home-manager README

The project's README from github.com/nix-community/home-manager. As one markdown file: README.md.

Home Manager using Nix

This project provides a basic system for managing a user environment using the Nix package manager together with the Nix libraries found in Nixpkgs. It allows declarative configuration of user specific (non-global) packages and dotfiles.

Usage

Before attempting to use Home Manager please read the warning below.

For a systematic overview of Home Manager and its available options, please see:

If you would like to contribute to Home Manager, then please have a look at "Contributing" in the manual.

Releases

Home Manager is developed against the nixpkgs-unstable branch, which often causes it to contain tweaks for changes/packages not yet released in stable NixOS. To avoid breaking users' configurations, Home Manager is released in branches corresponding to NixOS releases (e.g. release-26.05). These branches get fixes, but usually not new modules. If you need a module to be backported, then feel free to open an issue.

Words of warning

Unfortunately, it is quite possible to get difficult to understand errors when working with Home Manager. You should therefore be comfortable using the Nix language and the various tools in the Nix ecosystem.

If you are not very familiar with Nix but still want to use Home Manager then you are strongly encouraged to start with a small and very simple configuration and gradually make it more elaborate as you learn.

In some cases Home Manager cannot detect whether it will overwrite a previous manual configuration. For example, the Gnome Terminal module will write to your dconf store and cannot tell whether a configuration that is about to be overwritten was from a previous Home Manager generation or from manual configuration.

Home Manager targets nixpkgs-unstable and NixOS version 26.05 (the current stable version), it may or may not work on other Linux distributions and NixOS versions.

Now when your expectations have been built up and you are eager to try all this out you can go ahead and read the rest of this text.

Contact

You can chat with us on IRC in the channel #home-manager on OFTC. There is also a Matrix room, which is bridged to the IRC channel.

Installation

Home Manager can be used in three primary ways:

  1. Using the standalone home-manager tool. For platforms other than NixOS and Darwin, this is the only available choice. It is also recommended for people on NixOS or Darwin that want to manage their home directory independently of the system as a whole. See "Standalone installation" in the manual for instructions on how to perform this installation.

  2. As a module within a NixOS system configuration. This allows the user profiles to be built together with the system when running nixos-rebuild. See "NixOS module" in the manual for a description of this setup.

  3. As a module within a nix-darwin system configuration. This allows the user profiles to be built together with the system when running darwin-rebuild. See "nix-darwin module" in the manual for a description of this setup.

Home Manager provides both the channel-based setup and the flake-based one. See Nix Flakes for a description of the flake-based setup.

Translations

Home Manager has basic support for internationalization through gettext. The translations are hosted by Weblate. If you would like to contribute to the translation effort then start by going to the Home Manager Weblate project.

Translation status

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license.

home-manager (nix-community/home-manager)

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10.4K ·GitHub
Home-manager
What is this?Home Manager manages your user environment with the Nix package manager: you declare user-specific (non-global) packages and dotfiles in configuration instead of installing and tweaking things by hand.
Is this a tool I run, or a config that lives inside NixOS?Both: it ships as a standalone home-manager tool and as modules you can plug into a NixOS or nix-darwin system configuration, so your user profile builds together with the system.
How do I get it set up?Follow the manual for your mode: standalone install (the only option outside NixOS and macOS), a NixOS module built with nixos-rebuild, or a nix-darwin module built with darwin-rebuild. Channel-based and flake-based setups are both supported.
Do I need to know the Nix language already?Effectively yes — the README asks you to be comfortable with the Nix language and the various tools of the Nix ecosystem before attempting to use Home Manager.
What can go wrong when I use it?Errors can be difficult to understand, and Home Manager cannot always detect that it is about to overwrite settings you configured manually — the Gnome Terminal module, for example, writes straight to your dconf store.
Do I need NixOS to use it?No. Outside NixOS and macOS the standalone tool is the only choice, and even NixOS or macOS users are recommended to use it if they want their home directory managed independently of the system as a whole.
Does it work outside NixOS, like on a plain Debian box or a Mac?It targets nixpkgs-unstable and NixOS 26.05, so on other Linux distributions it may or may not work. On macOS it integrates through nix-darwin; everywhere else you use the standalone tool.
Is it usable while I am still learning Nix?Yes, with a caveat: the authors strongly encourage starting with a small, very simple configuration and gradually making it more elaborate as you learn Nix.
Is Home Manager available in other languages?It has basic internationalization support through gettext, and its translations are hosted on Weblate, where anyone can contribute improvements.
What are similar projects?nixpkgs, omnibin, nix, terraform, awesome-zsh-plugins, vim-plug, chezmoi, hexyl
Which topics is it in?configuration-management, nixos, nix, declarative, dotfiles, configuration, sysadmin, command-line, developers, devops, free, cli
Creator
nix-community
Size
512.1 MB
Stars
10.4K
Updated
CommitOct 15
Age
9y
Commits · 90 Days