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Add ringtail post-deploy maintenance: kernel check, generation pruning, GC

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Update manage-lockfile doc with post-deploy steps (kernel update detection,
reboot guidance, generation pruning). Add prune-ringtail-generations mise
task that keeps the 5 most recent generations plus the most recent one
matching the booted kernel for safe rollback.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Erich Blume 2026-03-27 07:55:45 -07:00
commit 66a47738dd
3 changed files with 204 additions and 3 deletions
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docs/how-to/ringtail/manage-lockfile.md
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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
---
title: Manage Ringtail Lockfile
modified: 2026-02-22
modified: 2026-03-27
tags:
- how-to
- ringtail
@ -16,23 +16,57 @@ Two [[dagger]] pipelines manage the ringtail NixOS flake lockfile (`nixos/ringta
To pull the latest versions of all flake inputs (equivalent to `nix flake update`):
```fish
# Update flake.lock
# 1. Update flake.lock
dagger call flake-update --src=. --flake-path=nixos/ringtail \
export --path=nixos/ringtail/flake.lock
# Commit, push, then deploy
# 2. Commit, push, then deploy
git add nixos/ringtail/flake.lock
git commit -m "Update ringtail flake inputs"
git push
mise run provision-ringtail
```
After deploying, continue with [post-deploy maintenance](#post-deploy-maintenance).
## Lock New Inputs Only
`mise run provision-ringtail` automatically runs `flake-lock` before deploying. This resolves any newly added inputs without upgrading existing ones (equivalent to `nix flake lock`). If the lockfile changes, the task stages the file and exits — commit, push, and re-run.
This is the right behavior for provisioning: configuration changes that add a new input get locked, but existing inputs stay pinned until explicitly updated.
## Post-Deploy Maintenance
After `provision-ringtail` completes (whether from a full update or a config change), perform these steps.
### Check for Kernel Update
Compare the booted kernel against the one in the current system profile:
```fish
ssh ringtail 'echo "Booted: $(uname -r)"; echo "Staged: $(readlink /run/current-system/kernel | grep -oP "linux-\K[^/]+")"'
```
If they differ, a reboot is needed for the new kernel to take effect. Reboot at a convenient time:
```fish
ssh ringtail 'sudo reboot'
```
> **AI agents:** Do not reboot automatically. Inform the user that a kernel update is pending and suggest they reboot when convenient.
### Prune Old Generations and Garbage Collect
Old NixOS system generations accumulate over time. The `prune-ringtail-generations` task handles pruning and garbage collection together:
```fish
mise run prune-ringtail-generations # keep 5 most recent + kernel-safe gen
mise run prune-ringtail-generations --dry-run # preview only
mise run prune-ringtail-generations --keep 3 # keep fewer generations
```
The task keeps the 5 most recent generations plus the most recent generation whose kernel matches the currently **booted** kernel — this preserves a rollback target that won't require a reboot. After pruning, it runs `nix-collect-garbage` to free unreferenced store paths.
## Related
- [[ringtail]] — Host reference