Configuration Paths

• macOS
• NixOS

Notes

• Default.nix files are built to import nix files in the directory
• Top level nix files or bundles will set enable options for imported modules
• Bundles are just groups of packages for a purpose
• This approach sacrifices terseness for flexibilty
• Relies on config options to enable software
• Importing a directory imports the directory/default.nix
• macOS is the darwin kernel with the aqua desktop

NixOS

a work in progress

Optional Aliases

• NIX_FLAKE_PATH is optional but helpful.
• Tip: NIX_CONFIG is used by NIX for other purposes, so don't use it
• search input is regex. Example search for Firefox or Chromium: "firefox|chromium"

export NIX_FLAKE_PATH="/path/to/flake"

alias clean="echo 'garbage collecting: this might take a while' && nix store gc"
alias generations="sudo nix-env --list-generations --profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/system"
alias optimise="echo 'optimising: this might take a while' && nix store optimise"
alias rebuild="nixos-rebuild build --impure --flake \$NIX_FLAKE_PATH"
alias search="nix search nixpkgs"
alias switch="nixos-rebuild switch --impure --flake \$NIX_FLAKE_PATH"
alias upgrade="nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade --impure --flake \$NIX_FLAKE_PATH"

macOS

Install

1. Nix
2. Nix-Darwin
   • Optional: create a clean flake

Optional Nix Config Files

These files set reasonable defaults for using nix, such as allowing "un-free" software and enableingthe use of flakes

~/.config/nix/nix.conf

# nix-command: enables the new nix subcommands
# flakes: enables the use of flakes
# pipe-operators: Add |> and <| operators to the Nix language.
experimental-features = nix-command flakes pipe-operators

• nix.conf
• experimental-features
• nix command reference

~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix

{
  allowUnfree = true;  # all unfree packages allowed
  # == allowUnfree alternative ==
  # allowUnfreePredicate = pkg: {
  #    some logic to filter which packages can be unfree or not  
  #    returns a bool
  # };
}

• allowUnfree

Optional Aliases

I use these aliases to support my use of nix on a mac, for example using NIX_FLAKE_PATH to point to you config repo instead of base config

• NIX_FLAKE_PATH is optional but helpful.
• Tip: NIX_CONFIG is used by NIX for other purposes, so don't use it
• search input is regex. Example search for Firefox or Chromium: "firefox|chromium"

export NIX_FLAKE_PATH="/path/to/flake"

alias clean="echo 'garbage collecting: this might take a while' && nix store gc"
alias generations="darwin-rebuild --list-generations"
alias optimise="echo 'optimising: this might take a while' && nix store optimise"
alias rebuild="darwin-rebuild build --impure --flake \$NIX_FLAKE_PATH"
alias search="nix search nixpkgs"
alias switch="darwin-rebuild switch --impure --flake \$NIX_FLAKE_PATH"
alias update="nix flake update --flake \$NIX_FLAKE_PATH"