From c9c8db0f308eb5dcb552d15ecfd403d623dc40de Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Akshay <nerdy@peppe.rs>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2020 12:49:49 +0530
Subject: new post: nixos

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+I have been eyeing operating systems with functional package
+managers for a while now, aka, NixOS or Guix. Reproducible
+builds, declarative and rollback-able system configuration,
+system consistency, all sound pretty cool. I have been using
+NixOS for about a month now.
+
+### Installation
+
+I went with their minimal installation ISO. The installation
+was pretty smooth from start to end, no hitches there. The
+entire [manual](https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/) is
+available offline, and is accessible during the
+installation. Very handy.
+
+### Setup
+
+The entire system is configured via
+`/etc/nixos/configuration.nix`. Wifi, `libinput` gestures,
+audio, locale settings, there are options for literally
+everything.  You can declaratively write down the packages
+you want installed too. With fresh installs of most distros,
+I usually fumble with getting things like screen backlight
+and media keys to work. If I do manage to fix it, I can't
+carry it forward to future installations trivially. Getting
+all my hardware to work on NixOS is as easy as:
+
+```
+{
+    server.xserver.libinput.enable = true;  # touchpad
+    programs.light.enable = true;           # backlight
+    hardware.pulseaudio.enable = true;      # audio
+    networking.wireless.enable = true;      # wifi
+}
+```
+
+### Developing with Nix
+
+Nix makes it easy to enter environments that aren't affected
+by your system configuration using `nix-shell`.
+
+Builds may be generated by specifying a `default.nix` file,
+and running `nix-build`. Conventional package managers
+require you to specify a dependency list, but there is no
+guarantee that this list is complete. The package will build
+on your machine even if you forget a dependency. However,
+with Nix, packages are installed to `/nix/store`, and not
+global paths such as `/usr/bin/...`, if your project builds,
+it means you have included every last one.
+
+Issues on most my projects have been "unable to build
+because `libxcb` is missing", or "this version of `openssl`
+is too old". Tools like `cargo` and `pip` are poor package
+managers. While they *can* guarantee that Rust or Python
+dependencies are met, they make assumptions about the
+target system.
+
+For example, [this
+website](https://github.com/nerdypepper/site) is now built
+using Nix, anyone using Nix may simply, clone the repository
+and run `./generate.sh`, and it would *just work*, while
+keeping your global namespace clean™:
+
+```bash
+#! /usr/bin/env nix-shell
+#! nix-shell -i bash -p eva pandoc esh
+
+# some bash magic ;)
+```
+
+Dependencies are included with the `-p` flag, the shell
+script is executed with an interpreter, specified with the
+`-i` flag.
+
+### Impressions
+
+NixOS is by no means, simple. As a newcomer, using Nix was
+not easy, heck, I had to learn a purely functional, lazy
+language to just build programs. There is a lot to be
+desired on the tooling front as well. A well fleshed out LSP
+plugin would be nice ([rnix-lsp looks
+promising](https://github.com/nix-community/rnix-lsp)).
+
+Being able to rollback changes at a system level is cool.
+Package broke something? Just `nixos-rebuild switch
+--rollback`!  Deleted `nix` by mistake? Find the binary in
+`/nix/store` and rollback! You aren't punished for not
+thinking twice.
+
+I don't see myself switching to anything else in the near
+future, NixOS does a lot of things right. If I ever need to
+reinstall NixOS, I can generate an [image of my current
+system](https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-generators).
+
+[![](https://u.peppe.rs/6m.png)](https://u.peppe.rs/6m.png)
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