Wrappers vs. Dotfiles - Revision history

Redchess64: fixed a code block that i copypasted, and then suffered for 2 hours debugging

2025-05-19T20:58:51Z

fixed a code block that i copypasted, and then suffered for 2 hours debugging

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:58, 19 May 2025
Line 22:		Line 22:
	name = name;		name = name;
	paths = [		paths = [
			(super.writeShellScriptBin name text)
	super."${name}"		super."${name}"
	~~(super.writeShellScriptBin name text)~~
	];		];
	};		};

imported>IgorM: Added to category "Configuration"

2023-09-27T11:09:42Z

Added to category "Configuration"

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:09, 27 September 2023
Line 34:		Line 34:
	=== Alternatives ===		=== Alternatives ===
	* [[Home Manager]] manages dotfiles in the user's home directory		* [[Home Manager]] manages dotfiles in the user's home directory

			[[Category:Configuration]]

imported>Fzakaria at 04:57, 22 July 2020

2020-07-22T04:57:55Z

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 The disadvantage of this way is that it doesn't propagate man pages and other paths from the old derivation.
 Please refer to [[Nix_Cookbook#Wrapping_packages]] to possible solutions to retain all outputs.
 === Downside of the Wrapper Approach ===

imported>Fzakaria: Added a link to the cookbook to keep all output files

2020-07-22T04:56:59Z

Added a link to the cookbook to keep all output files

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:56, 22 July 2020
Line 13:		Line 13:
	}		}
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

			The disadvantage of this way is that it doesn't propagate man pages and other paths from the old derivation.
			Please refer to [[Nix_Cookbook#Wrapping_packages]] to possible solutions to retain all outputs.

	=== Downside of the Wrapper Approach ===		=== Downside of the Wrapper Approach ===

imported>Fzakaria: Remove incorrect suggestion

2020-07-22T04:03:58Z

Remove incorrect suggestion

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
+}
 </syntaxhighlight>
 === Downside of the Wrapper Approach ===

imported>Fzakaria: Added wrapProgram example

2020-07-22T03:57:30Z

Added wrapProgram example

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:57, 22 July 2020
Line 10:		Line 10:
	exec ${pkgs.htop}/bin/htop "$@"		exec ${pkgs.htop}/bin/htop "$@"
	'')		'')
			];
			}
			</syntaxhighlight>

			Consider also using the simpler ''wrapProgram'' utility
			<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
			{
			users.users.root.packages = [
			(pkg.wrapProgram ${pkgs.htop}/bin/htop --set HTOPRC ${pkgs.writeText "htoprc" ...}
	];		];
	}		}

imported>Tv: link Home Manager internally

2018-10-27T09:49:17Z

link Home Manager internally

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:49, 27 October 2018
Line 20:		Line 20:

	=== Alternatives ===		=== Alternatives ===
	* [~~https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Home_Manager~~ Home Manager] manages dotfiles in the user's home directory		* [[Home Manager]] manages dotfiles in the user's home directory

imported>Tv: import https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/9250#issuecomment-323732211

2018-10-27T09:44:17Z

import https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/9250#issuecomment-323732211

New page

Usually user applications (like editors, etc.) get configured through dotfiles in the user's home directory.
An alternative, declarative approach is to create wrappers for application on a per-user basis, like this:

<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{
users.users.root.packages = [
(pkgs.writeScriptBin "htop" ''
#! ${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash
export HTOPRC=${pkgs.writeText "htoprc" ...}
exec ${pkgs.htop}/bin/htop "$@"
'')
];
}
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Downside of the Wrapper Approach ===
* There might be applications that don't provide means to specify configuration. One could override <code>$HOME</code>, but then there might be applications that require <code>$HOME</code> for other stuff than configuration.
* Applications cannot write their configuration anymore, e.g. <code>htop</code> will just terminate without error and nothing changed.

=== Alternatives ===
* [https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Home_Manager Home Manager] manages dotfiles in the user's home directory