# Activation script {#sec-activation-script}

The activation script is a bash script called to activate the new
configuration which resides in a NixOS system in `$out/activate`. Since its
contents depend on your system configuration, the contents may differ.
This chapter explains how the script works in general and some common NixOS
snippets. Please be aware that the script is executed on every boot and system
switch, so tasks that can be performed in other places should be performed
there (for example letting a directory of a service be created by systemd using
mechanisms like `StateDirectory`, `CacheDirectory`, ... or if that's not
possible using `preStart` of the service).

Activation scripts are defined as snippets using
[](#opt-system.activationScripts). They can either be a simple multiline string
or an attribute set that can depend on other snippets. The builder for the
activation script will take these dependencies into account and order the
snippets accordingly. As a simple example:

```nix
{
  system.activationScripts.my-activation-script = {
    deps = [ "etc" ];
    # supportsDryActivation = true;
    text = ''
      echo "Hallo i bims"
    '';
  };
}
```

This example creates an activation script snippet that is run after the `etc`
snippet. The special variable `supportsDryActivation` can be set so the snippet
is also run when `nixos-rebuild dry-activate` is run. To differentiate between
real and dry activation, the `$NIXOS_ACTION` environment variable can be
read which is set to `dry-activate` when a dry activation is done.

## NixOS snippets {#sec-activation-script-nixos-snippets}

There are some snippets NixOS enables by default because disabling them would
most likely break your system. This section lists a few of them and what they
do:

- `binsh` creates `/bin/sh` which points to the runtime shell
- `etc` sets up the contents of `/etc`, this includes systemd units and
  excludes `/etc/passwd`, `/etc/group`, and `/etc/shadow` (which are managed by
  the `users` snippet)
- `modprobe` sets the path to the `modprobe` binary for module auto-loading
- `specialfs` is responsible for mounting filesystems like `/proc` and `sys`
- `users` creates and removes users and groups by managing `/etc/passwd`,
  `/etc/group` and `/etc/shadow`. This also creates home directories
- `usrbinenv` creates `/usr/bin/env`