fix(ci): correctly use magic-nix-cache

Bumps [cachix/install-nix-action](https://github.com/cachix/install-nix-action) from 29 to 30.
- [Release notes](https://github.com/cachix/install-nix-action/releases)
- [Commits](https://github.com/cachix/install-nix-action/compare/v29...v30)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: cachix/install-nix-action
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-major
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com>

.github/workflows/main.yml

@@ -9,24 +9,20 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: DeterminateSystems/nix-installer-action@main
+      - uses: DeterminateSystems/magic-nix-cache-action@main
 
-      - name: Install Nix
+      # - name: Install Nix
-        uses: cachix/install-nix-action@V27
+      #   uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v30
-        with:
+      #   with:
-          github_access_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      #     github_access_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          extra_nix_config: |
+      #     extra_nix_config: |
-            access-tokens = github.com=${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      #       access-tokens = github.com=${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-            allow-import-from-derivation = true
+      #       allow-import-from-derivation = true
-            auto-optimise-store = true
+      #       auto-optimise-store = true
-            experimental-features = nix-command flakes
+      #       experimental-features = nix-command flakes
-            substituters = https://cache.nixos.org https://cache.iog.io
+      #       substituters = https://cache.nixos.org https://cache.iog.io
-            trusted-public-keys = cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY= hydra.iohk.io:f/Ea+s+dFdN+3Y/G+FDgSq+a5NEWhJGzdjvKNGv0/EQ=
+      #       trusted-public-keys = cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY= hydra.iohk.io:f/Ea+s+dFdN+3Y/G+FDgSq+a5NEWhJGzdjvKNGv0/EQ=
-
-      - name: Build with cachix
-        uses: cachix/cachix-action@v15
-        with:
-          name: hakyll-nix-template
-          authToken: ${{ secrets.CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN }}
 
       - run: nix build --accept-flake-config
 

.gitignore

@@ -5,6 +5,5 @@ _cache
 _tmp
 dist
 dist-newstyle
-node_modules
 result
 .direnv

README.md

@@ -7,30 +7,77 @@ powered by [hakyll](https://jaspervdj.be/hakyll/) and
 This repo is merely the source code, the actual site is hosted at
 [blog.youwen.dev](https://blog.youwen.dev).
 
-To build locally, install `nix` and enable flakes.
+To build locally, install `nix` and enable flakes. Additionally, install the
+`direnv` tool so that the provided binary utilities can be hooked into your
+shell. It is also possible to perform the following steps without `direnv` if
+you know what you are doing.
+
+Allow the `.envrc`:
 
 ```sh
-nix build
+direnv allow
-
-nix run . watch
 ```
 
-This starts a hot reload server at `localhost:8000`.
+Wait for the build to finish. Now, you will have the `rollup` and `hakyll-site`
+binaries in your PATH.
+
+We need to compile the site source code first, and then inject the bundled CSS
+and JS using `rollup`. This is done automatically by `nix build`, which is used
+for GitHub Pages deployment, but it is inconvenient for local development.
+Here's how to do it locally.
+
+First, we need to build the site. Run
 
 ```sh
-nix run . build
+hakyll-site build
+
+# sometimes, we need to ignore the cache if things aren't working
+hakyll-site rebuild
+
+# can also use `watch` for convenient development
+hakyll-site watch
+# starts dev server at localhost:8000
 ```
 
-This builds a local production version.
+This will create `./dist`, containing the static assets. However, the required
+CSS and JS is not in there yet! That is built by `rollup`, since we are using
+`tailwindcss` and `postcss` and some JS minifying tools.
 
-If any updates are made to the JavaScript or CSS, you will need to run
+First, we need the `node_modules`. We don't provide a `package-lock.json` since
+we don't use `npm` to manage node modules. Therefore, we need to obtain the
+`node_modules` used by the project.
+
+In the directory, there is a `node_modules` symlink to
+`result/lib/node_modules`. If we build the `nodeDeps` package, the
+`node_modules` will be made available at this path. So, run the following:
 
 ```sh
-pnpm install # only the first time
+nix build .#nodeDeps
-
-pnpm build
 ```
 
-This is because I still haven't figured out how to integrate the `rollup` build
+This will install the node modules in the Nix store and create the `result`
-pipeline with `nix`. Since the CSS and JS are minimal, I just do it manually for
+symlink. Keep in mind that if this `result` symlink is ever overwritten, you
-now.
+need to re-run the above command or else node_modules will not be accessible.
+
+Finally, run the following to generate the bundled CSS and JS files.
+
+```
+rollup -c
+```
+
+You have to re-run this whenever you change the CSS and JS files in `src/`.
+
+Keep in mind that if `hakyll-site` ever overwrites `dist/out`, you will also
+have to re-run this command.
+
+<!--```sh-->
+<!--nix build-->
+<!---->
+<!--nix run . watch-->
+<!--```-->
+<!---->
+<!--This starts a hot reload server at `localhost:8000`.-->
+<!---->
+<!--```sh-->
+<!--nix run . build-->
+<!--```-->

flake.nix

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  description = "hakyll-nix-template";
+  description = "gradient ascent";
 
   nixConfig = {
     allow-import-from-derivation = "true";
@@ -16,19 +16,31 @@
   inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "haskellNix/nixpkgs-unstable";
   inputs.flake-utils.url = "github:numtide/flake-utils";
 
-  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, flake-utils, haskellNix }:
+  outputs =
-    flake-utils.lib.eachDefaultSystem (system:
+    {
+      self,
+      nixpkgs,
+      flake-utils,
+      haskellNix,
+    }:
+    flake-utils.lib.eachDefaultSystem (
+      system:
       let
         hls = pkgs.haskell-language-server;
-        overlays = [ haskellNix.overlay
+        overlays = [
+          haskellNix.overlay
           (final: prev: {
             hakyllProject = final.haskell-nix.project' {
               src = ./ssg;
               compiler-nix-name = "ghc948";
-              modules = [{ doHaddock = false; }];
+              modules = [ { doHaddock = false; } ];
               shell.buildInputs = [
                 hakyll-site
                 hls
+                nodejs
+                pkgs.nodePackages.rollup
+                pkgs.nodePackages.npm
+                pkgs.node2nix
               ];
               shell.tools = {
                 cabal = "latest";
@@ -44,7 +56,11 @@
           inherit (haskellNix) config;
         };
 
