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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.