Dotfiles

This is my collection of configuration files.

It uses home-manager—a Nix-based tool—to install programs and create their configuration files based off the home.nix file in this repository. I wrote more about it in a blog post.

(I used to use GNU Stow. The last Stow-based commit was 4f1feee1e.)

Usage

Install Nix with Nix Flake support enabled, for example by using the Determinate Systems installer. You should be able to run the nix flake command in a shell.

Next, clone this repository. We'll use ~/Code/dotfiles.

$ git clone git@github.com:alexpearce/dotfiles.git ~/Code/dotfiles

The home-manager profile can then be built and activated:

$ nix run home-manager/master -- switch --flake ~/Code/dotfiles#apearwin

To update dependencies:

$ nix flake update ~/Code/dotfiles

Fish

I like to set fish as my default shell. On macOS this means:

1. Editing /etc/shells to include an entry for the home-manager-managed fish binary at ~/.nix-profile/bin/fish.
2. Setting the default shell with chsh -s ~/.nix-profile/bin/fish.

nix-darwin

As an alternative to using home-manager alone, the configuration supports using it with nix-darwin.

The initial setup requires moving the Nix configuration file created by the Determinate Systems installer out of the way, so that nix-darwin can manage it for us.

sudo mv /etc/nix/nix.conf{,.before-nix-darwin}
nix --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' run nix-darwin -- switch --flake (pwd)

Subsequent rebuilds, after configuration changes, are simpler.

darwin-rebuild switch --flake (pwd)

License

MIT.