I have probably fixed the "separate /boot" problem. Tested in Qemu, it worked

svn path=/nixos/trunk/; revision=11789

configuration/rescue-cd-configurable.nix

@@ -147,8 +147,12 @@ rec {
             mkdir -p /etc/nixos/nixos
             tar xjf /install/nixos.tar.bz2 -C /etc/nixos/nixos
             tar xjf /install/nixpkgs.tar.bz2 -C /etc/nixos
+	    tar xjf /install/nixos-services.tar.bz2 -C /etc/nixos
             mv /etc/nixos/nixpkgs-* /etc/nixos/nixpkgs || true
+            mv /etc/nixos/*-nixpkgs /etc/nixos/nixpkgs || true
+            mv /etc/nixos/*-services /etc/nixos/services || true
             ln -sfn ../nixpkgs/pkgs /etc/nixos/nixos/pkgs
+            ln -sfn ../services /etc/nixos/services
             chown -R root.root /etc/nixos
             touch /etc/resolv.conf
             end script
@@ -301,7 +305,7 @@ rec {
  
   makeNixPkgsTarball = tarName: input: ((pkgs.runCommand "tarball-nixpkgs" {inherit tarName;} ''
   ensureDir $out
-    (cd ${input}/.. && tar cvfj $out/${tarName} nixpkgs \
+    (cd ${input}/.. && tar cvfj $out/${tarName} $(basename ${input}) \
         --exclude '*~' \
         --exclude 'result')
   '')+"/${tarName}");
@@ -322,8 +326,9 @@ rec {
   nixpkgsTarball = if networkNixpkgs != "" then pkgs.fetchurl {
     url = configuration.installer.nixpkgsURL + "/" + nixpkgsRel + ".tar.bz2";
     md5 = "6a793b877e2a4fa79827515902e1dfd8";
-  } else makeNixPkgsTarball "nixpkgs.tar.bz2" "/etc/nixos/nixpkgs";
+  } else makeNixPkgsTarball "nixpkgs.tar.bz2" ("" + ./../../nixpkgs);
 
+  nixosServicesTarball = makeNixPkgsTarball "nixos-services.tar.bz2" ("" + ./../../services);
  
   # The configuration file for Grub.
   grubCfg = pkgs.writeText "menu.lst" (''
@@ -374,6 +379,10 @@ rec {
           source = nixpkgsTarball;
           target = "/install/nixpkgs.tar.bz2";
         }
+        {
+          source = nixosServicesTarball;
+          target = "/install/nixos-services.tar.bz2";
+        }
         { 
           source = pkgs.writeText "label" "";
           target = "/${configuration.boot.rootLabel}";

installer/nixos-install.sh

@@ -48,13 +48,27 @@ fi
 NIXOS=$(readlink -f "$NIXOS")
 
 
+# Enable networking in the chroot.
+mkdir -m 0755 -p $mountPoint/etc
+touch /etc/resolv.conf 
+cp /etc/resolv.conf $mountPoint/etc/
+
 # Mount some stuff in the target root directory.
 mkdir -m 0755 -p $mountPoint/dev $mountPoint/proc $mountPoint/sys $mountPoint/mnt
-mount --rbind / $mountPoint/mnt
 mount --bind /dev $mountPoint/dev
 mount --bind /proc $mountPoint/proc
 mount --bind /sys $mountPoint/sys
 
+# Grub needs a mtab. Make a proper one..
+chroot $mountPoint \
+    /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/sw/bin/cat /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab 
+
+echo "/etc/mtab: "
+cat /mnt/etc/mtab 
+
+# That could spoil mtab with litter.
+mount --rbind / $mountPoint/mnt
+
 cleanup() {
     # !!! don't umount anything we didn't mount ourselves
     for i in $(grep -F "$mountPoint" /proc/mounts \
@@ -114,11 +128,6 @@ mkdir -m 0755 -p $mountPoint/bin
 ln -sf @shell@ $mountPoint/bin/sh
 
 
-# Enable networking in the chroot.
-mkdir -m 0755 -p $mountPoint/etc
-cp /etc/resolv.conf $mountPoint/etc/
-
-
 # Pull the manifest on the CD so that everything in the Nix store on
 # the CD can be copied directly.
 echo "registering substitutes to speed up builds..."
@@ -161,24 +170,26 @@ if test -e $targetNixpkgs; then
     mv $targetNixpkgs $targetNixpkgs.backup-$backupTimestamp
 fi
 
+targetServices=$mountPoint/etc/nixos/services
+if test -e $targetServices; then
+    mv $targetServices $targetServices.backup-$backupTimestamp
+fi
+
 
 # Copy the NixOS/Nixpkgs sources to the target.
 cp -prd $NIXOS $targetNixos
 if test -e /etc/nixos/nixpkgs; then
     cp -prd /etc/nixos/nixpkgs $targetNixpkgs
 fi
-
+if test -e /etc/nixos/services; then
-
+    cp -prd /etc/nixos/services $targetServices
-# Grub needs a mtab.
+fi
-rootDevice=$(df $mountPoint | grep '^/' | sed 's^ .*^^')
-echo "$rootDevice / somefs rw 0 0" > $mountPoint/etc/mtab
 
 
 # Mark the target as a NixOS installation, otherwise
 # switch-to-configuration will chicken out.
 touch $mountPoint/etc/NIXOS
 
-
 # Switch to the new system configuration.  This will install Grub with
 # a menu default pointing at the kernel/initrd/etc of the new
 # configuration.