6 Popular NixOS Beginner Mistakes To Avoid

[@vimjoyer]

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[@CatholicDavid-o1i]

Nord VPN is not 0 logs and is not anonymous. Just fine if you don't care about privacy, and want your favorite netflix show.

[@leadr_]

NordVPN is bad

[@SanjaByelkin]

The problem is that nix os is not supported by nordvpn, actually it is why I didn't switch to nix.

[@Folvin-x1o]

Important addition - Jumping into NixOs as your FIRST linux distro after using Windows for years.

[@Nothing-f8z]

THATS ME!!!! I also have no coding experience either so its definitely a experience

[@Aimnos]

This is what I did, but I learned how to use Linux well before that with WSL. First, with Ubuntu LTS (the default for WSL); and then switching to nixos-wsl. Can't say the transition went without any hitches (especially since I tried jumping into Hyprland almost immediately lol), but I managed to familiarize myself with everything and feel reasonably comfortable with NixOS after just a couple of months.

[@tobeqz7065]

​@@Nothing-f8zNow im curious how you even found out about it lol

[@Sw3d15h_F1s4]

I did that as well and honestly I'm having less issues on nixos than on windows

[@ZacMagee]

Balls deep. No better way.

[@Jdizzle111]

A really nice feature of nix flakes which is ultimately what helped me finally understand is that u can start out with a really really minimal flake and just have it track nixpkgs and then essentially leave it alone until you are ready! It really helped me learn flakes by just having a basic one in my configuration repo. Flakes seemed super complicated but having them present and doing something that I could then adjust at my leisure made them fat easier to understand than if I had started without flakes and added them later

[@vimjoyer]

True, the most basic configuration is basically the same for everyone

[@drako-117]

Another good tip that I just learned recently is rebuilding using 'test' when testing new configurations, instead of using 'switch', which pushes new configurations to the bootloader immediately.

[@TheOnlyGhxst]

Though, as I've personally learned, always using switch CAN be educational when you fully brick your system and have to learn how to fix it from a LiveUSB so you can boot in again lol

[@deidyomega]

@@TheOnlyGhxst "Your going to learn today" lol

[@con-f-use]

More common beginner mistakes: - Adding a new file to a git version controlled flake and forgetting to `git add` it - Using LD_LIBRARY_PATH as a cure-all - Not learning the nix-language and the basics of the module system properly and then essentially doing a random-walk to a working config every time they change something - Copying someone else's config or large parts of it without fully understanding it and then being complete lost when something doesn't work - Using `--impure` - Using too many tools and dependencies like disko, nh, colmena, flake-parts, lix, nix-super, home-manager, nix-vim, sylix and everything else under the sun before they got comfortable with the basic nix functionality - Using nix just because of hype, not because of an actual need for its strong suits

[@vimjoyer]

Facts

[@5mrd]

What would be the alternative for "sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake ~/nixos-config --impure"? Is it even possible without "-impure"?

[@con-f-use]

@@5mrd Is what even possible? You don't give enough information. It's not the command itself that requires impurity. It's what's in your configuration. Impurities can almost always be avoided, by not referencing stuff in your config that's outside the flake. With --impure, you might as well not be using nix at all, because reproducibility goes out the window it's the whole point of nix.

[@bastiana3611]

I am so glad that I started out using flakes, it's such a quality of life feature, especially because of the shareability of your configs. Great video as usual, keep it up!

[@TheOnlyGhxst]

Never heard of the `nh` utility until this video, I may start using it on my system, thanks for the new info!

[@vimjoyer]

I also have a video about it - kzbin.info/www/bejne/ep-kZauEidelp7s

[@TheZonni]

Good practice is to commit after every successful rebuild, it saved me a lot of headaches, my beginner mistake I recall is garbage collecting only nix generations, but not home-manager generations

[@infinitivez]

Ty! I'm just starting to learn Nix, and it's good to know what to avoid, and best practices. Your vids have been my diving board.

