Hello,
I am arch user, I am evalutating nixos for migration. I have lots of special configurations that I manage with many scripts and ansible provisioning. I have several computers and keeping them in line is getting hard.
I would like to know if I can do one crucial thing for me in nixos for the start.
I am using custom keyboard designed according to my needs, I am using custom X configuration files to do that. I need to be able to replicate this in nixos to be able effectively use the os.
Following is the list of files that I replace in the X system at /usr/share/X11 in a standard arch based system. Some of the files are original system files that came with arch system, some of them are my addition. I marked custom files with “custom” word. These files are ready, I just copy them when there is change in the system files after an update. I have also configuration statements in mkinicpio.conf file to pack these for taking into consideration when creating boot image so that I can type this custom keyboard at luks login and initial console login.
/usr/share/X11
├── kbd
│ ├── linux-keys-bare-custom.inc
│ ├── linux-with-alt-and-altgr-custom.inc
│ └── custom.map
└── xkb
├── keycodes
│ └── evdev
├── rules
│ ├── base.lst
│ ├── base.xml
│ └── evdev.xml
└── symbols
└── custom
I am planning to write a pacman hook to do this automatically, instead of script with which I am currently using after every system update when those files are updated.
I understand the nixos concept, read the nix manual mostly but have not attempted to install system yet, actually tried to install it, but gave it up quickly because I could not change keyboard locale and I did not have latin1 keyboard with me at the time.
I appreciate any guidance, about how I can achieve this in nixos. Proper way of doing this arch system is most likey via a pacman hook along with installing a custom pacman package on top of X package after every update of it.
Just for the start, until finding a better solution via nix in nixos, can I just copy files to proper places in nixos? If so how can I do it? I have the impression that files must be somehow generated instead of copy.
I just need to be able to use my keyboard for even installing the system. I am using a enhanced, modified existing layout, and in arch I can change keyboard layout to this already existing layout with minimal typing. However in nixos, I need modify configuration.nix for the layout and update system as far as I can understand.
Thank in advance.