Merge pull request #4289 from abathur/encrypt_darwin_volume

darwin: encrypt nix volume if filevault is enabled

6 files changed, 1196 insertions, 444 deletions

diff --git a/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-binary.md b/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-binary.md
index ae7fd458b..96fa34635 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-binary.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-binary.md
@@ -1,18 +1,26 @@
 # Installing a Binary Distribution
 
-If you are using Linux or macOS versions up to 10.14 (Mojave), the
-easiest way to install Nix is to run the following command:
+The easiest way to install Nix is to run the following command:
 
 ```console
 $ sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install)
 ```
 
-If you're using macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or newer, consult [the macOS
-installation instructions](#macos-installation) before installing.
+This will run the installer interactively (causing it to explain what
+it is doing more explicitly), and perform the default "type" of install
+for your platform:
+- single-user on Linux
+- multi-user on macOS
 
-As of Nix 2.1.0, the Nix installer will always default to creating a
-single-user installation, however opting in to the multi-user
-installation is highly recommended.
+  > **Notes on read-only filesystem root in macOS 10.15 Catalina +**
+  > 
+  > - It took some time to support this cleanly. You may see posts,
+  >   examples, and tutorials using obsolete workarounds.
+  > - Supporting it cleanly made macOS installs too complex to qualify
+  >   as single-user, so this type is no longer supported on macOS.
+
+We recommend the multi-user install if it supports your platform and
+you can authenticate with `sudo`.
 
 # Single User Installation
 
@@ -50,9 +58,9 @@ $ rm -rf /nix
 The multi-user Nix installation creates system users, and a system
 service for the Nix daemon.
 
-  - Linux running systemd, with SELinux disabled
-
-  - macOS
+**Supported Systems**
+- Linux running systemd, with SELinux disabled
+- macOS
 
 You can instruct the installer to perform a multi-user installation on
 your system:
@@ -96,165 +104,28 @@ sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist
 There may also be references to Nix in `/etc/profile`, `/etc/bashrc`,
 and `/etc/zshrc` which you may remove.
 
-# macOS Installation
-
-Starting with macOS 10.15 (Catalina), the root filesystem is read-only.
-This means `/nix` can no longer live on your system volume, and that
-you'll need a workaround to install Nix.
-
-The recommended approach, which creates an unencrypted APFS volume for
-your Nix store and a "synthetic" empty directory to mount it over at
-`/nix`, is least likely to impair Nix or your system.
-
-> **Note**
-> 
-> With all separate-volume approaches, it's possible something on your
-> system (particularly daemons/services and restored apps) may need
-> access to your Nix store before the volume is mounted. Adding
-> additional encryption makes this more likely.
-
-If you're using a recent Mac with a [T2
-chip](https://www.apple.com/euro/mac/shared/docs/Apple_T2_Security_Chip_Overview.pdf),
-your drive will still be encrypted at rest (in which case "unencrypted"
-is a bit of a misnomer). To use this approach, just install Nix with:
-
-```console
-$ sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume
-```
-
-If you don't like the sound of this, you'll want to weigh the other
-approaches and tradeoffs detailed in this section.
-
-> **Note**
-> 
-> All of the known workarounds have drawbacks, but we hope better
-> solutions will be available in the future. Some that we have our eye
-> on are:
-> 
-> 1.  A true firmlink would enable the Nix store to live on the primary
->     data volume without the build problems caused by the symlink
->     approach. End users cannot currently create true firmlinks.
-> 
-> 2.  If the Nix store volume shared FileVault encryption with the
->     primary data volume (probably by using the same volume group and
->     role), FileVault encryption could be easily supported by the
->     installer without requiring manual setup by each user.
-
-## Change the Nix store path prefix
-
-Changing the default prefix for the Nix store is a simple approach which
-enables you to leave it on your root volume, where it can take full
-advantage of FileVault encryption if enabled. Unfortunately, this
-approach also opts your device out of some benefits that are enabled by
-using the same prefix across systems:
-
-  - Your system won't be able to take advantage of the binary cache
-    (unless someone is able to stand up and support duplicate caching
-    infrastructure), which means you'll spend more time waiting for
-    builds.
-
-  - It's harder to build and deploy packages to Linux systems.
-
-It would also possible (and often requested) to just apply this change
-ecosystem-wide, but it's an intrusive process that has side effects we
-want to avoid for now.
-
-## Use a separate encrypted volume
-
-If you like, you can also add encryption to the recommended approach
-taken by the installer. You can do this by pre-creating an encrypted
-volume before you run the installer--or you can run the installer and
-encrypt the volume it creates later.
-
-In either case, adding encryption to a second volume isn't quite as
-simple as enabling FileVault for your boot volume. Before you dive in,
-there are a few things to weigh:
-
-1.  The additional volume won't be encrypted with your existing
-    FileVault key, so you'll need another mechanism to decrypt the
-    volume.
-
-2.  You can store the password in Keychain to automatically decrypt the
-    volume on boot--but it'll have to wait on Keychain and may not mount
-    before your GUI apps restore. If any of your launchd agents or apps
-    depend on Nix-installed software (for example, if you use a
-    Nix-installed login shell), the restore may fail or break.
-    
-    On a case-by-case basis, you may be able to work around this problem
-    by using `wait4path` to block execution until your executable is
-    available.
-    
-    It's also possible to decrypt and mount the volume earlier with a
-    login hook--but this mechanism appears to be deprecated and its
-    future is unclear.
-
-3.  You can hard-code the password in the clear, so that your store
-    volume can be decrypted before Keychain is available.
-
-If you are comfortable navigating these tradeoffs, you can encrypt the
-volume with something along the lines of:
-
-```console
-$ diskutil apfs enableFileVault /nix -user disk
-```
-
-## Symlink the Nix store to a custom location
-
-Another simple approach is using `/etc/synthetic.conf` to symlink the
-Nix store to the data volume. This option also enables your store to
-share any configured FileVault encryption. Unfortunately, builds that
-resolve the symlink may leak the canonical path or even fail.
-
-Because of these downsides, we can't recommend this approach.
-
-## Notes on the recommended approach
-
-This section goes into a little more detail on the recommended approach.
-You don't need to understand it to run the installer, but it can serve
-as a helpful reference if you run into trouble.
-
-1.  In order to compose user-writable locations into the new read-only
-    system root, Apple introduced a new concept called `firmlinks`,
-    which it describes as a "bi-directional wormhole" between two
-    filesystems. You can see the current firmlinks in
-    `/usr/share/firmlinks`. Unfortunately, firmlinks aren't (currently?)
-    user-configurable.
-    
-    For special cases like NFS mount points or package manager roots,
-    [synthetic.conf(5)](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/System/Conceptual/ManPages_iPhoneOS/man5/synthetic.conf.5.html)
-    supports limited user-controlled file-creation (of symlinks, and
-    synthetic empty directories) at `/`. To create a synthetic empty
-    directory for mounting at `/nix`, add the following line to
-    `/etc/synthetic.conf` (create it if necessary):
-    
-        nix
-
-2.  This configuration is applied at boot time, but you can use
-    `apfs.util` to trigger creation (not deletion) of new entries
-    without a reboot:
-    
-    ```console
-    $ /System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs.util -B
-    ```
-
-3.  Create the new APFS volume with diskutil:
-    
-    ```console
-    $ sudo diskutil apfs addVolume diskX APFS 'Nix Store' -mountpoint /nix
-    ```
-
-4.  Using `vifs`, add the new mount to `/etc/fstab`. If it doesn't
-    already have other entries, it should look something like:
-    
-        #
-        # Warning - this file should only be modified with vifs(8)
-        #
-        # Failure to do so is unsupported and may be destructive.
-        #
-        LABEL=Nix\040Store /nix apfs rw,nobrowse
-    
-    The nobrowse setting will keep Spotlight from indexing this volume,
-    and keep it from showing up on your desktop.
+# macOS Installation <a name="sect-macos-installation-change-store-prefix"></a><a name="sect-macos-installation-encrypted-volume"></a><a name="sect-macos-installation-symlink"></a><a name="sect-macos-installation-recommended-notes"></a>
+<!-- Note: anchors above to catch permalinks to old explanations -->
+
+We believe we have ironed out how to cleanly support the read-only root
+on modern macOS. New installs will do this automatically, and you can
+also re-run a new installer to convert your existing setup.
+
+This section previously detailed the situation, options, and trade-offs,
+but it now only outlines what the installer does. You don't need to know
+this to run the installer, but it may help if you run into trouble:
+
+- create a new APFS volume for your Nix store
+- update `/etc/synthetic.conf` to direct macOS to create a "synthetic"
+  empty root directory to mount your volume
+- specify mount options for the volume in `/etc/fstab`
+- if you have FileVault enabled
+    - generate an encryption password
+    - put it in your system Keychain
+    - use it to encrypt the volume
+- create a system LaunchDaemon to mount this volume early enough in the
+  boot process to avoid problems loading or restoring any programs that
+  need access to your Nix store
 
 # Installing a pinned Nix version from a URL
 
diff --git a/scripts/create-darwin-volume.sh b/scripts/create-darwin-volume.sh
index 32fa577a8..8aff03199 100755
--- a/scripts/create-darwin-volume.sh
+++ b/scripts/create-darwin-volume.sh
@@ -1,33 +1,262 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-set -e
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -eu
+set -o pipefail
 