-        flake = pkgs.hakyllProject.flake {};
+        nodejs = pkgs.nodejs;
+
+        nodeDeps = (pkgs.callPackage ./nix { inherit pkgs nodejs system; }).nodeDependencies;
+
+        flake = pkgs.hakyllProject.flake { };
 
         executable = "ssg:exe:hakyll-site";
 
@@ -52,7 +68,10 @@
 
         website = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
           name = "website";
-          buildInputs = [];
+          buildInputs = [
+            nodejs
+            pkgs.nodePackages.rollup
+          ];
           src = pkgs.nix-gitignore.gitignoreSourcePure [
             ./.gitignore
             ".git"
@@ -64,12 +83,19 @@
           #   https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/318#issuecomment-52986702
           #   https://github.com/MaxDaten/brutal-recipes/blob/source/default.nix#L24
           LANG = "en_US.UTF-8";
-          LOCALE_ARCHIVE = pkgs.lib.optionalString
+          LOCALE_ARCHIVE = pkgs.lib.optionalString (
-            (pkgs.buildPlatform.libc == "glibc")
+            pkgs.buildPlatform.libc == "glibc"
-            "${pkgs.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive";
+          ) "${pkgs.glibcLocales}/lib/locale/locale-archive";
 
           buildPhase = ''
+            # remove the node_modules symlink
+            rm -rf node_modules
+
             ${flake.packages.${executable}}/bin/hakyll-site build --verbose
+            ln -s ${nodeDeps}/lib/node_modules ./node_modules
+
+            export PATH="${nodeDeps}/bin:$PATH"
+            rollup -c
           '';
 
           installPhase = ''
@@ -78,7 +104,9 @@
           '';
         };
 
-      in flake // rec {
+      in
+      flake
+      // {
         apps = {
           default = flake-utils.lib.mkApp {
             drv = hakyll-site;
@@ -87,9 +115,11 @@
         };
 
         packages = {
-          inherit hakyll-site website;
+          inherit hakyll-site website nodeDeps;
           default = website;
         };
+
+        formatter = pkgs.nixfmt-rfc-style;
       }
     );
 }

nix/default.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# This file has been generated by node2nix 1.11.1. Do not edit!
+
+{pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {
+    inherit system;
+  }, system ? builtins.currentSystem, nodejs ? pkgs."nodejs_16"}:
+
+let
+  nodeEnv = import ./node-env.nix {
+    inherit (pkgs) stdenv lib python2 runCommand writeTextFile writeShellScript;
+    inherit pkgs nodejs;
+    libtool = if pkgs.stdenv.isDarwin then pkgs.darwin.cctools else null;
+  };
+in
+import ./node-package.nix {
+  inherit (pkgs) fetchurl nix-gitignore stdenv lib fetchgit;
+  inherit nodeEnv;
+}

