Provides additional options to how macOS .app files are installed.
By default Nix likes to install things using symlinks.
Whilst this is a clean approach there are areas where it clashes with how things work in macOS:
- Spotlight will not index apps that are symlinks, and
/nixis excluded from the Spotlight index - Some apps require being installed to
/Applications. One difficult to ignore example is 1Password, which requires all web browsers it interfaces with to be installed to/Applicationsfor security reasons.
This module overrides the default macos app linking mechanisms for nix-darwin and home-manager.
The replacement linker is implemented in packages/link-apps, it:
- Makes macOS alias files by default
- Optionally copies an app to the destination when
drv.meta.darwinInstallMethodis set tocopy.