Git + NixOS = <3

this post is still WIP -- I don't have access to the servers which I made this setup anymore, so documentation is mostly based off my memory, which isn't great.

Setting up servers can be bothersome and maintaining and installing new software can be a huge timesink. In this post I will go through how I combined gitolite with nixos to make it easier to maintain and transfer servers. easier in my opinion. This method allows someone to manage this with a simple git repository containing the Nix configuration file, when pushed it should automatically update and apply the new configuration to the server. It's a lot like a CI/CD pipeline, or infrastructure as code, but without the fancy setup and resources.

• NixOS is a linux distribution that supports a declarative style of configuration.
• Gitolite allows you to setup git hosting with fine-grained access control over git repositories.

You do not need to setup gitolite on all maintained servers, but automating the process this way requires gitolite installed somewhere.

Setup

First off, you need a server with a fresh installation of NixOS available.

The remainder of this post is not finished.