[@terryd0g]

1) 1:30 Not using a version control/backup of your configuration 2) 2:10 Not understanding difference between rebuild, updates, rollbacks 3) 3:00 Not garbage collecting old packages 4) 3:35 Neglecting declarative features of Nix & using nix-env or nix profile Bonus) 5:15 not splitting config multiple files/modules 5) 5:45 Trying to learn everything at once/explore everything 6) 7:05 Assuming non-FHS compliance will render system unusable

[@mastermach50]

Bonus mistake for dualbooters: The default boot partition created by Windows is only meant to fit Windows. If you are dualbooting NixOS and Windows (and installed Windows first) make sure to expand the boot partition. Otherwise you can easily run out of space in the boot partition, which inturn stops you from making a new build. (This can be fixed but it's better to just make a bigger boot partition while installing than suffer a headache)

[@tobeqz7065]

Ugh yes I ran into this with Ubuntu when I first used linux. Crazy thing is that no "dual boot install guide" even mentioned it!

[@TheOnlyGhxst]

dealt with this recently, the bright side is that I learned how to clone the boot partition, create a new boot partition, and restore the data, WITHOUT breaking either OS on the dual boot setup. It could be useful info to know for the future. Personally I think making mistakes like this are an important part of the education process, after all the saying goes: "You learn more through failure than you do from success."

[@dimashadziq6007]

Thx i plan to learn nix in near future, i m 2 years experienced arch user, from what i read nix have advantage over my usecase for work and i m exited to learn it next week

[@vimjoyer]

Wish you luck

[@PanTek-r8g]

do it...Ryan Lim has an excellent guide

[@pao_lumu]

I started daily driving NixOS after fiddling with it a bit for a month or two. It has been an absolute joy to use, and I absolutely agree with all these noob traps.

[@GALONE7]

I don't like to have a scheduled garbage collection task to kick in unexpectedly. I'm using nix.settings = {min-free = 1 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024; max-free = 50 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;} for the GC to be activated during the build. So, I had totally forgotten the nix disc usage issues until now that I'm watching this video.

[@vimjoyer]

⬆⬆⬆

[@ChrisLincoln]

So I saw a video on Hyprland and wanted to try it out. It officially only supports 3 distros and I had never heard of NixOS, so I looked into it. I'm still very new to the OS, but I really love how it works. I'm hoping to build a decent desktop this year, and with NixOS I should be able to just copy a config file to the new machine and be more or less up and running in the same environment.

[@throwaway9805]

I was so anxious watching this because I was like "when is he going to say something that I do." Thankfully your tips aren't too strict XD

[@SpidFightFR]

Honestly for the fhs part, 'specialy the scripts. I had *problems* (skill issues mostly) because i wrote a fair amount of scripts that did a bunch of things... they were broken by default on nixos, but honestly, barely changing the shebang solves everything. Except of specifying /usr/bin/ you specify the path to nix-shell, and the interpreter you wanna use. It's a piece of cake. I use conky as well, with sensors all over th place, same thing, not only did i found my way cuz nixos is well made, i even managed to nixify the config. Which i'm happy with. Switching to nixos is cool, there are no cheats or tricks. If it worked yesterday, it works today, and it will work tomorrow.

[@9alexua9]

One more addition - using nixos first time not in virtual machine. This will really smooth adoption of it and after you're ready - you can just copy configuration.nix file to bare metal

[@angeldude101]

I honestly suggest using home-manager on an existing linux system over installing NixOS. It works the same way, so you can learn the same principles, but it can't break your core system if you do something stupid because it's limited to your home directory. (NixOS does very it very hard to permanently break your core system, but that's really only after it's already installed and you have a trusted fallback generation.) And the best part is that everything you do in home-manager can be copied over wholesale if you eventually make the jump to a full NixOS system.

