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https://github.com/utdemir/dotfiles-nix

Comprehensive configurations of my NixOS workstations and home server.
https://github.com/utdemir/dotfiles-nix

dotfiles nix nixos

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Comprehensive configurations of my NixOS workstations and home server.

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README 

        
| **Update: I am not using NixOS as my main OS anymore, so I am not going to maintain this repository. Please feel free to fork away!** |

| --- |



# Configuration of my workstation and servers



This repository forms my home network; including services, applications

and configurations for my workstations (one desktop and one laptop), and

the home server I use mainly for the backups.



The overall setup is specific to my home network; however, feel free to

steal any parts that look useful to you.



## Features



### Network



* Uses [Tailscale][tailscale] for connectivity.

* Configurations are deployed via [morph][].



[morph]: https://github.com/DBCDK/morph

[tailscale]: https://tailscale.com/



### Workstation(s)



* Keyboard and command line oriented

    * i3, kakoune, qutebrowser and lots of shell utilities

* Lightweight, fast, simple

    * No bloated DE's or "fully-featured" applications.

    * JavaScript disabled by default.

    * Single codebase describing the whole system.

* Bleeding-edge

    * Closely follows `nixpkgs` and `home-manager` HEAD

* (Almost) Free as in freedom

    * Explicitly allow non-free packages in 'system.nix' (look for

      'allowUnfreePredicate')



## Motivation



I follow the philosophy of "things should do one thing and do it well",

so I try to avoid complex tools.  I found a few rule-of-thumbs which

helps me decide if a tool is sufficiently complex or not. I try not to

use something if it:



* .. does window-management, but is not a window manager. (editors with

frames, terminals with splits, browsers with tabs etc.)

* .. has an integrated editor. (usually GUI applications and curses

TUI's.)

* .. does not have a form of text-based configuration.

* .. requires a lot of configuration/customisation to use.

* .. not free (as in freedom).



It's pretty hard to find applications fitting all of those criteria; so

sometimes I resort to disabling features, preferably with a configuration

flag, or simply by disabling the relevant keybindings.



## Docs



Below are some tips for the tools I'm using, and my rationale for using them.

They are not comprehensive, so consult their own documentation to use them

effectively.



---



### Operating System: NixOS



All this configuration revolves around using [NixOS](https://nixos.org/)

operating system and the [Nix](https://nixos.org/nix) programming language.



Nix provides a declarative way to declare your system, and has enough theory

behind to have purity and rollbacks trivial.



The way I use Nix/NixOS sometimes slightly differs from the common usage:



* I use [home-manager](https://github.com/rycee/home-manager) to manage

my dotfiles. This gives me a fully-reproducible and programmable system.

* I do not use `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix`. The system activation scripts

are built and deployed via [morph][].

* I don't use channels and `NIX_PATH`. I understand the rationale behind

them, but I think they make things less obviously deterministic (action

at a distance).  So I prefer to always pin `nixpkgs` and don't use

`< ... >` syntax at all.

* I follow the `nixpkgs-unstable` branch of `nixpkgs`. The main reason

is that I like to have the latest & greatest packages on my system. I

found it quite stable, and I can just reboot the system to a previous

generation if there is a major issue.



---



### Window Manager: i3



I use [i3][] as the window manager. It is fast and does

its jobs well.



[i3]: https://i3wm.org



`i3` is my *only* window manager. So; I do not use terminal-multiplexers,

applications with tabs/panes/frames/buffers etc.



---



### Shell: fish



I use `fish`. I have some amount of customisation, but nothing unusual. Comes

with a handful of useful plugins.



I might switch back to `zsh` or `bash` because I am more used to their syntax.



---



### Terminal Emulator: kitty



I use [kitty](https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty), with minimal

features. I find it sufficiently simple, easy to configure, and it has a

`hints` feature I use quite frequently. However its main developer is

a bit mean, so I am keen to switch to a new terminal emulator; however

I couldn't figure out a easy way to get hints without using `tmux`.



---



### Editor: kakoune



I spend a lot of time editing text, so it took me quite a long time to

settle on using [kakoune](https://github.com/mawww/kakoune). I think

it's the only usable editor adhering to the UNIX philosophy.



Surprisingly, I only have about 30 lines of configuration for it, they

just add a few keybindings, make it always use the system clipboard,

and change a few visuals.



Even if I am a software developer using multiple programming ecosystems

daily; I do not much programming-specific configuration on my editor. I

use `kakoune` solely for editing code, and have an another terminal

window open which runs/typechecks the project continuously. It does

support LSP for some languages, but I rarely rely on it.



---



### Web Browser: qutebrowser



I use [qutebrowser](https://qutebrowser.org/) as my web browser. It is

a keyboard-oriented minimal web browser using QtWebEngine (WebKit). The

only customisation I make makes it use separate windows as tabs and

makes it use `kakoune` as editor. Also, **javascript is disabled by

default**, see the keybindings to disable it per-host basis (or just

modify the configuration).



Actually, I would prefer to use Firefox with some addons & customisation

to make it keyboard-oriented & disabling tabs. However currently there

is no easy way to configure Firefox easily & install addons without using

the GUI. There are some ongoing work adding this functionality to nixpkgs,

I will consider switching when they are merged.



---



### Password Manager: pass



I use [password-store](https://www.passwordstore.org/) to manage my

passwords and OTP's, and use its git integration to sync them to a

private Git repository.



Checkout its documentation for the usage, I don't have any special

configuration for it. However, there are a few helpers:



* `super+p` keybinding open a menu with your passwords, and you can

choose to copy either the password or the OTP token (if available)

to your clipboard.

* There is a `qr2pass` script on this repo which will take a screenshot

of your screen containing a barcode for an OTP and adds it to the given

password file; so you can use it to generate OTP tokens.

* There is an additional `pass rotate` command which shows you the oldest

password you have.



---



### Other tools



I also use tons of other tools for various purposes.



Checkout [./home-modules/workstation.nix]() to see them all.