46 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
46 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
|
---
|
||
|
|
title: Managing services without NixOS
|
||
|
|
date: 2025-06-30
|
||
|
|
permalink: /daily/2025/06/30/managing-services-without-nixos
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If you're working on a simple PHP application, [a simple development shell][0] with PHP and Composer may be enough.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
But what if you're building a more complex application, like a Drupal website?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
As well as PHP, it needs services like a database server.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Installing `mysql` or `mariadb` isn't enough - it needs to be running so your application can connect to it.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If you use NixOS - the operating system based on the Nix package manager - configuring a database server is as simple as `services.mysql.enable = true;`.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
It will start automatically when the computer starts and you can add more Nix code to create databases and manage permissions.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
But what if you're not using NixOS?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The Nix package manager can't manage services.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
But, there is a solution - [services-flake][1].
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
It can be added to a flake.nix file and adds a tool called Process Compose to manage processes and services.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Then, I can add code like this to start a database server and create the database with `nix run`:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
```nix
|
||
|
|
services.mysql."mysql1" = {
|
||
|
|
enable = true;
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
initialDatabases = [
|
||
|
|
{ name = "drupal_nix_flake_example"; }
|
||
|
|
];
|
||
|
|
};
|
||
|
|
```
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If you have other processes, such as running Tailwind CSS to build your CSS files, it can do that too.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
To see a full Drupal example using services-flake, see [my drupal-nix-flake-example][2] repository.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[0]: /daily/2025/06/27/ready-go-devshells
|
||
|
|
[1]: https://github.com/juspay/services-flake
|
||
|
|
[2]: https://code.oliverdavies.uk/opdavies/drupal-nix-flake-example
|