dotfiles/docs/sunken-ship-wifi.md

Sunken-ship WiFi

WiFi is enabled via networking.wireless with no networks in Nix. The NixOS service uses /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf (not /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf). SSID and PSK stay out of the repo.

Create the config on the server

The daemon reads /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf. Put only the network={} block there — do not add ctrl_interface (the service manages that and will fail if you set it).

Option A — write directly to imperative.conf:

sudo tee /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf << 'EOF'
network={
    ssid="YOUR_SSID"
    psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"
}
EOF
sudo chown wpa_supplicant:wpa_supplicant /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf
sudo chmod 664 /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf
sudo systemctl restart wpa_supplicant

Option B — use /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf then copy only the network block:

# 1) Create /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf with your network{} block (and optional ctrl_interface lines if you use wpa_cli elsewhere).
sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf   # or tee as above

# 2) Copy only the network block into imperative.conf (strip ctrl_interface so the service doesn't fail).
sudo sed '/^ctrl_interface/d;/^ctrl_interface_group/d;/^update_config/d' /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf | sudo tee /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf > /dev/null
sudo chown wpa_supplicant:wpa_supplicant /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf
sudo chmod 664 /etc/wpa_supplicant/imperative.conf
sudo systemctl restart wpa_supplicant

Or generate the network{} block with a hashed PSK (optional):

nix shell nixpkgs#wpa_supplicant -c wpa_passphrase "YOUR_SSID" "YOUR_PASSWORD"
# Use the network={...} part in imperative.conf.

Rebuild (after changing Nix config)

From the server (flake is in nixos/):

cd /etc/dotfiles/nixos && sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#sunken-ship

Verify

• Service: systemctl status wpa_supplicant
• Interface and IP: ip addr show wlp5s0 — should get an address when associated.
• Connectivity: ping -c 2 8.8.8.8 or unplug ethernet and confirm you still have connectivity.
• Optional (if ctrl_interface is in config):
  nix shell nixpkgs#wpa_supplicant -c wpa_cli -i wlp5s0 status
  Expect wpa_state=COMPLETED and your ssid= when connected.