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diff --git a/2020/info/08.md b/2020/info/08.md index 17769bd3..f7e1241a 100644 --- a/2020/info/08.md +++ b/2020/info/08.md @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ # Building reproducible Emacs Andrew Tropin -[[!template id=vid src="https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/emacsconf/2020/emacsconf-2020--08-building-reproducible-emacs--andrew-tropin.webm"]] +[[!template id=vid src="https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/emacsconf/2020/emacsconf-2020--08-building-reproducible-emacs--andrew-tropin.webm" subtitles="/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--08-building-reproducible-emacs--andrew-tropin.vtt"]] [Download compressed .webm video (18.4M)](https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/emacsconf/2020/smaller/emacsconf-2020--08-building-reproducible-emacs--andrew-tropin--vp9-q56-video-original-audio.webm) It's not always easy to take part of someone's configuration and make diff --git a/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--08-building-reproducible-emacs--andrew-tropin.vtt b/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--08-building-reproducible-emacs--andrew-tropin.vtt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c0dc4397 --- /dev/null +++ b/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--08-building-reproducible-emacs--andrew-tropin.vtt @@ -0,0 +1,839 @@ +WEBVTT + +00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.556 +Hello, everyone. I am Andrew Tropin. + +00:00:04.556 --> 00:00:06.622 +I am a professional software engineer + +00:00:06.622 --> 00:00:11.622 +I was playing with NixOS + +00:00:11.622 --> 00:00:15.322 +It's an operating system based on the +Nix package manager. + +00:00:15.322 --> 00:00:21.089 +I came up with this interesting +approach for configuring Emacs. + +00:00:21.089 --> 00:00:24.056 +I want to share it with you. + +00:00:24.056 --> 00:00:27.756 +I will start with the bold statement that + +00:00:27.756 --> 00:00:30.822 +Emacs configuration is almost the same + +00:00:30.822 --> 00:00:33.022 +as system configuration. + +00:00:33.022 --> 00:00:37.262 +It's not related to that Emacs joke + +00:00:37.262 --> 00:00:39.922 +about Emacs being an operating system. + +00:00:39.922 --> 00:00:44.489 +It's more about Emacs being integrated + +00:00:44.489 --> 00:00:48.589 +with so many tools inside the environment. + +00:00:48.589 --> 00:00:53.089 +For example, if you don't even use any +fancy workflows, + +00:00:53.089 --> 00:00:57.256 +you use only plain Emacs without any +configuration, + +00:00:57.256 --> 00:01:02.556 +dired uses ls, grep.el uses grep, + +00:01:02.556 --> 00:01:09.356 +and info files placed +somewhere in your system. + +00:01:09.356 --> 00:01:15.489 +Also Emacs can interact with gpg, git, +make, and other stuff. + +00:01:15.489 --> 00:01:20.789 +When you grow your Emacs Lisp + +00:01:20.789 --> 00:01:23.189 +init.el file + +00:01:23.189 --> 00:01:27.222 +or other files in your .emacs.d directory, + +00:01:27.222 --> 00:01:29.989 +you get much more integration + +00:01:29.989 --> 00:01:31.389 +with underlying operating system. + +00:01:31.389 --> 00:01:36.922 +The question is: how to manage such configuration? + +00:01:36.922 --> 00:01:40.922 +Because you can't just take a bunch of +.el files + +00:01:40.922 --> 00:01:43.456 +and move to a different machine + +00:01:43.456 --> 00:01:47.122 +and be sure that everything will work. + +00:01:47.122 --> 00:01:50.577 +Because you didn't move your +executables. + +00:01:50.577 --> 00:01:53.522 +You didn't move configuration +of other programs. + +00:01:53.522 --> 00:01:55.089 +You didn't move your service configurations. + +00:01:55.089 --> 00:02:01.889 +And you can't even just create dotfiles +for each program + +00:02:01.889 --> 00:02:05.022 +and move it with your .el files. + +00:02:05.022 --> 00:02:08.622 +The approach would be a little broader. + +00:02:08.622 --> 00:02:13.056 +Everything that I am showing today + +00:02:13.056 --> 00:02:15.322 +is available on Github. + +00:02:15.322 --> 00:02:18.022 +Any source code, you can find