[@fizipcfx]

maybe i am just operating differently but, i literally just deleted arch and installed nixos without knowing much. and then just immediately tracked my config with git. and started working on one thing at a time. how to add a package. how to configure this small thing in firefox. how to transfer my dotfiles. how to use devshells. in one week i had an fully "operational" config. far from desired shape but it is approaching it and i am learning. i love it actually. i even maintain 2 packages in nixpkgs now. if i couldnt crack it in a week i had to go back to arch to work on my dayjob

[@blackmine57]

Hello! Just found out your channel, and I want to thank you, really ! Another guy in the comment said we shouldn't declare absolutely everything and it's fine to setup things like flatpak. So, since I'm a dummy, I was wondering if you could once make a video about installing flatpak declaratively on user profile (so with home manager). I followed your home manager video but I didn't found out how the hell I can declare flatpak. (Sure installing flatpak as system packages is easier, but where's the fun in that?)

[@vimjoyer]

There are several repos that allow you to install flatpak packages declaratively, like github.com/gmodena/nix-flatpak, github.com/GermanBread/declarative-flatpak or github.com/yawnt/declarative-nix-flatpak, but from my experience, they don't work that well, so I am not using any of them. I may make a video about one of them later though 👍

[@blackmine57]

@@vimjoyer Thank you :) It doesn't work very well for me neither, I thought it was because I didn't know how it worked

[@moenchbohne]

I am really glad to see that I am 5 months into Nixos and avoided all these mistakes 😅, but question to the community: how the heck do i customize sddm with themes? I read so much contradicting shit and nothing works for me. So what do you recommend?

[@Space__man1149]

+1

[@gabbieblue]

i use stylix to theme everything, and i think theyre working on support for plasma at the moment which would include sddm. something to keep an eye on for the future! if youre using sddm with something other than plasma, i recommend not doing that

[@vaisakh_km]

Ikr... it's a nightmare.. i am using nix for 1.5y... still no fing clue how to fix that

[@Anonymous4045]

I just do it from plasma settings ngl. I'd guess that shows up in plasma-manager somewhere if you want to dig into that for it to be declarative.

[@theneekofficial8829]

@@gabbieblue wdum? sddm w/o plasma works fine. I use it with hyprland. Also here: { pkgs, inputs, ... }: { environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ catppuccin-sddm (pkgs.catppuccin-sddm.override { flavor = "mocha"; font = "JetBrains Mono"; fontSize = "9"; background = "${inputs.wallpapers.wallpapers.path}/nixos-wallpaper-catppuccin-mocha.png"; loginBackground = true; }) catppuccin-sddm-corners ]; services.displayManager.sddm = { enable = true; wayland.enable = true; theme = "catppuccin-mocha"; # theme = "catppuccin-sddm-corners"; package = pkgs.kdePackages.sddm; }; } That's how I've done it.

[@Alchemist_Prime204]

Please make a complete tutorial of installation and ricing plz

[@ZeStig]

Wonderful. Just as I was contemplating on giving NixOS another shot on my machine.

[@PanTek-r8g]

do it

[@ZeStig]

@@PanTek-r8g I switched the day before yesterday

[@sosiskaschannel7052]

I used fhs env to run War Thunder 😅 It works fine btw, but no scaling, and no vsync in hyprland. So I use gnome for it

[@niksingh710]

I would love to have a vid of FHS as i discovered it a few days ago.

[@maxarendorff6521]

Another mistake: Thinking you need to declaratively configure ALL THE THINGS. Sometimes it's fine to just install Firefox or flatpak without configuring it declaratively guys, it's okay. You can if you want to but you don't have to.

[@vimjoyer]

Absolutely

[@dtomvan]

Yeah same, I currently have a LOT of home-manager configs but really I should be using stow more instead because that for example, rebuilding your neovim config every single time you make a tiny change isn't as nice as I thought 😅

[@Anonymous4045]

Always remember it's YOUR system, nixos is meant to make it easier to manage but you can use it as much or as little as you want.

[@TheOnlyGhxst]

I do everything declaratively or use nix shell, that way my entire system is consistent across the board. Having some things installed declaratively and others imperatively causes inconsistencies which can lead to issue down the line.

[@maxarendorff6521]

@ Keep in mind I meant not configuring every single Firefox extension or Flatpak in home manager and such, I don't mean actually using nix-env -iA, that's not good. I don't even use home manager anymore because it added too much complexity with not enough gain.