-root_disk() {
-    diskutil info -plist /
-}
+# I'm a little agnostic on the choices, but supporting a wide
+# slate of uses for now, including:
+# - import-only: `. create-darwin-volume.sh no-main[ ...]`
+# - legacy: `./create-darwin-volume.sh` or `. create-darwin-volume.sh`
+#   (both will run main())
+# - external alt-routine: `./create-darwin-volume.sh no-main func[ ...]`
+if [ "${1-}" = "no-main" ]; then
+    shift
+    readonly _CREATE_VOLUME_NO_MAIN=1
+else
+    readonly _CREATE_VOLUME_NO_MAIN=0
+    # declare some things we expect to inherit from install-multi-user
+    # I don't love this (because it's a bit of a kludge).
+    #
+    # CAUTION: (Dec 19 2020)
+    # This is a stopgap. It doesn't cover the full slate of
+    # identifiers we inherit--just those necessary to:
+    # - avoid breaking direct invocations of this script (here/now)
+    # - avoid hard-to-reverse structural changes before the call to rm
+    #   single-user support is verified
+    #
+    # In the near-mid term, I (personally) think we should:
+    # - decide to deprecate the direct call and add a notice
+    # - fold all of this into install-darwin-multi-user.sh
+    # - intentionally remove the old direct-invocation form (kill the
+    #   routine, replace this script w/ deprecation notice and a note
+    #   on the remove-after date)
+    #
+    readonly NIX_ROOT="${NIX_ROOT:-/nix}"
+
+    _sudo() {
+        shift # throw away the 'explanation'
+        /usr/bin/sudo "$@"
+    }
+    failure() {
+        if [ "$*" = "" ]; then
+            cat
+        else
+            echo "$@"
+        fi
+        exit 1
+    }
+    task() {
+        echo "$@"
+    }
+fi
 
-# i.e., "disk1"
+# usually "disk1"
 root_disk_identifier() {
-    diskutil info -plist / | xmllint --xpath "/plist/dict/key[text()='ParentWholeDisk']/following-sibling::string[1]/text()" -
+    # For performance (~10ms vs 280ms) I'm parsing 'diskX' from stat output
+    # (~diskXsY)--but I'm retaining the more-semantic approach since
+    # it documents intent better.
+    # /usr/sbin/diskutil info -plist / | xmllint --xpath "/plist/dict/key[text()='ParentWholeDisk']/following-sibling::string[1]/text()" -
+    #
+    local special_device
+    special_device="$(/usr/bin/stat -f "%Sd" /)"
+    echo "${special_device%s[0-9]*}"
+}
+
+# make it easy to play w/ 'Case-sensitive APFS'
+readonly NIX_VOLUME_FS="${NIX_VOLUME_FS:-APFS}"
+readonly NIX_VOLUME_LABEL="${NIX_VOLUME_LABEL:-Nix Store}"
+# Strongly assuming we'll make a volume on the device / is on
+# But you can override NIX_VOLUME_USE_DISK to create it on some other device
+readonly NIX_VOLUME_USE_DISK="${NIX_VOLUME_USE_DISK:-$(root_disk_identifier)}"
+NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL="${NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL:-}"
+NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID="${NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID:-}"
+readonly NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST="${NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST:-/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.darwin-store.plist}"
+
+if /usr/bin/fdesetup isactive >/dev/null; then
+    test_filevault_in_use() { return 0; }
+    # no readonly; we may modify if user refuses from cure_volume
+    NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT="${NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT:-1}"
+else
+    test_filevault_in_use() { return 1; }
+    NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT="${NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT:-0}"
+fi
+
+should_encrypt_volume() {
+    test_filevault_in_use && (( NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT == 1 ))
 }
 
-find_nix_volume() {
-    diskutil apfs list -plist "$1" | xmllint --xpath "(/plist/dict/array/dict/key[text()='Volumes']/following-sibling::array/dict/key[text()='Name']/following-sibling::string[starts-with(translate(text(),'N','n'),'nix')]/text())[1]" - 2>/dev/null || true
+substep() {
+    printf "   %s\n" "" "- $1" "" "${@:2}"
+}
+
+
+volumes_labeled() {
+    local label="$1"
+    xsltproc --novalid --stringparam label "$label" - <(/usr/sbin/ioreg -ra -c "AppleAPFSVolume") <<'EOF'
+<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
+  <xsl:output method="text"/>
+  <xsl:template match="/">
+    <xsl:apply-templates select="/plist/array/dict/key[text()='IORegistryEntryName']/following-sibling::*[1][text()=$label]/.."/>
+  </xsl:template>
+  <xsl:template match="dict">
+    <xsl:apply-templates match="string" select="key[text()='BSD Name']/following-sibling::*[1]"/>
+    <xsl:text>=</xsl:text>
+    <xsl:apply-templates match="string" select="key[text()='UUID']/following-sibling::*[1]"/>
+    <xsl:text>&#xA;</xsl:text>
+  </xsl:template>
+</xsl:stylesheet>
+EOF
+    # I cut label out of the extracted values, but here it is for reference:
+    # <xsl:apply-templates match="string" select="key[text()='IORegistryEntryName']/following-sibling::*[1]"/>
+    # <xsl:text>=</xsl:text>
+}
+
+right_disk() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    [[ "$volume_special" == "$NIX_VOLUME_USE_DISK"s* ]]
+}
+
+right_volume() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    # if set, it must match; otherwise ensure it's on the right disk
+    if [ -z "$NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL" ]; then
+        if right_disk "$volume_special"; then
+            NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL="$volume_special" # latch on
+            return 0
+        else
+            return 1
+        fi
+    else
+        [ "$volume_special" = "$NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL" ]
+    fi
+}
+
+right_uuid() {
+    local volume_uuid="$1"
+    # if set, it must match; otherwise allow
+    if [ -z "$NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID" ]; then
+        NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID="$volume_uuid" # latch on
+        return 0
+    else
+        [ "$volume_uuid" = "$NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID" ]
+    fi
+}
+
+cure_volumes() {
+    local found volume special uuid
+    # loop just in case they have more than one volume
+    # (nothing stops you from doing this)
+    for volume in $(volumes_labeled "$NIX_VOLUME_LABEL"); do
+        # CAUTION: this could (maybe) be a more normal read
+        # loop like:
+        #   while IFS== read -r special uuid; do
+        #       # ...
+        #   done <<<"$(volumes_labeled "$NIX_VOLUME_LABEL")"
+        #
+        # I did it with for to skirt a problem with the obvious
+        # pattern replacing stdin and causing user prompts
+        # inside (which also use read and access stdin) to skip
+        #
+        # If there's an existing encrypted volume we can't find
+        # in keychain, the user never gets prompted to delete
+        # the volume, and the install fails.
+        #
+        # If you change this, a human needs to test a very
+        # specific scenario: you already have an encrypted
+        # Nix Store volume, and have deleted its credential
+        # from keychain. Ensure the script asks you if it can
+        # delete the volume, and then prompts for your sudo
+        # password to confirm.
+        #
+        # shellcheck disable=SC1097
+        IFS== read -r special uuid <<< "$volume"
+        # take the first one that's on the right disk
+        if [ -z "${found:-}" ]; then
+            if right_volume "$special" && right_uuid "$uuid"; then
+                cure_volume "$special" "$uuid"
+                found="${special} (${uuid})"
+            else
+                warning <<EOF
+Ignoring ${special} (${uuid}) because I am looking for:
+disk=${NIX_VOLUME_USE_DISK} special=${NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL:-${NIX_VOLUME_USE_DISK}sX} uuid=${NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID:-any}
+EOF
+                # TODO: give chance to delete if ! headless?
+            fi
+        else
+            warning <<EOF
+Ignoring ${special} (${uuid}), already found target: $found
+EOF
+            # TODO reminder? I feel like I want one
+            # idiom that reminds some warnings, or warns
+            # some reminders?
+            # TODO: if ! headless, chance to delete?
+        fi
+    done
+    if [ -z "${found:-}" ]; then
+        readonly NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID
+    fi
+}
+
+volume_encrypted() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    # Trying to match the first line of output; known first lines:
+    # No cryptographic users for <special>
+    # Cryptographic user for <special> (1 found)
+    # Cryptographic users for <special> (2 found)
+    /usr/sbin/diskutil apfs listCryptoUsers -plist "$volume_special" | /usr/bin/grep -q APFSCryptoUserUUID
 }
 
 test_fstab() {
-    grep -q "/nix apfs rw" /etc/fstab 2>/dev/null
+    /usr/bin/grep -q "$NIX_ROOT apfs rw" /etc/fstab 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_nix_root_is_symlink() {
+    [ -L "$NIX_ROOT" ]
+}
+
+test_synthetic_conf_either(){
+    /usr/bin/grep -qE "^${NIX_ROOT:1}($|\t.{3,}$)" /etc/synthetic.conf 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_synthetic_conf_mountable() {
+    /usr/bin/grep -q "^${NIX_ROOT:1}$" /etc/synthetic.conf 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_synthetic_conf_symlinked() {
+    /usr/bin/grep -qE "^${NIX_ROOT:1}\t.{3,}$" /etc/synthetic.conf 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+test_nix_volume_mountd_installed() {
+    test -e "$NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST"
 }
 
-test_nix_symlink() {
-    [ -L "/nix" ] || grep -q "^nix." /etc/synthetic.conf 2>/dev/null
+# current volume password
+test_keychain_by_uuid() {
+    local volume_uuid="$1"
+    # Note: doesn't need sudo just to check; doesn't output pw
+    security find-generic-password -s "$volume_uuid" &>/dev/null
 }
 
-test_synthetic_conf() {
-    grep -q "^nix$" /etc/synthetic.conf 2>/dev/null
+get_volume_pass() {
+    local volume_uuid="$1"
+    _sudo \
+        "to confirm keychain has a password that unlocks this volume" \
+        security find-generic-password -s "$volume_uuid" -w
+}
+
+verify_volume_pass() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    local volume_uuid="$2"
+    /usr/sbin/diskutil apfs unlockVolume "$volume_special" -verify -stdinpassphrase -user "$volume_uuid"
+}
+
+volume_pass_works() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    local volume_uuid="$2"
+    get_volume_pass "$volume_uuid" | verify_volume_pass "$volume_special" "$volume_uuid"
 }
 
