ZaneyOS 🟰 Best ❄️ NixOS Configs

ZaneyOS is a way of reproducing my configuration on any NixOS system. This includes the wallpaper, scripts, applications, config files, and more. Please remember to change username and hostname in flake.nix.

What Is NixOS

NixOS is a Linux distribution known for its unique approach to package management and system configuration. It uses the Nix package manager, which is based on a purely functional approach to managing software and system configurations.

In NixOS, the entire operating system configuration is described declaratively in a configuration file, allowing for reproducibility and easy rollbacks. This means that changes to the system can be tracked and reversed, making it robust and reliable for system administrators and developers.

Why Choose NixOS

Choosing NixOS often depends on specific needs and preferences. Here are some reasons why people opt for NixOS:

Declarative Configuration: NixOS employs a declarative approach to system configuration. This means the entire system configuration is defined in a single file, making it reproducible and easier to manage. Changes are tracked and can be rolled back if needed.
Functional Package Management: The Nix package manager ensures that each package and its dependencies are isolated and managed separately. This prevents conflicts between different versions of software and enables easy rollbacks to previous versions.
Reproducibility: NixOS allows for consistent and reproducible environments, critical in development, testing, and deployment scenarios. It's particularly valuable in DevOps and CI/CD pipelines where consistent environments are essential.
Multiple Environments and Rollbacks: With NixOS, it's possible to have multiple versions of the same software installed simultaneously without conflicts. This flexibility is especially useful for developers or those requiring different versions of software for various projects.
Community and Customization: NixOS has an active community that contributes to its growth, sharing configurations, and offering support. Its customizable nature allows users to tailor their systems to their needs.

Why Choose My Configuration?

I have gone through a lot of effort of making my configuration something that is simple to understand while remaining feature complete. My configuration is written as a NixOS Flake so you will need to be using NixOS. I will have a guide to replicating what I use down below.

Explaining My Flake

My Flake controls where we are getting things from. It also allows me to define variables for things like Git information, CPU, GPU options for enabling different drivers for different configurations. When you run the rebuild switch command from below it sources the flake.nix that sources default.nix and home.nix.

The hardware.nix is automatically generated with all the things you need and the default.nix imports other nix files containing certain aspects of the config that may or may not change based on CPU or GPU settings.

How The Config Files Work

I am using home manager that is where all of the main configuration for stuff is, as most things are in user space. All of the configuration files that we have being imported in the home.nix are stored in the folder config/home. You might have noticed something quite different about all of them... They are in a .nix format. These files that are imported by home.nix through default.nix in that folder. In nix when we import an entire folders .nix files, like I'm doing in home.nix, we need a default.nix to import everything else.

Now I am doing the same thing with the systems configuration too. You'll see a similar folder in config called system that has files for configuring services and such. If you are hunting for the file that is the configuration.nix equivelent it is the system.nix file and the files in config/system.

Having the configuration files as a .nix file that I have creating the home files allows me to have variables passed into them. This allows me to use Nix Colors, a phenomenal tool in NixOS, to define a base16 colorscheme and let the user change it in the flake and have all the programs change upon rebuild. Do note that some programs like SwayNotificationCenter may require a relaunch to show changes.

Themes you have available for you to set in the flake.nix are available here. Just take off the .yaml part of any of those names and use that as your theme variable.

Another cool thing I can do is have that theme the user set in the flake.nix used to generate a GTK theme as well! So when you change that one variable all you system programs will change upon a rebuild. I have included some fun scripts as well so definitely have some fun playing around with what you can do with my setup.

Steps To Reproduce My System

Enable flakes in your default configuration.nix by adding this:

# Enable Flakes and the new command-line tool
nix.settings.experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];

This file should be located at /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

Ensure you have Git listed in your pkgs in the configuration.nix.
Rebuild your system.
Clone this repo.
Then go into repo folder (stay in this folder)
Change username, hostname, theme, and any other variables you may want under user information in flake.nix
If you change your hostname in the flake.nix know you need to update your defualt config, rebuild, and reboot.
Ensure you have selected the proper cpuType and gpuType in the flake as well.
Generate your hardware.nix like so:

nixos-generate-config --show-hardware-config > hardware.nix

Run this command:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .

Now when you want to rebuild the configuration you have access to an alias called flake-rebuild that will rebuild the flake based of the flakeDir variable you set in flake.nix!

Hope you enjoy!

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