content: thoughts about nixos
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@ -5,21 +5,24 @@ desc: >
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A few weeks ago I decided to try out NixOS.
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---
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For about a year I have used Arch Linux, however a few weeks ago I decided to
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try out [NixOS](https://nixos.org/). Here are some of my thoughts about it.
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For about a year, I have used Arch Linux. However, a few weeks ago, I decided
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to try out [NixOS](https://nixos.org/). Here are some of my thoughts about it.
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# Configuration
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## Configuration
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Overall, NixOS is a very nice distribution which feels much unlike anything
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else you can find out there. In particular, the way you configure NixOS is
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different from what you would do on Arch.
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Overall, NixOS is a very unique distribution that feels unlike anything else
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out there. In particular, the way you configure NixOS is different from what
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you would do on Arch Linux.
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The way you configure NixOS is by writing the configuration in a language
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called Nix. This configuration then is read by the Nix daemon which instructs
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the Nix package manager to install the required packages in the Nix store.
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### The Nix language
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For example if you wanted to enable OpenGL in your system you would have to
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write something along the lines of
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The way you configure NixOS is by writing the configuration in a declarative
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language called Nix. This configuration is then read by the Nix daemon, which
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instructs the Nix package manager to install the required packages in the Nix
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store.
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For example, if you wanted to enable OpenGL, you would have to write something
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along the lines of:
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```nix
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hardware.graphics = {
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@ -27,27 +30,28 @@ hardware.graphics = {
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enable32Bit = true;
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};
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```
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Nix would install every single thing require to enable it completely
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NixOS would install every single thing required to enable OpenGL completely
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automatically.
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I found this brilliant, because it essentially means that someone out there has
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prepared the optimal config and now everyone gets to reuse it completely for
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free.
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I found this approach brilliant because it essentially means that someone out
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there has prepared the optimal configuration, and now everyone gets to reuse it
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completely for free.
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Take [Steam](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Steam) for example, if you want to play
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games you gave to write
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Take [Steam](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Steam), for example. If you want to play
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games, you need to write:
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```nix
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programs.steam.enable = true;
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```
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This single line not only installs Steam on your system but also provides
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configurations that make your system more tailored for running games.
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This single line not only installs Steam on your system, but also provides
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configuration which makes your system more tailored for running any games.
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### Configuring services
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Let's say you are running a server and want to enable
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[Nginx](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Nginx). You can do it like this to get the
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optimal configuration for free, without having to deal with Nginx config files.
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optimal configuration for free, without having to deal with Nginx config files:
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```nix
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services.nginx = {
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@ -61,84 +65,88 @@ services.nginx = {
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This is amazing.
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The way NixOS works makes it extremely easy to not only configure the system,
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but also save the configuration, because it's trivial to commit it into a VCS.
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The way NixOS works makes it extremely easy not only to configure the system
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but also to save the configuration. It's trivial to commit it into a version
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control system (VCS), ensuring reproducibility and ease of deployment across
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multiple systems.
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# Home
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## Home configuration
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However, there are some rough edges.
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By default there isn't really a way to configure the home directory for a
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single user. The thing you would traditionally call dotfiles isn't really
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covered by vanilla NixOS.
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By default, there isn't really a way to configure the home directory for a
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single user. The traditional concept of "dotfiles" isn't really covered by
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vanilla NixOS.
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Instead you have to install a third party module called
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Instead, you have to install a third-party module called
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[home-manager](https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/). This allows you
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to install software for a single user, as well as populate the home directory
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with various configuration files.
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I have decided to use this module in my configuration, and generally it was
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quite nice to use, but there were some rough edges. For example, when I tried
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to install KDE Connect via home-manager, it would install the one for Plasma 5
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I decided to use this module in my configuration, and generally, it was quite
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nice to use, but there were some rough edges. For example, when I tried to
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install KDE Connect via home-manager, it installed the version for Plasma 5
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instead of Plasma 6.