nix/node-env.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,689 @@
+# This file originates from node2nix
+
+{lib, stdenv, nodejs, python2, pkgs, libtool, runCommand, writeTextFile, writeShellScript}:
+
+let
+  # Workaround to cope with utillinux in Nixpkgs 20.09 and util-linux in Nixpkgs master
+  utillinux = if pkgs ? utillinux then pkgs.utillinux else pkgs.util-linux;
+
+  python = if nodejs ? python then nodejs.python else python2;
+
+  # Create a tar wrapper that filters all the 'Ignoring unknown extended header keyword' noise
+  tarWrapper = runCommand "tarWrapper" {} ''
+    mkdir -p $out/bin
+
+    cat > $out/bin/tar <<EOF
+    #! ${stdenv.shell} -e
+    $(type -p tar) "\$@" --warning=no-unknown-keyword --delay-directory-restore
+    EOF
+
+    chmod +x $out/bin/tar
+  '';
+
+  # Function that generates a TGZ file from a NPM project
+  buildNodeSourceDist =
+    { name, version, src, ... }:
+
+    stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      name = "node-tarball-${name}-${version}";
+      inherit src;
+      buildInputs = [ nodejs ];
+      buildPhase = ''
+        export HOME=$TMPDIR
+        tgzFile=$(npm pack | tail -n 1) # Hooks to the pack command will add output (https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/scripts)
+      '';
+      installPhase = ''
+        mkdir -p $out/tarballs
+        mv $tgzFile $out/tarballs
+        mkdir -p $out/nix-support
+        echo "file source-dist $out/tarballs/$tgzFile" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
+      '';
+    };
+
+  # Common shell logic
+  installPackage = writeShellScript "install-package" ''
+    installPackage() {
+      local packageName=$1 src=$2
+
+      local strippedName
+
+      local DIR=$PWD
+      cd $TMPDIR
+
+      unpackFile $src
+
+      # Make the base dir in which the target dependency resides first
+      mkdir -p "$(dirname "$DIR/$packageName")"
+
+      if [ -f "$src" ]
+      then
+          # Figure out what directory has been unpacked
+          packageDir="$(find . -maxdepth 1 -type d | tail -1)"
+
+          # Restore write permissions to make building work
+          find "$packageDir" -type d -exec chmod u+x {} \;
+          chmod -R u+w "$packageDir"
+
+          # Move the extracted tarball into the output folder
+          mv "$packageDir" "$DIR/$packageName"
+      elif [ -d "$src" ]
+      then
+          # Get a stripped name (without hash) of the source directory.
+          # On old nixpkgs it's already set internally.
+          if [ -z "$strippedName" ]
+          then
+              strippedName="$(stripHash $src)"
+          fi
+
+          # Restore write permissions to make building work
+          chmod -R u+w "$strippedName"
+
+          # Move the extracted directory into the output folder
+          mv "$strippedName" "$DIR/$packageName"
+      fi
+
+      # Change to the package directory to install dependencies
+      cd "$DIR/$packageName"
+    }
+  '';
+
+  # Bundle the dependencies of the package
+  #
+  # Only include dependencies if they don't exist. They may also be bundled in the package.
+  includeDependencies = {dependencies}:
+    lib.optionalString (dependencies != []) (
+      ''
+        mkdir -p node_modules
+        cd node_modules
+      ''
+      + (lib.concatMapStrings (dependency:
+        ''
+          if [ ! -e "${dependency.packageName}" ]; then
+              ${composePackage dependency}
+          fi
+        ''
+      ) dependencies)
+      + ''
+        cd ..
+      ''
+    );
+
+  # Recursively composes the dependencies of a package
+  composePackage = { name, packageName, src, dependencies ? [], ... }@args:
+    builtins.addErrorContext "while evaluating node package '${packageName}'" ''
+      installPackage "${packageName}" "${src}"
+      ${includeDependencies { inherit dependencies; }}
+      cd ..
+      ${lib.optionalString (builtins.substring 0 1 packageName == "@") "cd .."}
+    '';
+
+  pinpointDependencies = {dependencies, production}:
+    let
+      pinpointDependenciesFromPackageJSON = writeTextFile {
+        name = "pinpointDependencies.js";
+        text = ''
+          var fs = require('fs');
+          var path = require('path');
+
+          function resolveDependencyVersion(location, name) {
+              if(location == process.env['NIX_STORE']) {
+                  return null;
+              } else {
+                  var dependencyPackageJSON = path.join(location, "node_modules", name, "package.json");
+
+                  if(fs.existsSync(dependencyPackageJSON)) {
+                      var dependencyPackageObj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(dependencyPackageJSON));
+
+                      if(dependencyPackageObj.name == name) {
+                          return dependencyPackageObj.version;
+                      }
+                  } else {
+                      return resolveDependencyVersion(path.resolve(location, ".."), name);
+                  }
+              }
+          }
+
+          function replaceDependencies(dependencies) {
+              if(typeof dependencies == "object" && dependencies !== null) {
+                  for(var dependency in dependencies) {
+                      var resolvedVersion = resolveDependencyVersion(process.cwd(), dependency);
+
+                      if(resolvedVersion === null) {
+                          process.stderr.write("WARNING: cannot pinpoint dependency: "+dependency+", context: "+process.cwd()+"\n");
+                      } else {
+                          dependencies[dependency] = resolvedVersion;
+                      }
+                  }
+              }
+          }
+
+          /* Read the package.json configuration */
+          var packageObj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('./package.json'));
+
+          /* Pinpoint all dependencies */
+          replaceDependencies(packageObj.dependencies);
+          if(process.argv[2] == "development") {
+              replaceDependencies(packageObj.devDependencies);
+          }
+          else {
+              packageObj.devDependencies = {};
+          }
+          replaceDependencies(packageObj.optionalDependencies);
+          replaceDependencies(packageObj.peerDependencies);
+
+          /* Write the fixed package.json file */
+          fs.writeFileSync("package.json", JSON.stringify(packageObj, null, 2));
+        '';
+      };
+    in
+    ''
+      node ${pinpointDependenciesFromPackageJSON} ${if production then "production" else "development"}
+
+      ${lib.optionalString (dependencies != [])
+        ''
+          if [ -d node_modules ]
+          then
+              cd node_modules
+              ${lib.concatMapStrings (dependency: pinpointDependenciesOfPackage dependency) dependencies}
+              cd ..
+          fi
+        ''}
+    '';
+
+  # Recursively traverses all dependencies of a package and pinpoints all
+  # dependencies in the package.json file to the versions that are actually
+  # being used.
+
+  pinpointDependenciesOfPackage = { packageName, dependencies ? [], production ? true, ... }@args:
+    ''
+      if [ -d "${packageName}" ]
+      then
+          cd "${packageName}"
+          ${pinpointDependencies { inherit dependencies production; }}
+          cd ..
+          ${lib.optionalString (builtins.substring 0 1 packageName == "@") "cd .."}
+      fi
+    '';
+
+  # Extract the Node.js source code which is used to compile packages with
+  # native bindings
+  nodeSources = runCommand "node-sources" {} ''
+    tar --no-same-owner --no-same-permissions -xf ${nodejs.src}
+    mv node-* $out
+  '';
+
+  # Script that adds _integrity fields to all package.json files to prevent NPM from consulting the cache (that is empty)
+  addIntegrityFieldsScript = writeTextFile {
+    name = "addintegrityfields.js";
+    text = ''
+      var fs = require('fs');
+      var path = require('path');
+
+      function augmentDependencies(baseDir, dependencies) {
+          for(var dependencyName in dependencies) {
+              var dependency = dependencies[dependencyName];
+
+              // Open package.json and augment metadata fields
+              var packageJSONDir = path.join(baseDir, "node_modules", dependencyName);
+              var packageJSONPath = path.join(packageJSONDir, "package.json");
+
+              if(fs.existsSync(packageJSONPath)) { // Only augment packages that exist. Sometimes we may have production installs in which development dependencies can be ignored
+                  console.log("Adding metadata fields to: "+packageJSONPath);
+                  var packageObj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(packageJSONPath));
