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NixOS home-manager + flakes config

(see screenshots dir for more)


Shell: zsh + zgenom
DM: lightdm + lightdm-mini-greeter
WM: bspwm + polybar
Editor: neovim
Terminal: xst
Launcher: rofi
Browser: Librewolf, Qutebrowser and Chromium
GTK Theme: Fluent Dark

Quick start

Phase 0 (getting the iso)

  • Acquire NixOS 21.11 or newer:

    # Yoink nixos-unstable
    wget -O nixos.iso https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-unstable/latest-nixos-minimal-x86_64-linux.iso
    
    # If you don't know how to boot an iso than NixOS is most likely not for you.
  • Switch to the root user (very important)

    sudo su
  • Clone this repository

    nix-shell -p git
    git clone https://github.com/Obscurely/NixObscurely
    exit
    cd NixObscurely

Phase 1 (partitioning)

Automatic

  • Run format_mount.sh script (example script for my main pc, change accordingly)
    ./scripts/format_mount.sh

Manually

  • Format your partitions as desired, a few utils and command that might interest you:
    • sgdisk -Z /dev/sdX to zap a drive (deltes all partitions)
    • sgdisk -a 2048 -o /dev/sdX to make a new gpt partition table
    • cfdisk /dev/sdX to do your partitioning
    • mkfs.FS -f /dev/sdXN (FS is a placeholder for the actual file system)
    • Also just take a look at the format_mount.sh script
  • After doing your partitions mount them to /mnt, example:
    # Mount root
    mount /dev/sdX /mnt
    # Make necessary dirs
    mkdir /mnt/boot  # makes boot dir
    mkdir /mnt/home  # makes home dir
    # Mount boot and home part
    mount /dev/sdY /mnt/boot
    mount /dev/sdZ /mnt/home
    # Turn on swap
    swapon /dev/nvme0n1pX
    Again, just take a look at the format_mount.sh script.

Phase 2 (installing the system)

Please Read before going any further

  • The users are immutable, meaning it is automatically created on install and set a fixed password. Currently the config has a set password (hashed) and an user called netrunner. In order to change this, follow the next steps:
    • With your favorite text editior open the file modules/options.nix
    • First replace netrunner with your desired username
    • Second where you see hashedPassword and inside the quotes a hash, replace that hash with the one of your desired password. In order to get a hash run the following command in your terminal mkpasswd -m sha-512, and after inputing your password it will give you the hash.

Automatic

  • Run run_in_nix_shell.sh script (example script for my main pc, change accordingly)
    ./scripts/run_in_nix_shell.sh

Manually

# Set HOST to the desired hostname of this system
HOST=...
# Set USER to your desired username (defaults to netrunner)
USER=...

cd ..
cp -r NixObscurely/ /etc/dotfiles/

# cd into that the dotfiles dir
cd /etc/dotfiles/

# Create a host config and add it to the repo
mkdir -p hosts/$HOST
nixos-generate-config --root /mnt --dir /etc/dotfiles/hosts/$HOST
rm -f hosts/$HOST/configuration.nix
cp templates/hosts/desktop/default.nix hosts/$HOST/default.nix
vim hosts/$HOST/default.nix  # configure this for your system; don't use it as it is, take a look at least!
git add hosts/$HOST

# Installing NixOS
USER=$USER nixos-install --root /mnt --no-root-passwd --impure --flake .#$HOST

# move dotfiles to the mounted host
cp -r /etc/dotfiles /mnt/etc/dotfiles

# Reboot system
reboot

Phase 3 (final)

  • Start being productive already god damn it! you already wasted hours reconfiguring your system!!!

Other

Librewolf

Because of some nixos limitations and me being scared of giving away my passwords on the internet, it has to be configured manually. This is a one time thing only and all the docs needed are in config/librewolf/settings.md

Nvidia

There are some nvidia settings that I recommend you do, the reason they are not done automatically is because I am little lazy to figure out how, but this is a one time thing anyway.

  • OpenGL Settings: set Image Settings to High Performance
  • PowerMizer: set Preffered Mode to Prefer Maximum Performance

Management

Hey, a script i stole from here hlissner/dotfiles, more on stealing (inspiration) later.

