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+.Dd January 1, 1980
+.Dt nixos-build-vms 8
+.Os
+.Sh NAME
+.Nm nixos-build-vms
+.Nd build a network of virtual machines from a network of NixOS configurations
+.
+.
+.
+.Sh SYNOPSIS
+.Nm nixos-build-vms
+.Op Fl -show-trace
+.Op Fl -no-out-link
+.Op Fl -help
+.Op Fl -option Ar name value
+.Pa network.nix
+.
+.
+.
+.Sh DESCRIPTION
+.
+This command builds a network of QEMU\-KVM virtual machines of a Nix expression
+specifying a network of NixOS machines. The virtual network can be started by
+executing the
+.Pa bin/run-vms
+shell script that is generated by this command. By default, a
+.Pa result
+symlink is produced that points to the generated virtual network.
+.
+.Pp
+A network Nix expression has the following structure:
+.Bd -literal -offset indent
+{
+  test1 = {pkgs, config, ...}:
+    {
+      services.openssh.enable = true;
+      nixpkgs.localSystem.system = "i686-linux";
+      deployment.targetHost = "test1.example.net";
+
+      # Other NixOS options
+    };
+
+  test2 = {pkgs, config, ...}:
+    {
+      services.openssh.enable = true;
+      services.httpd.enable = true;
+      environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.lynx ];
+      nixpkgs.localSystem.system = "x86_64-linux";
+      deployment.targetHost = "test2.example.net";
+
+      # Other NixOS options
+    };
+}
+.Ed
+.
+.Pp
+Each attribute in the expression represents a machine in the network
+.Ns (e.g.
+.Va test1
+and
+.Va test2 Ns
+) referring to a function defining a NixOS configuration. In each NixOS
+configuration, two attributes have a special meaning. The
+.Va deployment.targetHost
+specifies the address (domain name or IP address) of the system which is used by
+.Ic ssh
+to perform remote deployment operations. The
+.Va nixpkgs.localSystem.system
+attribute can be used to specify an architecture for the target machine, such as
+.Ql i686-linux
+which builds a 32-bit NixOS configuration. Omitting this property will build the
+configuration for the same architecture as the host system.
+.
+.
+.
+.Sh OPTIONS
+.Bl -tag -width indent
+.It Fl -show-trace
+Shows a trace of the output.
+.
+.It Fl -no-out-link
+Do not create a
+.Pa result
+symlink.
+.
+.It Fl h , -help
+Shows the usage of this command to the user.
+.
+.It Fl -option Ar name Va value
+Set the Nix configuration option
+.Va name
+to
+.Va value Ns
+\&. This overrides settings in the Nix configuration file (see
+.Xr nix.conf 5 Ns
+).
+.El
+.
+.
+.
+.Sh AUTHORS
+.An -nosplit
+.An Eelco Dolstra
+and
+.An the Nixpkgs/NixOS contributors