+
+                  if(dependency.integrity) {
+                      packageObj["_integrity"] = dependency.integrity;
+                  } else {
+                      packageObj["_integrity"] = "sha1-000000000000000000000000000="; // When no _integrity string has been provided (e.g. by Git dependencies), add a dummy one. It does not seem to harm and it bypasses downloads.
+                  }
+
+                  if(dependency.resolved) {
+                      packageObj["_resolved"] = dependency.resolved; // Adopt the resolved property if one has been provided
+                  } else {
+                      packageObj["_resolved"] = dependency.version; // Set the resolved version to the version identifier. This prevents NPM from cloning Git repositories.
+                  }
+
+                  if(dependency.from !== undefined) { // Adopt from property if one has been provided
+                      packageObj["_from"] = dependency.from;
+                  }
+
+                  fs.writeFileSync(packageJSONPath, JSON.stringify(packageObj, null, 2));
+              }
+
+              // Augment transitive dependencies
+              if(dependency.dependencies !== undefined) {
+                  augmentDependencies(packageJSONDir, dependency.dependencies);
+              }
+          }
+      }
+
+      if(fs.existsSync("./package-lock.json")) {
+          var packageLock = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("./package-lock.json"));
+
+          if(![1, 2].includes(packageLock.lockfileVersion)) {
+            process.stderr.write("Sorry, I only understand lock file versions 1 and 2!\n");
+            process.exit(1);
+          }
+
+          if(packageLock.dependencies !== undefined) {
+              augmentDependencies(".", packageLock.dependencies);
+          }
+      }
+    '';
+  };
+
+  # Reconstructs a package-lock file from the node_modules/ folder structure and package.json files with dummy sha1 hashes
+  reconstructPackageLock = writeTextFile {
+    name = "reconstructpackagelock.js";
+    text = ''
+      var fs = require('fs');
+      var path = require('path');
+
+      var packageObj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("package.json"));
+
+      var lockObj = {
+          name: packageObj.name,
+          version: packageObj.version,
+          lockfileVersion: 2,
+          requires: true,
+          packages: {
+              "": {
+                  name: packageObj.name,
+                  version: packageObj.version,
+                  license: packageObj.license,
+                  bin: packageObj.bin,
+                  dependencies: packageObj.dependencies,
+                  engines: packageObj.engines,
+                  optionalDependencies: packageObj.optionalDependencies
+              }
+          },
+          dependencies: {}
+      };
+
+      function augmentPackageJSON(filePath, packages, dependencies) {
+          var packageJSON = path.join(filePath, "package.json");
+          if(fs.existsSync(packageJSON)) {
+              var packageObj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(packageJSON));
+              packages[filePath] = {
+                  version: packageObj.version,
+                  integrity: "sha1-000000000000000000000000000=",
+                  dependencies: packageObj.dependencies,
+                  engines: packageObj.engines,
+                  optionalDependencies: packageObj.optionalDependencies
+              };
+              dependencies[packageObj.name] = {
+                  version: packageObj.version,
+                  integrity: "sha1-000000000000000000000000000=",
+                  dependencies: {}
+              };
+              processDependencies(path.join(filePath, "node_modules"), packages, dependencies[packageObj.name].dependencies);
+          }
+      }
+
+      function processDependencies(dir, packages, dependencies) {
+          if(fs.existsSync(dir)) {
+              var files = fs.readdirSync(dir);
+
+              files.forEach(function(entry) {
+                  var filePath = path.join(dir, entry);
+                  var stats = fs.statSync(filePath);
+
+                  if(stats.isDirectory()) {
+                      if(entry.substr(0, 1) == "@") {
+                          // When we encounter a namespace folder, augment all packages belonging to the scope
+                          var pkgFiles = fs.readdirSync(filePath);
+
+                          pkgFiles.forEach(function(entry) {
+                              if(stats.isDirectory()) {
+                                  var pkgFilePath = path.join(filePath, entry);
+                                  augmentPackageJSON(pkgFilePath, packages, dependencies);
+                              }
+                          });
+                      } else {
+                          augmentPackageJSON(filePath, packages, dependencies);
+                      }
+                  }
+              });
+          }
+      }
+
+      processDependencies("node_modules", lockObj.packages, lockObj.dependencies);
+
+      fs.writeFileSync("package-lock.json", JSON.stringify(lockObj, null, 2));
+    '';
+  };
+
+  # Script that links bins defined in package.json to the node_modules bin directory
+  # NPM does not do this for top-level packages itself anymore as of v7
+  linkBinsScript = writeTextFile {
+    name = "linkbins.js";
+    text = ''
+      var fs = require('fs');
+      var path = require('path');
+
+      var packageObj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("package.json"));
+
+      var nodeModules = Array(packageObj.name.split("/").length).fill("..").join(path.sep);
+
+      if(packageObj.bin !== undefined) {
+          fs.mkdirSync(path.join(nodeModules, ".bin"))
+
+          if(typeof packageObj.bin == "object") {
+              Object.keys(packageObj.bin).forEach(function(exe) {
+                  if(fs.existsSync(packageObj.bin[exe])) {
+                      console.log("linking bin '" + exe + "'");
+                      fs.symlinkSync(
+                          path.join("..", packageObj.name, packageObj.bin[exe]),
+                          path.join(nodeModules, ".bin", exe)
+                      );
+                  }
+                  else {
+                      console.log("skipping non-existent bin '" + exe + "'");
+                  }
+              })
+          }
+          else {
+              if(fs.existsSync(packageObj.bin)) {
+                  console.log("linking bin '" + packageObj.bin + "'");
+                  fs.symlinkSync(
+                      path.join("..", packageObj.name, packageObj.bin),
+                      path.join(nodeModules, ".bin", packageObj.name.split("/").pop())
+                  );
+              }
+              else {
+                  console.log("skipping non-existent bin '" + packageObj.bin + "'");
+              }
+          }
+      }
+      else if(packageObj.directories !== undefined && packageObj.directories.bin !== undefined) {
+          fs.mkdirSync(path.join(nodeModules, ".bin"))
+
+          fs.readdirSync(packageObj.directories.bin).forEach(function(exe) {
+              if(fs.existsSync(path.join(packageObj.directories.bin, exe))) {
+                  console.log("linking bin '" + exe + "'");
+                  fs.symlinkSync(
+                      path.join("..", packageObj.name, packageObj.directories.bin, exe),
+                      path.join(nodeModules, ".bin", exe)
+                  );
+              }
+              else {
+                  console.log("skipping non-existent bin '" + exe + "'");
+              }
+          })
+      }
+    '';
+  };
+
+  prepareAndInvokeNPM = {packageName, bypassCache, reconstructLock, npmFlags, production}:
+    let
+      forceOfflineFlag = if bypassCache then "--offline" else "--registry http://www.example.com";
+    in
+    ''
+        # Pinpoint the versions of all dependencies to the ones that are actually being used
+        echo "pinpointing versions of dependencies..."
+        source $pinpointDependenciesScriptPath
+
+        # Patch the shebangs of the bundled modules to prevent them from
+        # calling executables outside the Nix store as much as possible
+        patchShebangs .
+
+        # Deploy the Node.js package by running npm install. Since the
+        # dependencies have been provided already by ourselves, it should not
+        # attempt to install them again, which is good, because we want to make
+        # it Nix's responsibility. If it needs to install any dependencies
+        # anyway (e.g. because the dependency parameters are
