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diff --git a/blog/nixos-1.md b/blog/nixos-1.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d85c2e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/nixos-1.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +--- +title: NixOS Part 1 +date: 2022-02-22 +--- + +Recently, I switched both of my primary laptops from Arch (cesium/vulcan) and +Windows (carbon) to NixOS, mostly on a whim. Some friends of mine have been +encouraging me to try it out for a while, and I did so over the winter break on +Carbon, but I couldn't get flakes to work properly, so I abandoned it and put +Windows on it. What I needed from carbon was for it to work as a notetaking +tablet, and Windows came with OneNote so it was easy to get set up. + +Ever since, NixOS has been in the back of my mind. The idea of a system +configuration tracked in Git that I can use on clients and servers intrigued me +and I wanted to see how I could use that in my systems administration. + +# First Steps +The first thing I did was talk with my friends who were trying to get me to use +NixOS in the first place. They recommended that I go with setting up my flake +immediately, instead of trying to merge my existing `configuration.nix` into a +flake later. This turned out to be the right move, and I'm now tracking my +system configuration at [muirrum/nix](https://git.carathe.dev/muirrum/nix). This +has led to me being able to share a baseline configuration across both carbon +and cesium, including my user configuration and the packages I expect to have +(including neovim, zsh, firefox, and my custom fork of dwm). + +# Encapsulate and Unif~~i~~y +Everything else I'm planning to split into modules, for both my user +configuration and my system configuration. I've already started this with +`nixos/modules/*.nix` and `home/modules/mail.nix` which set up system modules +like Steam, Darktable, and virtualization, as well as my mail sync systemd +service. That way, I can enable the things I need per-system, while still +maintaining the ability to centrally manage it. Now I can add +`./nixos/modules/steam.nix` to my system configuration and I get *my* Steam +setup on every system, every time. It's the same with Darktable, libvirtd, or +`mbsync`. Getting a unified system configuration is as simple as +`nixos-rebuild switch` in my flake directory. I'm planning on rolling this out +to my servers slowly, starting with my physical server during the next break. + +# Packaging +NixOS is based on the Nix package manager, which allows developers to describe +exactly which versions of which packages should be built to make their app work +every time. I've been using this to package my bots and configure their +development environments so I don't have those tools polluting my `$PATH` +outside of the directories where I intend to work on them. I have one of my bots +set up to automatically build a small Docker image for me, so that I can quickly +push it up to my private registry. + +# Conclusion +I plan to keep using NixOS for all my devices. I've found it fun to tinker with, +especially since it keeps a backup of previous versions of your system, so that +if you mess something up you can just reboot and choose a different one. I +haven't needed that *yet* but I'm sure it's coming soon, knowing how much I like +to mess with things that shouldn't be messed with. + +I'll probably write about my experience getting NixOS set up on my home server +in another post. |