nix-installer VS nixos-config

This is a way improved[1] version of the official installer, capable of uninstallation among many other things, there is no need to use the official one: https://determinate.systems/posts/determinate-nix-installer

1: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer?tab=read...

The Determinate Systems nix installer is quite smooth: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer/

Though it does tend to get clobbered on macOS updates.

and that's just the simple version, on Linux, and thus is likely the happy-path in CI.

When trying to use it locally on macOS, this here is just some "you wanna do _what_?!": https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer/tree/v0.... (not to pick on determinate.systems, the upstream is similarly facepalm: https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/installation/installing-... )

I installed nix with the following nix-installer: bash curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install Now I'm trying to install home-manager and I'm starting from 3.2 Standalone setup with the following command: bash nix run home-manager/master -- init --switch but it gives me the following error message: Could not find suitable profile directory, tried /home/tornax/.local/state/home-manager/profiles and /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/tornax

Alternatively the Determinate Systems Nix installer runs on Steamdeck. They even have instructions for setting up a Steamdeck VM where you can try out anything before buying (other than running games).

Nice write up. But my question would be why not just use the Determinate Systems Nix installer to install nix? Is there a specific reason you went with Guix?

Personally, I like using this alternate installer. I find it a bit easier to work with. https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer

You should be able to install both in a container and on the host. And for the install script, no idea why it doesn't work for you, but there's also an unofficial installer you could try: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer

I've installed Nix on macOS using nix-installer. Now I can start a temporary nix shell using nix-shell -p git direnv as an example, but I need both of these packages "globally" outside of a nix-shell. How do I do this on macos?

I’ve been using Nix directly on MacOS with minimal issues for a few years now. Works great.

I hate using docker on Mac and have since replaced it with flakes and devenv.

My configuration with a step by step guide (600+ stars): https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config

I tried to make Nix as easy to adopt as possible by creating Nix commands and a step by step guide: https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config

I love Nix. I use it every day to manage multiple local dev environments. And I use devenv instead of docker for sharing project-specific environments with others.

Felt (still am, actually) this problem too. Started with the same approach (Vanilla Emacs) a few years back in order to really learn the ins-and-outs after giving DOOM and others a shot and feeling like I didn't have the faintest what was really going on with all the magic. I somehow did end up falling in love with Emacs again[^1].

Won't lie... there was a fair amount of cursing involved and, despite the love, I wouldn't recommend many to venture down this road[^2].

Now I have gone the literate config way in my dotfiles https://github.com/vidbina/dotfiles/tree/main/emacs and I jump between Cursor (vscode-based), Neovim and Emacs for different tasks on a daily. I also found dustinlyons/nixos-config (https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config/blob/main/module...) just a few days ago and figured that could be a fun resource when you're building yours up.

Take it as a hobby. There are a bunch of nice things that I picked up from Emacs (a. literate configs, b. comfort around working with LISPs, c. bigger appreciation for parts of the GNU ecosystem, d. more in-depth understanding of how my editor works which helps me debug issues in Neovim or vscode when I see them) but I still think that I'm cursed by wanting to go down this road so badly. Wish I could just vscode my way through live and build dope stuff, unencumbered.

1: Used Emacs heavily in college over 12 years ago when I would boot the Windows + Novell groupware school computers into my own Ubuntu config with my Emacs and embedded dev toolchain from my pendrive.

2: The single-threaded-ness and related ocassional unresponsiveness/hangups still grind my gears.

Here is my flake using home manager on Mac: https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config

What do I need to do to switch from an official Nix install to using nix-installer on macOS? Just uninstall the current nix and install using nix-installer?

My config is loosely based off https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config if this matters. Using nix-darwin.

My configuration uses Nix.

Not my personal notes, but how I do my writing and organize my thoughts. This is my Nix configuration that powers my Macbook, Linux PC, and home lab server. Emacs + org-roam to capture everything. https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config