+        # incomplete/incorrect), it fails.
+        #
+        # The other responsibilities of NPM are kept -- version checks, build
+        # steps, postprocessing etc.
+
+        export HOME=$TMPDIR
+        cd "${packageName}"
+        runHook preRebuild
+
+        ${lib.optionalString bypassCache ''
+          ${lib.optionalString reconstructLock ''
+            if [ -f package-lock.json ]
+            then
+                echo "WARNING: Reconstruct lock option enabled, but a lock file already exists!"
+                echo "This will most likely result in version mismatches! We will remove the lock file and regenerate it!"
+                rm package-lock.json
+            else
+                echo "No package-lock.json file found, reconstructing..."
+            fi
+
+            node ${reconstructPackageLock}
+          ''}
+
+          node ${addIntegrityFieldsScript}
+        ''}
+
+        npm ${forceOfflineFlag} --nodedir=${nodeSources} ${npmFlags} ${lib.optionalString production "--production"} rebuild
+
+        runHook postRebuild
+
+        if [ "''${dontNpmInstall-}" != "1" ]
+        then
+            # NPM tries to download packages even when they already exist if npm-shrinkwrap is used.
+            rm -f npm-shrinkwrap.json
+
+            npm ${forceOfflineFlag} --nodedir=${nodeSources} --no-bin-links --ignore-scripts ${npmFlags} ${lib.optionalString production "--production"} install
+        fi
+
+        # Link executables defined in package.json
+        node ${linkBinsScript}
+    '';
+
+  # Builds and composes an NPM package including all its dependencies
+  buildNodePackage =
+    { name
+    , packageName
+    , version ? null
+    , dependencies ? []
+    , buildInputs ? []
+    , production ? true
+    , npmFlags ? ""
+    , dontNpmInstall ? false
+    , bypassCache ? false
+    , reconstructLock ? false
+    , preRebuild ? ""
+    , dontStrip ? true
+    , unpackPhase ? "true"
+    , buildPhase ? "true"
+    , meta ? {}
+    , ... }@args:
+
+    let
+      extraArgs = removeAttrs args [ "name" "dependencies" "buildInputs" "dontStrip" "dontNpmInstall" "preRebuild" "unpackPhase" "buildPhase" "meta" ];
+    in
+    stdenv.mkDerivation ({
+      name = "${name}${if version == null then "" else "-${version}"}";
+      buildInputs = [ tarWrapper python nodejs ]
+        ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isLinux) utillinux
+        ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isDarwin) libtool
+        ++ buildInputs;
+
+      inherit nodejs;
+
+      inherit dontStrip; # Stripping may fail a build for some package deployments
+      inherit dontNpmInstall preRebuild unpackPhase buildPhase;
+
+      compositionScript = composePackage args;
+      pinpointDependenciesScript = pinpointDependenciesOfPackage args;
+
+      passAsFile = [ "compositionScript" "pinpointDependenciesScript" ];
+
+      installPhase = ''
+        source ${installPackage}
+
+        # Create and enter a root node_modules/ folder
+        mkdir -p $out/lib/node_modules
+        cd $out/lib/node_modules
+
+        # Compose the package and all its dependencies
+        source $compositionScriptPath
+
+        ${prepareAndInvokeNPM { inherit packageName bypassCache reconstructLock npmFlags production; }}
+
+        # Create symlink to the deployed executable folder, if applicable
+        if [ -d "$out/lib/node_modules/.bin" ]
+        then
+            ln -s $out/lib/node_modules/.bin $out/bin
+
+            # Fixup all executables
+            ls $out/bin/* | while read i
+            do
+                file="$(readlink -f "$i")"
+                chmod u+rwx "$file"
+                if isScript "$file"
+                then
+                    sed -i 's/\r$//' "$file"  # convert crlf to lf
+                fi
+            done
+        fi
+
+        # Create symlinks to the deployed manual page folders, if applicable
+        if [ -d "$out/lib/node_modules/${packageName}/man" ]
+        then
+            mkdir -p $out/share
+            for dir in "$out/lib/node_modules/${packageName}/man/"*
+            do
+                mkdir -p $out/share/man/$(basename "$dir")
+                for page in "$dir"/*
+                do
+                    ln -s $page $out/share/man/$(basename "$dir")
+                done
+            done
+        fi
+
+        # Run post install hook, if provided
+        runHook postInstall
+      '';
+
+      meta = {
+        # default to Node.js' platforms
+        platforms = nodejs.meta.platforms;
+      } // meta;
+    } // extraArgs);
+
+  # Builds a node environment (a node_modules folder and a set of binaries)
+  buildNodeDependencies =
+    { name
+    , packageName
+    , version ? null
+    , src
+    , dependencies ? []
+    , buildInputs ? []
+    , production ? true
+    , npmFlags ? ""
+    , dontNpmInstall ? false
+    , bypassCache ? false
+    , reconstructLock ? false
+    , dontStrip ? true
+    , unpackPhase ? "true"
+    , buildPhase ? "true"
+    , ... }@args:
+
+    let
+      extraArgs = removeAttrs args [ "name" "dependencies" "buildInputs" ];
+    in
+      stdenv.mkDerivation ({
+        name = "node-dependencies-${name}${if version == null then "" else "-${version}"}";
+
+        buildInputs = [ tarWrapper python nodejs ]
+          ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isLinux) utillinux
+          ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isDarwin) libtool
+          ++ buildInputs;
+
+        inherit dontStrip; # Stripping may fail a build for some package deployments
+        inherit dontNpmInstall unpackPhase buildPhase;
+
+        includeScript = includeDependencies { inherit dependencies; };
+        pinpointDependenciesScript = pinpointDependenciesOfPackage args;
+
+        passAsFile = [ "includeScript" "pinpointDependenciesScript" ];
+
+        installPhase = ''
+          source ${installPackage}
+
+          mkdir -p $out/${packageName}
+          cd $out/${packageName}
+
+          source $includeScriptPath
+
+          # Create fake package.json to make the npm commands work properly
+          cp ${src}/package.json .
+          chmod 644 package.json
+          ${lib.optionalString bypassCache ''
+            if [ -f ${src}/package-lock.json ]
+            then
+                cp ${src}/package-lock.json .
+                chmod 644 package-lock.json
+            fi
+          ''}
+
+          # Go to the parent folder to make sure that all packages are pinpointed
+          cd ..
+          ${lib.optionalString (builtins.substring 0 1 packageName == "@") "cd .."}
+
+          ${prepareAndInvokeNPM { inherit packageName bypassCache reconstructLock npmFlags production; }}
+
+          # Expose the executables that were installed
+          cd ..
+          ${lib.optionalString (builtins.substring 0 1 packageName == "@") "cd .."}
+
+          mv ${packageName} lib
+          ln -s $out/lib/node_modules/.bin $out/bin
+        '';
+      } // extraArgs);
+
+  # Builds a development shell
+  buildNodeShell =
+    { name
+    , packageName
+    , version ? null
+    , src
+    , dependencies ? []
+    , buildInputs ? []
+    , production ? true
+    , npmFlags ? ""
+    , dontNpmInstall ? false
+    , bypassCache ? false
+    , reconstructLock ? false
+    , dontStrip ? true
+    , unpackPhase ? "true"
+    , buildPhase ? "true"
+    , ... }@args:
+
+    let
+      nodeDependencies = buildNodeDependencies args;
+      extraArgs = removeAttrs args [ "name" "dependencies" "buildInputs" "dontStrip" "dontNpmInstall" "unpackPhase" "buildPhase" ];
+    in
+    stdenv.mkDerivation ({
+      name = "node-shell-${name}${if version == null then "" else "-${version}"}";
+
+      buildInputs = [ python nodejs ] ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isLinux) utillinux ++ buildInputs;
+      buildCommand = ''
+        mkdir -p $out/bin
+        cat > $out/bin/shell <<EOF
+        #! ${stdenv.shell} -e
+        $shellHook
+        exec ${stdenv.shell}
+        EOF
+        chmod +x $out/bin/shell
+      '';
+
+      # Provide the dependencies in a development shell through the NODE_PATH environment variable
+      inherit nodeDependencies;
+      shellHook = lib.optionalString (dependencies != []) ''
+        export NODE_PATH=${nodeDependencies}/lib/node_modules
+        export PATH="${nodeDependencies}/bin:$PATH"
+      '';
+    } // extraArgs);
+in
+{
+  buildNodeSourceDist = lib.makeOverridable buildNodeSourceDist;
+  buildNodePackage = lib.makeOverridable buildNodePackage;
+  buildNodeDependencies = lib.makeOverridable buildNodeDependencies;
+  buildNodeShell = lib.makeOverridable buildNodeShell;
+}

