NixOS Config Base: A modularized base for NixOS configs

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I recently created NixOS Config Base, a modularized base for more advanced NixOS configurations. It aims to help produce modularized NixOS configurations quickly and easily.

I have created a personal NixOS config based on this.

Please check it out! :slight_smile:

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I want to split configuration of my desktop PC into multiple modules but I was not able to come up with a consistent system that makes sense. It is a hard problem.

I am not particularly convinced system.nix × packages.nix dichotomy is a good idea since the line between user space and system is bit blurry. For example, does services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.enable = true; go to system? What about environment.systemPackages = [pkgs.gnomeExtensions.dash-to-dock];? And most software is distributed as a package, yet sometimes it needs to be installed using a module – like programs.wireshark.enable = true; which also creates the necessary user group.

The cleanest I have seen were concern-based categories (e.g. desktop-environment.nix, development-tools.nix…), rather than grouping by type (e.g. services.nix, programs.nix…).

It is a bit easier on servers, since there I can split the configuration hierarchically based on domain name. Although some services like nginx are still stuck in top-level configuration.nix.

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How about a heirarchy of functionality (for example GNOME shell config would go in desktop-environment/GNOME/shell.nix), using a tree of includes, so there might be a include.nix in every directory, which includes all include.nix one level down plus all other nix files in the current directory?

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How about a heirarchy of functionality (for example GNOME shell config would go in desktop-environment/GNOME/shell.nix), using a tree of include s, so there might be a include.nix in every directory, which includes all include.nix one level down plus all other nix files in the current directory?

The list given by @jtojnar is very helpful for getting some inspiration. For directories, you typically have a top-level default.nix which imports all .nix files in the directory. You don’t need to type out default.nix when importing the directory (./dir implies ./dir/default.nix).

Furthermore, you can define custom options that activate other configs. For example, my modules/desktop/default.nix is always imported but it does nothing until I set zhaofeng.desktop.enable = true;.

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not exactly what you are looking for, but I do something similar using haumea

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Yes, I have something similar based on various roles (home network member → various dns, ntp and backup settings; general desktop → DE and other tools; development → vscode and friends that aren’t in per-project devshells; photography; work stuff; etc) and a set of various container definitions that might notionally be run on any of the hosts.

Another repository I’ve taken inspiration from calls them traits.

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I was thinking of a (Java package format)-style way to categorise config files.

E.g. GNOME shell config goes in org/GNOME/shell/

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I’ve used many classification systems or methods over the years.
After a while you always end up with a “misc” file/directory/box in which you stuff everything :smiley:
And then you start all over again…

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BTW I forked Nix Starter Configs into the repo.