https://www.softinio.com • This is a web feed, also known as an Atom feed. Subscribe by copying the URL from the address bar into your newsreader Visit website Recent posts Updated on $DATE date Nix Software Engineer based in San Francisco Bay Area Zola 2025-05-03T00:00:00+00:00 https://www.softinio.com/tags/nix/atom.xml 2025-05-03T00:00:00+00:00 2025-05-03T00:00:00+00:00 Salar Rahmanian https://www.softinio.com/til/using-stable-and-unstable-nix-channels-together/ <p>For one of my servers that is running NixOS I have been using the stable channel for all packages. However I wanted for one package to use the version of the package that the unstable channel had and had to learn how to do it.</p> <p>I am using flakes and this is what I originally had as my input:</p> <pre data-lang="nix" class="language-nix z-code"><code class="language-nix" data-lang="nix"><span class="z-source z-nix"><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">inputs</span> <span class="z-invalid z-illegal">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">nixpkgs</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">url</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-string z-quoted z-double z-nix"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-start z-nix">&quot;</span>github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-24.11<span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-end z-nix">&quot;</span></span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-invalid z-illegal">;</span> </span></code></pre> <p>I added the unstable channel as an input:</p> <pre data-lang="nix" class="language-nix z-code"><code class="language-nix" data-lang="nix"><span class="z-source z-nix"><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">inputs</span> <span class="z-invalid z-illegal">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">nixpkgs</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">url</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-string z-quoted z-double z-nix"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-start z-nix">&quot;</span>github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-24.11<span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-end z-nix">&quot;</span></span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">nixpkgs-unstable</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> <span class="z-comment z-line z-number-sign z-nix"># &lt;-- added this !</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">url</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-string z-quoted z-double z-nix"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-start z-nix">&quot;</span>github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable<span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-end z-nix">&quot;</span></span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-invalid z-illegal">;</span> </span></code></pre> <p>I changed my output to make sure my system is configured with both channels as follows (see comments in code snippet for what I added):</p> <pre data-lang="nix" class="language-nix z-code"><code class="language-nix" data-lang="nix"><span class="z-source z-nix"><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">outputs</span> <span class="z-invalid z-illegal">=</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-function z-1 z-nix">self</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-nix">,</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-function z-1 z-nix">nixpkgs</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-nix">,</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-function z-1 z-nix">nixpkgs-unstable</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-nix">,</span> <span class="z-comment z-line z-number-sign z-nix"># &lt;--- added this</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-entity z-function z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-function z-nix">:</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-keyword z-other z-nix">let</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">system</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-string z-quoted z-double z-nix"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-start z-nix">&quot;</span>x86_64-linux<span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-double z-end z-nix">&quot;</span></span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-comment z-line z-number-sign z-nix"># Define the pkgs from both stable and unstable channels</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">pkgs</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-support z-function z-nix">import</span> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">nixpkgs</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-keyword z-other z-inherit z-nix">inherit</span> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-single z-nix">system</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-inherit z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">unstablePkgs</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-support z-function z-nix">import</span> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">nixpkgs-unstable</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-keyword z-other z-inherit z-nix">inherit</span> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-single z-nix">system</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-inherit z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-keyword z-other z-nix">in</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">nixosConfigurations</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">myserver</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">nixpkgs</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-nix">.</span><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">lib</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-nix">.</span><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">nixosSystem</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-keyword z-other z-inherit z-nix">inherit</span> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-single z-nix">system</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-inherit z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">modules</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-list z-nix">[</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-string z-unquoted z-path z-nix">./configuration.nix</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-list z-nix">]</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-multipart z-nix">specialArgs</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-bind z-nix">=</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset-or-function z-nix">{</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-keyword z-other z-inherit z-nix">inherit</span> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-single z-nix">pkgs</span> <span class="z-entity z-other z-attribute-name z-single z-nix">unstablePkgs</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-inherit z-nix">;</span> <span class="z-comment z-line z-number-sign z-nix"># &lt;--- inheriting both!