 # Create the paths defined in synthetic.conf, saving us a reboot.
-create_synthetic_objects(){
+create_synthetic_objects() {
     # Big Sur takes away the -B flag we were using and replaces it
     # with a -t flag that appears to do the same thing (but they
     # don't behave exactly the same way in terms of return values).
@@ -41,129 +270,570 @@ create_synthetic_objects(){
 }
 
 test_nix() {
-    test -d "/nix"
-}
-
-test_t2_chip_present(){
-    # Use xartutil to see if system has a t2 chip.
-    #
-    # This isn't well-documented on its own; until it is,
-    # let's keep track of knowledge/assumptions.
-    #
-    # Warnings:
-    # - Don't search "xart" if porn will cause you trouble :)
-    # - Other xartutil flags do dangerous things. Don't run them
-    #   naively. If you must, search "xartutil" first.
-    #
-    # Assumptions:
-    # - the "xART session seeds recovery utility"
-    #   appears to interact with xartstorageremoted
-    # - `sudo xartutil --list` lists xART sessions
-    #   and their seeds and exits 0 if successful. If
-    #   not, it exits 1 and prints an error such as:
-    #   xartutil: ERROR: No supported link to the SEP present
-    # - xART sessions/seeds are present when a T2 chip is
-    #   (and not, otherwise)
-    # - the presence of a T2 chip means a newly-created
-    #   volume on the primary drive will be
-    #   encrypted at rest
-    # - all together: `sudo xartutil --list`
-    #   should exit 0 if a new Nix Store volume will
-    #   be encrypted at rest, and exit 1 if not.
-    sudo xartutil --list >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
-}
-
-test_filevault_in_use() {
-    fdesetup isactive >/dev/null
-}
-
-# use after error msg for conditions we don't understand
-suggest_report_error(){
-    # ex "error: something sad happened :(" >&2
-    echo "       please report this @ https://github.com/nixos/nix/issues" >&2
-}
-
-main() {
-    (
-        echo ""
-        echo "     ------------------------------------------------------------------ "
-        echo "    | This installer will create a volume for the nix store and        |"
-        echo "    | configure it to mount at /nix.  Follow these steps to uninstall. |"
-        echo "     ------------------------------------------------------------------ "
-        echo ""
-        echo "  1. Remove the entry from fstab using 'sudo vifs'"
-        echo "  2. Destroy the data volume using 'diskutil apfs deleteVolume'"
-        echo "  3. Remove the 'nix' line from /etc/synthetic.conf or the file"
-        echo ""
-    ) >&2
-
-    if test_nix_symlink; then
-        echo "error: /nix is a symlink, please remove it and make sure it's not in synthetic.conf (in which case a reboot is required)" >&2
-        echo "  /nix -> $(readlink "/nix")" >&2
-        exit 2
-    fi
-
-    if ! test_synthetic_conf; then
-        echo "Configuring /etc/synthetic.conf..." >&2
-        echo nix | sudo tee -a /etc/synthetic.conf
-        if ! test_synthetic_conf; then
-            echo "error: failed to configure synthetic.conf;" >&2
-            suggest_report_error
-            exit 1
+    test -d "$NIX_ROOT"
+}
+
+test_voldaemon() {
+    test -f "$NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST"
+}
+
+generate_mount_command() {
+    local cmd_type="$1" # encrypted|unencrypted
+    local volume_uuid mountpoint cmd=()
+    printf -v volume_uuid "%q" "$2"
+    printf -v mountpoint "%q" "$NIX_ROOT"
+
+    case "$cmd_type" in
+        encrypted)
+            cmd=(/bin/sh -c "/usr/bin/security find-generic-password -s '$volume_uuid' -w | /usr/sbin/diskutil apfs unlockVolume '$volume_uuid' -mountpoint '$mountpoint' -stdinpassphrase");;
+        unencrypted)
+            cmd=(/usr/sbin/diskutil mount -mountPoint "$mountpoint" "$volume_uuid");;
+        *)
+            failure "Invalid first arg $cmd_type to generate_mount_command";;
+    esac
+
+    printf "    <string>%s</string>\n" "${cmd[@]}"
+}
+
+generate_mount_daemon() {
+    local cmd_type="$1" # encrypted|unencrypted
+    local volume_uuid="$2"
+    cat <<EOF
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
+<plist version="1.0">
+<dict>
+  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
+  <true/>
+  <key>Label</key>
+  <string>org.nixos.darwin-store</string>
+  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
+  <array>
+$(generate_mount_command "$cmd_type" "$volume_uuid")
+  </array>
+</dict>
+</plist>
+EOF
+}
+
+_eat_bootout_err() {
+    /usr/bin/grep -v "Boot-out failed: 36: Operation now in progress"
+}
+
+# TODO: remove with --uninstall?
+uninstall_launch_daemon_directions() {
+    local daemon_label="$1" # i.e., org.nixos.blah-blah
+    local daemon_plist="$2" # abspath
+    substep "Uninstall LaunchDaemon $daemon_label" \
+      "  sudo launchctl bootout system/$daemon_label" \
+      "  sudo rm $daemon_plist"
+}
+
+uninstall_launch_daemon_prompt() {
+    local daemon_label="$1" # i.e., org.nixos.blah-blah
+    local daemon_plist="$2" # abspath
+    local reason_for_daemon="$3"
+    cat <<EOF
+
+The installer adds a LaunchDaemon to $reason_for_daemon: $daemon_label
+EOF
+    if ui_confirm "Can I remove it?"; then
+        _sudo "to terminate the daemon" \
+            launchctl bootout "system/$daemon_label" 2> >(_eat_bootout_err >&2) || true
+            # this can "fail" with a message like:
+            # Boot-out failed: 36: Operation now in progress
+        _sudo "to remove the daemon definition" rm "$daemon_plist"
+    fi
+}
+
+nix_volume_mountd_uninstall_directions() {
+    uninstall_launch_daemon_directions "org.nixos.darwin-store" \
+        "$NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST"
+}
+
+nix_volume_mountd_uninstall_prompt() {
+    uninstall_launch_daemon_prompt "org.nixos.darwin-store" \
+        "$NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST" \
+        "mount your Nix volume"
+}
+
+# TODO: move nix_daemon to install-darwin-multi-user if/when uninstall_launch_daemon_prompt moves up to install-multi-user
+nix_daemon_uninstall_prompt() {
+    uninstall_launch_daemon_prompt "org.nixos.nix-daemon" \
+        "$NIX_DAEMON_DEST" \
+        "run the nix-daemon"
+}
+
+# TODO: remove with --uninstall?
+nix_daemon_uninstall_directions() {
+    uninstall_launch_daemon_directions "org.nixos.nix-daemon" \
+        "$NIX_DAEMON_DEST"
+}
+
+
+# TODO: remove with --uninstall?
+synthetic_conf_uninstall_directions() {
+    # :1 to strip leading slash
+    substep "Remove ${NIX_ROOT:1} from /etc/synthetic.conf" \
+        "  If nix is the only entry: sudo rm /etc/synthetic.conf" \
+        "  Otherwise: sudo /usr/bin/sed -i '' -e '/^${NIX_ROOT:1}$/d' /etc/synthetic.conf"
+}
+
+synthetic_conf_uninstall_prompt() {
+    cat <<EOF
+
+During install, I add '${NIX_ROOT:1}' to /etc/synthetic.conf, which instructs
+macOS to create an empty root directory for mounting the Nix volume.
+EOF
+    # make the edit to a copy
+    /usr/bin/grep -vE "^${NIX_ROOT:1}($|\t.{3,}$)" /etc/synthetic.conf > "$SCRATCH/synthetic.conf.edit"
+
+    if test_synthetic_conf_symlinked; then
+        warning <<EOF
+
+/etc/synthetic.conf already contains a line instructing your system
+to make '${NIX_ROOT}' as a symlink:
+    $(/usr/bin/grep -nE "^${NIX_ROOT:1}\t.{3,}$" /etc/synthetic.conf)
+
+This may mean your system has/had a non-standard Nix install.
+
+The volume-creation process in this installer is *not* compatible
+with a symlinked store, so I'll have to remove this instruction to
+continue.
+
+If you want/need to keep this instruction, answer 'n' to abort.
+
+EOF
+    fi
+
+    # ask to rm if this left the file empty aside from comments, else edit
+    if /usr/bin/diff -q <(:) <(/usr/bin/grep -v "^#" "$SCRATCH/synthetic.conf.edit") &>/dev/null; then
+        if confirm_rm "/etc/synthetic.conf"; then
+            if test_nix_root_is_symlink; then
+                failure >&2 <<EOF
+I removed /etc/synthetic.conf, but $NIX_ROOT is already a symlink
+(-> $(readlink "$NIX_ROOT")). The system should remove it when you reboot.
+Once you've rebooted, run the installer again.
+EOF
+            fi
+            return 0
+        fi
+    else
+        if confirm_edit "$SCRATCH/synthetic.conf.edit" "/etc/synthetic.conf"; then
+            if test_nix_root_is_symlink; then
+                failure >&2 <<EOF
+I edited Nix out of /etc/synthetic.conf, but $NIX_ROOT is already a symlink
+(-> $(readlink "$NIX_ROOT")). The system should remove it when you reboot.
+Once you've rebooted, run the installer again.
+EOF
+            fi
+            return 0
         fi
     fi
+    # fallback instructions
+    echo "Manually remove nix from /etc/synthetic.conf"
+    return 1
+}
 