[@ruroruro]

Surprised that you didn't mention the "oops, I forgot to change the hash in a fixed-output derivation and got the old version" gotcha.

[@vimjoyer]

Haha, yeah, but it's less of a beginner mistake I guess

[@ruroruro]

@@vimjoyer I guess it's more of a "beginner Nix developer mistake" not a "beginner NixOS user mistake". But let's be honest, a lot of NixOS users end up learning how to develop (or at least patch) nixpkgs derivations eventually anyway.

[@JellyfishJellyfish-bk7cr]

One thing that still gets me is home manager already seeing a file in the location where it wants to place one and gives a very obscure error...

[@1234minecraft5678]

@@ruroruro this is true and factual as i learned how to do just that last week, since the desired version isnt merged upstream yet.

[@cozyinbed]

Very helpful video but please make a video explaining FHS as well ❤

[@vimjoyer]

Absolutely will

[@JoelJosephReji]

Isn't nix-env the only way to "rebuild and switch" when using nix as a package manager on other distros? I have tried searching so much for figuring out how to do basic things like rebuild and switch when using nix as a package manager but it is so difficult to get good info. (I always see people using nix-env or the info is usually about nixos and not nix package manager.)

[@vimjoyer]

If you use nix on other distros, I recommend using home-manager, shells or at least nix profile. nix-env is bad and dangerous

[@JoelJosephReji]

@@vimjoyer Thanks! This is great help! I thought that nix shell would be a temporary thing, wouldn't it? Also, does home-manager in itself have a "rebuild and switch" command? My ultimate plan is to create modules for separate groups of packages that I have and create a home manager with all the required user applications and then install nixos so that I would be up and running very fast.

[@vimjoyer]

@@JoelJosephReji nix-shell is a temporary thing, but home-manager isn't. You can use it as a way to declare stuff on any distro

[@JoelJosephReji]

@ Thank you, I have already switched! (Pun Intended xD)

[@deefdragon]

re: 5:17 and making it all one file, the way that nix is constructed as a language, and how Ive built my config over time (you even say that learning over time is a good thing right after), adding things as Ive learned that I need them, makes making multiple files actually really hard. The documentation on suggested layouts is basically completely empty, and Ive honestly got no idea how to even start breaking things down. Not defending this mistake so much as explaining how it happens to so many people, and pointing out that saying "files are free" etc is completely ignoring the complexity inherent with using nix at times.

[@245trichlorophenate]

What's your monospace font?

[@TheOnlyGhxst]

I don't know the answer, but I CAN highly recommend the "Departure Mono" nerd font... I currently use it for everything on my system.

[@vimjoyer]

It's JetBrains Mono

[@omg33ky]

One thing i find very difficult is using jetbrains IDEs with direnv stuff. Or using plugins with those (that one kinda works but was a struggle) The thing with the direnv stuff was so annoying that i eventually gave up on it and just opened a console, navigated to that folder and starting the IDE from there, so it has the direnv loaded from being in the terminal that has it loaded... Its a shitty solution and I'd be glad to find a solution for it, but i just dont have the energy to deal with it. I just want it to work...

[@shareclipsave]

Can you do a nixos-promox setup?

[@rezaosman92]

Please do tutorial of RKE2 setup in Nixos.

[@Hckr-gs3rx]

Very useful! Thank you!

[@Space__man1149]

Great video 🔥

[@PanTek-r8g]

looking forward to the FHS tutorial.

[@matejmudra9925]

The update mistake caught me after a year of using nix :D. The ctrl+C/V didn't work in rider. After many rebuilds, I realized that the lock file is still the same :D.

[@vimjoyer]

--upgrade does not work with flakes though, only nix update. I should have mentioned that

[@hver.vef.117]

Great video! You should probably change "popular" to "common" in the title to better reflect the purpose of the video.

