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+---
+title: Using NixOS as an stateless workstation
+date: 2019-06-02
+layout: post
+---
+Last week[^1] I changed back to an old[^2] 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[^3].
+
+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).
+
+[^1]: \"Last week\" as of the start of this writing, so around the end
+    of May 2019.
+
+[^2]: 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.
+
+[^3]: 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.