here. + +00:02:18.022 --> 00:02:21.589 +but my copy of the repository + +00:02:21.589 --> 00:02:23.722 +is on my local machine. + +00:02:23.722 --> 00:02:27.722 +As you can see, the font is a little small. + +00:02:27.722 --> 00:02:31.122 +And also, my terminal font is also a +little small. + +00:02:31.122 --> 00:02:36.756 +I can do a quick fix and increase the font. + +00:02:36.756 --> 00:02:40.789 +But imagine how cool it will be + +00:02:40.789 --> 00:02:45.756 +if you can have a file which contains +the configuration for a system. + +00:02:45.756 --> 00:02:52.489 +You change some value. Here, for +example, fontSize = 16 + +00:02:52.489 --> 00:02:54.589 +and run some command + +00:02:54.589 --> 00:02:58.489 +and based on this file + +00:02:58.489 --> 00:03:00.322 +and some other includes + +00:03:00.322 --> 00:03:02.422 +your operating system is built + +00:03:02.422 --> 00:03:06.389 +and all your environment is set up + +00:03:06.389 --> 00:03:07.656 +and ready for use. + +00:03:07.656 --> 00:03:11.622 +For example here, we already built +the new operating system, + +00:03:11.622 --> 00:03:17.856 +and everything is already installed in +my SSD. + +00:03:17.856 --> 00:03:21.322 +Now I can run the program and you can +see that + +00:03:21.322 --> 00:03:29.422 +my alacrity terminal has much bigger font + +00:03:29.422 --> 00:03:31.789 +and also if I restart my Emacs instance + +00:03:31.789 --> 00:03:34.089 +it by default uses + +00:03:34.089 --> 00:03:36.889 +a much bigger font for any buffer. + +00:03:36.889 --> 00:03:41.089 +Practical, and as you can see, it's +already working, + +00:03:41.089 --> 00:03:45.889 +thanks to Nix and NixOS. + +00:03:45.889 --> 00:03:50.722 +I will explain a little later how it +works inside, + +00:03:50.722 --> 00:03:57.089 +but for now, let's specify a little more + +00:03:57.089 --> 00:04:00.789 +what happened right now. + +00:04:00.789 --> 00:04:08.156 +I fed my... Oh. It doesn't work. Sorry. +I want... + +00:04:08.156 --> 00:04:13.056 +I have my whole operating system + +00:04:13.056 --> 00:04:15.589 +defined in a few Nix files. + +00:04:15.589 --> 00:04:18.689 +For example, here you saw the file + +00:04:18.689 --> 00:04:22.522 +which defines some variables for my environment + +00:04:22.522 --> 00:04:24.256 +and then a few more files + +00:04:24.256 --> 00:04:25.722 +for different programs. + +00:04:25.722 --> 00:04:30.056 +There is a folder which contains all +Emacs-related configuration. + +00:04:30.056 --> 00:04:36.989 +Also, there are package definitions +defined in Nix package repositories + +00:04:36.989 --> 00:04:42.522 +which is also included for the function +which generates + +00:04:42.522 --> 00:04:44.556 +the operating system. + +00:04:44.556 --> 00:04:47.622 +Getting all my configurations +written in Nix language + +00:04:47.622 --> 00:04:51.174 +and a few firewalls in ?? languages, + +00:04:51.174 --> 00:04:54.700 +everything is gathered together, + +00:04:54.700 --> 00:04:56.722 +and from that input + +00:04:56.722 --> 00:04:58.322 +and only from that input, + +00:04:58.322 --> 00:05:00.489 +the new operating system is built. + +00:05:00.489 --> 00:05:03.856 +Emacs now is a part of this operating system. + +00:05:03.856 --> 00:05:08.422 +I can distribute this Emacs configuration + +00:05:08.422 --> 00:05:11.689 +with all the environment that I want. + +00:05:11.689 --> 00:05:18.389 +Practical so far. Let's clarify which +problems does it solve. + +00:05:18.389 --> 00:05:21.756 +First of all, the integration problem. + +00:05:21.756 --> 00:05:27.389 +For example, a few minutes ago, you saw +that I changed one variable. + +00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:31.348 +That was to update... The first one, for +my terminal, + +00:05:31.348 --> 00:05:33.889 +and the second one, for my Emacs. + +00:05:33.889 --> 00:05:40.322 +It's pretty good that a few different +programs can share some data. + +00:05:40.322 --> 00:05:43.822 +For example, you can have one of them +for every application, + +00:05:43.822 --> 00:05:45.222 +or something like that + +00:05:45.222 --> 00:05:48.356 +and you change only one value in one place + +00:05:48.356 --> 