[@vimjoyer]

I use clickbaity titles that bring more views. If I don't do it, they don't get recommended to anyone sadly

[@theycallmesloth]

It's been 4-5 months since i started using nixos and today is the day u found out about --upgrade lmao

[@atomazu]

2:07 made me laugh out loud lol

[@d3bug646]

you forgot changing the stateVerison when you dont know what you are doing

[@americanbagel]

Best Linux channel

[@THEMithrandir09]

Distributed nixpackages distribution when?

[@filedotnix]

Fairly certain --upgrade actually does nothing on flakes.

[@vimjoyer]

yes

[@Anonymous4045]

Does it not run `nix flake update`? Or at least that's what `nh os switch -u` does, perhaps I'm spoiled by helper commands.

[@TheOnlyGhxst]

@@Anonymous4045 it does not, you have to run nix flake update manually before rebuilding.

[@berkano4617]

Such a daddy voice) I love it🥰🥵

[@playdead9779]

1:40 I feel shamed lol

[@sho6501]

W sponsorship

[@Aayushh07]

at this point i would just use ubuntu. i am tired.

[@vaisakh_km]

Then you fight with ppa and miss declarative system and come back to nix

[@Anonymous4045]

@@vaisakh_kmtbf you can use nix on ubuntu.

[@alex.nabrodov]

Two biggest errors: 1. Use nixOs if you're c++/electron developer 2. Do not nix at all (it is great after all)

[@abbcc555]

One of the biggest mistakes is trying to do anything on your own. You don't need to waste brain power in understanding the very obscure language only to create your config. There are people with unlimited time who can do that. It's simply not a good way to spend your time. Think of it as a cripple getting a dance degree - completely useless. You are way better off by downloading somebody else's config and just add the packages you need. That's all you gotta do.

[@vimjoyer]

Yeah, NixOS ecosystem is built on shoulders of giants, no need to reinvent the wheel

[@tobeqz7065]

This is how i got a friend mine to use nixos a few months ago. I basically gave them my config and only told them how to search for and add packages/options and how to update. They love it thus far.

[@teoconserv9954]

that is absolutely horrible advice. if anything goes wrong, or they have to change stuff on their system, they will be absolutely helpless to fix it. always understand your tools and at least one layer deeper, of what you use daily. don't be sheep.

[@Anonymous4045]

You do you I suppose. If you don't need to run anything complex and just occasionally add more package names to a list, you really don't need to understand more.

[@abbcc555]

@@teoconserv9954 I see you are not familiar with NixOS yet. Well, anyway if you manage to mess something up by just adding a package, well, remove it and rebuild. And the mess is gone.

[@ggorg0]

home-manager is like the Apple ecosystem's vendor lock-in... once you're in, there is no (easy) way out without manually rewriting all your configs in the original language...

[@vimjoyer]

Lmao, yeah

[@thedude00]

false, because home-manager integrates with non home-manager code In other words, you can partially rewrite. So, your "all" is incorrect

[@andrebrandao690]

did you know you can get the compile version from home-manager by just navigating to where the config should be, you will have to change the nixpkgs paths but its better than rewriting the config by hand

[@Flackon]

You can just copy the generated configs...

[@delayslot5601]

Number 1 should be: trying to communicate on official forum while not being extremely woke lefty.

[@themilkywayprince]

Biggest mistake: use home-manager

[@Space__man1149]

Why ??

[@blackmine57]

Okay I was about to start to use it. Why?

[@vimjoyer]

@blackmine57 I love, and highly recommend, using home-manager

[@teoconserv9954]

@@Space__man1149 Because its implementation is absolute dogshit and it breaks shit all the time.

[@Anonymous4045]

If you only have one user, sure. I have a user for personal stuff, one for school, and one for work. I don't want to mix up the apps/git settings/etc between all of them.

[@asuraValo-001]

Why my vscode loads slow on hyprland nixos using a /etc/nixos flake.nix and .config/home-manager/hone.nix with flake.nix and enabled hyprland on that flake

[@asuraValo-001]

Also how to configure system /etc/nixos/flake to use .config/home-manager/home.nix thanks

[@vimjoyer]

Not sure, I've never had this issue, sorry