mirror of
https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager
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386 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
386 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
Home Manager using Nix
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======================
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This project provides a basic system for managing a user environment
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using the [Nix][] package manager together with the Nix libraries
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found in [Nixpkgs][]. It allows declarative configuration of user
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specific (non global) packages and dotfiles.
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Before attempting to use Home Manager please read the warning below.
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For a more systematic overview of Home Manager and its available
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options, please see the [Home Manager manual][manual].
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Words of warning
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----------------
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Unfortunately, it is quite possible to get difficult to understand
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errors when working with Home Manager, such as infinite loops with no
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clear source reference. You should therefore be comfortable using the
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Nix language and the various tools in the Nix ecosystem. Reading
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through the [Nix Pills][] document is a good way to familiarize
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yourself with them.
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If you are not very familiar with Nix but still want to use Home
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Manager then you are strongly encouraged to start with a small and
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very simple configuration and gradually make it more elaborate as you
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learn.
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In some cases Home Manager cannot detect whether it will overwrite a
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previous manual configuration. For example, the Gnome Terminal module
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will write to your dconf store and cannot tell whether a configuration
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that it is about to be overwritten was from a previous Home Manager
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generation or from manual configuration.
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Home Manager targets [NixOS][] unstable and NixOS version 21.05 (the
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current stable version), it may or may not work on other Linux
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distributions and NixOS versions.
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Also, the `home-manager` tool does not explicitly support rollbacks at
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the moment so if your home directory gets messed up you'll have to fix
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it yourself. See the [rollbacks](#rollbacks) section for instructions
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on how to manually perform a rollback.
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Now when your expectations have been built up and you are eager to try
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all this out you can go ahead and read the rest of this text.
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Contact
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-------
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You can chat with us on IRC in the channel [#home-manager][] on
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[OFTC][].
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Installation
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------------
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Currently the easiest way to install Home Manager is as follows:
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1. Make sure you have a working Nix installation. Specifically, make
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sure that your user is able to build and install Nix packages. For
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example, you should be able to successfully run a command like
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`nix-instantiate '<nixpkgs>' -A hello` without having to switch to
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the root user. For a multi-user install of Nix this means that
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your user must be covered by the
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[`allowed-users`][nixAllowedUsers] Nix option. On NixOS you can
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control this option using the
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[`nix.allowedUsers`][nixosAllowedUsers] system option.
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Note that Nix 2.4 (`nixUnstable`) is not yet supported.
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2. Add the appropriate Home Manager channel. If you are following
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Nixpkgs master or an unstable channel you can run
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```console
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$ nix-channel --add https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/master.tar.gz home-manager
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$ nix-channel --update
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```
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and if you follow a Nixpkgs version 21.05 channel you can run
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```console
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$ nix-channel --add https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/release-21.05.tar.gz home-manager
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$ nix-channel --update
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```
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On NixOS you may need to log out and back in for the channel to
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become available. On non-NixOS you may have to add
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```shell
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export NIX_PATH=$HOME/.nix-defexpr/channels${NIX_PATH:+:}$NIX_PATH
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```
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to your shell (see [nix#2033](https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/2033)).
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3. Install Home Manager and create the first Home Manager generation:
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```console
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$ nix-shell '<home-manager>' -A install
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```
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Once finished, Home Manager should be active and available in your
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user environment.
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3. If you do not plan on having Home Manager manage your shell
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configuration then you must source the
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```
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$HOME/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh
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```
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file in your shell configuration. Unfortunately, in this specific
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case we currently only support POSIX.2-like shells such as
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[Bash][] or [Z shell][].
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For example, if you use Bash then add
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```bash
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. "$HOME/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh"
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```
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or this when managing home configuration together with system
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configuration
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```bash
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. "/etc/profiles/per-user/$USER/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh"
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```
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to your `~/.profile` file.
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If instead of using channels you want to run Home Manager from a Git
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checkout of the repository then you can use the
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`programs.home-manager.path` option to specify the absolute path to
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the repository.
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Usage
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-----
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Home Manager is typically managed through the `home-manager` tool.
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This tool can, for example, apply configurations to your home
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directory, list user packages installed by the tool, and list the
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configuration generations.
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As an example, let us expand the initial configuration file from the
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installation above to install the htop and fortune packages, install
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Emacs with a few extra packages enabled, install Firefox with
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smooth scrolling disabled, and enable the user gpg-agent service.
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To satisfy the above setup we should elaborate the
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`~/.config/nixpkgs/home.nix` file as follows:
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```nix
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{ pkgs, ... }:
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{
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home.packages = [
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pkgs.htop
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pkgs.fortune
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];
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programs.emacs = {
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enable = true;
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extraPackages = epkgs: [
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epkgs.nix-mode
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epkgs.magit
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];
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};
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programs.firefox = {
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enable = true;
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profiles = {
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myprofile = {
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settings = {
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"general.smoothScroll" = false;
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};
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};
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};
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};
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services.gpg-agent = {
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enable = true;
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defaultCacheTtl = 1800;
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enableSshSupport = true;
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};
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programs.home-manager = {
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enable = true;
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path = "…";
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};
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}
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```
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To activate this configuration you can then run
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```console
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$ home-manager switch
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```
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or if you are not feeling so lucky,
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```console
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$ home-manager build
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```
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which will create a `result` link to a directory containing an
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activation script and the generated home directory files.