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```nix
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services.kdeconnect.enable = true;
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```
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I found that it's better to just install this program in the main config instead.
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I found that it's better to just install this program in the main config
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instead. Other than this home-manager works pretty good, and it is very useful,
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so I recommend using it.
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# Channels
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## Channels
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NixOS has different channels you can use for the packages. A channels is
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something like a current set of packages and/or options which can be used in
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your config. Currently you can for example use the `24.05` channel for stable,
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or `unstable` for unstable (which actually is quite stable).
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NixOS has different channels you can use for packages. A channel is essentially
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a current set of packages and/or options that can be used in your
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configuration. Currently, you can use the `24.05` channel for stable, or
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`unstable` for the latest updates (which is actually quite stable).
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I'm kind of on the fence about channels.
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On one hand it's nice that the set of packages in `24.05` is nearly set in
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stone, because then updating your system is less resource intensive. On the
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other hand, the packages aren't updated much which means you're stuck with
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On one hand, it's nice that the set of packages in `24.05` is nearly set in
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stone because updating your system is less resource-intensive. On the other
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hand, the packages aren't updated frequently, which means you're stuck with
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Neovim 0.9.5 for the next half a year or so -- sad!
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So if you want to have newer Neovim version you have to pull it from
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`unstable`. Yes, it's possible to do it while having your system pinned to
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stable channel. But at that point isn't it better to just pull everything from
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unstable?
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So, if you want to have a newer Neovim version, you have to pull it from
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`unstable`. Yes, it's possible to do this while keeping your system pinned to
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the stable channel. But at that point, isn't it better to just pull everything
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from `unstable`?
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This is what I went with and it works for me so far, but I'm not sure how it
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will be like in the long run...
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This is what I went with, and it works for me so far, but I'm not sure how it
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will be in the long run...
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# Flakes
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## Flakes
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There is apparently a completely different and experimental (unstable) approach
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to versioning the system, which breaks with the old channel system. I haven't
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used it myself though, so I can't give an opinion about it specifically.
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There is a completely different and experimental (unstable) approach to
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versioning the system, called flakes, which breaks with the old channel system.
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I haven't used it myself, so I can't give an opinion about it specifically.
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One thing I can say though is that I find it pretty confusing how there are
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One thing I can say, though, is that I find it pretty confusing how there are
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several competing systems for writing the system configuration, out of which
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one is experimental, but lots of people decided to use it anyways...
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one is experimental, but lots of people decided to use it anyways.
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# Final thoughts
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NixOS... is interesting. It's different, you do things differently here, even
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though under all of these layers of abstraction, there's still Linux.
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though under all these layers of abstraction, it's still Linux.
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It gets some things extremely right.
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It lets you pull many versions of the same package, because everything is
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hashed and kept in a flat store on your hard drive.
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It lets you pull many versions of the same package because everything is hashed
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and kept in a flat store on your hard drive.
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It lets you easily write the dependencies for your projects, because you can
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just write a `shell.nix` file which specifies them and then use `nix-shell`
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It lets you easily write the dependencies for your projects because you can
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just write a `shell.nix` file specifying them and then use the `nix-shell`
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command to pull them all into your shell.
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For example to build this website I have a `shell.nix` file like this
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For example, to build this website, I have a `shell.nix` file like this:
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```nix
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{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:
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}
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```
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I can just do this to build it
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I can just do this to build it:
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```
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kamov@msi ~/D/website (main)> nix-shell --command fish
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kamov@msi ~/D/website (main)> make
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```
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Everything is isolated, you can easily rollback your system to a previous state.
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Everything is isolated, you can easily roll-back your system to a previous state.
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You can experiment.
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@ -175,6 +183,6 @@ You can have lots of fun!
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But it feels rough around the edges.
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If you feel like having an adventure go right ahead...
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If you feel like having an adventure, go right ahead...
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Cheers!
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