</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-bind z-nix">;</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-attrset z-nix">}</span><span class="z-invalid z-illegal">;</span> </span></code></pre> <p>Now where ever I define a nix function I include both <code>pkgs</code> and <code>unstablePkgs</code> as arguments and am able to chose what package from which channel to use.</p> <p>For example when choosing what system packages I want to install:</p> <pre data-lang="nix" class="language-nix z-code"><code class="language-nix" data-lang="nix"><span class="z-source z-nix"><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">environment</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-nix">.</span><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">systemPackages</span> <span class="z-invalid z-illegal">=</span> <span class="z-invalid z-illegal z-reserved z-nix">with</span> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">pkgs</span><span class="z-invalid z-illegal">;</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-list z-nix">[</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">eza</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">unstablePkgs</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-nix">.</span><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-name z-nix">ripgrep</span> </span><span class="z-source z-nix"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-list z-nix">]</span><span class="z-invalid z-illegal">;</span> </span></code></pre> <p>Happy Days!</p> 2023-10-14T00:00:00+00:00 2023-10-14T00:00:00+00:00 Salar Rahmanian https://www.softinio.com/talks/elevating-python-development-with-nix/ <p><img src="https://www.softinio.com/talks/elevating-python-development-with-nix/Elevating_Python_Development_with_Nix_Package_Manager.png" alt="" /></p> <p>In October 2023 I had the great privilege to do a talk at PyBay 2023 in San Francisco, California.</p> <h3 id="recording-of-my-talk"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#recording-of-my-talk" aria-label="Anchor link for: recording-of-my-talk"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Recording of my talk</h3> <div class="yv"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AJs_izrEBOA" title="Youtube" class="yvi" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <h3 id="slides"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#slides" aria-label="Anchor link for: slides"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Slides</h3> <p>Slides for my talk can be found <a class="external" href="https://github.com/softinio/talks/blob/master/PyBay2023/pybay2023_slides.pdf">here</a>.</p>

Salar Rahmanian's talk at PyBay 2023

2023-10-14T00:00:00+00:00 2023-10-14T00:00:00+00:00 Salar Rahmanian https://www.softinio.com/talks/streamline-your-development-workflow/ <p><img src="https://www.softinio.com/talks/streamline-your-development-workflow/sbtb2023.png" alt="" /></p> <p>In November 2023 I had the great privilege to do a talk at <a class="external" href="https://www.scale.bythebay.io/post/salar-rahmanian-streamline-your-development-workflow-harnessing-the-power-of-nixos-and-nix-package">Scale By The Bay 2023</a> in San Francisco, California.</p> <h3 id="recording-of-my-talk"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#recording-of-my-talk" aria-label="Anchor link for: recording-of-my-talk"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Recording of my talk</h3> <div class="yv"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Qv3Y23RjJa0" title="Youtube" class="yvi" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <h3 id="pre-conference-introduction-to-talk"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#pre-conference-introduction-to-talk" aria-label="Anchor link for: pre-conference-introduction-to-talk"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Pre-Conference Introduction to talk</h3> <div class="yv"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/LVadoYGDvI8" title="Youtube" class="yvi" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <h3 id="post-conference-interview"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#post-conference-interview" aria-label="Anchor link for: post-conference-interview"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Post Conference Interview</h3> <div class="yv"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/B9wpkWdE368" title="Youtube" class="yvi" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <h3 id="slides"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#slides" aria-label="Anchor link for: slides"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Slides</h3> <p>Slides for my talk can be found <a class="external" href="https://github.com/softinio/talks/blob/master/SBTB2023/sbtb2023_slides.pdf">here</a>.</p>

Salar Rahmanian's talk at Scale By The Bay 2023

2019-02-16T18:30:40-07:00 2019-02-16T18:30:40-07:00 Salar Rahmanian https://www.softinio.com/post/moving-from-homebrew-to-nix-package-manager/ <p>As all my friends, colleagues and followers know I am very big on functional programming, so when I heard about nixOS and the nix package manager (A Purely Functional package manager) I really wanted to find out more about it.</p> <p><strong>Quote from</strong> <a class="external" href="https://nixos.org/nix/">Nix</a></p> <blockquote> <p>Nix is a powerful package manager for Linux and other Unix systems that makes package management reliable and reproducible. It provides atomic upgrades and rollbacks, side-by-side installation of multiple versions of a package, multi-user package management and easy setup of build environments.</p> </blockquote> <p>Finally this weekend I got the chance to dig in, find out more about it and try my hand at it by moving from using <a class="external" href="https://brew.sh/">Homebrew</a> as my preferred choice for package management to Nix.</p> <p>Note that this not a detailed tutorial on Nix as I will leave that to the Nix documentation (see: <a class="external" href="https://www.softinio.com/post/moving-from-homebrew-to-nix-package-manager/#references-and-recommended-resources">References and Recommended Resources</a>), this is more of an account of how to get started with Nix fast to be productive quickly whilst you learn all about Nix.