# msgid "" msgstr "" msgid "" "Last week[^last-week] I changed back to an old[^old-computer] Samsung " "laptop, and installed [NixOS](https://nixos.org/) on it." msgstr "" msgid "" "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]." msgstr "" msgid "" "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!" msgstr "" msgid "There were only 2 missing configurations:" msgstr "" msgid "tap-to-click on the touchpad wasn't enabled by default;" msgstr "" msgid "" "the default theme from the gnome-terminal is \"Black on white\" instead of " "\"White on black\"." msgstr "" msgid "That's all." msgstr "" msgid "" "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." msgstr "" msgid "This makes me really happy, actually. More happy than I anticipated." msgstr "" msgid "" "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." msgstr "" msgid "" "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:" msgstr "" msgid "First run on a fresh NixOS installation" msgstr "" msgid "" "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." msgstr "" msgid "" "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)." msgstr "" msgid "Emacs" msgstr "" msgid "" "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/)." msgstr "" msgid "" "Spacemacs does support the notion of " "[layers](http://spacemacs.org/doc/LAYERS.html), which you can declaratively " "specify and let Spacemacs do the rest." msgstr "" msgid "" "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/`." msgstr "" msgid "" "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)." msgstr "" msgid "" "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." msgstr "" msgid "myrepos" msgstr "" msgid "" "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:" msgstr "" msgid "" "This way when I clone this repo again the email sending is already pre-" "configured." msgstr "" msgid "" "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." msgstr "" msgid "GNU Stow" msgstr "" msgid "Conclusion" msgstr "" msgid "" "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)." msgstr "" msgid "" "If you have experience with declarative Emacs package managements, GNU Stow " "or any similar tool, *etc.*, [I'd like some tips](mailto:{{ " "site.author.email }}). If you don't have any experience at all, I'd still " "love to hear from you." msgstr "" msgid "" "[^last-week]: \"Last week\" as of the start of this writing, so around the " "end of May 2019." msgstr "" msgid "" "[^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." msgstr "" msgid "" "[^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." msgstr "" msgid "" "# sample ~/.mrconfig file snippet\n" "[dev/guix/guix]\n" "checkout =\n" " git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git guix\n" " cd guix/\n" " git config sendemail.to guix-patches@gnu.org\n" msgstr "" msgid "title: Using NixOS as an stateless workstation" msgstr "" msgid "date: 2019-06-02" msgstr "" msgid "layout: post" msgstr "" msgid "lang: en" msgstr "" msgid "ref: using-nixos-as-an-stateless-workstation" msgstr "" msgid "" "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://euandre.org/git/dotfiles/tree/bash/symlinks.sh?id=316939aa215181b1d22b69e94241eef757add98d)." " I wonder if something like [GNU Stow](https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/) " "can help me simplify this." msgstr "" #~ msgid "" #~ "title: Using NixOS as an stateless workstation\n" #~ "date: 2019-06-02\n" #~ "layout: post\n" #~ "lang: en\n" #~ "ref: using-nixos-as-an-stateless-workstation" #~ msgstr "" #~ msgid "" #~ "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." #~ msgstr ""