replace the aur package with a nix flake

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -68,3 +68,14 @@ jobs:
       - name: Test
         working-directory: src-tauri
         run: cargo test
+
+  # The flake at whatever release nix/release.json pins. A broken flake or lock, or a deb that no
+  # longer patches against current nixpkgs, shows up here rather than at the next release.
+  nix:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+
+      - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v31
+
+      - run: nix build .#margin-calendar --print-build-logs

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -180,72 +180,57 @@ jobs:
           done
           gh release edit "$TAG" --repo "$REPO" --draft=false --latest
 
-  # Arch gets its own package rather than the AppImage. The AppImage carries Ubuntu's GTK stack,
+  # Nix is the Linux package. The AppImage carries Ubuntu's GTK stack, which cannot talk to a modern
-  # which cannot talk to a modern Wayland compositor and silently falls back to Xwayland; a package
+  # Wayland compositor and silently falls back to Xwayland; the Nix package relinks the published deb
-  # linked against the system webkit2gtk runs as a native Wayland client. Runs after publish so it
+  # against nixpkgs' webkit2gtk and runs as a native Wayland client. Runs after publish so the flake
   # can only ever point at a release that survived the manifest check.
-  aur:
+  nix:
     needs: [prepare, publish]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      # The tag, not main, so the template and the licence are the ones this release shipped.
+      # main rather than the tag: the pin lands on main, and the tag was cut before the artifact
+      # it needs the hash of existed.
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
         with:
-          ref: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.tag }}
+          ref: main
 
-      - name: Render the PKGBUILD for this release
+      - name: Pin the flake to this release
         env:
           VERSION: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}
           REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
         run: |
           URL="https://github.com/$REPO/releases/download/v$VERSION/Margin.Calendar_${VERSION}_amd64.deb"
-          # From the published asset, so the checksum is of the artifact users will actually fetch.
+          # From the published asset, so the hash is of the artifact users will actually fetch.
           curl -fsSL --retry 3 -o package.deb "$URL"
-          SHA=$(sha256sum package.deb | cut -d' ' -f1)
+          HASH="sha256-$(openssl dgst -sha256 -binary package.deb | base64)"
-          # The PKGBUILD fetches the licence from the tag, so checksum the copy at that same tag.
+          jq -n --arg v "$VERSION" --arg h "$HASH" '{version: $v, hash: $h}' > nix/release.json
-          LICENSE_SHA=$(sha256sum LICENSE | cut -d' ' -f1)
+          cat nix/release.json
-          sed -e "s/@VERSION@/$VERSION/g" \
-              -e "s/@SHA256@/$SHA/g" \
-              -e "s/@LICENSE_SHA256@/$LICENSE_SHA/g" \
-              packaging/aur/PKGBUILD.in > PKGBUILD
-          echo "pkgver $VERSION, deb $SHA, licence $LICENSE_SHA"
 
-      - name: Generate .SRCINFO
+      - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v31
-        # makepkg is Arch-only and refuses to run as root, hence the container. It runs as the
-        # runner's own uid so nothing in the bind-mounted checkout changes owner; chowning it to a
-        # container user left the workspace unwritable for the push step. --printsrcinfo parses the
-        # PKGBUILD, it does not build anything.
-        run: |
-          docker run --rm --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -e HOME=/tmp -v "$PWD:/w" -w /w \
-            archlinux:base-devel makepkg --printsrcinfo > .SRCINFO
-          cat .SRCINFO
 
