just came out of git hell and seemingly fixed machine-id, i think this is it?

flake.lock

@@ -20,6 +20,21 @@
         "type": "github"
       }
     },
+    "impermanence": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1737831083,
+        "narHash": "sha256-LJggUHbpyeDvNagTUrdhe/pRVp4pnS6wVKALS782gRI=",
+        "owner": "nix-community",
+        "repo": "impermanence",
+        "rev": "4b3e914cdf97a5b536a889e939fb2fd2b043a170",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "nix-community",
+        "repo": "impermanence",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    },
     "nixpkgs": {
       "locked": {
         "lastModified": 1761114652,
@@ -39,6 +54,7 @@
     "root": {
       "inputs": {
         "home-manager": "home-manager",
+        "impermanence": "impermanence",
         "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs"
       }
     }

hosts/voidspear/configuration.nix

@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
   fileSystems."/persist" = {
     device = "/dev/disk/by-uuid/1578f380-e588-419b-ace0-f63e6a48ca39";
     fsType = "ext4";
+    neededForBoot = true;
   };
 
   environment.persistence."/persist" = {
@@ -54,13 +55,14 @@
       "/var/lib/bluetooth"
       "/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections"
       "/var/lib/nixos"
-      "/home"
-    ];
-    files = [
-      "/etc/machine-id"
     ];
   };
 
+  environment.etc."machine-id" = {
+    source = "/persist/etc/machine-id";
+    mode = "0444";
+  };
+
   # Define a user account. Don't forget to set a password with ‘passwd’.
   programs.zsh.enable = true; # home-manager already installs this but nixos complains w/o it 
   users.users.xory = {