node_modules

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+result/lib/node_modules/

package.json

@@ -16,9 +16,7 @@
     "@tailwindcss/typography": "^0.5.13",
     "autoprefixer": "^10.4.19",
     "postcss": "^8.4.38",
-    "postcss-cli": "^11.0.0",
     "postcss-minify": "^1.1.0",
-    "rollup": "^4.18.0",
     "rollup-plugin-postcss": "^4.0.2",
     "tailwindcss": "^3.4.3"
   }

rollup.config.mjs

@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
-import autoprefixer from "autoprefixer";
+import autoprefixer from "autoprefixer"
-import postcss from "rollup-plugin-postcss";
+import postcss from "rollup-plugin-postcss"
-import tailwindcss from "tailwindcss";
+import tailwindcss from "tailwindcss"
-import postcssMinify from "postcss-minify";
+import postcssMinify from "postcss-minify"
-import terser from "@rollup/plugin-terser";
+import terser from "@rollup/plugin-terser"
 
 export default {
   input: "src/js/main.js",
   output: {
-    file: "src/out/bundle.js",
+    file: "dist/out/bundle.js",
   },
   plugins: [
     postcss({
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@ export default {
     }),
     terser(),
   ],
-};
+}

src/css/default.css

@@ -92,9 +92,9 @@
     @apply text-center;
   }
   details {
-    @apply cursor-pointer;
+    @apply leading-loose sm:leading-[2] my-4 overflow-x-auto sm:text-lg font-light;
   }
   details summary {
-    @apply mb-1;
+    @apply mb-1 cursor-pointer;
   }
 }

src/out/bundle.js

@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-const e=window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)").matches,t=()=>{document.documentElement.classList.remove("dark")},s=()=>{document.documentElement.classList.add("dark")};let o="dark"===localStorage.getItem("theme")?2:"light"===localStorage.getItem("theme")?1:0;const a=document.getElementById("theme-toggle");a.addEventListener("click",(()=>{switch(o=(o+1)%3,o){case 0:localStorage.removeItem("theme"),e?document.documentElement.classList.add("dark"):document.documentElement.classList.remove("dark"),a.innerText="theme: system";break;case 1:e?(localStorage.setItem("theme","light"),t(),a.innerText="theme: light"):(localStorage.setItem("theme","dark"),s(),a.innerText="theme: dark");break;case 2:e?(localStorage.setItem("theme","dark"),s(),a.innerText="theme: dark"):(localStorage.setItem("theme","light"),t(),a.innerText="theme: light")}}));const n=()=>{document.body.classList.remove("font-sans"),document.body.classList.remove("font-serif")},m=e=>{e&&"serif"===e&&(n(),document.body.classList.add("font-serif")),e&&"sans"===e&&(n(),document.body.classList.add("font-sans")),e||n()};let c=localStorage.getItem("font");m();const l=document.getElementById("font-toggle");l.addEventListener("click",(()=>{c=localStorage.getItem("font"),"sans"===c?(c="serif",l.innerText="serif",localStorage.setItem("font","serif")):(c="sans",l.innerText="sans",localStorage.setItem("font","sans")),m(c)}));

