Coming from Arch (btw I use Arch), I was very used to being able to pacman -Ss <anything> and find the program I was looking for. Less mainstream distributions like Guix, especially ones that have to maintain their own package format, often don’t offer the same convenience. This post follows my journey to build a Guix package for hugo, the tool I currently use to write this blog. Anatonomy of a Guix package The example in the Guix manual serves as a good start.

From the content of previous posts, it’s no secret that I enjoy automating infrastructure to some degree. I have learned a few tools there, notably Terraform, because I value being able to recreate a instance from scratch with a simple setup and just a few commands. However, that does not exist for my personal machines. I’ve been exposed to NixOS via some introductory blog posts and understand the value therein, but have yet to bother with it.

In a previous post, I introduced Terraform as a tool for managing infrastructure. I alluded to how Terraform works on state in an abstract sense, and in this post I’ll introduce an unorthodox implementation of that idea(fixme). Because everything in linux is a file, linux can be managed by manipulating the state of the filesystem. And what did I say Terraform was good at? That’s right, we can use Terraform to model linux’s configuration and manage it.

Search for Simplicity Even before starting to self-host services, I had begun to develop an allergy to complexity. In the world of instant text-based communication, there is no shortage of choice. Anything “modern” starts to look like a Slack clone (e.g. Mattermost, Riot, and Rocket, and for the less frivolous, you’re probably looking at IRC. I haven’t found IRC wanting as a user, but the when I got started with the UnrealIRCd install guide, I hit a bit of a snag.

I like tools. As opposed to people, a tool is something you can like only for what it does for you, at least without emotional damage. In both cases, though, they have the potential to either raise yours or leave you in tears on the sidewalk while they throw all your stuff through the window. Terraform is a tool, and I like it. I haven’t been kicked to the curb yet, but I’m also not sure if I would bring it home to meet my folks.