2023-11-19 08:20:58 +01:00
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# Keeping your \~ safe from harm {#sec-usage-dotfiles}
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To configure programs and services Home Manager must write various
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things to your home directory. To prevent overwriting any existing files
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when switching to a new generation, Home Manager will attempt to detect
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collisions between existing files and generated files. If any such
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collision is detected the activation will terminate before changing
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anything on your computer.
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For example, suppose you have a wonderful, painstakingly created
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`~/.config/git/config` and add
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``` nix
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{
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# …
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programs.git = {
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enable = true;
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userName = "Jane Doe";
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userEmail = "jane.doe@example.org";
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};
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# …
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}
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```
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to your configuration. Attempting to switch to the generation will then
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result in
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2023-12-02 01:19:09 +01:00
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``` shell
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2023-11-19 08:20:58 +01:00
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$ home-manager switch
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…
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Activating checkLinkTargets
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Existing file '/home/jdoe/.config/git/config' is in the way
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Please move the above files and try again
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```
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