How do you manage your packages with Nix?
How do you manage your packages with Nix?
Idea: Debian + Nix == stable and funky fresh
I first came across Declarative Package Management in the manual. So I started making these packages based on it.
The install works (nix-env -iA nixpkgs.my-emacs), but nix-env -u doesn't update changes (adding and removing packages from the paths). Do I need to reinstall my- packages to get updates as well? Does nix-env -u update package definitions (apt update)?
After that I came across zero-to-nix. This approach wasn't mentioned at all in the quick start, and I came across comments that people shouldn't use nix-env anymore. Should I create flakes instead of packages, and export their paths to have them available globally?
How do you use Nix to manage your packages? Do you have any examples?
nix-env/nix profile/home-manager?
That's a really hacky method and should not be in the manual tbh.
You should be able to update by "installing" your env again though.
It's a bit overkill but for declarative package management under non-NixOS, I use home-manager's
home.packagesoption. It does essentially this but wraps it in a nice package and home-manager can do a lot of other things too.As for flakes: No, you don't require them to do any of this. They solve an entirely different problem.
I second home-manager, it was my Nix gateway drug and I can't recommend it enough!
That’s a really hacky method and should not be in the manual tbh.
That's why I'm asking, it seemed really odd.
home-manager
Thanks, this makes a lot more sense. Any good resources besides the wiki? Is there a way to break down home.packages into smaller chunks for modularity?
As for flakes: No, you don’t require them to do any of this. They solve an entirely different problem.
So they're just to ensure reproducibility?