00:05:50.789 +and the whole operating system is updated. + +00:05:50.789 --> 00:05:56.422 +Also, another problem is reproducibility. + +00:05:56.422 --> 00:06:00.156 + + +00:06:00.156 --> 00:06:06.600 +For example, when you install +your new instance of Emacs + +00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:11.089 +on your laptop or something like that, + +00:06:11.089 --> 00:06:14.289 +you can be sure that you will get the +same package versions + +00:06:14.289 --> 00:06:17.189 +and you can be sure that the +configuration of your work + +00:06:17.189 --> 00:06:20.856 +results in newly-updated or +newly-installed packages. + +00:06:20.856 --> 00:06:25.056 +Also, if you update packages + +00:06:25.056 --> 00:06:27.656 +sometimes it's hard to revert, + +00:06:27.656 --> 00:06:36.289 +because it's the way your package +manager almost every time works. + +00:06:36.289 --> 00:06:38.722 +You're just getting the latest +available packages. + +00:06:38.722 --> 00:06:43.256 +If they are broken, you need to wait for +the maintainer to update them. + +00:06:43.256 --> 00:06:50.989 +And also, your basic configuration +almost always doesn't contain + +00:06:50.989 --> 00:06:56.156 +any native dependencies, like +executables or something else. + +00:06:56.156 --> 00:07:00.689 +Recently, I saw some attempts to make it +possible to + +00:07:00.689 --> 00:07:03.089 +use use-package for those needs, + +00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:06.356 +like ensuring native dependencies +or something like that. + +00:07:06.356 --> 00:07:11.134 +It's obviously... If +your configuration isn't reproducible + +00:07:11.134 --> 00:07:15.322 +and it doesn't have +your whole environment, + +00:07:15.322 --> 00:07:19.522 +placed in one repository, + +00:07:19.522 --> 00:07:22.322 +it's very hard to share such +configuration. + +00:07:22.322 --> 00:07:27.089 +You can share part of your configuration +and some instruction + +00:07:27.089 --> 00:07:32.222 +how to get a similar environment, +but it doesn't always work. + +00:07:32.222 --> 00:07:39.656 +Let's go closer to actually Emacs +configuration itself. + +00:07:39.656 --> 00:07:45.306 +I had some experience with Spacemacs and +Doom Emacs distributions. + +00:07:45.306 --> 00:07:50.414 +I also watched a lot of videos and +articles by Protesilaos + +00:07:50.414 --> 00:07:56.756 +and a lot of other custom configurations +of many different cool people. + +00:07:56.756 --> 00:08:03.039 +And also I was inspired by use-package + +00:08:03.039 --> 00:08:10.839 +and decided that I will create a folding +structure for my Emacs configuration. + +00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:16.172 +I will be using subconfigs. It's almost +the same as layers in Spacemacs, + +00:08:16.172 --> 00:08:20.972 +or modules in Doom Emacs, which are +self-contained. + +00:08:20.972 --> 00:08:26.287 +They contain Emacs Lisp code which +configures all packages necessary + +00:08:26.287 --> 00:08:28.789 +for this part of configuration. + +00:08:28.789 --> 00:08:33.493 +It contains all Emacs dependencies like +Emacs packages. + +00:08:33.493 --> 00:08:36.572 +It contains all native dependencies + +00:08:36.572 --> 00:08:40.039 +like binaries or maybe info pages or +something like that. + +00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:45.115 +It also contains variables +that can be shared between + +00:08:45.115 --> 00:08:47.989 +Emacs and other applications, + +00:08:47.989 --> 00:08:52.072 +and it can contain service +or system definitions + +00:08:52.072 --> 00:08:56.072 +which configure your systemd service or +something like that + +00:08:56.072 --> 00:09:01.306 +that you use in your workflow. For +example, for synchronizing your e-mails. + +00:09:01.306 --> 00:09:06.239 +Let's start from just the example + +00:09:06.239 --> 00:09:16.618 +that I already am... I have a folding +structure for my configuration. + +00:09:16.618 --> 00:09:25.789 +I have some files here. +early-init just has this. + +00:09:25.789 --> 00:09:33.006 +Nothing changes. It will be copied to +that .emacs.d directory later + +00:09:33.006 --> 00:09:37.306 +with some exceptions that + +00:09:37.306 --> 00:09:40.789 +it will replace the Nix dir and a +symlink will be created to it. + +00:09:40.789 --> 00:09:47.889 +I have use-package-init.el. +It's part of configuration + +00:09:47.889 --> 00:09:51.522 +that will be on top of everything + +00:09:51.522 --> 00:09:55.589 +to be able to use use-package in my +subconfigurations. + +00:09:55.589 --> 00:10:01.156 +And actually some Nix code to glue +everything up + +00:10:01.156 --> 00:10:06.922 +and config dirs which contain all my subconfigs. + +00:10:06.922 --> 00:10:11.389 +Let's start from faces subconfig. + +00:10:11.389 --> 00:10:14.556 +Let's start from config.el + +00:10:14.556 --> 00:10:20.022 +which can be familiar for many people. + +00:10:20.022 --> 00:10:23.556 +Just use-package definition +for faces package + +00:10:23.556 --> 00:10:24.122 +and some configuration for it + +00:10:24.122 --> 00:10:29.589 +which are setting some attributes. + +00:10:29.589 --> 00:10:32.156 +It reads some variables. + +00:10:32.156 --> 00:10:36.922 +Those variables are actually defined in +a different place. + +00:10:36.922 --> 00:10:44.422 +If I open default.nix file, you can see +that it contains + +00:10:44.422 --> 00:10:52.689 +the definition or subconfig, and it +should contain a definition of variables + +00:10:52.689 --> 00:10:55.322 +that it uses by... I forgot to move it from + +00:10:55.322 --> 00:11:01.889 +my original default.nix file somewhere +here. + +00:11:01.889 --> 00:11:10.105 +You probably can find definition of +those variables just right here. + +00:11:10.105 --> 00:11:13.722 +I took values from my +Nix expressions. + +00:11:13.722 --> 00:11:23.956 +Those values will be shared across my +alacrity, Emacs, and other applications. + +00:11:23.956 --> 00:11:27.789 +Later, they will be placed in generated +Emacs configuration. + +00:11:27.789 --> 00:11:32.856 +They will be available for faces config. + +00:11:32.856 --> 00:11:38.422 +Here I will be referencing them just +like Emacs variables. + +00:11:38.422 --> 00:11:43.356 +Let's take a look at another more +complicated example. + +00:11:43.356 --> 00:11:45.922 +For example, org-roam package. + +00:11:45.922 --> 00:11:49.922 +Just a basic use-package configuration + +00:11:49.922 --> 00:11:54.607 +which uses a variable and +the definition. + +00:11:54.607 --> 00:12:00.322 +It's a little more complex than the +previous one. + +00:12:00.322 --> 00:12:04.222 +Elisp configuration in the same file. + +00:12:04.222 --> 00:12:08.856 +emacsPackages specified here. + +00:12:08.856 --> 00:12:12.289 +Those two packages: org-roam and company-org-roam. + +00:12:12.289 --> 00:12:16.956 +systemPackages: it's something that +should be available + +00:12:16.956 --> 00:12:18.456 +on your host operating system. + +00:12:18.456 --> 00:12:24.756 +And for emacsPackages, you need sqlite +package, + +00:12:24.756 --> 00:12:27.922 +and also the definition of the variable + +00:12:27.922 --> 00:12:31.556 +which will be passed in my Emacs +configuration later. + +00:12:31.556 --> 00:12:37.722 +It's equal to my workDir, which is +defined in my environment, + +00:12:37.722 --> 00:12:39.222 +and a subdirectory of it. + +00:12:39.222 --> 00:12:43.222 +([Amin:] Andrew, you have about five +minutes including questions.) + +00:12:43.222 --> 00:12:50.822 +Oh, okay. I'm almost finished. It was +last example. + +00:12:50.822 --> 00:12:56.556 +Let me open my Org file. Okay. + +00:12:56.556 --> 00:13:02.222 +Right here. I won't give you an +introduction to Nix itself + +00:13:02.222 --> 00:13:06.922 +and the underlying mechanism, + +00:13:06.922 --> 00:13:11.140 +but I can say that there's already a +proof of concept framework + +00:13:11.140 --> 00:13:14.622 +for utilizing Nix and NixOS + +00:13:14.622 --> 00:13:18.389 +for configuring Emacs +and making a very complex workflow + +00:13:18.389 --> 00:13:22.056 +reproducible on other machines. + +00:13:22.056 --> 00:13:26.222 +It gives everything that we +saw right now. + +00:13:26.222 --> 00:13:31.522 +For the future work, I plan to +reimplement it in Guile, + +00:13:31.522 --> 00:13:36.189 +which is a Scheme dialect, +which is another Lisp language, + +00:13:36.189 --> 00:13:39.199 +for the GNU Guix operating system, + +00:13:39.199 --> 00:13:41.856 +because I like Lisp languages + +00:13:41.856 --> 00:13:46.822 +a little more than Nix languages and I +want to make + +00:13:46.822 --> 00:13:50.089 +this project from proof of concept +to some state which + +00:13:50.089 --> 00:13:54.189 +will be user-friendly and +available for other people. + +00:13:54.189 --> 00:13:59.156 +If I will have a lot of time, +I will make an operating system + +00:13:59.156 --> 00:14:01.356 +which will be inspired by Lisp machines + +00:14:01.356 --> 00:14:05.389 +to make the whole experience very Lispy. + +00:14:05.389 --> 00:14:08.556 +Thank you for your attention + +00:14:08.556 --> 00:14:12.189 +and now I will answer questions. + +00:14:12.189 --> 00:14:22.622 +Oh. There is a lot of... Okay. I see +some questions. + +00:14:22.622 --> 00:14:29.222 +Did you release some config files such +as Emacs custom.el, some of which have +sensitive data? + +00:14:29.222 --> 00:14:39.922 +Ideally, in the folding way, I create a +separate directory called local/share/emacs, + +00:14:39.922 --> 00:14:45.089 +and I place custom el files here. It's +not synchronized in any way, + +00:14:45.089 --> 00:14:48.922 +and it will be just lost in case you +move to a separate machine. + +00:14:48.922 --> 00:14:52.456 +I do it for a purpose, because I don't +use custom.el. + +00:14:52.456 --> 00:14:59.456 +It's hard to make it reproducible if +you're using such mechanism as custom.el. + +00:14:59.456 --> 00:15:06.656 +How do you learn the Nix language +basics? Just from the manual? + +00:15:06.656 --> 00:15:10.141 +I read a lot of documentation. + +00:15:10.141 --> 00:15:15.989 +Also, I saw the course like Learn Nix in +15 minutes. + +00:15:15.989 --> 00:15:19.289 +And also there was another resource. + +00:15:19.289 --> 00:15:25.689 +Better to ask this question in Nix or +NixOS channel in IRC, + +00:15:25.689 --> 00:15:32.989 +which will be treated in more details. + +00:15:32.989 --> 00:15:36.656 +What are the main advantages besides +switching computers, + +00:15:36.656 --> 00:15:38.909 +which most people rarely do? + +00:15:38.909 --> 00:15:44.422 +For example, the original idea was to +make part of configurations + +00:15:44.422 --> 00:15:46.422 +available for projects. + +00:15:46.422 --> 00:15:48.156 +For example, you have some project, + +00:15:48.156 --> 00:15:51.914 +you made the setup, +and want other developers + +00:15:51.914 --> 00:15:55.256 +to use the same setup +on their machine, + +00:15:55.256 --> 00:15:58.122 +but you implement only the part of +stuff, + +00:15:58.122 --> 00:16:01.156 +like one subconfig especially for +this language + +00:16:01.156 --> 00:16:05.389 +for this project. With such approach, +you can easily + +00:16:05.389 --> 00:16:10.556 +share such subconfig with other people. + +00:16:10.556 --> 00:16:15.239 +Have you tried Guix in place of Nix? + +00:16:15.239 --> 00:16:22.272 +Yes, I tried it, and currently I am in +the state of switching from Nix to Guix. + +00:16:22.272 --> 00:16:26.739 +You can follow my Youtube channel, I think, + +00:16:26.739 --> 00:16:32.522 +I do streams twice in a month + +00:16:32.522 --> 00:16:35.922 +talking about reproducibility and +related stuff. + +00:16:35.922 --> 00:16:39.306 +Probably soon I will be talking +about installation of Guix + +00:16:39.306 --> 00:16:41.239 +and configuration of it. + +00:16:41.239 --> 00:16:44.956 +In case you're watching this video later, + +00:16:44.956 --> 00:16:47.972 +you can find me somewhere on the network +using those contacts. + +00:16:47.972 --> 00:16:50.406 +It's my nickname and my e-mail address. + +00:16:54.072 --> 00:16:56.556 +([Amin:] Awesome. I think we're wrapping +up just on time. + +00:16:56.556 --> 00:17:00.889 +Thank you so much, Andrew, for your +great talk, + +00:17:00.889 --> 00:17:04.622 +and for hanging out to answer the +questions live.) + +00:17:04.622 --> 00:17:08.022 +[Andrew:] Thank you for organizing the +conference + +00:17:08.022 --> 00:17:11.572 +and thank you all participants for +questions and participation. + +00:17:11.572 --> 00:17:18.000 +See you soon! |