mirror of
https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager
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0f71012724
This removes the Nix Pills reference, because they are not a good introduction to the Nix ecosystem, but rather a thorough explanation of many disparate things. Reading through them might give some light bulb moments for an intermediate reader, but that does not mean that they're good for a beginner. I've also removed the mention of infinite recursion without source location. That's an old meme for a problem that has been mostly solved. Mentioning it here has two effects: - Propagate the outdated meme. - Make users insensitive to bad errors. Learned helplessness. That kind of thing. What we really want is for them to report bad error messages, so that they can be fixed. And they can be fixed; just report them at `NixOS/nix`.
132 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
132 lines
5.5 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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Usage
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-----
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Before attempting to use Home Manager please read the warning below.
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For a systematic overview of Home Manager and its available options,
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please see
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- the [Home Manager manual][manual],
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- the [Home Manager configuration options][configuration options], and
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- the 3rd party [Home Manager option search](https://mipmip.github.io/home-manager-option-search/).
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If you would like to contribute to Home Manager
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then please have a look at the [contributing][] chapter of the manual.
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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-23.05`). 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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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. You should therefore be
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comfortable using the Nix language and the various tools in the Nix
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ecosystem.
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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 23.05 (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][] section for instructions on how to
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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 [OFTC][].
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There is also a [Matrix room](https://matrix.to/#/#hm:rycee.net),
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which is bridged to the IRC channel.
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Installation
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------------
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Home Manager can be used in three primary ways:
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1. Using the standalone `home-manager` tool. For platforms other than
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NixOS and Darwin, this is the only available choice. It is also
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recommended for people on NixOS or Darwin that want to manage their
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home directory independently of the system as a whole. See
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[Standalone installation][manual standalone install] in the manual
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for instructions on how to perform this installation.
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2. As a module within a NixOS system configuration. This allows the
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user profiles to be built together with the system when running
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`nixos-rebuild`. See [NixOS module installation][manual nixos
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install] in the manual for a description of this setup.
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3. As a module within a [nix-darwin][] system configuration. This
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allows the user profiles to be built together with the system when
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running `darwin-rebuild`. See [nix-darwin module
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installation][manual nix-darwin install] in the manual for a
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description of this setup.
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Home Manager provides both the channel-based setup and the flake-based one.
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See [Nix Flakes][manual nix flakes] for a description of the flake-based setup.
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Translations
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------------
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Home Manager has basic support for internationalization through
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[gettext](https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/). The translations are
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hosted by [Weblate](https://weblate.org/). If you would like to
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contribute to the translation effort then start by going to the
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[Home Manager Weblate project](https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/home-manager/).
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<a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/home-manager/">
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<img src="https://hosted.weblate.org/widgets/home-manager/-/multi-auto.svg" alt="Translation status" />
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</a>
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License
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-------
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This project is licensed under the terms of the [MIT license](LICENSE).
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[Nix]: https://nixos.org/explore.html
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[NixOS]: https://nixos.org/
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[Nixpkgs]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs
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[manual]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.html
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[contributing]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/#ch-contributing
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[manual usage]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/#ch-usage
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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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[Nix Flakes]: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Flakes
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[nix-darwin]: https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin
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[manual standalone install]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.html#sec-install-standalone
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[manual nixos install]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.html#sec-install-nixos-module
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[manual nix-darwin install]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.html#sec-install-nix-darwin-module
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[manual nix flakes]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.html#ch-nix-flakes
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[rollbacks]: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.html#sec-usage-rollbacks
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