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.)

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 [email protected]: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

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.

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)

MIT.