install-multi-user
@@ -222,11 +224,15 @@ let
             --absolute-names \
             --hard-dereference \
             --transform "s,$TMPDIR/install,$dir/install," \
+            --transform "s,$TMPDIR/create-darwin-volume.sh,$dir/create-darwin-volume.sh," \
             --transform "s,$TMPDIR/reginfo,$dir/.reginfo," \
             --transform "s,$NIX_STORE,$dir/store,S" \
-            $TMPDIR/install $TMPDIR/install-darwin-multi-user.sh \
+            $TMPDIR/install \
+            $TMPDIR/create-darwin-volume.sh \
+            $TMPDIR/install-darwin-multi-user.sh \
             $TMPDIR/install-systemd-multi-user.sh \
-            $TMPDIR/install-multi-user $TMPDIR/reginfo \
+            $TMPDIR/install-multi-user \
+            $TMPDIR/reginfo \
             $(cat ${installerClosureInfo}/store-paths)
         '');
 

scripts/create-darwin-volume.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+root_disk() {
+    diskutil info -plist /
+}
+
+apfs_volumes_for() {
+    disk=$1
+    diskutil apfs list -plist "$disk"
+}
+
+disk_identifier() {
+    xpath "/plist/dict/key[text()='ParentWholeDisk']/following-sibling::string[1]/text()" 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+volume_list_true() {
+    key=$1
+    xpath "/plist/dict/array/dict/key[text()='Volumes']/following-sibling::array/dict/key[text()='$key']/following-sibling::true[1]" 2> /dev/null
+}
+
+volume_get_string() {
+    key=$1 i=$2
+    xpath "/plist/dict/array/dict/key[text()='Volumes']/following-sibling::array/dict[$i]/key[text()='$key']/following-sibling::string[1]/text()" 2> /dev/null
+}
+
+find_nix_volume() {
+    disk=$1
+    i=1
+    volumes=$(apfs_volumes_for "$disk")
+    while true; do
+        name=$(echo "$volumes" | volume_get_string "Name" "$i")
+        if [ -z "$name" ]; then
+            break
+        fi
+        case "$name" in
+            [Nn]ix*)
+                echo "$name"
+                break
+                ;;
+        esac
+        i=$((i+1))
+    done
+}
+
+test_fstab() {
+    grep -q "/nix apfs rw" /etc/fstab 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_nix_symlink() {
+    [ -L "/nix" ] || grep -q "^nix." /etc/synthetic.conf 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_synthetic_conf() {
+    grep -q "^nix$" /etc/synthetic.conf 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_nix() {
+    test -d "/nix"
+}
+
+test_t2_chip_present(){
+    # Use xartutil to see if system has a t2 chip.
+    #
+    # This isn't well-documented on its own; until it is,
+    # let's keep track of knowledge/assumptions.
+    #
+    # Warnings:
+    # - Don't search "xart" if porn will cause you trouble :)
+    # - Other xartutil flags do dangerous things. Don't run them
+    #   naively. If you must, search "xartutil" first.
+    #
+    # Assumptions:
+    # - the "xART session seeds recovery utility"
+    #   appears to interact with xartstorageremoted
+    # - `sudo xartutil --list` lists xART sessions
+    #   and their seeds and exits 0 if successful. If
+    #   not, it exits 1 and prints an error such as:
+    #   xartutil: ERROR: No supported link to the SEP present
+    # - xART sessions/seeds are present when a T2 chip is
+    #   (and not, otherwise)
+    # - the presence of a T2 chip means a newly-created
+    #   volume on the primary drive will be
+    #   encrypted at rest
+    # - all together: `sudo xartutil --list`
+    #   should exit 0 if a new Nix Store volume will
+    #   be encrypted at rest, and exit 1 if not.
+    sudo xartutil --list >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_filevault_in_use() {
+    disk=$1
+    #      list vols on disk | get value of Filevault key | value is true
+    apfs_volumes_for "$disk" | volume_list_true FileVault | grep -q true
+}
+
+# use after error msg for conditions we don't understand
+suggest_report_error(){
+    # ex "error: something sad happened :(" >&2
+    echo "       please report this @ https://github.com/nixos/nix/issues" >&2
+}
+
+main() {
+    (
+        echo ""
+        echo "     ------------------------------------------------------------------ "
+        echo "    | This installer will create a volume for the nix store and        |"
+        echo "    | configure it to mount at /nix.  Follow these steps to uninstall. |"
+        echo "     ------------------------------------------------------------------ "
+        echo ""
+        echo "  1. Remove the entry from fstab using 'sudo vifs'"
+        echo "  2. Destroy the data volume using 'diskutil apfs deleteVolume'"
+        echo "  3. Remove the 'nix' line from /etc/synthetic.conf or the file"
+        echo ""
+    ) >&2
+
+    if test_nix_symlink; then
+        echo "error: /nix is a symlink, please remove it and make sure it's not in synthetic.conf (in which case a reboot is required)" >&2
+        echo "  /nix -> $(readlink "/nix")" >&2
+        exit 2
+    fi
+
+    if ! test_synthetic_conf; then
+        echo "Configuring /etc/synthetic.conf..." >&2
+        echo nix | sudo tee -a /etc/synthetic.conf
+        if ! test_synthetic_conf; then
+            echo "error: failed to configure synthetic.conf;" >&2
+            suggest_report_error
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    if ! test_nix; then
+        echo "Creating mountpoint for /nix..." >&2
+        /System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs.util -B || true
+        if ! test_nix; then
+            sudo mkdir -p /nix 2>/dev/null || true
+        fi
+        if ! test_nix; then
+            echo "error: failed to bootstrap /nix; if a reboot doesn't help," >&2
+            suggest_report_error
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    disk=$(root_disk | disk_identifier)
+    volume=$(find_nix_volume "$disk")
+    if [ -z "$volume" ]; then
+        echo "Creating a Nix Store volume..." >&2
+
+        if test_filevault_in_use "$disk"; then
+            # TODO: Not sure if it's in-scope now, but `diskutil apfs list`
+            # shows both filevault and encrypted at rest status, and it
+            # may be the more semantic way to test for this? It'll show
+            # `FileVault:                 No (Encrypted at rest)`
+            # `FileVault:                 No`
+            # `FileVault:                 Yes (Unlocked)`
+            # and so on.
+            if test_t2_chip_present; then
+                echo "warning: boot volume is FileVault-encrypted, but the Nix store volume" >&2
+                echo "         is only encrypted at rest." >&2
+                echo "         See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation" >&2
+            else
+                echo "error: refusing to create Nix store volume because the boot volume is" >&2
+                echo "       FileVault encrypted, but encryption-at-rest is not available." >&2
+                echo "       Manually create a volume for the store and re-run this script." >&2
+                echo "       See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation" >&2
+                exit 1
+            fi
+        fi
+
+        sudo diskutil apfs addVolume "$disk" APFS 'Nix Store' -mountpoint /nix
+        volume="Nix Store"
+    else
+        echo "Using existing '$volume' volume" >&2
+    fi
+
+    if ! test_fstab; then
+        echo "Configuring /etc/fstab..." >&2
+        label=$(echo "$volume" | sed 's/ /\\040/g')
+        printf "\$a\nLABEL=%s /nix apfs rw,nobrowse\n.\nwq\n" "$label" | EDITOR=ed sudo vifs
+    fi
+}
+
+main "$@"

scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh

@@ -40,44 +40,77 @@ elif [ "$(uname -s)" = "Linux" ] && [ -e /run/systemd/system ]; then
 fi
 
 INSTALL_MODE=no-daemon
-
+CREATE_DARWIN_VOLUME=0
 # handle the command line flags
-while [ "x${1:-}" != "x" ]; do
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
-    if [ "x${1:-}" = "x--no-daemon" ]; then
+    case $1 in
-        INSTALL_MODE=no-daemon
+        --daemon)
-    elif [ "x${1:-}" = "x--daemon" ]; then
+            INSTALL_MODE=daemon;;
-        INSTALL_MODE=daemon
+        --no-daemon)
-    elif [ "x${1:-}" = "x--no-channel-add" ]; then
+            INSTALL_MODE=no-daemon;;
-        NIX_INSTALLER_NO_CHANNEL_ADD=1
+        --no-channel-add)
-    elif [ "x${1:-}" = "x--no-modify-profile" ]; then
+            NIX_INSTALLER_NO_CHANNEL_ADD=1;;
-        NIX_INSTALLER_NO_MODIFY_PROFILE=1
+        --no-modify-profile)
-    elif [ "x${1:-}" != "x" ]; then
+            NIX_INSTALLER_NO_MODIFY_PROFILE=1;;
-        (
+        --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume)
-            echo "Nix Installer [--daemon|--no-daemon] [--no-channel-add] [--no-modify-profile]"
+            CREATE_DARWIN_VOLUME=1;;
+        *)
+            (
+                echo "Nix Installer [--daemon|--no-daemon] [--no-channel-add] [--no-modify-profile]"
 