-      - name: Push to the AUR
+      # Building it is the check: a wrong hash, a library autoPatchelf cannot find or a broken flake
+      # stops here rather than on someone's machine.
+      - name: Build the package
+        run: nix build .#margin-calendar --print-build-logs
+
+      - name: Commit the pin
         env:
-          AUR_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.AUR_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
           VERSION: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}
         run: |
-          if [ -z "$AUR_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" ]; then
-            echo "::warning::AUR_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY is not set, so the AUR package was built but not published. The release itself is unaffected."
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh
-          printf '%s\n' "$AUR_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" > ~/.ssh/aur
-          chmod 600 ~/.ssh/aur
-          ssh-keyscan -t ed25519,rsa aur.archlinux.org >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts 2>/dev/null
-          export GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i ~/.ssh/aur -o IdentitiesOnly=yes"
-          git clone ssh://[email protected]/margin-calendar-bin.git aur
-          cp PKGBUILD .SRCINFO aur/
-          cd aur
-          # A package that does not exist yet clones as an empty repo, where the local branch name
-          # is whatever git defaults to. The AUR only accepts master.
-          git checkout -B master
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
           git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git add PKGBUILD .SRCINFO
+          git add nix/release.json
-          if git diff --cached --quiet; then
+          git commit -m "point the nix package at v$VERSION"
-            echo "AUR is already at this version, nothing to push."
+          for attempt in 1 2 3 4 5; do
-            exit 0
+            git fetch origin main
-          fi
+            git rebase origin/main
-          git commit -m "margin-calendar-bin $VERSION"
+            if git push origin HEAD:main; then
-          git push origin master
+              break
+            fi
+            if [ "$attempt" = "5" ]; then
+              echo "::error::main kept advancing; could not push the nix pin after 5 attempts. The release is published; rerun this job."
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            echo "main advanced; rebasing and retrying ($attempt)…"
+            sleep 3
+          done

.gitignore

@@ -42,3 +42,7 @@ xcuserdata/
 # Screenshots & Playwright MCP artifacts
 .playwright-mcp/
 /*.png
+
+# Nix build output
+/result
+/result-*

README.md

@@ -6,9 +6,10 @@ fits without scrolling, and on a desktop the whole thing is drivable from the ke
 It is a sibling to [margin](https://github.com/priyanshujain/margin) and shares its stack and its
 visual language.
 
-`just install` builds it and installs it on the machine you are on. Setup and the Google OAuth
+`just install` builds it and installs it on the machine you are on. On Linux,
-client it needs are in [docs/setup.md](docs/setup.md), and the extra clients a phone build needs
+`nix profile install github:priyanshujain/margin-calendar` installs the released build instead.
-are in [docs/mobile.md](docs/mobile.md). How releases are cut is in
+Setup and the Google OAuth client it needs are in [docs/setup.md](docs/setup.md), and the extra
-[docs/release.md](docs/release.md). The product decisions are in [docs/design.md](docs/design.md),
+clients a phone build needs are in [docs/mobile.md](docs/mobile.md). How releases are cut and how
-how it is built is in [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md), and the conventions it follows
+the Nix package is made are in [docs/release.md](docs/release.md). The product decisions are in
-are in [docs/conventions.md](docs/conventions.md).
+[docs/design.md](docs/design.md), how it is built is in [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md),
+and the conventions it follows are in [docs/conventions.md](docs/conventions.md).

docs/architecture.md

@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ Closing the window on macOS hides it rather than quitting, the way WhatsApp and
 process stays in the Dock with sync running, a Dock click brings the window back, and Cmd+Q
 quits. Both halves live in `lib.rs`. Linux has no traffic lights, so that padding is
 conditional, and closing the window there quits. Linux builds need `libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev` and
-ship as AppImage and deb.
+ship as AppImage and deb, and the deb is what the Nix package in `nix/package.nix` relinks.
 
 ## Order of work
 

docs/release.md

@@ -36,27 +36,47 @@ targets, at which point the publish gate wants `windows-x86_64` too.
 Phones do not come from this pipeline at all. The store is their update channel, and what building
 for one takes is in [mobile.md](mobile.md).
 
-## Arch
+## Linux
 
-Arch gets its own package, `margin-calendar-bin` on the AUR, pushed by the release workflow after
+Linux installs come from Nix rather than from the AppImage. The AppImage bundles Ubuntu's GTK
-the manifest check passes. It is worth the extra moving part: the AppImage bundles Ubuntu's GTK
+stack, and a bundled `libwayland-client` cannot talk to a current compositor, so on Hyprland it
-stack, and a bundled `libwayland-client` cannot talk to a current compositor, so on Hyprland the
+silently falls back to Xwayland. The Nix package relinks the published `.deb` against nixpkgs' own
-AppImage silently falls back to Xwayland. The packaged build links against the system
 `webkit2gtk-4.1` and runs as a native Wayland client.
 