-    if ! test_nix; then
-        echo "Creating mountpoint for /nix..." >&2
-        create_synthetic_objects # the ones we defined in synthetic.conf
-        if ! test_nix; then
-            sudo mkdir -p /nix 2>/dev/null || true
+add_nix_vol_fstab_line() {
+    local uuid="$1"
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1003,SC2026
+    local escaped_mountpoint="${NIX_ROOT/ /'\\\'040}"
+    shift
+    EDITOR="/usr/bin/ex" _sudo "to add nix to fstab" "$@" <<EOF
+:a
+UUID=$uuid $escaped_mountpoint apfs rw,noauto,nobrowse,suid,owners
+.
+:x
+EOF
+    # TODO: preserving my notes on suid,owners above until resolved
+    # There *may* be some issue regarding volume ownership, see nix#3156
+    #
+    # It seems like the cheapest fix is adding "suid,owners" to fstab, but:
+    # - We don't have much info on this condition yet
+    # - I'm not certain if these cause other problems?
+    # - There's a "chown" component some people claim to need to fix this
+    #   that I don't understand yet
+    #   (Note however that I've had to add a chown step to handle
+    #   single->multi-user reinstalls, which may cover this)
+    #
+    # I'm not sure if it's safe to approach this way?
+    #
+    # I think I think the most-proper way to test for it is:
+    # diskutil info -plist "$NIX_VOLUME_LABEL" | xmllint --xpath "(/plist/dict/key[text()='GlobalPermissionsEnabled'])/following-sibling::*[1][name()='true']" -; echo $?
+    #
+    # There's also `sudo /usr/sbin/vsdbutil -c /path` (which is much faster, but is also
+    # deprecated and needs minor parsing).
+    #
+    # If no one finds a problem with doing so, I think the simplest approach
+    # is to just eagerly set this. I found a few imperative approaches:
+    # (diskutil enableOwnership, ~100ms), a cheap one (/usr/sbin/vsdbutil -a, ~40-50ms),
+    # a very cheap one (append the internal format to /var/db/volinfo.database).
+    #
+    # But vsdbutil's deprecation notice suggests using fstab, so I want to
+    # give that a whirl first.
+    #
+    # TODO: when this is workable, poke infinisil about reproducing the issue
+    # and confirming this fix?
+}
+
+delete_nix_vol_fstab_line() {
+    # TODO: I'm scaffolding this to handle the new nix volumes
+    # but it might be nice to generalize a smidge further to
+    # go ahead and set up a pattern for curing "old" things
+    # we no longer do?
+    EDITOR="/usr/bin/patch" _sudo "to cut nix from fstab" "$@" < <(/usr/bin/diff /etc/fstab <(/usr/bin/grep -v "$NIX_ROOT apfs rw" /etc/fstab))
+    # leaving some parts out of the grep; people may fiddle this a little?
+}
+
+# TODO: hope to remove with --uninstall
+fstab_uninstall_directions() {
+    substep "Remove ${NIX_ROOT} from /etc/fstab" \
+      "  If nix is the only entry: sudo rm /etc/fstab" \
+      "  Otherwise, run 'sudo /usr/sbin/vifs' to remove the nix line"
+}
+
+fstab_uninstall_prompt() {
+    cat <<EOF
+During install, I add '${NIX_ROOT}' to /etc/fstab so that macOS knows what
+mount options to use for the Nix volume.
+EOF
+    cp /etc/fstab "$SCRATCH/fstab.edit"
+    # technically doesn't need the _sudo path, but throwing away the
+    # output is probably better than mostly-duplicating the code...
+    delete_nix_vol_fstab_line patch "$SCRATCH/fstab.edit" &>/dev/null
+
+    # if the patch test edit, minus comment lines, is equal to empty (:)
+    if /usr/bin/diff -q <(:) <(/usr/bin/grep -v "^#" "$SCRATCH/fstab.edit") &>/dev/null; then
+        # this edit would leave it empty; propose deleting it
+        if confirm_rm "/etc/fstab"; then
+            return 0
+        else
+            echo "Remove nix from /etc/fstab (or remove the file)"
         fi
-        if ! test_nix; then
-            echo "error: failed to bootstrap /nix; if a reboot doesn't help," >&2
-            suggest_report_error
-            exit 1
+    else
+        echo "I might be able to help you make this edit. Here's the diff:"
+        if ! _diff "/etc/fstab" "$SCRATCH/fstab.edit" && ui_confirm "Does the change above look right?"; then
+            delete_nix_vol_fstab_line /usr/sbin/vifs
+        else
+            echo "Remove nix from /etc/fstab (or remove the file)"
         fi
     fi
+}
+
+remove_volume() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    _sudo "to unmount the Nix volume" \
+        /usr/sbin/diskutil unmount force "$volume_special" || true # might not be mounted
+    _sudo "to delete the Nix volume" \
+        /usr/sbin/diskutil apfs deleteVolume "$volume_special"
+}
 
-    disk="$(root_disk_identifier)"
-    volume=$(find_nix_volume "$disk")
-    if [ -z "$volume" ]; then
-        echo "Creating a Nix Store volume..." >&2
-
-        if test_filevault_in_use; then
-            # TODO: Not sure if it's in-scope now, but `diskutil apfs list`
-            # shows both filevault and encrypted at rest status, and it
-            # may be the more semantic way to test for this? It'll show
-            # `FileVault:                 No (Encrypted at rest)`
-            # `FileVault:                 No`
-            # `FileVault:                 Yes (Unlocked)`
-            # and so on.
-            if test_t2_chip_present; then
-                echo "warning: boot volume is FileVault-encrypted, but the Nix store volume" >&2
-                echo "         is only encrypted at rest." >&2
-                echo "         See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation" >&2
+# aspiration: robust enough to both fix problems
+# *and* update older darwin volumes
+cure_volume() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    local volume_uuid="$2"
+    header "Found existing Nix volume"
+    row "  special" "$volume_special"
+    row "     uuid" "$volume_uuid"
+
+    if volume_encrypted "$volume_special"; then
+        row "encrypted" "yes"
+        if volume_pass_works "$volume_special" "$volume_uuid"; then
+            NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT=0
+            ok "Found a working decryption password in keychain :)"
+            echo ""
+        else
+            # - this is a volume we made, and
+            #   - the user encrypted it on their own
+            #   - something deleted the credential
+            # - this is an old or BYO volume and the pw
+            #   just isn't somewhere we can find it.
+            #
+            # We're going to explain why we're freaking out
+            # and prompt them to either delete the volume
+            # (requiring a sudo auth), or abort to fix
+            warning <<EOF
+
+This volume is encrypted, but I don't see a password to decrypt it.
+The quick fix is to let me delete this volume and make you a new one.
+If that's okay, enter your (sudo) password to continue. If not, you
+can ensure the decryption password is in your system keychain with a
+"Where" (service) field set to this volume's UUID:
+  $volume_uuid
+EOF
+            if password_confirm "delete this volume"; then
+                remove_volume "$volume_special"
             else
-                echo "error: refusing to create Nix store volume because the boot volume is" >&2
-                echo "       FileVault encrypted, but encryption-at-rest is not available." >&2
-                echo "       Manually create a volume for the store and re-run this script." >&2
-                echo "       See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation" >&2
-                exit 1
+                # TODO: this is a good design case for a warn-and
+                # remind idiom...
+                failure <<EOF
+Your Nix volume is encrypted, but I couldn't find its password. Either:
+- Delete or rename the volume out of the way
+- Ensure its decryption password is in the system keychain with a
+  "Where" (service) field set to this volume's UUID:
+    $volume_uuid
+EOF
+            fi
+        fi
+    elif test_filevault_in_use; then
+        row "encrypted" "no"
+        warning <<EOF
+FileVault is on, but your $NIX_VOLUME_LABEL volume isn't encrypted.
+EOF
+        # if we're interactive, give them a chance to
+        # encrypt the volume. If not, /shrug
+        if ! headless && (( NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT == 1 )); then
+            if ui_confirm "Should I encrypt it and add the decryption key to your keychain?"; then
+                encrypt_volume "$volume_uuid" "$NIX_VOLUME_LABEL"
+                NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT=0
+            else
+                NIX_VOLUME_DO_ENCRYPT=0
+                reminder "FileVault is on, but your $NIX_VOLUME_LABEL volume isn't encrypted."
             fi
         fi
-
-        sudo diskutil apfs addVolume "$disk" APFS 'Nix Store' -mountpoint /nix
-        volume="Nix Store"
     else
-        echo "Using existing '$volume' volume" >&2
+        row "encrypted" "no"
     fi
+}
 
