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+---
+title: Using NixOS as an stateless workstation
+date: 2019-06-02
+layout: post
+lang: en
+ref: using-nixos-as-an-stateless-workstation
+---
+Last week[^last-week] I changed back to an old[^old-computer] Samsung laptop, and installed
+[NixOS](https://nixos.org/) on it.
+
+After using NixOS on another laptop for around two years, I wanted
+verify how reproducible was my desktop environment, and how far does
+NixOS actually can go on recreating my whole OS from my configuration
+files and personal data. I gravitated towards NixOS after trying (and
+failing) to create an `install.sh` script that would imperatively
+install and configure my whole OS using apt-get. When I found a
+GNU/Linux distribution that was built on top of the idea of
+declaratively specifying the whole OS I was automatically convinced[^convinced-by-declarative-aspect].
+
+I was impressed. Even though I've been experiencing the benefits of Nix
+isolation daily, I always felt skeptical that something would be
+missing, because the devil is always on the details. But the result was
+much better than expected!
+
+There were only 2 missing configurations:
+
+1.  tap-to-click on the touchpad wasn't enabled by default;
+2.  the default theme from the gnome-terminal is "Black on white"
+    instead of "White on black".
+
+That's all.
+
+I haven't checked if I can configure those in NixOS GNOME module, but I
+guess both are scriptable and could be set in a fictional `setup.sh`
+run.
+
+This makes me really happy, actually. More happy than I anticipated.
+
+Having such a powerful declarative OS makes me feel like my data is the
+really important stuff (as it should be), and I can interact with it on
+any workstation. All I need is an internet connection and a few hours to
+download everything. It feels like my physical workstation and the
+installed OS are serving me and my data, instead of me feeling as
+hostage to the specific OS configuration at the moment. Having a few
+backup copies of everything important extends such peacefulness.
+
+After this positive experience with recreating my OS from simple Nix
+expressions, I started to wonder how far I could go with this, and
+started considering other areas of improvements:
+
+### First run on a fresh NixOS installation
+
+Right now the initial setup relies on non-declarative manual tasks, like
+decrypting some credentials, or manually downloading **this** git
+repository with specific configurations before **that** one.
+
+I wonder what some areas of improvements are on this topic, and if
+investing on it is worth it (both time-wise and happiness-wise).
+
+### Emacs
+
+Right now I'm using the [Spacemacs](http://spacemacs.org/), which is a
+community package curation and configuration on top of
+[Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/).
+
+Spacemacs does support the notion of
+[layers](http://spacemacs.org/doc/LAYERS.html), which you can
+declaratively specify and let Spacemacs do the rest.
+
+However this solution isn't nearly as robust as Nix: being purely
+functional, Nix does describe everything required to build a derivation,
+and knows how to do so. Spacemacs it closer to more traditional package
+managers: even though the layers list is declarative, the installation
+is still very much imperative. I've had trouble with Spacemacs not
+behaving the same on different computers, both with identical
+configurations, only brought to convergence back again after a
+`git clean -fdx` inside `~/.emacs.d/`.
+
+The ideal solution would be managing Emacs packages with Nix itself.
+After a quick search I did found that [there is support for Emacs
+packages in
+Nix](https://nixos.org/nixos/manual/index.html#module-services-emacs-adding-packages).
+So far I was only aware of [Guix support for Emacs packages](https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/en/html_node/Application-Setup.html#Emacs-Packages).
+
+This isn't a trivial change because Spacemacs does include extra
+curation and configuration on top of Emacs packages. I'm not sure the
+best way to improve this right now.
+
+### myrepos
+
+I'm using [myrepos](https://myrepos.branchable.com/) to manage all my
+git repositories, and the general rule I apply is to add any repository
+specific configuration in myrepos' `checkout` phase:
+
+```shell
+# sample ~/.mrconfig file snippet
+[dev/guix/guix]
+checkout =
+  git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git guix
+  cd guix/
+  git config sendemail.to guix-patches@gnu.org
+```
+
+This way when I clone this repo again the email sending is already
+pre-configured.
+
+This works well enough, but the solution is too imperative, and my
+`checkout` phases tend to become brittle over time if not enough care is
+taken.
+
+### GNU Stow
+
+For my home profile and personal configuration I already have a few
+dozens of symlinks that I manage manually. This has worked so far, but
+the solution is sometimes fragile and [not declarative at
+all](https://git.sr.ht/~euandreh/dotfiles/tree/316939aa215181b1d22b69e94241eef757add98d/bash/symlinks.sh#L14-75).
+I wonder if something like [GNU
+Stow](https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/) can help me simplify this.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+I'm really satisfied with NixOS, and I intend to keep using it. If what
+I've said interests you, maybe try tinkering with the [Nix package
+manager](https://nixos.org/nix/) (not the whole NixOS) on your current
+distribution (it can live alongside any other package manager).
+
+If you have experience with declarative Emacs package managements, GNU
+Stow or any similar tool, *etc.*, [I'd like some
+tips](mailto:eu@euandre.org). If you don't have any experience at all,
+[I'd still love to hear from you](mailto:eu@euandre.org).
+
+[^last-week]: "Last week" as of the start of this writing, so around the end of
+    May 2019.
+
+[^old-computer]: I was using a 32GB RAM, i7 and 250GB SSD Samsung laptop. The
+    switch was back to a 8GB RAM, i5 and 500GB HDD Dell laptop. The biggest
+    difference I noticed was on faster memory, both RAM availability and the
+    disk speed, but I had 250GB less local storage space.
+
+[^convinced-by-declarative-aspect]: The declarative configuration aspect is
+    something that I now completely take for granted, and wouldn't consider
+    using something which isn't declarative. A good metric to show this is me
+    realising that I can't pinpoint the moment when I decided to switch to
+    NixOS. It's like I had a distant past when this wasn't true.