So, I’m going to enroll in a university and they specify that I need to use Windows in class because there are some softwares that only works on Windows. My initial plan was to use nix-darwin on MacOS, but since I can’t do that anymore, I’m looking for some alternatives on Windows. Would you tell me some tips and tricks on how to manage Windows clean?
I would like my Windows setup to meet these conditions, if possible:
1. No use of dotfiles
I don’t like dotfiles because they’re difficult to debug and are tend to be bloated, inefficient and complicated. When using home-manager with nix, those are managed by a file named home.nix so it’s very clean. It’s also error-free as long as options are set appropriately.
Maybe my dotfiles management is just terrible, if you know any good way to do this on Windows, please tell me.
2. Everything is configurable from a single file
On NixOS and MacOS with nix-darwin, you can configure basically everything, from package management to system configuration, in a file: configuration.nix
I would like to do the same on Windows. One thing I considered is to make a powershell script that configures everything on execution.
ChatGPT says that I can use something called [Desired State Configuration](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/getting-started/wingettingstarted?view=dsc-1.1), but as far as I can see the documentation, it’s not something I’m looking for. (correct me if I’m wrong)
3. Containered environment for development
On Nix, you can declare everything necessary to build a package so you don’t need to install packages on your system by yourself. I don’t want to put myself into a dependency hell anymore. But I have an idea for this: using docker. Docker separates developing environment from host’s system so there would be no pre-installed dependencies. It would be good and I’m considering learning docker. Next thing I’m considering is to use something like [nx](https://nx.dev/). If you have better ideas, please tell me.
This is pretty much everything I need for my next Windows environment. Every small tips or tricks are welcome.
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39465142
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