+remove_volume_artifacts() {
+    if test_synthetic_conf_either; then
+        # NIX_ROOT is in synthetic.conf
+        if synthetic_conf_uninstall_prompt; then
+            # TODO: moot until we tackle uninstall, but when we're
+            # actually uninstalling, we should issue:
+            # reminder "macOS will clean up the empty mount-point directory at $NIX_ROOT on reboot."
+            :
+        fi
+    fi
+    if test_fstab; then
+        fstab_uninstall_prompt
+    fi
+
+    if test_nix_volume_mountd_installed; then
+        nix_volume_mountd_uninstall_prompt
+    fi
+}
+
+setup_synthetic_conf() {
+    if test_nix_root_is_symlink; then
+        if ! test_synthetic_conf_symlinked; then
+            failure >&2 <<EOF
+error: $NIX_ROOT is a symlink (-> $(readlink "$NIX_ROOT")).
+Please remove it. If nix is in /etc/synthetic.conf, remove it and reboot.
+EOF
+        fi
+    fi
+    if ! test_synthetic_conf_mountable; then
+        task "Configuring /etc/synthetic.conf to make a mount-point at $NIX_ROOT" >&2
+        # technically /etc/synthetic.d/nix is supported in Big Sur+
+        # but handling both takes even more code...
+        _sudo "to add Nix to /etc/synthetic.conf" \
+            /usr/bin/ex /etc/synthetic.conf <<EOF
+:a
+${NIX_ROOT:1}
+.
+:x
+EOF
+        if ! test_synthetic_conf_mountable; then
+            failure "error: failed to configure synthetic.conf" >&2
+        fi
+        create_synthetic_objects
+        if ! test_nix; then
+            failure >&2 <<EOF
+error: failed to bootstrap $NIX_ROOT
+If you enabled FileVault after booting, this is likely a known issue
+with macOS that you'll have to reboot to fix. If you didn't enable FV,
+though, please open an issue describing how the system that you see
+this error on was set up.
+EOF
+        fi
+    fi
+}
+
+setup_fstab() {
+    local volume_uuid="$1"
+    # fstab used to be responsible for mounting the volume. Now the last
+    # step adds a LaunchDaemon responsible for mounting. This is technically
+    # redundant for mounting, but diskutil appears to pick up mount options
+    # from fstab (and diskutil's support for specifying them directly is not
+    # consistent across versions/subcommands).
     if ! test_fstab; then
-        echo "Configuring /etc/fstab..." >&2
-        label=$(echo "$volume" | sed 's/ /\\040/g')
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2209
-        printf "\$a\nLABEL=%s /nix apfs rw,nobrowse\n.\nwq\n" "$label" | EDITOR=ed sudo vifs
+        task "Configuring /etc/fstab to specify volume mount options" >&2
+        add_nix_vol_fstab_line "$volume_uuid" /usr/sbin/vifs
+    fi
+}
+
+encrypt_volume() {
+    local volume_uuid="$1"
+    local volume_label="$2"
+    local password
+    # Note: mount/unmount are late additions to support the right order
+    # of operations for creating the volume and then baking its uuid into
+    # other artifacts; not as well-trod wrt to potential errors, race
+    # conditions, etc.
+
+    /usr/sbin/diskutil mount "$volume_label"
+
+    password="$(/usr/bin/xxd -l 32 -p -c 256 /dev/random)"
+    _sudo "to add your Nix volume's password to Keychain" \
+        /usr/bin/security -i <<EOF
+add-generic-password -a "$volume_label" -s "$volume_uuid" -l "$volume_label encryption password" -D "Encrypted volume password" -j "Added automatically by the Nix installer for use by $NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST" -w "$password" -T /System/Library/CoreServices/APFSUserAgent -T /System/Library/CoreServices/CSUserAgent -T /usr/bin/security "/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
+EOF
+    builtin printf "%s" "$password" | _sudo "to encrypt your Nix volume" \
+        /usr/sbin/diskutil apfs encryptVolume "$volume_label" -user disk -stdinpassphrase
+
+    /usr/sbin/diskutil unmount force "$volume_label"
+}
+
+create_volume() {
+    # Notes:
+    # 1) using `-nomount` instead of `-mountpoint "$NIX_ROOT"` to get
+    # its UUID and set mount opts in fstab before first mount
+    #
+    # 2) system is in some sense less secure than user keychain... (it's
+    # possible to read the password for decrypting the keychain) but
+    # the user keychain appears to be available too late. As far as I
+    # can tell, the file with this password (/var/db/SystemKey) is
+    # inside the FileVault envelope. If that isn't true, it may make
+    # sense to store the password inside the envelope?
+    #
+    # 3) At some point it would be ideal to have a small binary to serve
+    # as the daemon itself, and for it to replace /usr/bin/security here.
+    #
+    # 4) *UserAgent exemptions should let the system seamlessly supply the
+    # password if noauto is removed from fstab entry. This is intentional;
+    # the user will hopefully look for help if the volume stops mounting,
+    # rather than failing over into subtle race-condition problems.
+    #
+    # 5) If we ever get users griping about not having space to do
+    # anything useful with Nix, it is possibly to specify
+    # `-reserve 10g` or something, which will fail w/o that much
+    #
+    # 6) getting special w/ awk may be fragile, but doing it to:
+    #    - save time over running slow diskutil commands
+    #    - skirt risk we grab wrong volume if multiple match
+    /usr/sbin/diskutil apfs addVolume "$NIX_VOLUME_USE_DISK" "$NIX_VOLUME_FS" "$NIX_VOLUME_LABEL" -nomount | /usr/bin/awk '/Created new APFS Volume/ {print $5}'
+}
+
+volume_uuid_from_special() {
+    local volume_special="$1" # (i.e., disk1s7)
+    # For reasons I won't pretend to fathom, this returns 253 when it works
+    /System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs.util -k "$volume_special" || true
+}
+
+# this sometimes clears immediately, and AFAIK clears
+# within about 1s. diskutil info on an unmounted path
+# fails in around 50-100ms and a match takes about
+# 250-300ms. I suspect it's usually ~250-750ms
+await_volume() {
+    # caution: this could, in theory, get stuck
+    until /usr/sbin/diskutil info "$NIX_ROOT" &>/dev/null; do
+        :
+    done
+}
+
+setup_volume() {
+    local use_special use_uuid profile_packages
+    task "Creating a Nix volume" >&2
+    # DOING: I'm tempted to wrap this call in a grep to get the new disk special without doing anything too complex, but this sudo wrapper *is* a little complex, so it'll be a PITA unless maybe we can skip sudo on this. Let's just try it without.
+
+    use_special="${NIX_VOLUME_USE_SPECIAL:-$(create_volume)}"
+
+    use_uuid=${NIX_VOLUME_USE_UUID:-$(volume_uuid_from_special "$use_special")}
+
+    setup_fstab "$use_uuid"
+
+    if should_encrypt_volume; then
+        encrypt_volume "$use_uuid" "$NIX_VOLUME_LABEL"
+        setup_volume_daemon "encrypted" "$use_uuid"
+    # TODO: might be able to save ~60ms by caching or setting
+    # this somewhere rather than re-checking here.
+    elif volume_encrypted "$use_special"; then
+        setup_volume_daemon "encrypted" "$use_uuid"
+    else
+        setup_volume_daemon "unencrypted" "$use_uuid"
+    fi
+
+    await_volume
+
+    # TODO: below is a vague kludge for now; I just don't know
+    # what if any safe action there is to take here. Also, the
+    # reminder isn't very helpful.
+    # I'm less sure where this belongs, but it also wants mounted, pre-install
+    if type -p nix-env; then
+        profile_packages="$(nix-env --query --installed)"
+        # TODO: can probably do below faster w/ read
+        # intentionally unquoted string to eat whitespace in wc output
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2046,SC2059
+        if ! [ $(printf "$profile_packages" | /usr/bin/wc -l) = "0" ]; then
+            reminder <<EOF
+Nix now supports only multi-user installs on Darwin/macOS, and your user's
+Nix profile has some packages in it. These packages may obscure those in the
+default profile, including the Nix this installer will add. You should
+review these packages:
+$profile_packages
+EOF
+        fi
+    fi
+
+}
+
+setup_volume_daemon() {
+    local cmd_type="$1" # encrypted|unencrypted
+    local volume_uuid="$2"
+    if ! test_voldaemon; then
+        task "Configuring LaunchDaemon to mount '$NIX_VOLUME_LABEL'" >&2
+        _sudo "to install the Nix volume mounter" /usr/bin/ex "$NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST" <<EOF
+:a
+$(generate_mount_daemon "$cmd_type" "$volume_uuid")
+.
+:x
+EOF
+
+        # TODO: should probably alert the user if this is disabled?
+        _sudo "to launch the Nix volume mounter" \
+            launchctl bootstrap system "$NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST" || true
+        # TODO: confirm whether kickstart is necessesary?
+        # I feel a little superstitous, but it can guard
+        # against multiple problems (doesn't start, old
+        # version still running for some reason...)
+        _sudo "to launch the Nix volume mounter" \
+            launchctl kickstart -k system/org.nixos.darwin-store
     fi
 }
 
-main "$@"
+setup_darwin_volume() {
+    setup_synthetic_conf
+    setup_volume
+}
+
+if [ "$_CREATE_VOLUME_NO_MAIN" = 1 ]; then
+    if [ -n "$*" ]; then
+        "$@" # expose functions in case we want multiple routines?
+    fi
+else
+    # no reason to pay for bash to process this
+    main() {
+        {
+            echo ""
+            echo "     ------------------------------------------------------------------ "
+            echo "    | This installer will create a volume for the nix store and        |"
+            echo "    | configure it to mount at $NIX_ROOT.  Follow these steps to uninstall. |"
+            echo "     ------------------------------------------------------------------ "
+            echo ""
+            echo "  1. Remove the entry from fstab using 'sudo /usr/sbin/vifs'"
+            echo "  2. Run 'sudo launchctl bootout system/org.nixos.darwin-store'"
+            echo "  3. Remove $NIX_VOLUME_MOUNTD_DEST"
+            echo "  4. Destroy the data volume using '/usr/sbin/diskutil apfs deleteVolume'"
+            echo "  5. Remove the 'nix' line from /etc/synthetic.conf (or the file)"
+            echo ""
+        } >&2
+
+        setup_darwin_volume
+    }
+
+    main "$@"
+fi
diff --git a/scripts/install-darwin-multi-user.sh b/scripts/install-darwin-multi-user.sh
index f6575ae2f..f8d6c5e8f 100644
--- a/scripts/install-darwin-multi-user.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-darwin-multi-user.sh
@@ -3,59 +3,99 @@
 set -eu
 set -o pipefail
 
-readonly PLIST_DEST=/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist
+readonly NIX_DAEMON_DEST=/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist
+# create by default; set 0 to DIY, use a symlink, etc.
+readonly NIX_VOLUME_CREATE=${NIX_VOLUME_CREATE:-1} # now default
 NIX_FIRST_BUILD_UID="301"
 NIX_BUILD_USER_NAME_TEMPLATE="_nixbld%d"
 
