Here lie the NixOS configuration files I use for my system setup (currently just my Framework 16 laptop). It's rather janky and probably will break on differing hardware, but hey - it's mine.

I'm glad you asked. There is actually one special feature within this jankfest which I think is somewhat unique, in a way which every major OS / desktop environmnent already does in theory but none actually does a good job in practice at.

Usually, on a computer system, your documents and personal files lie scattered amongst the rest of the system, configuration, cache, and app data files. Some of these are important but not to you directly (i.e. they aren't "your documents"), and some of these can be harmlessly deleted and you wouldn't bat an eye.

This really, really sucks for backups.

You're essentially left with two options:

1. Hunt down the paths where your personal files are and select them for backup - which is tedious, risky, and the Tao of Backup is unhappy.
2. Back up everything - which is a huge waste of space, and consequently money.

(Of course, what people often do is back up just their home directory, which is sort of the worst of both worlds - it brings all sorts of extra clutter and still isn't reproducible!)

Currently, way, way too many people don't back up their files, and this dilemma certainly isn't helping the situation.

So, what else can we do?

Instead of chasing our documents across the filesystem, how about we keep them all in one place? Just pop 'em in a single directory?

...wait, that's it?

...also, doesn't Every Computer System™️ already do that?

Not really. The user home directory was sort of meant to accomplish that, but it's heavily polluted by all sorts of junk from all sorts of programs. The Documents directory is better in that regard, but it's not standardised and usually isn't integrated with your programs - you have to manually open and save files to and from it.

This NixOS configuration aims to solve this by employing any dirty tricks necessary (usually symlinks) to force programs into writing all their meaningful user data into a single data/ directory inside your home directory.

That's it. That's all your files. That's all you have to back up.

An opinionated set of links is constructed between the system and the data/ directory, meaning you don't have to worry about external app data paths. This also effectively maps your data back into the system, meaning the data/ directory is fully portable and can e.g. be hot-swapped with a backup, or mounted from a USB drive.

Finally, take control of your files!!!

First, clone the repository to a sensible location (e.g. ~/nixos):

git clone https://github.com/ThatOtherAndrew/NixOS ~/nixos

Next, edit the variables.nix file to configure individual settings (e.g. your username and email).

Then, use the nixos-generate-config command to tailor the configuration to your specific computer hardware:

nixos-generate-config --show-hardware-config >gt; ~/nixos/hosts/nova/hardware-configuration.nix

Finally, run the rebuild command!

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake ~/nixos

And there you go, that's it! NixOS handles the rest for you from here, like magic~