Help-wanted: install with configuration.nix

[godalming123]

How do I install this in my configuration.nix? In hyprland (my previous wm) there's a guide; https://github.com/hyprwm/Hyprland/wiki/Installation#without-flakes is there such a thing for newm?

[jbuchermn]

I have everything set up using flakes (see my repositories). Maybe you can use that as a basis to build sth without flakes.

Unfortunately I have got very little time at the moment and can't provide support, maybe other nix users on here can.

[tewkanz]

I was able to get this working, mostly by copying the contents of the flakes into derivations. Though, I'm pretty new to nix, so my style not be the greatest ;)

For pyWM:

{
  python3Packages,
  fetchgit,
  fetchFromGitHub,
  pkgs,
  ...
}:
python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
  # A released derivation would ask you if you wanted to include xwayland support.
  # I wasn't interested in that, so I statically set it to yes. Basically you would modify your buildInputs and mesonFlags to not include it if you didn't want it.
  pname = "pywm";
  version = "v0.3alpha";
  name = "${pname}-${version}";

  srcs = [
    (fetchgit {
      url = "https://github.com/jbuchermn/pywm.git";
      rev = "02dd26196d0a8cd5390fa22f583f8e5a4ed198e4";
      sha256 = "iCZhb+byXsBIBH7QkfiesOjBM1CHuf0jxF//NPQs3xg=";
    })
    (fetchgit {
      url = "https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wlroots/wlroots";
      rev = "e279266f714c7122e9ad97d56d047313f78cfdbe";
      sha256 = "8RldE5JsQILUZ2DF1nB6AEz1pZecgnURIjRXK/dCAdI=";
      fetchSubmodules = true;
    })
  ];

  setSourceRoot = ''
    for i in ./*; do
      if [ -f "$i/wlroots.syms" ]; then
        wlrootsDir=$i
      fi
      if [ -f "$i/pywm/pywm.py" ]; then
        sourceRoot=$i
      fi
    done
  '';
  preConfigure = ''
    echo "--- Pre-configure --------------"
    echo "  wlrootsDir=$wlrootsDir"
    echo "  sourceRoot=$sourceRoot"
    echo "--- ls -------------------------"
    ls -al
    echo "--- ls ../wlrootsDir -----------"
    ls -al ../$wlrootsDir
    rm -rf ./subprojects/wlroots 2> /dev/null
    cp -r ../$wlrootsDir ./subprojects/wlroots
    rm -rf ./build
    echo "--- ls ./subprojects/wlroots ---"
    ls -al ./subprojects/wlroots/
    echo "--------------------------------"
  '';
  mesonFlags = ["-Dxwayland=enabled"];

  nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
    meson
    ninja
    pkg-config
    wayland-scanner
    glslang
  ];

  preBuild = "cd ..";

  buildInputs = with pkgs;
    [
      libGL
      wayland
      wayland-protocols
      libinput
      libxkbcommon
      pixman
      vulkan-loader
      mesa
      seatd

      libpng
      ffmpeg
      libcap

      xorg.xcbutilwm
      xorg.xcbutilrenderutil
      xorg.xcbutilerrors
      xorg.xcbutilimage
      xorg.libX11
    ]
    ++ [
      xwayland
    ];

  propagatedBuildInputs = with pkgs.python3Packages; [
    imageio
    numpy
    pycairo
    evdev
  ];
}

The module thefuzz is not currently part of nixpkgs, so you need to create a derivation for that:

{ python3Packages, ... }:

with python3Packages;

buildPythonPackage rec {
    version = "0.19.0";
    pname = "thefuzz";
    name = "${pname}-${version}";

    propagatedBuildInputs = [
      python-Levenshtein
      pycodestyle
    ];

    src = fetchPypi {
      inherit pname version;
      sha256 = "b3Em2y8silQhKwXjp0DkX0KRxJfXXSB1Fyj2Nbt0qj0=";
    };
}

And then finally, import those two derivations into your newm derivation:

{
  pkgs,
  python3Packages,
  fetchFromGitHub,
}:
with python3Packages; let
  thefuzz = pkgs.callPackage (import ./python-thefuzz.nix) {};
  pywm = pkgs.callPackage (import ./pywm.nix) {};
in
  buildPythonApplication rec {
    pname = "newm";
    version = "v0.3alpha";
    src = fetchFromGitHub {
      owner = "jbuchermn";
      repo = "newm";
      rev = "v0.3alpha";
      sha256 = "5mpXPvxfCr7bDdT/zwFAyZUqjgHe5yGK4lE3HuDYJkY=";
    };

    setuptoolsCheckPhase = "true";
    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; 
    [
      pywm
      pycairo
      psutil
      python-pam
      pyfiglet
      dasbus
      thefuzz

      setuptools
    ];
    # newm comes with some desktop environment like helpers that you might want it to have on its PATH. I think you would put those here.
    # buildInputs = with pkgs; [ brightnessctl ];

    # For reasons I don't understand, the desktop file isn't part of my build directory, so I just make it here.
    postInstall = ''
      mkdir -p $out/share/wayland-sessions/
      echo "[Desktop Entry]
Name=newm
Comment=A scrolling Wayland compositor
Exec=$out/bin/start-newm
Type=Application" > $out/share/wayland-sessions/newm.desktop
      chmod u+rw $out/share/wayland-sessions/newm.desktop
      chmod g+r $out/share/wayland-sessions/newm.desktop
      chmod o+r $out/share/wayland-sessions/newm.desktop
    '';
  }

Then you just call this package and add it to your system packages. You'll also want to add it to your display manager's session packages.