documentation/docs/alpine-desktop-setup/post-install/nix.md

# Nix (WIP - don't follow yet)

The *Nix package manager* is a package manager which allows for user independent packages and a whole lot more (although it's not necessarily minimal). To set it up install it's package and activate it's service:

## Setup

```
# apk add nix
# rc-update add nix-daemon default
# rc-service nix-daemon start
```

> (The `nix` package is only available in the `edge` and `apk-ample` repositories)

And add this line to `/etc/nix/nix.conf` to globally enable some features so they can be used later if necessary:

```
experimental-features = nix-command flakes
```

Don't forget to add your user to the nix group:

```
# adduser <username> nix
```

### Channels

For `nix` to be able to install packages it is necessary to add a few channels:

```
$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-23.11 nixos
$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable nixpkgs
$ nix-channel --update
```

## Usage

Nix can be used to manage your `$HOME` with `home-manager`. First install `home-manager` through:

```
$ nix-env -iA nixos.home-manager
```

Now that Nix is up and running utilize the `home.nix` that comes with the [config files](https://docs.bijl.us/alpine-desktop-setup/post-install/config-files/) to set up our home for us. But before initialising `nix` make sure that you set the correct `<username>` in `home.nix` which is located in `~/.config/home-manager`. Then after changing that simply run this command:

```
$ home-manager switch
```

And thanks to `home-manager` we can easily set up and manage an entire graphical enviroment with all the necessary packages in one go. 

You are now also able to install packages as a user without root from `nixpkgs`:

```
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.<package>
```

You can also test a package before installing it with `nix-shell -p <program>`

### NixGL

`nixGL` will be necessary to be able to run graphical programs which are installed through `nix`. Add it's channel and install it with:

```
$ nix-channel --add https://github.com/nix-community/nixGL/archive/main.tar.gz nixgl && nix-channel --update
$ nix-env -iA nixgl.auto.nixGLDefault nixgl.VulkanIntel
```