Warning
I am still very very new to nix and sometimes can also commit broken code! At best only use them as a reference for something you cannot find elsewhere!
- OS - nixos
- WM - awesome - blizzard // aura // hyprland
- Shell - zsh
- Term - wezterm
- Music - ncmpcpp
- Comp - picom - fdev31 fork
- Editor - nvim v0.9 - my config
The "Textbook" Definition - A Linux distribution based on the Nix package manager and guided by Nix's core principles.
NixOS is a unique distro. Unlike other distros where you store your configurations in ~/.config/
and binaries in ~/.local/bin
, nix takes a different approach. Instead you can declaratively define your configuration in .nix
files. These nix files can be used to install and configure programs, services, setting up things like xresources, etc. This approach provides a modular system that enables users to share, reuse, and modify their configurations easily.
Sounds Confusing right? Dont worry here let me simplify some things for you.
derivs/
phocus.nix
...
home/
namish/
home.nix
...
shared/
...
hosts/
frostbyte/
hardware-configuration.nix
configuration.nix
shared/
default.nix
overlays/
default.nix
patches/
pkgs/
flake.nix
nixpkgs.nix
shell.nix
This is the general structure of my dotfiles. I am using a beta feature called flakes
and thats the reason why you will sea a file called flake.nix
. Let us start with that!
- flake.nix
- This main file, it consists of two main parts,
inputs
andoutputs
. Inputs are Nix dependencies that a flake needs to be built. Each input in the set can be pulled from various sources, such as github, generic git repositories, and even from your local filesystem. All of these inputs are saved in theflake.lock
file. Flake outputs are what a flake produces as part of its build. In this case it produces a NixOS configuration.
- hosts/ folder
- This folder contains configurations for our machines
- The
frostbyte
folder is the main one where my configuration is stored, theshared
one contains configurations that would be same for all machines that I am gonna own.
- home/ folder
- this folder contains the home-manager configuration for different users. Like before
shared
contains configurations that would be same for all users. shared
contains things like bin files, colors, gtkThemes
- derivations
- "techincal" definition - 'A derivation is an instruction that Nix uses to realise a Nix package'
- In simple words, deriavations are used to install stuff that aren't available in the nixpkg repositories. (atleast that is what i use them for). Make your own derivation in
derivs/program.nix
and call it inoverlays/default.nix
- overlays
- they are just modifications you do on top of the original program, for example patching st, or using a fork of st from github.
Warning
by no means are the above things I say 100% the truth. I maybe wrong somewhere, if you spot a mistake kindly prompt me to correct it
NO. NixOS is hard.Don't be impatient and jump with the hype train. Nix files are complicated to make and can cause high brain damage. I recommend you to start with the nix package manager or using NixOS in a virtual machine instead of ripping apart your hard disk.
If you that determined, here are some resources to start out
Make your own dotfiles, installing them is a bad idea as they are made specifically for my machine and there is 1/6th chance that this will make you end up in North Korea's assassination list.
- Get the latest NixOS ISO and boot into the installer/environment.
- Format and mount your disks.
- Follow these commands (you might need root privileges):
$ nix-shell -p git nixUnstable ## install git and unstable nix
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/chadcat7/fuyu /mnt/etc/nixos ## cloning my config
$ rm /mnt/etc/nixos/hosts/<your host>/hardware-configuration.nix ## remove the hardware-configuration.nix for my system!
$ nixos-generate-config --root /mnt ## generate yours
$ cp /mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix /mnt/etc/nixos/hosts/<your host>/
$ rm /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix
$ cd /mnt/etc/nixos
$ nixos-install --flake '.#frostbyte'
Congrats! You just installed NixOS! Now lets install the environment and the configs
- Reboot, login as root, and change the password for your user using
passwd
. - Log in as your normal user.
- Follow these commands:
sudo chown -R $USER /etc/nixos # change ownership of configuration folder
cd /etc/nixos
home-manager switch --flake '.#namish' # this should automatically install nvim and awesome config
Aura |
---|
Blizzard (Do not use) |
---|
Glacier |
---|
Info
For screenshots, go to each rice's respective branch. Also I am aware of the fact that none of the rices are themed like they are named. They are all named like that because the words are related to winter / snow which means nix.
These are the chads which helped me throughout my short but crazy nix journey!
And of course credits for the guys for their help with my awesome config!
People from who I have stolen taken inspiration for my design.
Feel free to use any code from any branch as long as you will credit me