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Documentation of available configuration options, including
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descriptions and usage examples, is available in the [Home Manager
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manual][configuration options] or offline by running
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```console
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$ man home-configuration.nix
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```
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Rollbacks
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---------
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While the `home-manager` tool does not explicitly support rollbacks at
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the moment it is relatively easy to perform one manually. The steps to
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do so are
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1. Run `home-manager generations` to determine which generation you
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wish to rollback to:
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```console
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$ home-manager generations
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2018-01-04 11:56 : id 765 -> /nix/store/kahm1rxk77mnvd2l8pfvd4jkkffk5ijk-home-manager-generation
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2018-01-03 10:29 : id 764 -> /nix/store/2wsmsliqr5yynqkdyjzb1y57pr5q2lsj-home-manager-generation
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2018-01-01 12:21 : id 763 -> /nix/store/mv960kl9chn2lal5q8lnqdp1ygxngcd1-home-manager-generation
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2017-12-29 21:03 : id 762 -> /nix/store/6c0k1r03fxckql4vgqcn9ccb616ynb94-home-manager-generation
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2017-12-25 18:51 : id 761 -> /nix/store/czc5y6vi1rvnkfv83cs3rn84jarcgsgh-home-manager-generation
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…
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```
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2. Copy the Nix store path of the generation you chose, e.g.,
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/nix/store/mv960kl9chn2lal5q8lnqdp1ygxngcd1-home-manager-generation
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for generation 763.
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3. Run the `activate` script inside the copied store path:
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```console
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$ /nix/store/mv960kl9chn2lal5q8lnqdp1ygxngcd1-home-manager-generation/activate
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Starting home manager activation
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…
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```
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Keeping your ~ safe from harm
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-----------------------------
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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
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files when switching to a new generation, Home Manager will attempt to
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detect collisions between existing files and generated files. If any
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such collision is detected the activation will terminate before
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changing 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
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then result in
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```console
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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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Graphical services
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------------------
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Home Manager includes a number of services intended to run in a
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graphical session, for example `xscreensaver` and `dunst`.
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Unfortunately, such services will not be started automatically unless
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you let Home Manager start your X session. That is, you have something
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like
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```nix
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{
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# …
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services.xserver.enable = true;
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# …
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}
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```
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in your system configuration and
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```nix
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{
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# …
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xsession.enable = true;
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xsession.windowManager.command = "…";
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# …
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}
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```
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in your Home Manager configuration.
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Nix Flakes
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----------
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Home Manager includes a `flake.nix` file for compatibility with [Nix Flakes][]
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for those that wish to use it as a module. A bare-minimum `flake.nix` would be
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as follows:
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```nix
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{
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description = "NixOS configuration";
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inputs = {
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nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
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home-manager.url = "github:nix-community/home-manager";
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};
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outputs = { home-manager, nixpkgs, ... }: {
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nixosConfigurations = {
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hostname = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
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system = "x86_64-linux";
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modules = [
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./configuration.nix
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home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager
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{
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home-manager.useGlobalPkgs = true;
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home-manager.useUserPackages = true;
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home-manager.users.jdoe = import ./home.nix;
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}
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];
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};
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};
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};
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}
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```
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Note, the Home Manager library is exported by the flake under
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`lib.hm`.
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When using flakes, switch to new configurations as you do for the
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whole system (e. g. `nixos-rebuild switch --flake <path>`) instead of
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using the `home-manager` command line tool.
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Releases
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--------
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Home Manager is developed against `nixpkgs-unstable` branch, which
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often causes it to contain tweaks for changes/packages not yet
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released in stable NixOS. To avoid breaking users' configurations,
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Home Manager is released in branches corresponding to NixOS releases
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(e.g. `release-21.05`). These branches get fixes, but usually not new
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modules. If you need a module to be backported, then feel free to open
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an issue.
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[Bash]: https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/
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[Nix]: https://nixos.org/nix/
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[NixOS]: https://nixos.org/
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[Nixpkgs]: https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/
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[nixAllowedUsers]: https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#conf-allowed-users
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[nixosAllowedUsers]: https://nixos.org/nixos/manual/options.html#opt-nix.allowedUsers
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[Z shell]: http://zsh.sourceforge.net/
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[manual]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/
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[configuration options]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.html
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[#home-manager]: https://webchat.oftc.net/?channels=home-manager
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[OFTC]: https://oftc.net/
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[samueldr]: https://github.com/samueldr/
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[Nix Pills]: https://nixos.org/nixos/nix-pills/
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[Nix Flakes]: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Flakes
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