+# caution: may update times on / if not run as normal non-root user
+read_only_root() {
+    # this touch command ~should~ always produce an error
+    # as of this change I confirmed /usr/bin/touch emits:
+    # "touch: /: Read-only file system" Catalina+ and Big Sur
+    # "touch: /: Permission denied" Mojave
+    # (not matching prefix for compat w/ coreutils touch in case using
+    # an explicit path causes problems; its prefix differs)
+    [[ "$(/usr/bin/touch / 2>&1)" = *"Read-only file system" ]]
+
+    # Avoiding the slow semantic way to get this information (~330ms vs ~8ms)
+    # unless using touch causes problems. Just in case, that approach is:
+    # diskutil info -plist / | <find the Writable or WritableVolume keys>, i.e.
+    # diskutil info -plist / | xmllint --xpath "name(/plist/dict/key[text()='Writable']/following-sibling::*[1])" -
+}
+
+if read_only_root && [ "$NIX_VOLUME_CREATE" = 1 ]; then
+    should_create_volume() { return 0; }
+else
+    should_create_volume() { return 1; }
+fi
+
+# shellcheck source=./create-darwin-volume.sh
+. "$EXTRACTED_NIX_PATH/create-darwin-volume.sh" "no-main"
+
 dsclattr() {
     /usr/bin/dscl . -read "$1" \
-        | awk "/$2/ { print \$2 }"
+        | /usr/bin/awk "/$2/ { print \$2 }"
+}
+
+test_nix_daemon_installed() {
+  test -e "$NIX_DAEMON_DEST"
 }
 
-poly_validate_assumptions() {
-    if [ "$(uname -s)" != "Darwin" ]; then
-        failure "This script is for use with macOS!"
+poly_cure_artifacts() {
+    if should_create_volume; then
+        task "Fixing any leftover Nix volume state"
+        cat <<EOF
+Before I try to install, I'll check for any existing Nix volume config
+and ask for your permission to remove it (so that the installer can
+start fresh). I'll also ask for permission to fix any issues I spot.
+EOF
+        cure_volumes
+        remove_volume_artifacts
     fi
 }
 
 poly_service_installed_check() {
-    [ -e "$PLIST_DEST" ]
+    if should_create_volume; then
+        test_nix_daemon_installed || test_nix_volume_mountd_installed
+    else
+        test_nix_daemon_installed
+    fi
 }
 
 poly_service_uninstall_directions() {
-        cat <<EOF
-$1. Delete $PLIST_DEST
-
-  sudo launchctl unload $PLIST_DEST
-  sudo rm $PLIST_DEST
-
-EOF
+    echo "$1. Remove macOS-specific components:"
+    if should_create_volume && test_nix_volume_mountd_installed; then
+        darwin_volume_uninstall_directions
+    fi
+    if test_nix_daemon_installed; then
+        nix_daemon_uninstall_directions
+    fi
 }
 
 poly_service_setup_note() {
-    cat <<EOF
- - load and start a LaunchDaemon (at $PLIST_DEST) for nix-daemon
-
-EOF
+    if should_create_volume; then
+        echo " - create a Nix volume and a LaunchDaemon to mount it"
+    fi
+    echo " - create a LaunchDaemon (at $NIX_DAEMON_DEST) for nix-daemon"
+    echo ""
 }
 
-poly_extra_try_me_commands(){
-  :
-}
-poly_extra_setup_instructions(){
-  :
+poly_extra_try_me_commands() {
+    :
 }
 
 poly_configure_nix_daemon_service() {
+    task "Setting up the nix-daemon LaunchDaemon"
     _sudo "to set up the nix-daemon as a LaunchDaemon" \
-          cp -f "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default$PLIST_DEST" "$PLIST_DEST"
+          /bin/cp -f "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default$NIX_DAEMON_DEST" "$NIX_DAEMON_DEST"
 
     _sudo "to load the LaunchDaemon plist for nix-daemon" \
           launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist
 
     _sudo "to start the nix-daemon" \
-          launchctl start org.nixos.nix-daemon
-
+          launchctl kickstart -k system/org.nixos.nix-daemon
 }
 
 poly_group_exists() {
@@ -96,6 +136,8 @@ poly_user_home_get() {
 }
 
 poly_user_home_set() {
+    # This can trigger a permission prompt now:
+    # "Terminal" would like to administer your computer. Administration can include modifying passwords, networking, and system settings.
     _sudo "in order to give $1 a safe home directory" \
           /usr/bin/dscl . -create "/Users/$1" "NFSHomeDirectory" "$2"
 }
@@ -121,7 +163,7 @@ poly_user_shell_set() {
 poly_user_in_group_check() {
     username=$1
     group=$2
-    dseditgroup -o checkmember -m "$username" "$group" > /dev/null 2>&1
+    /usr/sbin/dseditgroup -o checkmember -m "$username" "$group" > /dev/null 2>&1
 }
 
 poly_user_in_group_set() {
@@ -151,3 +193,17 @@ poly_create_build_user() {
           /usr/bin/dscl . create "/Users/$username" \
           UniqueID "${uid}"
 }
+
+poly_prepare_to_install() {
+    if should_create_volume; then
+        header "Preparing a Nix volume"
+        # intentional indent below to match task indent
+        cat <<EOF
+    Nix traditionally stores its data in the root directory $NIX_ROOT, but
+    macOS now (starting in 10.15 Catalina) has a read-only root directory.
+    To support Nix, I will create a volume and configure macOS to mount it
+    at $NIX_ROOT.
+EOF
+        setup_darwin_volume
+    fi
+}
diff --git a/scripts/install-multi-user.sh b/scripts/install-multi-user.sh
index 66825f9de..9b62e708f 100644
--- a/scripts/install-multi-user.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-multi-user.sh
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ readonly NIX_INSTALLED_CACERT="@cacert@"
 #readonly NIX_INSTALLED_CACERT="/nix/store/7dxhzymvy330i28ii676fl1pqwcahv2f-nss-cacert-3.49.2"
 readonly EXTRACTED_NIX_PATH="$(dirname "$0")"
 
-readonly ROOT_HOME=$(echo ~root)
+readonly ROOT_HOME=~root
 
 if [ -t 0 ]; then
     readonly IS_HEADLESS='no'
@@ -59,14 +59,18 @@ headless() {
     fi
 }
 
-contactme() {
-    echo "We'd love to help if you need it."
+contact_us() {
+    echo "You can open an issue at https://github.com/nixos/nix/issues"
     echo ""
-    echo "If you can, open an issue at https://github.com/nixos/nix/issues"
+    echo "Or feel free to contact the team:"
+    echo " - IRC: in #nixos on irc.freenode.net"
+    echo " - twitter: @nixos_org"
+    echo " - forum: https://discourse.nixos.org"
+}
+get_help() {
+    echo "We'd love to help if you need it."
     echo ""
-    echo "Or feel free to contact the team,"
-    echo " - on IRC #nixos on irc.freenode.net"
-    echo " - on twitter @nixos_org"
+    contact_us
 }
 
 uninstall_directions() {
@@ -102,7 +106,6 @@ $step. Delete the files Nix added to your system:
 and that is it.
 
 EOF
-
 }
 
 nix_user_for_core() {
@@ -170,7 +173,7 @@ failure() {
     header "oh no!"
     _textout "$RED" "$@"
     echo ""
-    _textout "$RED" "$(contactme)"
+    _textout "$RED" "$(get_help)"
     trap finish_cleanup EXIT
     exit 1
 }
@@ -201,6 +204,95 @@ ui_confirm() {
     return 1
 }
 
+printf -v _UNCHANGED_GRP_FMT "%b" $'\033[2m%='"$ESC" # "dim"
+# bold+invert+red and bold+invert+green just for the +/- below
+# red/green foreground for rest of the line
+printf -v _OLD_LINE_FMT "%b" $'\033[1;7;31m-'"$ESC ${RED}%L${ESC}"
+printf -v _NEW_LINE_FMT "%b" $'\033[1;7;32m+'"$ESC ${GREEN}%L${ESC}"
+
+_diff() {
+    # simple colorized diff comatible w/ pre `--color` versions
+    diff --unchanged-group-format="$_UNCHANGED_GRP_FMT" --old-line-format="$_OLD_LINE_FMT" --new-line-format="$_NEW_LINE_FMT" --unchanged-line-format="  %L" "$@"
+}
+
+confirm_rm() {
+    local path="$1"
+    if ui_confirm "Can I remove $path?"; then
+        _sudo "to remove $path" rm "$path"
+    fi
+}
+
+confirm_edit() {
+    local path="$1"
+    local edit_path="$2"
+    cat <<EOF
+
+Nix isn't the only thing in $path,
+but I think I know how to edit it out.
+Here's the diff:
+EOF
+
+    # could technically test the diff, but caller should do it
+    _diff "$path" "$edit_path"
+    if ui_confirm "Does the change above look right?"; then
+        _sudo "remove nix from $path" cp "$edit_path" "$path"
+    fi
+}
+
+_SERIOUS_BUSINESS="${RED}%s:${ESC} "
+password_confirm() {
+    local do_something_consequential="$1"
+    if ui_confirm "Can I $do_something_consequential?"; then
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2059
+        sudo -kv --prompt="$(printf "${_SERIOUS_BUSINESS}" "Enter your password to $do_something_consequential")"
+    else
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
+# Support accumulating reminders over the course of a run and showing
+# them at the end. An example where this helps: the installer changes
+# something, but it won't work without a reboot. If you tell the user
+# when you do it, they may miss it in the stream. The value of the
+# setting isn't enough to decide whether to message because you only
+# need to message if you *changed* it.
+
+# reminders stored in array delimited by empty entry; if ! headless,
+# user is asked to confirm after each delimiter.
+_reminders=()
+((_remind_num=1))
+
+remind() {
+    # (( arithmetic expression ))
+    if (( _remind_num > 1 )); then
+        header "Reminders"
+        for line in "${_reminders[@]}"; do
+            echo "$line"
+            if ! headless && [ "${#line}" = 0 ]; then
+                if read -r -p "Press enter/return to acknowledge."; then
+                    printf $'\033[A\33[2K\r'
+                fi
+            fi
+        done
+    fi
+}
+
+reminder() {
+    printf -v label "${BLUE}[ %d ]${ESC}" "$_remind_num"
+    _reminders+=("$label")
+    if [[ "$*" = "" ]]; then
+        while read -r line; do
+            _reminders+=("$line")
+        done
+    else
+        # this expands each arg to an array entry (and each entry will
+        # ultimately be a separate line in the output)
+        _reminders+=("$@")
+    fi
+    _reminders+=("")
+    ((_remind_num++))
+}
+
 __sudo() {
     local expl="$1"
     local cmd="$2"
@@ -221,18 +313,18 @@ _sudo() {
     local expl="$1"
     shift
     if ! headless; then
-        __sudo "$expl" "$*"
+        __sudo "$expl" "$*" >&2
     fi
     sudo "$@"
 }
 