-            echo "Choose installation method."
+                echo "Choose installation method."
-            echo ""
+                echo ""
-            echo " --daemon:            Installs and configures a background daemon that manages the store,"
+                echo " --daemon:    Installs and configures a background daemon that manages the store,"
-            echo "                      providing multi-user support and better isolation for local builds."
+                echo "              providing multi-user support and better isolation for local builds."
-            echo "                      Both for security and reproducibility, this method is recommended if"
+                echo "              Both for security and reproducibility, this method is recommended if"
-            echo "                      supported on your platform."
+                echo "              supported on your platform."
-            echo "                      See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-multi-user-installation"
+                echo "              See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-multi-user-installation"
-            echo ""
+                echo ""
-            echo " --no-daemon:         Simple, single-user installation that does not require root and is"
+                echo " --no-daemon: Simple, single-user installation that does not require root and is"
-            echo "                      trivial to uninstall."
+                echo "              trivial to uninstall."
-            echo "                      (default)"
+                echo "              (default)"
-            echo ""
+                echo ""
-            echo " --no-channel-add:    Don't add any channels. nixpkgs-unstable is installed by default."
+                echo " --no-channel-add:    Don't add any channels. nixpkgs-unstable is installed by default."
-            echo ""
+                echo ""
-            echo " --no-modify-profile: Skip channel installation. When not provided nixpkgs-unstable"
+                echo " --no-modify-profile: Skip channel installation. When not provided nixpkgs-unstable"
-            echo "                      is installed by default."
+                echo "                      is installed by default."
-            echo ""
+                echo ""
-        ) >&2
+            ) >&2
-        exit
+
-    fi
+            # darwin and Catalina+
+            if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ] && [ "$macos_major" -gt 14 ]; then
+                (
+                    echo " --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume: Create an APFS volume for the Nix"
+                    echo "              store and mount it at /nix. This is the recommended way to create"
+                    echo "              /nix with a read-only / on macOS >=10.15."
+                    echo "              See: https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation"
+                    echo ""
+                ) >&2
+            fi
+            exit;;
+    esac
     shift
 done
 
+if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
+    if [ "$CREATE_DARWIN_VOLUME" = 1 ]; then
+        printf '\e[1;31mCreating volume and mountpoint /nix.\e[0m\n'
+        "$self/create-darwin-volume.sh"
+    fi
+
+    info=$(diskutil info -plist / | xpath "/plist/dict/key[text()='Writable']/following-sibling::true[1]" 2> /dev/null)
+    if ! [ -e $dest ] && [ -n "$info" ] && [ "$macos_major" -gt 14 ]; then
+        (
+            echo ""
+            echo "Installing on macOS >=10.15 requires relocating the store to an apfs volume."
+            echo "Use sh <(curl https://nixos.org/nix/install) --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume or run the preparation steps manually."
+            echo "See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation"
+            echo ""
+        ) >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+fi
+
 if [ "$INSTALL_MODE" = "daemon" ]; then
     printf '\e[1;31mSwitching to the Daemon-based Installer\e[0m\n'
     exec "$self/install-multi-user"
@@ -170,6 +203,17 @@ if [ -z "$NIX_INSTALLER_NO_MODIFY_PROFILE" ]; then
             break
         fi
     done
+    for i in .zshenv .zshrc; do
+        fn="$HOME/$i"
+        if [ -w "$fn" ]; then
+            if ! grep -q "$p" "$fn"; then
+                echo "modifying $fn..." >&2
+                echo "if [ -e $p ]; then . $p; fi # added by Nix installer" >> "$fn"
+            fi
+            added=1
+            break
+        fi
+    done
 fi
 
 if [ -z "$added" ]; then