this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2026
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I like it because I have a super complicated setup where a NAS is mounted in multiple places and gracefully disappears when I’m not at home (all managed deterministically with systemd at boot). Otherwise, I’d have to write a bash script that runs on a cron job to check the mount points. The way I have it now is laughably superior to that old, manual, (IMO incredibly kludgey) way of doing it.
That's part of the beauty of Linux; power of option. Don't like the way something is done; do it another way. Don't like the tool, find a new tool.
While I think NixOS is quite cool, absolutely no hate here, I find it isn't the right tool for me.
For my NAS, I only have it mounted to devices that are on network. For my laptop, I have other ways of accessing it. Mainly from my laptop, I have no need for the NAS as the NAS is primarily used by other services hosted on network, and from there I can access the web front end for much of it. So with a simple VPN connection I can access everything.
Nice. I like Nix because it allows me to build custom systemd services that just work. I was able to build a systemd service I call “homebeacon” which tells my laptop whether it's actually on my home network, cryptographically. A responder on my server signs a challenge with an Ed25519 key; the laptop checks four cheap network signals first, then does the handshake. The signature covers the server's address so it can't be relayed from outside.
The verdict raises or lowers a systemd target. NAS mounts arm when home and go inert when away, so the filesystem doesn't hang. Battery charges to 80% at the desk, 100% travelling. It doesn’t drive firewall rules, keyring unlock, disk unlock; Nothing a spoofed "home" could turn into access.
That all sounds pretty cooll! Some of that is outside the scope of what I would need; but would still say quite a cool setup.
For anything custom on my setup I have repos on my git server that is easily pulled down when I decide to nuke my systems and start fresh. Which doesn't happen for years at a time.
And even then on my main rig, I have all of my data separated to other disks. And backed up to my NAS if I deem it critical.