Since the goal of this nix-config is to make a consistent environment
across any number of systems, having options goes against this.
If these configuration values need to be changed, they should affect all
systems using the config by default.
- GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM shouldn't be needed anymore and was
likely a skill issue in the past.
- NODE_OPTIONS should be set per-project instead of globally.
- GATSBY_TELEMETRY_DISABLED should also be set per-project, although the
framework seems to be in standby mode currently.
I added specializations over a year ago when I was still new to NixOS
and trying out some of the many different features unique to it. These
days I don't need much more than a terminal and a web browser, and I
haven't used GNOME or Plasma in over a year at this point.
Nowadays everything I need from a computer I can accomplish with the
terminal. Nixpkgs trained me to dig deep into source code to figure out
how to do things, and using a PinePhone significantly improved my
awareness of how Linux interacts with hardware and how to configure it.
One of the biggest motivators for dropping these environments is that I
can't keep up with the changes that are made to GNOME and Plasma.
Hyprland has served my needs well and feels more stable since there
isn't a user interface that's constantly changing.
Note that glib was supposedly added for mounting-related things, but
this should be possible to upstream into the derivation instead if it
hasn't been added already.
The year is 2024 and httpie is no longer in fashion. httpie was broken
on NixOS anyway due to certificate verification errors, and wget is
unnecessary overall since scripts that depend on it have their own $PATH
with it available.
See: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/94666
rustscan is a nice alternative to nmap that's easier to use and doesn't
require the usage of sudo in certain situations.
nix-update is a nice script that makes updating the versions and hashes
of packages way easier than editing them by hand.
It's better to be pragmatic here and not choose tectonic when texlive
works extremely well and without any of the problems one would encounter
with tectonic.
The future of tectonic is unfortunately a mystery as well, due to the
status of the GitHub repository and its dependence on the unmaintained
XeTeX.
See: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/593031/what-are-the-downsides-of-using-xetex/593217#593217
Now that tmux works again, it makes sense to choose it over zellij due
to the vastly superior community support around it. Using tmux-256color
makes colors work properly in programs like htop, and neovim benefits
from squiggly lines and italics from kitty as well.
After having to use vagrant again after a while I've decided that it's
better to simply "do things the right way" the first time with the
declarative nature of Nix instead of trying to make install scripts
work.
Notably, the feedback loop between provisioning Vagrant boxes was
lacking compared to rebuilding on NixOS, and the virtual machine
frequently had to be destroyed and provisioned all over again, versus
having already built derivations with Nix.
