[](https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs)
[](https://nixos.org)
**Hey,** you. You're finally awake. You were trying to configure your OS declaratively, right? Walked right into that NixOS ambush, same as us, and those dotfiles over there.
------
| | |
|-|-|
| **Shell:** | zsh + zgen |
| **DM:** | lightdm + lightdm-mini-greeter |
| **WM:** | bspwm + polybar |
| **Editor:** | [Doom Emacs][doom-emacs] (and occasionally [vim]) |
| **Terminal:** | st |
| **Launcher:** | rofi |
| **Browser:** | firefox |
| **GTK Theme:** | [Ant Dracula](https://github.com/EliverLara/Ant-Dracula) |
-----
## Quick start
1. Yoink [NixOS 20.09][nixos] (must be newer than Sept 12, 2020 for `nixos-install --flake`).
2. Boot into the installer.
3. Do your partitions and mount your root to `/mnt`
4. `git clone https://github.com/hlissner/dotfiles /mnt/etc/nixos`
5. Install NixOS: `nixos-install --root /mnt --flake /mnt/etc/nixos#XYZ`, where
`XYZ` is your hostname. Use `#generic` for a simple, universal config.
6. OPTIONAL: Create a sub-directory in `hosts/` for your device. See [host/kuro]
as an example.
7. Reboot!
## Management
And I say, `bin/hey`. [What's going on?](http://hemansings.com/)
| Command | Description |
|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| `hey rebuild` | Rebuild this flake (shortcut: `hey re`) |
| `hey upgrade` | Update flake lockfile and switch to it (shortcut: `hey up`) |
| `hey rollback` | Roll back to previous system generation |
| `hey gc` | Runs `nix-collect-garbage -d`. Use sudo to clean system profile |
| `hey push REMOTE` | Deploy these dotfiles to REMOTE (over ssh) |
| `hey check` | Run tests and checks for this flake |
| `hey show` | Show flake outputs of this repo |
## Frequently asked questions
+ **Why NixOS?**
Because declarative, generational, and immutable configuration is a godsend
when you have a fleet of computers to manage.
+ **How do I change the default username?**
1. Set `USER` the first time you run `nixos-install`: `USER=myusername
nixos-install --root /mnt --flake #XYZ`
2. Or change `"hlissner"` in modules/options.nix.
+ **How do I "set up my partitions"?**
My main host [has a README](hosts/kuro/README.org) you can use as a reference.
I set up an EFI+GPT system and partitions with `parted` and `zfs`.
+ **Why did you write bin/hey?**
I'm nonplussed by the user story for nix's CLI tools and thought fixing it
would be more productive than complaining about it on the internet. Then I
thought, [why not do both](https://youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk)?
+ **How 2 flakes?**
Would it be the NixOS experience if I gave you all the answers in one,
convenient place?
No, but here are some resources that helped me:
+ [A three-part tweag article that everyone's read.](https://www.tweag.io/blog/2020-05-25-flakes/)
+ [An overengineered config to scare off beginners.](https://github.com/nrdxp/nixflk)
+ [A minimalistic config for scared beginners.](https://github.com/colemickens/nixos-flake-example)
+ [A nixos wiki page that spells out the format of flake.nix.](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Flakes)
+ [Official documentation that nobody reads.](https://nixos.org/learn.html)
+ [Some great videos on general nixOS tooling and hackery.](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-cY3DcYladGdFQWIKL90SQ)
+ A couple flake configs that I
[may](https://github.com/LEXUGE/nixos)
[have](https://github.com/bqv/nixrc)
[shamelessly](https://git.sr.ht/~dunklecat/nixos-config/tree)
[rummaged](https://github.com/utdemir/dotfiles)
[through](https://github.com/purcell/dotfiles).
+ [Some notes about using Nix](https://github.com/justinwoo/nix-shorts)
+ [What helped me figure out generators (for npm, yarn, python and haskell)](https://myme.no/posts/2020-01-26-nixos-for-development.html)
+ [What y'all will need when Nix drives you to drink.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eni9PPPPBpg)
[doom-emacs]: https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs
[vim]: https://github.com/hlissner/.vim
[nixos]: https://releases.nixos.org/?prefix=nixos/20.09-small/
[host/kuro]: https://github.com/hlissner/dotfiles/tree/master/hosts/kuro