 
-readonly SCRATCH=$(mktemp -d -t tmp.XXXXXXXXXX)
-function finish_cleanup {
+readonly SCRATCH=$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp/}tmp.XXXXXXXXXX")
+finish_cleanup() {
     rm -rf "$SCRATCH"
 }
 
-function finish_fail {
+finish_fail() {
     finish_cleanup
 
     failure <<EOF
@@ -244,45 +336,46 @@ EOF
 }
 trap finish_fail EXIT
 
-channel_update_failed=0
-function finish_success {
-    finish_cleanup
-
+finish_success() {
     ok "Alright! We're done!"
-    if [ "x$channel_update_failed" = x1 ]; then
-        echo ""
-        echo "But fetching the nixpkgs channel failed. (Are you offline?)"
-        echo "To try again later, run \"sudo -i nix-channel --update nixpkgs\"."
-    fi
 
     cat <<EOF
-
-Before Nix will work in your existing shells, you'll need to close
-them and open them again. Other than that, you should be ready to go.
-
 Try it! Open a new terminal, and type:
 $(poly_extra_try_me_commands)
   $ nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m"
-$(poly_extra_setup_instructions)
-Thank you for using this installer. If you have any feedback, don't
-hesitate:
 
-$(contactme)
-EOF
+Thank you for using this installer. If you have any feedback or need
+help, don't hesitate:
 
+$(contact_us)
+EOF
+    remind
+    finish_cleanup
 }
 
+finish_uninstall_success() {
+    ok "Alright! Nix should be removed!"
 
-validate_starting_assumptions() {
-    poly_validate_assumptions
+    cat <<EOF
+If you spot anything this uninstaller missed or have feedback,
+don't hesitate:
 
-    if [ $EUID -eq 0 ]; then
-        failure <<EOF
-Please do not run this script with root privileges. We will call sudo
-when we need to.
+$(contact_us)
 EOF
-    fi
+    remind
+    finish_cleanup
+}
 
+remove_nix_artifacts() {
+    failure "Not implemented yet"
+}
+
+cure_artifacts() {
+    poly_cure_artifacts
+    # remove_nix_artifacts (LATER)
+}
+
+validate_starting_assumptions() {
     if type nix-env 2> /dev/null >&2; then
         warning <<EOF
 Nix already appears to be installed. This installer may run into issues.
@@ -444,18 +537,46 @@ create_build_users() {
 
 create_directories() {
     # FIXME: remove all of this because it duplicates LocalStore::LocalStore().
-
+    task "Setting up the basic directory structure"
+    if [ -d "$NIX_ROOT" ]; then
+        # if /nix already exists, take ownership
+        #
+        # Caution: notes below are macOS-y
+        # This is a bit of a goldilocks zone for taking ownership
+        # if there are already files on the volume; the volume is
+        # now mounted, but we haven't added a bunch of new files
+
+        # this is probably a bit slow; I've been seeing 3.3-4s even
+        # when promptly installed over a fresh single-user install.
+        # In case anyone's aware of a shortcut.
+        # `|| true`: .Trashes errors w/o full disk perm
+
+        # rumor per #4488 that macOS 11.2 may not have
+        # sbin on path, and that's where chown is, but
+        # since this bit is cross-platform:
+        # - first try with `command -vp` to try and find
+        #   chown in the usual places
+        # - fall back on `command -v` which would find
+        #   any chown on path
+        # if we don't find one, the command is already
+        # hiding behind || true, and the general state
+        # should be one the user can repair once they
+        # figure out where chown is...
+        local get_chr_own="$(command -vp chown)"
+        if [[ -z "$get_chr_own" ]]; then
+            get_chr_own="$(command -v chown)"
+        fi
+        _sudo "to take root ownership of existing Nix store files" \
+              "$get_chr_own" -R "root:$NIX_BUILD_GROUP_NAME" "$NIX_ROOT" || true
+    fi
     _sudo "to make the basic directory structure of Nix (part 1)" \
-          mkdir -pv -m 0755 /nix /nix/var /nix/var/log /nix/var/log/nix /nix/var/log/nix/drvs /nix/var/nix{,/db,/gcroots,/profiles,/temproots,/userpool} /nix/var/nix/{gcroots,profiles}/per-user
+          install -dv -m 0755 /nix /nix/var /nix/var/log /nix/var/log/nix /nix/var/log/nix/drvs /nix/var/nix{,/db,/gcroots,/profiles,/temproots,/userpool} /nix/var/nix/{gcroots,profiles}/per-user
 
     _sudo "to make the basic directory structure of Nix (part 2)" \
-          mkdir -pv -m 1775 /nix/store
-
-    _sudo "to make the basic directory structure of Nix (part 3)" \
-          chgrp "$NIX_BUILD_GROUP_NAME" /nix/store
+          install -dv -g "$NIX_BUILD_GROUP_NAME" -m 1775 /nix/store
 
     _sudo "to place the default nix daemon configuration (part 1)" \
-          mkdir -pv -m 0555 /etc/nix
+          install -dv -m 0555 /etc/nix
 }
 
 place_channel_configuration() {
@@ -475,7 +596,7 @@ This installation tool will set up your computer with the Nix package
 manager. This will happen in a few stages:
 
 1. Make sure your computer doesn't already have Nix. If it does, I
-   will show you instructions on how to clean up your old one.
+   will show you instructions on how to clean up your old install.
 
 2. Show you what we are going to install and where. Then we will ask
    if you are ready to continue.
@@ -574,6 +695,7 @@ EOF
 }
 
 install_from_extracted_nix() {
+    task "Installing Nix"
     (
         cd "$EXTRACTED_NIX_PATH"
 
@@ -589,9 +711,8 @@ $NIX_INSTALLED_NIX.
 EOF
         fi
 
-        cat ./.reginfo \
-            | _sudo "to load data for the first time in to the Nix Database" \
-                   "$NIX_INSTALLED_NIX/bin/nix-store" --load-db
+        _sudo "to load data for the first time in to the Nix Database" \
+              "$NIX_INSTALLED_NIX/bin/nix-store" --load-db < ./.reginfo
 
         echo "      Just finished getting the nix database ready."
     )
@@ -610,6 +731,7 @@ EOF
 }
 
 configure_shell_profile() {
+    task "Setting up shell profiles: ${PROFILE_TARGETS[*]}"
     for profile_target in "${PROFILE_TARGETS[@]}"; do
         if [ -e "$profile_target" ]; then
             _sudo "to back up your current $profile_target to $profile_target$PROFILE_BACKUP_SUFFIX" \
@@ -629,14 +751,27 @@ configure_shell_profile() {
                         tee -a "$profile_target"
         fi
     done
+    # TODO: should we suggest '. $PROFILE_NIX_FILE'? It would get them on
+    # their way less disruptively, but a counter-argument is that they won't
+    # immediately notice if something didn't get set up right?
+    reminder "Nix won't work in active shell sessions until you restart them."
+}
+
+cert_in_store() {
+    # in a subshell
+    # - change into the cert-file dir
+    # - get the phyiscal pwd
+    # and test if this path is in the Nix store
+    [[ "$(cd -- "$(dirname "$NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE")" && exec pwd -P)" == "$NIX_ROOT/store/"* ]]
 }
 
 setup_default_profile() {
-    _sudo "to installing a bootstrapping Nix in to the default Profile" \
+    task "Setting up the default profile"
+    _sudo "to install a bootstrapping Nix in to the default profile" \
           HOME="$ROOT_HOME" "$NIX_INSTALLED_NIX/bin/nix-env" -i "$NIX_INSTALLED_NIX"
 
-    if [ -z "${NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE:-}" ] || ! [ -f "${NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE:-}" ]; then
-        _sudo "to installing a bootstrapping SSL certificate just for Nix in to the default Profile" \
+    if [ -z "${NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE:-}" ] || ! [ -f "${NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE:-}" ] || cert_in_store; then
+        _sudo "to install a bootstrapping SSL certificate just for Nix in to the default profile" \
               HOME="$ROOT_HOME" "$NIX_INSTALLED_NIX/bin/nix-env" -i "$NIX_INSTALLED_CACERT"
         export NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt
     fi
@@ -645,9 +780,13 @@ setup_default_profile() {
         # Have to explicitly pass NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE as part of the sudo call,
         # otherwise it will be lost in environments where sudo doesn't pass
         # all the environment variables by default.
-        _sudo "to update the default channel in the default profile" \
-            HOME="$ROOT_HOME" NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE" "$NIX_INSTALLED_NIX/bin/nix-channel" --update nixpkgs \
-            || channel_update_failed=1
+        if ! _sudo "to update the default channel in the default profile" \
+            HOME="$ROOT_HOME" NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE="$NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE" "$NIX_INSTALLED_NIX/bin/nix-channel" --update nixpkgs; then
+            reminder <<EOF
+I had trouble fetching the nixpkgs channel (are you offline?)
+To try again later, run: sudo -i nix-channel --update nixpkgs
+EOF
+        fi
     fi
 }
 
