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01/09 — 2020
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<h1>
NixOS
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<p>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.</p>
<h3 id="installation">Installation</h3>
<p>I went with their minimal installation ISO. The installation was pretty smooth from start to end, no hitches there. The entire <a href="https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/">manual</a> is available offline, and is accessible during the installation. Very handy.</p>
<h3 id="setup">Setup</h3>
<p>The entire system is configured via <code>/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</code>. Wifi, <code>libinput</code> 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:</p>
<pre><code>{
server.xserver.libinput.enable = true; # touchpad
programs.light.enable = true; # backlight
hardware.pulseaudio.enable = true; # audio
networking.wireless.enable = true; # wifi
}</code></pre>
<h3 id="developing-with-nix">Developing with Nix</h3>
<p>Nix makes it easy to enter environments that aren’t affected by your system configuration using <code>nix-shell</code>.</p>
<p>Builds may be generated by specifying a <code>default.nix</code> file, and running <code>nix-build</code>. 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 <code>/nix/store</code>, and not global paths such as <code>/usr/bin/...</code>, if your project builds, it means you have included every last one.</p>
<p>Issues on most my projects have been “unable to build because <code>libxcb</code> is missing”, or “this version of <code>openssl</code> is too old”. Tools like <code>cargo</code> and <code>pip</code> are poor package managers. While they <em>can</em> guarantee that Rust or Python dependencies are met, they make assumptions about the target system.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://github.com/nerdypepper/site">this website</a> is now built using Nix, anyone using Nix may simply, clone the repository and run <code>./generate.sh</code>, and it would <em>just work</em>, while keeping your global namespace clean™:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb2"><pre class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb2-1"><a href="#cb2-1" aria-hidden="true"></a><span class="co">#! /usr/bin/env nix-shell</span></span>
<span id="cb2-2"><a href="#cb2-2" aria-hidden="true"></a><span class="co">#! nix-shell -i bash -p eva pandoc esh</span></span>
<span id="cb2-3"><a href="#cb2-3" aria-hidden="true"></a></span>
<span id="cb2-4"><a href="#cb2-4" aria-hidden="true"></a><span class="co"># some bash magic ;)</span></span></code></pre></div>
<p>Dependencies are included with the <code>-p</code> flag, the shell script is executed with an interpreter, specified with the <code>-i</code> flag.</p>
<h3 id="impressions">Impressions</h3>
<p>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 (<a href="https://github.com/nix-community/rnix-lsp">rnix-lsp looks promising</a>).</p>
<p>Being able to rollback changes at a system level is cool. Package broke something? Just <code>nixos-rebuild switch --rollback</code>! Deleted <code>nix</code> by mistake? Find the binary in <code>/nix/store</code> and rollback! You aren’t punished for not thinking twice.</p>
<p>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 <a href="https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-generators">image of my current system</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://u.peppe.rs/6m.png"><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/6m.png" /></a></p>
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<p>I'm Akshay, I go by nerd or nerdypepper on the internet.</p>
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I am a compsci undergrad, Rust programmer and an enthusiastic Vimmer.
I write <a href="https://git.peppe.rs">open-source stuff</a> to pass time.
I also design fonts:
<a href="https://git.peppe.rs/fonts/scientifica">scientifica</a>,
<a href="https://git.peppe.rs/fonts/curie">curie</a>.
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<p>Send me a mail at [email protected] or a message at [email protected].</p>
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