Package:Nix

Nix is a functional package manager for the nixos linux operating system. By default nixos uses systemd.

Setup

• Merge nixos nix package management:

root # emerge -av nix

• Set nix daemon to run at boot & start immediately:

root # rc-update add nix-daemon && /etc/init.d/nix-daemon start

• Add the nixpkgs channel

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

You might want to create the following directory to allow Nix to setup profiles on your local user. This is required for installing home-manager.

user $ mkdir -p ~/.local/state/nix/profiles

For more information about Nix profiles and why they are needed, consult the manual.

Configuration

• Enable flakes

   ~/.config/nix/nix.conf

experimental-features = nix-command flakes

   Note

Flakes are currently considered experimental and such, support is not enabled by default. For more information, consult the wiki.

• Allow unfree packages

   ~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix

{ allowUnfree = true; }

GPU Acceleration

Since nix graphic applications are built with NixOS OpenGL/Vulkan drivers, you will need to use nixGL to run GPU accelerated software on non-NixOS systems.

Home Manager

Home Manager is a system that manages your user environment using Nix and nixpkgs libraries. It can be used to install user-level packages, manage dotfiles, setup X sessions, and much more. Everything should work out out-of-the-box except user service management, as it heavily relies on systemd to work.

Caveats

• For environment variables set by Home Manager to take effect, you need to run the following command:

user $ source ~/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh

   Note

You can add this command at the end of your ~/.bash_profile so it takes effect every log-in.

• The Home Manager user services only work on systemd, which is not supported by Funtoo. Service configurations will simply not take effect, leaving the rest of the system functional.