fauxnix (pho-nix)

Non-invasive* Reproducible* Declarative* config management for Nix non-believers

What is this ?

It's an Arch Linux python script to store and restore past states of your PC. Every time you install a package it creates a new generation folder containing your full list of packages at the time as well as any config files you told it to track.

What can it do ?

Save the packages installed on your system every time you install something new (fauxnix -s)
Save the config files you specify
Let you modify your important config files in one place
View existing generation (fauxnix -l)
Revert to a previous generation (fauxnix -r GENERATION_NUMBER)
Reconstruct your system on a new machine given you copied the generation you want to revert to
As a consequence it makes sharing your dotfiles and rice easier
Let you keep saying you use arch, btw

Installation

Use your AUR helper of choice on fauxnix-git such as paru -S fauxnix-git or clone this repo (it will likely give errors until you do step 2)
Run fauxnix --init as the user
Edit the config in fauxnix.yaml inside ~/.config/fauxnix according to the instructions inside
fauxnix --help for all commands
I would copy the ~/.config/fauxnix/pkglist.txt somewhere in case the revert command does something wrong
PROFIT

Why use this over Nix/NixOS ?

When I used NixOS I felt like a neanderthal having to edit what packages I want in the config instead of just using a command like pacman (nix-env doesn't count). I didn't like Nix store and how it locks you into using Nix packages and breaking stuff you might normally install with git or some such. The gravest offense was the fact that Osu! was laggy as hell and several versions behind. There are some other minor annoyances I had with Nix that all together made me crawl back into the inviting arms of Arch Linux to have full control over my system. I recognize this is petty and I don't care. If you relate to any of this but still like the idea of saving your system state and being able to reproduce it like me, you might like fauxnix, the fake nix.

Final comments

This is pretty much good enough for my use case. If you want more, feel free to fork it and submit a PR. This is not meant to be better Nix. This is faux nix, fake nix. Ideally, you should try the Nix package manager and NixOS if you are not a control freak like me. The script is pretty simple file shuffling so it shouldn't be too difficult to modify. Things that might be nice to add would be tracking package versions and doing something about the fact the program relies on names of folders for things. If you have questions about how it works or something else, feel free to reach out on discord at: histidinedwarf.

Do what you want with the code, but credit would be much appreciated.