content: thoughts about nixos
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Cargo.lock
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@ -906,6 +906,16 @@ dependencies = [
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"notify",
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]
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[[package]]
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name = "npezza93-tree-sitter-nix"
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version = "0.0.2"
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source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
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checksum = "0398a0cd89e29f25d2f2141b05020e475907e39f7e5886f77f528f862586d13b"
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dependencies = [
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"cc",
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"tree-sitter",
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]
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[[package]]
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name = "num-traits"
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version = "0.2.18"
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@ -1259,6 +1269,7 @@ dependencies = [
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"katex",
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"notify",
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"notify-debouncer-mini",
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"npezza93-tree-sitter-nix",
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"once_cell",
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"pulldown-cmark",
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"regex",
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@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ tree-sitter-haskell = "0.21"
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tree-sitter-html = "0.20"
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tree-sitter-javascript = "0.21"
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tree-sitter-md = "0.2"
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tree-sitter-nix = { package = "npezza93-tree-sitter-nix", version = "0.0.2" }
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tree-sitter-python = "0.21"
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tree-sitter-regex = "0.21"
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tree-sitter-rust = "0.21"
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180
content/posts/nixos.md
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180
content/posts/nixos.md
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@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
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---
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title: My thoughts on NixOS
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date: 2024-06-30T20:57:37Z
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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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# 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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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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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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```nix
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hardware.graphics = {
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enable = true;
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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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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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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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```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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configuration which makes your system more tailored for running any games.
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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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```nix
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services.nginx = {
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enable = true;
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recommendedGzipSettings = true;
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recommendedOptimisation = true;
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recommendedProxySettings = true;
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recommendedTlsSettings = true;
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};
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```
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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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# Home
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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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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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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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# 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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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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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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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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# 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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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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# 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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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 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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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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```nix
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{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:
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pkgs.mkShell {
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buildInputs = with pkgs; [
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cargo
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clippy
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esbuild
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nodePackages.pnpm
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pagefind
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python3
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rust-analyzer
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rustc
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rustfmt
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];
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RUST_SRC_PATH = "${pkgs.rust.packages.stable.rustPlatform.rustLibSrc}";
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}
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```
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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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You can experiment.
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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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Cheers!
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@ -127,6 +127,13 @@ static CONFIGS: Lazy<HashMap<&'static str, HighlightConfiguration>> = Lazy::new(
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tree_sitter_md::INJECTION_QUERY_INLINE,
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"",
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),
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language!(
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"nix",
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tree_sitter_nix::language(),
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tree_sitter_nix::HIGHLIGHTS_QUERY,
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"",
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"",
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),
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language!(
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"python",
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tree_sitter_python::language(),
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@ -135,6 +135,7 @@
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padding: 0.5em;
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max-width: 100%;
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overflow-x: auto;
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tab-size: 2;
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> code {
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display: block;
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