src/posts/2024-08-10-i-wasted-half-my-summer-on-nixos.md

@@ -1,121 +0,0 @@
----
-author: "Youwen Wu"
-authorTwitter: "@youwen"
-desc: "some thoughts"
-image: "./images/gradient-ascent.jpg"
-keywords: "haskell, blog, functional programming"
-lang: "en"
-title: "i wasted half my summer setting up NixOS"
-updated: "2024-05-25T12:00:00Z"
----
-
-Here's what I've been up to since the start of the summer: after a month long
-fender-bender with functional programming and the mathematicians up in the ivory
-tower at Haskell Industries™, I spent a month setting up an esoteric Linux
-distribution likely conceived of by bitter Haskell theorists who were fed up
-with the fact that the real world and computers were stateful and wanted to do
-something about it.
-
-This distribution, of course, was NixOS. And I guess you could consider the
-following either a case study or an autopsy of a real user of it.
-
-## what even is NixOS?
-
-It's somewhat difficult to explain the concept of Nix/NixOS to even the average
-Linux user. It's simple, really: Nix is a tool described and developed by Eelco
-Dolstra in his Ph.D thesis, _The Purely Functional Software Deployment Model_,
-where he shows how to implement a tool which atomically resolves dependencies
-through the use of derivations, which are pure functions that encode the build
-process of a package...
-
-The majority of readers have likely left at this point immediately after the
-mention of _Ph.D thesis_. If you are still reading, I presume that the previous
-word salad either made some semblance of sense to you, or you're masochistic
-enough that you're willing to sit through a seminar about esoteric and
-overcomplicated concepts - both great qualities for a Nix user to have.
-
-First of all, if you've never heard of Nix, it may be hard to get a straight
-answer for what it is. And that's because it's many different things. Nix, by
-itself, is a package manager which can be installed on any distro that can also
-help create _reproducible_ environments declaratively. This means that you can
-use it to install packages like a regular package manager:
-
-```bash
-# Arch Linux
-$ pacman -S neofetch
-
-# Nix
-$ nix-env -i neofetch
-```
-
-Or, you can define a shell environment in a `nix` file, and it will fetch all
-the required packages and throw you into an environment with them available,
-_without polluting your global PATH_. This is powerful for specifying all the
-packages needed to develop on a project, with their exact version, and have them
-all automatically available to developers without affecting their system
-installations. This feature of Nix is used to manage
-[this blog](https://github.com/youwen5/blog), in fact. You can also define build
-scripts in this file, so Nix can also be used as a simple build tool, like
-**Make**.
-
-There are many more features of Nix, but I don't intend for this post to be a
-full introduction to Nix or even a simple tutorial. There's enough of that over
-at [nix.dev](https://nix.dev/) and the wonderful
-[NixOS and Flakes Book](https://nixos-and-flakes.thiscute.world/).
-
-But the defining factor of Nix, which makes it different from other tools like
-`direnv` which do similar things, is its **reproducible builds**. Through a
-concept called "derivations", Nix encodes _exactly_ how a package is built, down
-to the patches and compiler options. It also requires the exact dependencies be
-specified - Nix cannot access system-wide programs while building.
-
-This means that the slightest change to a build process will result in a
-different derivation. And this means that, in theory, if a derivation builds on
-one machine, it should also build on every other machine, exactly the same way.
-It solves the "it works on my machine issue", without any virtualisation a la
-Docker.
-
-### NixOS is a different kind of operating system
-
-Most Linux distributions are really just some set of base software and a package
-manager (usually the defining aspect for power users). NixOS is a Linux
-distribution that uses Nix as its principle package manager. But it's also more
-than that.
-
-The principle issue I have with Arch (and every other distro) is that
-fundamentally, it pretty much does what every distro after Slackware has tried
-to do: provide the user with a base working system and a package manager that
-can efficiently install and manage software. Arch just happens to contain a
-pretty decent package manager with massive repositories and a minimal set of
-base software, which aligns exactly with the goal of \*nix enthusiasts.
-
-When I say that NixOS is a new kind of operating system, I don't mean that it
-has a novel kernel, or even a new init system or completely new userspace
-components. At the end of the day, you'll be running the same Linux applications
-on the same Linux kernel you know. Strictly speaking, it is just another set of
-base packages running on the Linux kernel, with the Nix package manager.
-
-What makes NixOS different is its completely new approach to system management
-and configuration from everything else that has been tried in the last two
-decades [^1]. In a traditional distribution, you are provided with a tool to
-fetch packages and install them into your system. That's all well and good, but
-what about the rest? How do you manage the rest of your system configuration?
-How do you manage already installed packages, like updating or removing them
-cleanly? How do you deal with a system in a broken state, or with mismatching
-dependency versions (the so-called dependency hell)? As a user, how can you set
-up a system from scratch automatically with all the little things configured
-like you want?
-
-Nix and NixOS claims to solve all of these issues and more. Let's see if it
-lives up to its promises.
-
-### system configuration
-
-Most critical system components need some form of configuration, usually by text
-file. Most distributions provide no built-in way to manage these. Also,
-third-party solutions are mostly unwieldy.
-
-[^1]:
-    Well, there's the _other distro_: [GNU Guix](https://guix.gnu.org/)
-    (pronounced _geeks_), which is a fork of Nix released in 2019 that aims to
-    achieve similar goals.

