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

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# Nix
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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).
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## Setup
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To set `nix` up install its package and activate its service:
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```
# 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)
Don't forget to add your user to the nix group:
```
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# adduser <username> nix
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```
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### Channels
For `nix` to be able to install packages it is necessary to add a few channels:
```
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$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-23.11 nixpkgs
$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable nixpkgs-unstable
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$ nix-channel --update
```
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## Usage
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Nix can be used to manage your `$HOME` with `home-manager`. First install `home-manager` through:
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```
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$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.home-manager
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```
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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:
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```
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$ home-manager switch
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```
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`:
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```
$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.<package>
```
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But for reproducability it's better to use `home-manager` by declaring them in a `.nix` file and importing that within `home.nix`.
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You can also test a package before installing it with `nix-shell -p <program>`
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### 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:
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```
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$ nix-channel --add https://github.com/nix-community/nixGL/archive/main.tar.gz nixgl && nix-channel --update
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$ nix-env -iA nixgl.auto.nixGLDefault nixgl.nixVulkanIntel
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```