+Installing, and later updating:
+
+```
+nix profile install github:priyanshujain/margin-calendar
+nix profile upgrade margin-calendar
+```
+
+On NixOS or under home-manager, add `github:priyanshujain/margin-calendar` as a flake input and
+either put `margin-calendar.packages.x86_64-linux.default` in the package list or apply
+`margin-calendar.overlays.default` and use `pkgs.margin-calendar`. Updating is then
+`nix flake update margin-calendar` and a rebuild.
+
+"Check for updates" inside a Nix install still checks. It reports the newer version and the
+upgrade command rather than installing anything, because the package's wrapper sets
+`MARGIN_CALENDAR_PACKAGED_BY=nix` and the app asks for that before it would touch its own binary,
+which in the store it could not replace anyway.
+
 It is a binary package by necessity rather than laziness. The Google OAuth client is embedded at
 compile time from a file that is deliberately not in the repo, so anything built from source on
-someone else's machine would run and then tell them Google Calendar is not set up. The PKGBUILD
+someone else's machine would run and then tell them Google Calendar is not set up.
-therefore repackages the published `.deb`, whose payload is already a normal `/usr` tree.
+`nix/package.nix` therefore unpacks the published `.deb`, whose payload is already a normal `/usr`
+tree, and `autoPatchelfHook` points its libraries at nixpkgs.
 
-`packaging/aur/PKGBUILD.in` is the template. The workflow fills in the version and the sha256 of
+`nix/release.json` is the pin: the version and the hash of the `.deb` that was actually published.
-the artifact that was actually published, generates `.SRCINFO` with `makepkg` in an Arch container,
+The `nix` job in the release workflow writes it after the manifest check passes, builds the package
-and pushes to `ssh://[email protected]/margin-calendar-bin.git` using `AUR_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY`.
+once to prove the pin is good, and commits it to main. That commit is what Nix users consume:
-Without that secret the job renders the package, says so, and does not fail the release.
+`github:priyanshujain/margin-calendar` means main, and main means the latest release that built. A
+tag's own flake still points at the release before it, because the tag is cut before the artifact
+exists. If the job fails, the release is out and Nix stays a version behind until the job is rerun.
 
-The `license=('custom')` line is a placeholder for the fact that this repo has no licence file at
+The flake is x86_64-linux only, which is the one Linux target the release builds. `flake.lock`
-all. Nothing stops the package publishing, but a package on the AUR that nobody has licensed is
+pins nixpkgs for anyone installing through the flake directly; the overlay uses whatever nixpkgs
-worth fixing before anyone else builds on it.
+the host already has. CI builds the package on every push, so a nixpkgs bump that breaks the
+patching shows up before a release does.
 
 ## What the build needs
 

flake.lock

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{
+  "nodes": {
+    "nixpkgs": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1788316716,
+        "narHash": "sha256-bc7rSpXIdn9QWGNqfWcPZWOhEVF8NoeAZkWq0XWnf/k=",
+        "owner": "NixOS",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "3ed67ec0a4d3c7ab4ae1f04f8ee8df07bfa506a2",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "NixOS",
+        "ref": "nixos-unstable",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    },
+    "root": {
+      "inputs": {
+        "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "root": "root",
+  "version": 7
+}

flake.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  description = "Margin Calendar, a calendar for Google Calendar";
+
+  inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
+
+  outputs =
+    { self, nixpkgs }:
+    let
+      system = "x86_64-linux";
+      pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.${system};
+    in
+    {
+      overlays.default = final: prev: {
+        margin-calendar = final.callPackage ./nix/package.nix { };
+      };
+
+      packages.${system} = {
+        margin-calendar = pkgs.callPackage ./nix/package.nix { };
+        default = self.packages.${system}.margin-calendar;
+      };
+    };
+}