@@ -662,6 +801,17 @@ EOF
 }
 
 main() {
+    # TODO: I've moved this out of validate_starting_assumptions so we
+    # can fail faster in this case. Sourcing install-darwin... now runs
+    # `touch /` to detect Read-only root, but it could update times on
+    # pre-Catalina macOS if run as root user.
+    if [ $EUID -eq 0 ]; then
+        failure <<EOF
+Please do not run this script with root privileges. We will call sudo
+when we need to.
+EOF
+    fi
+
     if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
         # shellcheck source=./install-darwin-multi-user.sh
         . "$EXTRACTED_NIX_PATH/install-darwin-multi-user.sh"
@@ -675,17 +825,24 @@ main() {
     welcome_to_nix
     chat_about_sudo
 
+    cure_artifacts
+    # TODO: there's a tension between cure and validate. I moved the
+    # the sudo/root check out of validate to the head of this func.
+    # Cure is *intended* to subsume the validate-and-abort approach,
+    # so it may eventually obsolete it.
     validate_starting_assumptions
 
     setup_report
 
     if ! ui_confirm "Ready to continue?"; then
         ok "Alright, no changes have been made :)"
-        contactme
+        get_help
         trap finish_cleanup EXIT
         exit 1
     fi
 
+    poly_prepare_to_install
+
     create_build_group
     create_build_users
     create_directories
@@ -695,6 +852,7 @@ main() {
     configure_shell_profile
 
     set +eu
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1091
     . /etc/profile
     set -eu
 
@@ -706,5 +864,20 @@ main() {
     trap finish_success EXIT
 }
 
+# set an empty initial arg for bare invocations in case we need to
+# disambiguate someone directly invoking this later.
+if [ "${#@}" = 0 ]; then
+    set ""
+fi
 
-main
+# ACTION for override
+case "${1-}" in
+    # uninstall)
+    #     shift
+    #     uninstall "$@";;
+    # install == same as the no-arg condition for now (but, explicit)
+    ""|install)
+        main;;
+    *) # holding space for future options (like uninstall + install?)
+        failure "install-multi-user: invalid argument";;
+esac
diff --git a/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh b/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
index 0ee7ce5af..734f0c800 100644
--- a/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-nix-from-closure.sh
@@ -26,18 +26,9 @@ fi
 
 # macOS support for 10.12.6 or higher
 if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
-    IFS='.' read macos_major macos_minor macos_patch << EOF
+    IFS='.' read -r macos_major macos_minor macos_patch << EOF
 $(sw_vers -productVersion)
 EOF
-    # TODO: this is a temporary speed-bump to keep people from naively installing Nix
-    # on macOS Big Sur (11.0+, 10.16+) until nixpkgs updates are ready for them.
-    # *Ideally* this is gone before next Nix release. If you're intentionally working on
-    # Nix + Big Sur, just comment out this block and be on your way :)
-    if [ "$macos_major" -gt 10 ] || { [ "$macos_major" -eq 10 ] && [ "$macos_minor" -gt 15 ]; }; then
-        echo "$0: nixpkgs isn't quite ready to support macOS $(sw_vers -productVersion) yet"
-        exit 1
-    fi
-
     if [ "$macos_major" -lt 10 ] || { [ "$macos_major" -eq 10 ] && [ "$macos_minor" -lt 12 ]; } || { [ "$macos_minor" -eq 12 ] && [ "$macos_patch" -lt 6 ]; }; then
         # patch may not be present; command substitution for simplicity
         echo "$0: macOS $(sw_vers -productVersion) is not supported, upgrade to 10.12.6 or higher"
@@ -46,21 +37,40 @@ EOF
 fi
 
 # Determine if we could use the multi-user installer or not
-if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
-    echo "Note: a multi-user installation is possible. See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-multi-user-installation" >&2
-elif [ "$(uname -s)" = "Linux" ]; then
+if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Linux" ]; then
     echo "Note: a multi-user installation is possible. See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-multi-user-installation" >&2
 fi
 
-INSTALL_MODE=no-daemon
-CREATE_DARWIN_VOLUME=0
+case "$(uname -s)" in
+    "Darwin")
+        INSTALL_MODE=daemon;;
+    *)
+        INSTALL_MODE=no-daemon;;
+esac
+
+# space-separated string
+ACTIONS=
+
 # handle the command line flags
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
     case $1 in
         --daemon)
-            INSTALL_MODE=daemon;;
+            INSTALL_MODE=daemon
+            ACTIONS="${ACTIONS}install "
+            ;;
         --no-daemon)
-            INSTALL_MODE=no-daemon;;
+            if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
+                printf '\e[1;31mError: --no-daemon installs are no-longer supported on Darwin/macOS!\e[0m\n' >&2
+                exit 1
+            fi
+            INSTALL_MODE=no-daemon
+            # intentional tail space
+            ACTIONS="${ACTIONS}install "
+            ;;
+        # --uninstall)
+        #     # intentional tail space
+        #     ACTIONS="${ACTIONS}uninstall "
+        #     ;;
         --no-channel-add)
             export NIX_INSTALLER_NO_CHANNEL_ADD=1;;
         --daemon-user-count)
@@ -69,13 +79,18 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
         --no-modify-profile)
             NIX_INSTALLER_NO_MODIFY_PROFILE=1;;
         --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume)
-            CREATE_DARWIN_VOLUME=1;;
+            {
+                echo "Warning: the flag --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume"
+                echo "         is no longer needed and will be removed in the future."
+                echo ""
+            } >&2;;
         --nix-extra-conf-file)
-            export NIX_EXTRA_CONF="$(cat $2)"
+            # shellcheck disable=SC2155
+            export NIX_EXTRA_CONF="$(cat "$2")"
             shift;;
         *)
-            (
-                echo "Nix Installer [--daemon|--no-daemon] [--daemon-user-count INT] [--no-channel-add] [--no-modify-profile] [--darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume] [--nix-extra-conf-file FILE]"
+            {
+                echo "Nix Installer [--daemon|--no-daemon] [--daemon-user-count INT] [--no-channel-add] [--no-modify-profile] [--nix-extra-conf-file FILE]"
 
                 echo "Choose installation method."
                 echo ""
@@ -101,45 +116,16 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
                 if [ -n "${INVOKED_FROM_INSTALL_IN:-}" ]; then
                     echo " --tarball-url-prefix URL: Base URL to download the Nix tarball from."
                 fi
-            ) >&2
-
-            # darwin and Catalina+
-            if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ] && { [ "$macos_major" -gt 10 ] || { [ "$macos_major" -eq 10 ] && [ "$macos_minor" -gt 14 ]; }; }; then
-                (
-                    echo " --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume: Create an APFS volume for the Nix"
-                    echo "              store and mount it at /nix. This is the recommended way to create"
-                    echo "              /nix with a read-only / on macOS >=10.15."
-                    echo "              See: https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation"
-                    echo ""
-                ) >&2
-            fi
+            } >&2
+
             exit;;
     esac
     shift
 done
 
-if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
-    if [ "$CREATE_DARWIN_VOLUME" = 1 ]; then
-        printf '\e[1;31mCreating volume and mountpoint /nix.\e[0m\n'
-        "$self/create-darwin-volume.sh"
-    fi
-
-    writable="$(diskutil info -plist / | xmllint --xpath "name(/plist/dict/key[text()='Writable']/following-sibling::*[1])" -)"
-    if ! [ -e $dest ] && [ "$writable" = "false" ]; then
-        (
-            echo ""
-            echo "Installing on macOS >=10.15 requires relocating the store to an apfs volume."
-            echo "Use sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --darwin-use-unencrypted-nix-store-volume or run the preparation steps manually."
-            echo "See https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sect-macos-installation"
-            echo ""
-        ) >&2
-        exit 1
-    fi
-fi
-
 if [ "$INSTALL_MODE" = "daemon" ]; then
     printf '\e[1;31mSwitching to the Multi-user Installer\e[0m\n'
-    exec "$self/install-multi-user"
+    exec "$self/install-multi-user" $ACTIONS # let ACTIONS split
     exit 0
 fi
 
@@ -194,6 +180,7 @@ if ! "$nix/bin/nix-store" --load-db < "$self/.reginfo"; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+# shellcheck source=./nix-profile.sh.in
 . "$nix/etc/profile.d/nix.sh"
 
 if ! "$nix/bin/nix-env" -i "$nix"; then
diff --git a/scripts/install-systemd-multi-user.sh b/scripts/install-systemd-multi-user.sh
index fda5ef600..81c61b2a0 100755
--- a/scripts/install-systemd-multi-user.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-systemd-multi-user.sh
@@ -41,10 +41,8 @@ handle_network_proxy() {
     fi
 }
 
-poly_validate_assumptions() {
-    if [ "$(uname -s)" != "Linux" ]; then
-        failure "This script is for use with Linux!"
-    fi
+poly_cure_artifacts() {
+    :
 }
 
 poly_service_installed_check() {
@@ -72,7 +70,7 @@ poly_service_setup_note() {
 EOF
 }
 
-poly_extra_try_me_commands(){
+poly_extra_try_me_commands() {
     if [ -e /run/systemd/system ]; then
         :
     else
@@ -81,19 +79,10 @@ poly_extra_try_me_commands(){
 EOF
     fi
 }
-poly_extra_setup_instructions(){
-    if [ -e /run/systemd/system ]; then
-        :
-    else
-        cat <<EOF
-Additionally, you may want to add nix-daemon to your init-system.
-
-EOF
-    fi
-}
 
 poly_configure_nix_daemon_service() {
     if [ -e /run/systemd/system ]; then
+        task "Setting up the nix-daemon systemd service"
         _sudo "to set up the nix-daemon service" \
               systemctl link "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default$SERVICE_SRC"
 
@@ -110,6 +99,8 @@ poly_configure_nix_daemon_service() {
 
         _sudo "to start the nix-daemon.service" \
               systemctl restart nix-daemon.service
+    else
+        reminder "I don't support your init system yet; you may want to add nix-daemon manually."
     fi
 }
 
@@ -207,3 +198,7 @@ poly_create_build_user() {
           --password "!" \
           "$username"
 }
+
+poly_prepare_to_install() {
+    :
+}