src/posts/2024-10-31-a-retrospective-on-nixos.md

@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+---
+author: "Youwen Wu"
+authorTwitter: "@youwen"
+desc: "and the future of operating systems"
+image: "./images/gradient-ascent.jpg"
+keywords: "nix, nixos, functional programming, linux, unix"
+lang: "en"
+title: "a retrospective on NixOS"
+updated: "2024-05-25T12:00:00Z"
+---
+
+Many people more knowledgeable than me have already written at length about the
+virtues of NixOS and _declarative configuration_ and _immutability_ and such. I
+doubt what I have to say is particularly novel to those already familiar with
+Nix, but I'd like to discuss precisely what brings people to NixOS in the first
+place.
+
+Many people will introduce NixOS by first introducing the Nix package manager,
+and immediately jumping into terms like _derivation_ and _immutability_ and
+_reproducibility_ and whatnot. And while these are important concepts for
+understanding the system at large, it's not very convincing for people looking
+to try out the system. After all, most people don't (or at least shouldn't!)
+choose their tools based on hype or purported benefits, but based the problems
+that they help them solve.
+
+Instead of immediately evangelizing about the virtues of Nix and NixOS, I'll
+first motivate the reasons for why I chose a tool with exactly its properties
+(but not to worry, the evangelizing will come later).
+
+Essentially: allow me to introduce you to the
+origins of the [NixOS God
+Complex](https://www.reddit.com/r/NixOS/comments/kauf1m/dealing_with_post_nixflake_god_complex/).
+
+---
+
+My goals for my system are as follows:
+
+- Allow my computing environment to exist on different computers at the same
+  time (essentially, sync up configurations between machines)
+- Precisely control the software and services on my machine. I should be able
+  to obtain binaries of most things to save time, but be able to step into the
+  source and apply patches or configuration as desired
+- For the OS to be absolutely unbreakable
+- Never configure the system twice; once I solve a problem, I should have a
+  reproducible solution that solves it permanently
+- Be able to backup my system configuration and quickly redeploy it whenever
+  needed
+- Avoid janky solutions to these problems that introduce tech debt. I don't
+  want to have to rely on disk images or backups, I want to be able to create
+  fresh installations quickly
+
+Essentially, I want to synchronize the configuration of my entire system across
+multiple machines while maintaining a stable and usable system I'm not worried
+will inadvertently fall apart with a routine system update. When I tweak and
+mess with some settings on my desktop, I should be able to push to a `git`
+repository and pull it down on my laptop and have the tweaks carried over. This
+even includes system-level configuration like the applications installed,
+system daemons, and other core system services.
+
+I want a source and binary based distribution simultaneously. And I want a
+self-documenting reproducible system where every tiny tweak is
+deterministically applied. And I want to be able to install my configurations
+onto a new computer, from scratch, in an installer, effectively creating my own
+custom Linux distribution.
+
+Oh, and I also want to solve the "works on my machine" problem, and never have
+trouble using software someone else packaged and claims works on their end, but
+fails on my computer.
+
+All or even just a few of these goals seem unattainable to the typical Linux
+user (not to mention those still on Windows and macOS $\dots$ _oh, the
+horror!_). But I was in fact able to achieve all of them.
+
+---
+
+To begin, let's examine how one might try to approach these problems with the
+common solutions.
+
+Let's talk about sharing configuration among multiple computers first, which
+can be thought of as some form of "settings sync".
+
+Most people have encountered solutions to sychronizing configuration in two
+ways: either the entire service is ran in the cloud, so it's really the _same_
+environment accessed from multiple places (eg. Google Docs), or it's some often
+half baked opaque solution involving you making an account and sending all your
+settings to a sync server (eg. Mozilla Firefox).
+
+The more technically minded may instead opt to create a "dotfiles" repository,
+holding their vast collection of meticulously crafted configuration files.
+These repos often come with a janky `install.sh` script that does its best to
+install all the files into the correct place. This usually works the first
+time, but trying to keep the installed dotfiles in sync with a central
+repository is a whole other problem.
+
+There are also dotfile manager like `chezmoi` or GNU Stow. I have not tried
+these so I make no judgements on their utility for their intended purpose.
+These dotfile management solutions may work well for managing configuration
+files, but they both have the same issue: you also need to install the software
+you're configuring!
+
+The software and the configuration are fundamentally tied together; these are
+not concerns to be separated. If the software is installed, it almost always
+needs to be configured anyways. If the configuration exists, the software
+should be installed. So a sane solution needs to both put the configuration in
+the right place, _and_ set up the system's programs along with all their
+dependencies!
+
+So, the most obsessive *nix hackers reach for tools like
+[Ansible](https://www.ansible.com/), that promise automatic configuration of
+entire systems. Though Ansible was initially designed to deploy cloud servers
+quickly through the Infrastructure-as-Code approach, some people opt to use it
+for deploying and managing their systems quickly as well. I have not personally
+tried it beyond playing with a few examples The consensus seems to be that it
+seems to work fine for simple use cases but gets quite unwieldy for more
+complex purposes (especially for personal systems, which aren't expected to be
+as ephemeral as servers).
+
+A system like Ansible combined with a system to manage configuration files
+might be able to achieve a few of our goals. We can keep configuration in sync
+between computers and we can quickly redeploy our system. But anyone who has
+tried this will tell you that it's incredibly uncomfortable to use; our
+existing operating systems are simply not designed to be managed in this
+manner. Inevitably you will experience desynchronization between the
+configuration and the actual state of the machine.
+
+Also, this does not solve some of our other problems. We'll still need tools
+like Docker to reproducibly build software and figure out a way to keep our
+system stable.
+
+If you agree with the premises I've laid out up to this point, that none of
+these solutions provide a satisfying solution to our computing woes, you might
+come to the conclusion that I've made. We need a solution that does _all of
+it_. A unified tool for reliably deploying software and managing your system
+configuration. And it must necessarily be declarative and reproducible, because
+that is the only sane way to manage a system. Imagine working on a programming
+project where recompiling with the same source code would non-deterministically
+produce different results based on the environment! We should be able to write
+files that declaratively and precisely specify the state of whole system, and
+then be able to revert these files or tweak them with deterministic results
+that don't leave behind any broken programs or files.
+
+Well, [Nix](https://nixos.org/) is the _purely functional_ package manager
+(i.e. declarative, reproducible), and NixOS is a Linux distribution that is
+managed entirely by Nix. Essentially, Nix provides a solution to the problem of
+_software deployment_, and in fact was purpose built to do so in Eelco
+Dolstra's seminal [PhD
+thesis](https://edolstra.github.io/pubs/phd-thesis.pdf). It effectively solves
+the problem of "works on my machine" by _forcing_ the user to actually specify
+all required dependencies. This makes it a little harder to write the initial
+build configurations due to the strictness imposed. But the reward is that if a
+piece of software builds on one machine, it's guaranteed to build on another.
+
+NixOS is a system that takes the power of Nix and applies it to declaratively
+configure an _entire Linux system_. All of the installed software and activated
+services can be specified precisely using the Nix expression language, a purely
+functional DSL used by Nix. And alongside the software, it also configures it,
+effectively acting as a dotfile manager. Indeed, many core NixOS services and a
+wide range of programs can be set up through _NixOS modules_, where the program
+is installed and configured in the same place. (and many programs like `fzf`,
+`btop`, etc have similar corresponding `home-manager` modules).
+
+NixOS is also _immutable_, which means that the system cannot be modified after
+it is built from the Nix files that declare it. How do you make changes to the
+system then? Obviously, we just create a new system where the changed programs
+and files are included, and the old ones are removed. But they are not deleted
+from the hard drive, they still exist in the _Nix store_. So, the system can
+provide precise atomic rollbacks between each "generation" of itself. Broke
+your GRUB configuration so your system won't boot? Messed up your kernel
+settings? Just select an older working generation from the boot menu and you
+instantly have a working system again. You never worry about breaking things
+during either routine or massive system updates.
+
+And because the system is fully declarative, and modifying the system is done
+only through modifying its Nix configuration files,  you can version and sync
+them up with Git. This solves the problem of keeping system environments in
+sync; now, you truly only have to keep one repository of all your configuration
+in sync, and all the software installation and deployment is handled for you by
+a system designed precisely for that purpose.
+
+This makes it possible for me to share common configuration between a multitude
+of entirely distinct machines, including an `x86_64` desktop, an `x86_64`
+laptop, an Apple Silicon Macbook running NixOS `aarch64` using [Asahi
+Linux](https://asahilinux.org/), and the same Macbook running macOS with
+`nix-darwin`, sharing `home-manager` configuration with NixOS. Specific
+configuration necessary to adjust hardware-specific details between each
+machines are isolated to the [hosts](./hosts) directory.
+
+This works exceptionally well, evidenced by the fact that I have (almost) the
+exact same environment across three separate machines, spanning two entirely
+distinct CPU architectures.
+
+In essence, the primary failure of deployment scripts, Ansible and the like is
+that they are _imperative_ - they must specify precisely _how_ to set up the
+system, down to minute details, whereas in a _declarative_ approach, the user
+can simply specify what the system _should look like_, and abstractions take
+care of the _how_. This is what NixOS does, and it gives you remote syncing,
+versioning (via `git`), and rollbacks _for free_.

src/templates/default.html

@@ -115,8 +115,8 @@
         <h1 class="text-4xl md:text-5xl font-serif font-medium">
           <a
             href="/"
-            class="dark:hover:text-muted-dark hover:text-muted-light transition-all duration-500 text-nowrap tracking-wide hover:tracking-wider"
+            class="dark:hover:text-muted-dark hover:text-muted-light transition-all duration-500 text-nowrap tracking-wide"
-            >Gradient Ascent</a
+            ><em>Gradient Ascent.</em></a
           >
         </h1>
         <div
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
         ></div>
       </div>
       <p class="mt-8 mb-3 px-1 italic font-light">
-        a web-log about computers, math, hacks, games, and life.
+        a web-log about computers, math, hacks, and all the rest.
       </p>
       <a class="text-sm external-link" href="https://youwen.dev"
         ><em>by </em>Youwen Wu</a