nix/package.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+# The Linux package: the deb the release workflow published, relinked against nixpkgs' own GTK and
+# WebKit so it runs as a native Wayland client. It is a binary package by necessity: the Google
+# OAuth client is embedded at compile time from a file that is deliberately not in the repo, so
+# anything built from source here would run and then say Google Calendar is not set up.
+{
+  lib,
+  stdenv,
+  fetchurl,
+  dpkg,
+  autoPatchelfHook,
+  wrapGAppsHook3,
+  cairo,
+  dbus,
+  gdk-pixbuf,
+  glib,
+  glib-networking,
+  gsettings-desktop-schemas,
+  gtk3,
+  libsoup_3,
+  webkitgtk_4_1,
+  xdg-utils,
+}:
+
+let
+  release = lib.importJSON ./release.json;
+in
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  pname = "margin-calendar";
+  inherit (release) version;
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "https://github.com/priyanshujain/margin-calendar/releases/download/v${release.version}/Margin.Calendar_${release.version}_amd64.deb";
+    inherit (release) hash;
+  };
+
+  unpackPhase = ''
+    runHook preUnpack
+    dpkg-deb -x $src .
+    runHook postUnpack
+  '';
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    dpkg
+    autoPatchelfHook
+    wrapGAppsHook3
+  ];
+
+  buildInputs = [
+    cairo
+    dbus
+    gdk-pixbuf
+    glib
+    glib-networking
+    gsettings-desktop-schemas
+    gtk3
+    libsoup_3
+    webkitgtk_4_1
+  ];
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    runHook preInstall
+    mkdir -p $out
+    cp -r usr/bin usr/share $out/
+    mv "$out/share/applications/Margin Calendar.desktop" $out/share/applications/margin-calendar.desktop
+    runHook postInstall
+  '';
+
+  # The app opens the Google consent page and "Report an issue" through xdg-open. The variable is
+  # how it knows the store owns the binary, so "Check for updates" points at Nix instead of trying
+  # to replace itself.
+  preFixup = ''
+    gappsWrapperArgs+=(
+      --prefix PATH : ${lib.makeBinPath [ xdg-utils ]}
+      --set MARGIN_CALENDAR_PACKAGED_BY nix
+    )
+  '';
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "A calendar for Google Calendar";
+    longDescription = "A calendar where the grid owns the window and the day always fits without scrolling.";
+    homepage = "https://github.com/priyanshujain/margin-calendar";
+    license = lib.licenses.mit;
+    sourceProvenance = [ lib.sourceTypes.binaryNativeCode ];
+    platforms = [ "x86_64-linux" ];
+    mainProgram = "margin-calendar";
+  };
+}

nix/release.json

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "version": "0.0.4",
+  "hash": "sha256-ZYrpxD0/7AxIeBMmYHufZU0I6/m2JWPMMSBk4CkJWd8="
+}

packaging/aur/PKGBUILD.in

@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-# Maintainer: PJ <[email protected]>
-
-# The template the release workflow renders. @VERSION@ and @SHA256@ are filled in from the release
-# that has just published, so the PKGBUILD on the AUR always points at an artifact that exists.
-#
-# A binary package rather than one built from source, and that is forced rather than lazy: the
-# Google OAuth client is embedded at compile time from a file that is not in the repo, so anything
-# built from source on a stranger's machine runs and then says Google Calendar is not set up.
-
-pkgname=margin-calendar-bin
-pkgver=@VERSION@
-pkgrel=1
-pkgdesc="A calendar for Google Calendar, where the grid owns the window and the day fits without scrolling"
-arch=('x86_64')
-url="https://github.com/priyanshujain/margin-calendar"
-license=('MIT')
-depends=('webkit2gtk-4.1' 'gtk3')
-provides=('margin-calendar')
-conflicts=('margin-calendar')
-# Prebuilt and already linked: stripping it again buys nothing and risks the binary.
-options=('!strip' '!debug')
-source=("${pkgname}-${pkgver}.deb::${url}/releases/download/v${pkgver}/Margin.Calendar_${pkgver}_amd64.deb"
-        "LICENSE-${pkgver}::https://raw.githubusercontent.com/priyanshujain/margin-calendar/v${pkgver}/LICENSE")
-noextract=("${pkgname}-${pkgver}.deb")
-sha256sums=('@SHA256@'
-            '@LICENSE_SHA256@')
-
-package() {
-    bsdtar -xOf "${pkgname}-${pkgver}.deb" data.tar.gz | bsdtar -xf - -C "${pkgdir}"
-    # The bundler names it after the product, spaces and all. Everything that reads this directory
-    # copes with that, and nothing that reads it enjoys it.
-    mv "${pkgdir}/usr/share/applications/Margin Calendar.desktop" \
-       "${pkgdir}/usr/share/applications/margin-calendar.desktop"
-    # MIT is not one of the licences Arch keeps in /usr/share/licenses/common, so every package
-    # under it has to carry its own copy.
-    install -Dm644 "LICENSE-${pkgver}" "${pkgdir}/usr/share/licenses/${pkgname}/LICENSE"
-}