nix-starter-configs VS rust-overlay

Is this an example of what you mean (home-manager is defined as part of the flake): https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-starter-configs/blob/main/minimal/flake.nix

All the resources mentioned in other comments are pretty good, but mostly they are unofficial. The official NixOS wiki is very outdated and unmaintained. You will have better luck reading other people’s configurations, nixpkgs source code and GitHub issues. For the nix language the official wiki is a nice reference https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/language/index.html. This configuration is a great starting point https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-config for learning by example. It covers most of what you may need, although bootstrapping your own config is quite rough. You may want to take a look at https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-starter-configs. It’s very basic and should be simple to understand and improve.

Another good option: https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-starter-configs

I started with this one, the minimal version, then moved on to something more like the standard version, and now I'm moving on to something based on his much more complicated and flexible build in a different repo. I had been flailing, then this repo made it click.

Hi all, I'd like to install Gnome using the unstable overlay; I used https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-starter-configs as a template, my sistem is on the stable source and I install packages from the unstable branch using "unstable.pkg". Given that Gnome is installed by

So, it took me an inordinate amount of effort to get to this point, but I find managing my nixos laptop to be idiotically easy now. And, to be clear, I'm not a developer. I just want an easy to use config that I can port over to a new laptop when the time is right (and maybe port a similar config over to my desktop as well, once I get around to installing NixOS).

It's very weird, because I went from "WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD ANYONE WANT THIS?" to "my life is now measurably better" over the span of about 48 hours, and I have no idea what clicked. Something about adding flakes to the mix (NixOS + HM + flakes) broke the logjam. Or maybe it was simply how damned useful this config was to learn from:

https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-starter-configs

I went from that to a per-user, per-machine (with defaults for each) config in about an hour, and I haven't fundamentally changed that setup since. I have no idea why it's so compelling to me, but the combination of being able to tell the machine how to configure itself in one place with the ease of adding software ... I'm going to spin up a config this weekend and put it on my kid's laptop. There are other tools to accomplish the same thing, but NixOS is just so easy ... and poorly documented ... and has weird CLI conventions ... and doesn't do a super job of garbage control ... and

Hi, I created a new Flake based on Misterio77's template, then added Disko to it, as explained here. I also set disko.enableConfig = false; as they say is necessary when running from Installer.

I just went on this journey last weekend! It was a rough start but I started to feel a lot more productive when I found this guide on flakes and also used this repo as a starting template.

Ok thanks! This one: https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-starter-configs

take a look at misterios starter configs

I'm trying to understand overlays in order to make a proper rustup install (I've read that this overlay is the best way to go).

real-world example: https://github.com/oxalica/rust-overlay/blob/master/flake.nix

In this language context specifically, if one wanted to manage their workspace with Nix I would reach for Riff and/or oxalica/rust-overlay first, since they are deliberately more aware of Rust-specific nuance. In the latter's case it has compatibility paths with rustup-toolchain files as well, for allowing your peers who can't or won't adopt Nix to continue to feel like first-class participants in the project. Another alternative I don't have experience with would be nix-community/fenix.

p.s. I'm not sure if it's mentioned much of anywhere, but it'd be neat if there was a way to figure out the appropriate cargo from a rust-toolchain/rust-toolchain.toml if present, ala https://github.com/oxalica/rust-overlay. Funnily enough 95% of my development time is in Rust, but I don't actually have it installed globally, fun times being a NixOS user. I'd definitely make the argument that cargo is an external dependency!

Many of us have moved to https://github.com/oxalica/rust-overlay over Mozilla's overlay.

We added rust-overlay, so we can easily specify different rust versions without relying on nixpkgs to give us what ever rust version in there.

If it's Rust, you can use https://github.com/oxalica/rust-overlay to get any version you want very easily without pinning an instance of nixpkgs just for it.

asdf does not allow you to keep three different versions of the same language, so I'm not sure how that compares? It's not super-trivial to do in Nix, but at least you can do it.

asdf is also no different than Nix when it comes to minor/major versions. You're at the mercy of what the plugin does, other than that you have to create your own plugin from scratch or make a fork. Nix has the option to patch things up more easily at least.

How does this compare to https://github.com/oxalica/rust-overlay/ ? Can fenix ingest a rust-toolchain file and provide packages from it?

Can you say a bit about how this compares to oxalica’s rust overlay?

I frequently try to do something, say use (from the README of rust overlay):