# Build and VM testing Guide

> This assumes you have both `nix` installed as well as flakes
> enabled. We use the `nixos` CLI internally, but you can use
> the default `nixos-rebuild` CLI too.

The installer can be built using either of those commands:

```sh
nixos apply .#installer --vm --output result
# or
nixos-rebuild build-vm --flake .#installer
```

You can then run the VM like this:

```sh
# create a qcow2 disk image first
# note: running this command again will overwrite your virtual disk
qemu-img create -f qcow root.qcow2 20G

# run the VM with QEMU
QEMU_KERNEL_PARAMS=console=ttyS0 QEMU_OPTS="-hdd $PWD/root.qcow2" ./result/bin/run-slos-vm -nographic
```

You should then have it booting in your terminal.