</p> <h2 id="getting-started-with-nix"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#getting-started-with-nix" aria-label="Anchor link for: getting-started-with-nix"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Getting started with Nix</h2> <p>The documentation for Nix is pretty detailed and extensive. Though I plan to read all of it, I wanted a quick overview of what I am getting myself into. To achieve that in timely fashion I read this fantastic overview <a class="external" href="https://adelbertc.github.io/posts/2017-04-03-nix-journey.html">Adelblog - My journey into Nix</a> by <a class="external" href="https://twitter.com/adelbertchang">Adelbert Chang</a>. This blog left me super excited to carry on.</p> <h3 id="lets-install-nix"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#lets-install-nix" aria-label="Anchor link for: lets-install-nix"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Lets Install Nix</h3> <p>Nix gives you two installation options: single user or multi-user. Even though I am the only user of my macbook I decided to go with the multiuser option so that Nix will be the defacto source of truth for everything on the whole laptop. Even if I never create another user for my laptop my software developer OCD is better satisfied by the way everything will be organized, setup and used on my laptop.</p> <p>To install open your terminal and run:</p> <pre data-lang="bash" class="language-bash z-code"><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">sh</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-assignment z-redirection z-process z-shell">&lt;</span><span class="z-punctuation z-section z-parens z-begin z-shell">(</span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">curl</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> https://nixos.org/nix/install</span><span class="z-punctuation z-section z-parens z-end z-shell">)</span><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-option z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-parameter z-shell"> --</span>daemon</span></span> </span></code></pre> <p>Follow the on screen instructions and you will have Nix Package manager installed on your macbook.</p> <h3 id="installing-nix-darwin"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#installing-nix-darwin" aria-label="Anchor link for: installing-nix-darwin"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Installing Nix Darwin</h3> <p>Nix Package manager is part of NixOS which is its own Linux based OS. With NixOS you can even configure your hardware and OS options using Nix . I was thinking to myself I wish I could do the same above just package management with MacOS. Luckily I found the Nix Darwin project <a class="external" href="https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin">nix-darwin</a>which is trying to achieve that for macbooks and macOS. So after a successful installation of Nix Package manager I set off installing Nix Darwin:</p> <h4 id="backup-a-few-files-first"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#backup-a-few-files-first" aria-label="Anchor link for: backup-a-few-files-first"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Backup a few files first</h4> <pre data-lang="bash" class="language-bash z-code"><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">sudo</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> mv /etc/zprofile /etc/zprofile.orig</span> </span><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">sudo</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> mv /etc/nix/nix.conf /etc/nix/nix.conf.orig</span> </span><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">sudo</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> mv /etc/zshrc /etc/zshrc.orig</span> </span></code></pre> <h4 id="install-nix-darwin"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#install-nix-darwin" aria-label="Anchor link for: install-nix-darwin"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Install Nix Darwin</h4> <pre data-lang="bash" class="language-bash z-code"><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">nix-build</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/archive/master.tar.gz<span class="z-variable z-parameter z-option z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-parameter z-shell"> -</span>A</span> installer</span> </span><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">./result/bin/darwin-installer</span></span> </span></code></pre> <h2 id="moving-the-packages-i-have-with-homebrew-to-nix"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#moving-the-packages-i-have-with-homebrew-to-nix" aria-label="Anchor link for: moving-the-packages-i-have-with-homebrew-to-nix"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Moving the packages I have with homebrew to Nix</h2> <p>Once Nix and Nix-Darwin are installed you will have new configuration file here: <code>~/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix</code> I followed the following steps to move my packages across:</p> <ul> <li> <p>run <code>brew list</code> to get a list of what packages I have that was installed using homebrew</p> <p><strong>tip:</strong> If you want to see what each package you have with homebrew depends on run this:</p> </li> </ul> <pre data-lang="bash" class="language-bash z-code"><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">brew</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> list<span class="z-variable z-parameter z-option z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-parameter z-shell"> -</span>1</span></span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-logical z-pipe z-shell">|</span> <span class="z-keyword z-control z-loop z-while z-shell">while</span> <span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-support z-function z-read z-shell">read</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> cask</span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-logical z-continue z-shell">;</span> <span class="z-keyword z-control z-loop z-do z-shell">do</span> <span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-support z-function z-echo z-shell">echo</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> <span class="z-variable z-parameter z-option z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-parameter z-shell">-</span>ne</span> <span class="z-string z-quoted z-double z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-begin z-shell">&quot;</span>\x1B[1;34m <span class="z-meta z-group z-expansion z-parameter z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-variable z-shell">$</span><span class="z-variable z-other z-readwrite z-shell">cask</span></span> \x1B[0m<span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-end z-shell">&quot;</span></span></span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-logical z-continue z-shell">;</span> <span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">brew</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> uses <span class="z-meta z-group z-expansion z-parameter z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-variable z-shell">$</span><span class="z-variable z-other z-readwrite z-shell">cask</span></span><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-option