Usage: hey [global-options] [command] [sub-options]

Available Commands:
  check                  Run 'nix flake check' on your dotfiles
  gc                     Garbage collect & optimize nix store
  generations            Explore, manage, diff across generations
  help [SUBCOMMAND]      Show usage information for this script or a subcommand
  rebuild                Rebuild the current system's flake
  repl                   Open a nix-repl with nixpkgs and dotfiles preloaded
  rollback               Roll back to last generation
  search                 Search nixpkgs for a package
  show                   [ARGS...]
  ssh HOST [COMMAND]     Run a bin/hey command on a remote NixOS system
  swap PATH [PATH...]    Recursively swap nix-store symlinks with copies (and back).
  test                   Quickly rebuild, for quick iteration
  theme THEME_NAME       Quickly swap to another theme module
  update [INPUT...]      Update specific flakes or all of them
  upgrade                Update all flakes and rebuild system

Options:
    -d, --dryrun                     Don't change anything; perform dry run
    -D, --debug                      Show trace on nix errors
    -f, --flake URI                  Change target flake to URI
    -h, --help                       Display this help, or help for a specific command
    -i, -A, -q, -e, -p               Forward to nix-env

Credits

  • NixOS Manual great resource to get started fast.
  • NixOS Options being able to search for an option it's really useful and helped me a ton.
  • hlissner's dotfiles without this guy's dotfiles I wouldn't have ever switched to NixOS because it has a very steep learning curve (understanding how to setup flakes and home manager with how little resources are available is a nightmare), luckily I found these, which after looking at a lot of other configs they were the perfect fit for me. I only used them as a very basic base, the structure and for a script or two. Most of the config (90%+) is my work, but it wouldn't have been possible without his work.

Frequently asked questions (mostly copied from hlissner's readme file)

  • Why NixOS?

    Well, for a few reasons. First I have a tendency of formatting and reinstalling my OSes on my main computer quite often which until now has been done by using a very handy set of scripts i wrote for Arch Linux (ArchObscurely). Problem is every so often there would be a problem, changes, or simply random (one time) errors that will take a lot of my time to debug and restart the install. By using NixOS this is solved since as long as the flakes aren't updated this will always install.
    Second there is no way, no matter how configured your system is, that at one point you will not find a new useful program, make some changes to your system, and with NixOS this ain't a problem make the changes, rebuild the config, push the changes to your git cloud and done, they are saved. When I was using Arch I always had to remember to back up my dotfiles, to remember to make the adjusments to the scripts which was just a pain.
    Third I don't only use a computer, I use a couple and being able to easily have the same config, same software across all of them, easily syncable is a must for me.
    Fourth, because of the nature of NixOS and the way you configure it, it makes it more configurable than other distros (imo), while also sort of helping you configure it right.
    Fifth, being able to go back to a previous configuration in case an update broke something and continue on with my critical (must do now) work, then take the time to fix it is a life changer.

  • Should I use NixOS?

    Short answer: no.

    Long answer: no really. Don't.

    Long long answer: I'm not kidding. Don't.

    Unsigned long long answer: Alright alright. Here's why not:

    • Its learning curve is steep.
    • You will trial and error your way to enlightenment, if you survive long enough.
    • NixOS is unlike other Linux distros. Your issues will be unique and difficult to google.
    • If the words "declarative", "generational", and "immutable" don't make you fully erect, you're considering NixOS for the wrong reasons.
    • The overhead of managing a NixOS config will rarely pay for itself with fewer than 3 systems (perhaps another distro with nix on top would suit you better?).
    • Official documentation for Nix(OS) is vast, but shallow.
    • Unofficial resources and example configs are sparse and tend to be either too simple or too complex (or outdated).
    • The Nix language is obtuse and its toolchain is unintuitive. This is made infinitely worse if you've never touched the shell or a functional language before, but you'll need to learn it to do even a fraction of what makes NixOS worth all the trouble.
    • A decent grasp of Linux and its ecosystem is a must, if only to distinguish Nix(OS) issues from Linux (or upstream) issues -- as well as to debug them or report them to the correct authority (and coherently).
    • If you need somebody else to tell you whether or not you need NixOS, you don't need NixOS.

    If none of this has deterred you, then you didn't need my advice in the first place. Stop procrastinating and try NixOS!

  • How 2 flakes?

    I only used the NixOS official documentation and hlissner's dotfiles as a base. I learned flakes by playing around with the config which for me wasn't a problem. But if you want to learn more about flakes I will leave here the resources hlissner left too in his readme.