How to Install Tracks on NixOS Latest

Tracks is a web-based application for managing your personal information like to-dos, notes, bookmarks, and more. In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to install Tracks on NixOS Latest.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the latest version of NixOS installed on your system.

Steps to Install Tracks

1. Open the terminal on your NixOS system.

2. Run the following command to update the system:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

3. Next, run the following command to create a new user for the Tracks application:

sudo useradd -s /bin/false -r -m -d /var/lib/tracks tracks

4. Switch to the tracks user account:

su - tracks

5. Download the latest version of Tracks using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/TracksApp/tracks.git

6. Navigate to the Tracks directory:

cd tracks/

7. Run the following command to install the required dependencies for Tracks:

nix-shell --run 'bundle install'

8. Create the database using the following command:

nix-shell --run 'rake db:create'

9. Migrate the database using the following command:

nix-shell --run 'rake db:migrate'

10. Load the seed data using the following command:

nix-shell --run 'rake db:seed'

11. Exit the tracks user account by running the exit command.

12. Open the /etc/nixos/configuration.nix file using your preferred editor.

13. Add the following lines to the file to enable the Tracks service:

services.tracks.enable = true;
services.tracks.database = {
  adapter = "postgresql";
  database = "tracks";
  user = "tracks";
  password = "your_password";
};

14. Replace your_password with a strong database password.

15. Run the following command to rebuild the system:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

16. Start the Tracks service using the following command:

sudo systemctl start tracks

17. Verify that the service is running using the following command:

sudo systemctl status tracks

You should see output similar to the following:

tracks.service - Tracks Web Application
     Loaded: loaded (/nix/store/[...]/tracks.service; enabled; vendor preset: nixos)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-11-01 10:48:47 UTC; 7s ago
    Process: 12345 ExecStart=/nix/store/[...]/bin/ruby [...] (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Main PID: 12346 (ruby)
    Tasks: 17 (limit: 1169)
     Memory: 58.9M
     CGroup: /system.slice/tracks.service
         └─12346 /nix/store/[...]/bin/ruby [...]

Nov 01 10:48:47 nixos systemd[1]: Started Tracks Web Application

18. Finally, navigate to http://localhost:3000 in your web browser to access the Tracks application.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Tracks on NixOS Latest.

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