z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-parameter z-shell"> --</span>installed</span></span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-logical z-pipe z-shell">|</span> <span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">awk</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> <span class="z-string z-quoted z-single z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-begin z-shell">&#39;</span>{printf(&quot; %s &quot;, $0)}<span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-end z-shell">&#39;</span></span></span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-logical z-continue z-shell">;</span> <span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-support z-function z-echo z-shell">echo</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> <span class="z-string z-quoted z-double z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-begin z-shell">&quot;</span><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-string z-end z-shell">&quot;</span></span></span><span class="z-keyword z-operator z-logical z-continue z-shell">;</span> <span class="z-keyword z-control z-loop z-end z-shell">done</span> </span></code></pre> <ul> <li> <p>Check if package you want to move across exists in Nix:</p> <pre data-lang="bash" class="language-bash z-code"><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">nix-env</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-option z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-parameter z-shell"> -</span>qaP</span></span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-logical z-pipe z-shell">|</span> <span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">grep</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-parameter z-option z-shell"><span class="z-punctuation z-definition z-parameter z-shell"> -</span>i</span> <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-assignment z-redirection z-shell">&lt;</span>packagename<span class="z-keyword z-operator z-assignment z-redirection z-shell">&gt;</span> </span></span></code></pre> <p>alternatively you can visit: <a class="external" href="https://nixos.org/nixos/packages.html#">Search NixOS packages</a></p> </li> <li> <p>Add your package to <code>~/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix</code> to the <code>environment.systemPackages</code> list (its space separated list).</p> </li> <li> <p>Install the nix packages you added to your config file by running:</p> <pre data-lang="bash" class="language-bash z-code"><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">darwin-rebuild</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> switch</span> </span></code></pre> </li> <li> <p>Remove the packages you successfully moved by running:</p> <pre data-lang="bash" class="language-bash z-code"><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span class="z-source z-shell z-bash"><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-shell"><span class="z-variable z-function z-shell">brew</span></span><span class="z-meta z-function-call z-arguments z-shell"> uninstall <span class="z-keyword z-operator z-assignment z-redirection z-shell">&lt;</span>packagename<span class="z-keyword z-operator z-assignment z-redirection z-shell">&gt;</span> <span class="z-punctuation z-terminator z-file-descriptor z-shell">-</span>-force</span> </span></code></pre> </li> </ul> <p>I started off by moving the packages one at a time , then in groups to completion. Last I run <code>brew cleanup</code></p> <p>You can take a look at my configuration here: <a class="external" href="https://github.com/softinio/dotfiles/blob/master/nix/darwin-configuration.nix">Salar Rahmanian’s darwin-configuration.nix</a></p> <h2 id="useful-aliases-in-my-zsh-profile"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#useful-aliases-in-my-zsh-profile" aria-label="Anchor link for: useful-aliases-in-my-zsh-profile"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> Useful Aliases in my zsh profile</h2> <p>I added the following to my <code>.zshrc</code> profile to make it easier for me to use nix:</p> <pre class="z-code"><code><span class="z-text z-plain">alias nixre=&quot;darwin-rebuild switch&quot; </span><span class="z-text z-plain">alias nixgc=&quot;nix-collect-garbage -d&quot; </span><span class="z-text z-plain">alias nixq=&quot;nix-env -qaP&quot; </span><span class="z-text z-plain">alias nixupgrade=&quot;sudo -i sh -c &#39;nix-channel --update &amp;&amp; nix-env -iA nixpkgs.nix &amp;&amp; launchctl remove org.nixos.nix-daemon &amp;&amp; launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist&#39;&quot; </span><span class="z-text z-plain">alias nixup=&quot;nix-env -u&quot; </span><span class="z-text z-plain">alias nixcfg=&quot;nvim ~/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix&quot; </span></code></pre> <h2 id="what-am-i-doing-next"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#what-am-i-doing-next" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-am-i-doing-next"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> What am I doing next?</h2> <p>This certainly has got me started with Nix and have me excited to use it more as much as possible so next I am looking at:</p> <ul> <li>Moving my neovim/vim configuration to using Nix.</li> <li>Learn and move my development workflow to using Nix shell. I currently develop using Scala, Haskell and Python I would love to hear from everyone on what tools you are using and what your workflow is</li> <li>Create some nix packages for anything I notice missing</li> </ul> <p>Of course I will share all my learnings here on my blog so keep an eye on my blog or follow me on Twitter.</p> <h2 id="references-and-recommended-resources"><a class="header-anchor no-hover-padding" href="#references-and-recommended-resources" aria-label="Anchor link for: references-and-recommended-resources"><span class="link-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span></a> References and Recommended Resources</h2> <ul> <li><a class="external" href="https://nixos.org/nix/manual/">Nix package manager manual</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin">nix-darwin: nix modules for darwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://nixos.org/nixos/packages.html#">Search NixOS packages</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://howoldis.herokuapp.com/">How up to date are NixOS channels?</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://adelbertc.github.io/posts/2017-04-03-nix-journey.html">Adelblog - My journey into Nix</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://nixos.org/nixos/nix-pills/">Nix Pills</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://github.com/softinio/dotfiles">Salar Rahmanian dotfiles</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://brew.sh/">Homebrew</a></li> </ul>

Moving from Homebrew to Nix Package manager on my macbook pro