1 files changed, 229 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/posts/novice_nix:_flake_templates.md b/posts/novice_nix:_flake_templates.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b38b46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/posts/novice_nix:_flake_templates.md
@@ -0,0 +1,229 @@
+Flakes are very handy to setup entirely pure,
+project-specific dependencies (not just dependencies, but
+build steps, shell environments and more) in a declarative
+way. Writing Flake expressions can get repetitive though,
+oftentimes, you'd much rather start off with a skeleton.
+Luckily, `nix` already supports templates!
+
+You might already be familiar with `nix flake init`, that
+drops a "default" flake expression into your current working
+directory. If you head over to the manpage:
+
+```
+nix flake init --help
+```
+
+You will read that `nix flake init` creates a flake using
+the "default template". Additionally, you can create a flake
+from a specific template by passing the `-t` flag. Where
+does this default originate from?
+
+## Flake Registries
+
+Quick detour into registries! Registries are a way to alias
+popular flakes using identifiers:
+
+```
+# list a few predefined registries
+$ nix registry list
+. . . 
+global flake:nixpkgs github:NixOS/nixpkgs
+global flake:patchelf github:NixOS/patchelf
+global flake:nix-serve github:edolstra/nix-serve
+global flake:templates github:NixOS/templates
+global flake:nickel github:tweag/nickel
+. . .
+
+# you can do 
+$ nix flake show nickel
+
+# instead of 
+$ nix flake show github:tweag/nickel
+
+# which is short for
+$ nix flake show git+https://github.com/tweag/nickel
+```
+
+You might notice a registry called `templates` aliased to
+`github:NixOS/templates`. Take a peek with `nix flake show`:
+
+```
+$ nix flake show templates
+github:NixOS/templates/79f48a7b822f35c068c5e235da2e9fbd154cecee
+├───defaultTemplate: template: A very basic flake
+└───templates
+    ├───bash-hello: template: An over-engineered Hello World in bash
+    ├───c-hello: template: An over-engineered Hello World in C
+    ├───rust-web-server: template: A Rust web server including a NixOS module
+    ├───simpleContainer: template: A NixOS container running apache-httpd
+    └───trivial: template: A very basic flake
+```
+
+Aha! There is a flake output called `defaultTemplate`. This
+is the template being sourced when you run `nix flake init`.
+Astute readers may conclude the following:
+
+```
+$ nix flake init
+
+# is equivalent to
+$ nix flake init -t templates#defaultTemplate
+
+# is equivalent to
+$ nix flake init -t github:NixOS/templates#defaultTemplate
+
+# which is short for
+$ nix flake init -t git+https://NixOS/templates#defaultTemplate
+```
+
+Similarly, the other templates can be accessed via:
+
+```
+$ nix flake init -t templates#c-hello
+$ nix flake init -t templates#simpleContainer
+# I think you get the drift ...
+```
+
+## Rolling your own templates
+
+Alright, so all we need to do is:
+
+ - create a flake with a `templates` output
+ - populate our template directories with content
+ - (**optionally**) alias our custom templates flake to an
+   identifier using registries, for easier access
+
+Start off by creating a directory to store your templates in
+(we will be converting this to a registry later):
+
+```
+$ mkdir ~/mytemplates
+```
+
+A flake that exposes a "template" as its output looks
+something like this:
+
+```
+# inside ~/mytemplates/flake.nix
+
+{
+  description = "Pepper's flake templates";
+
+  outputs = { self, ... }: {
+    templates = {
+      latex-report = {
+        path = ./latex-report-template;
+        description = "A latex whitepaper project";
+      };
+      rust-hello = {
+        path = ./rust-hello-template;
+        description = "Simple Hello World in Rust";
+      };
+    };
+  };
+}
+```
+
+The `path` attribute to each template is what gets copied
+over when you initialize a flake. Running `nix flake init -t
+.#latex-report` will initialize the current directory with
+the contents of `./latex-report-template` (we are yet to
+populate these directories).
+
+The output of `nix flake show` should be something like:
+
+```
+$ nix flake show
+path:/home/np/code/nix-stuff/template-tests?narHash=sha256-{...}
+└───templates
+    ├───latex-report: template: A latex whitepaper project
+    └───rust-hello: template: Simple Hello World in Rust
+```
+
+Populate your template directories with content, here are my
+template directories for example:
+
+```
+$ tree mytemplates
+mytemplates/
+├── flake.nix
+├── latex-report-template
+│   ├── flake.nix
+│   ├── makefile
+│   └── src
+│       ├── meta.sty
+│       └── report.tex
+└── rust-hello-template
+    ├── Cargo.toml
+    ├── flake.nix
+    └── src
+        └── main.rs
+```
+
+And that's it! Start using your templates with:
+
+```
+$ nix flake init -t ~/mytemplates#rust-hello
+$ tree .
+.
+├── Cargo.toml
+├── flake.nix
+└── src
+    └── main.rs
+```
+
+To avoid writing `~/mytemplates` each time, simply alias it
+to a registry:
+
+```
+# alias it to `biscuits`
+$ nix registry add biscuits ~/mytemplates
+
+# you will see it listed under `user` registries
+$ nix registry list
+. . .
+user   flake:biscuits path:/home/np/template-tests
+. . .
+
+$ nix flake init -t biscuits#latex-report
+```
+
+## Extending the official templates
+
+I personally, would like the `biscuits` registry to include
+not just my homemade templates, but also the templates from
+`NixOS/templates` (and maybe a couple of other repositories
+in the wild):
+
+```
+ {
+   description = "Pepper's flake templates";
+ 
++  inputs = {
++    official-templates.url = github:NixOS/templates;
++    other-templates.url = github:some-other/templates;
++  };
+ 
+   outputs = { self, official-templates, other-templates ... }: {
+ 
+     templates = {
+       latex-report = {
+         path = ./latex-report-template;
+         description = "A latex whitepaper project";
+       };
+       rust-hello = {
+         path = ./rust-hello-template;
+         description = "Simple Hello World in Rust, with overloaded Rust toolchain";
+       };
+     }
++    // official-templates.templates
++    // other-templates.templates;
+ 
+   };
+ }
+```
+
+Running `nix flake show biscuits` will now list templates
+from the `biscuits` registry as well as the ones from
+`NixOS/templates`. Ensure that the names don't collide
+though.