Nix-based dotfiles

First-time setup

This repository is a Nix Flake. To use it, your Nix usage should have the experimental features nix-command and flakes enabled. See the wiki for more details.

0. If you're on NixOS already there's not much else needed regarding applying system-level configs. Run sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#<HOSTNAME> to apply the desired system configuration. To install NixOS, see the instructions on the official site.
1. (Non-NixOS), install Nix by going to https://nixos.org/download/ and following instructions for your platform.
2. (macOS) If you want to use the nix-darwin configurations, install nix-darwin via switching to one of the existing configs directly with sudo nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run nix-darwin/master#darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake .#<HOSTNAME>.
   • If there's no config you desire to apply just yet, follow the instructions to do a basic installation at the nix-darwin repo.
3. To use the home-manager configurations, install home-manager via switching to one of the existing configs directly with nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run home-manager/master -- switch --flake .#<USER>@<HOSTNAME>.
   • If you do not have an existing config that is applicable, follow the instructions to do a basic installation at the home-manager repo.
4. Enjoy!

To speed up the build processes, you can use my binary cache as substituter. If using cachix, you can enable it quickly with cachix use davsanchez, this would modify your local ~/.config/nix/nix.conf adding my cache URL and public key.

Uninstalling

You might want to get rid of the configs and the programs that manage it, either for temporary maintenance reasons (e.g. perhaps you were bit by macOS Sequoia stepping over the builder users created by Nix, so you want to start from scratch to avoid any issues) or maybe because you just don't want to use Nix anymore. In any case, you can uninstall everything by going through these steps.

1. (macOS) Uninstall nix-darwin with nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run nix-darwin#darwin-uninstaller.

2. After running the command above you might run into problems regarding SSL CA certs. With an error like this one:

   error: unable to download 'https://cache.nixos.org/d9l4i5phhrwy8f0yjp5yj4ri65z9cxzb.narinfo': Problem with the SSL CA cert (path? access rights?) (77)

   To fix this issue, restore the old link to /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt:

   # Check that it exists with
   ls -la /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
   # Remove it and restore it
   sudo rm /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
   sudo ln -s /nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

3. Uninstall home-manager via nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run home-manager/master -- uninstall.

4. (Non-NixOS) Uninstall Nix altogether, following the uninstallation instructions in the Nix Reference Manual.

The cool thing of Nix is that, any time you want to come back, you can get the exact same configs you last used (same program versions, everything) by repeating the installation commands above this section. Cool!

Influences

Mainly the nix-starter-configs templates, but the repo might have diverged from it as of now. It's always interesting to check other people's configs though, after all you're checking mine :)

• github:misterio77/nix-starter-configs
• github:sherubthakur/dotfiles
• github:hlissner/dotfiles
• github:dustinlyons/nixos-config
• github:tars0x9752/home
• github:Misterio77/nix-config

Further reading

• Notes on Flakes by @zimbatm
• Getting started with Nix Flakes and devshell
• Flakes aren't real and cannot hurt you