nixpkgs/nixos/modules/programs/zsh/oh-my-zsh.xml
Maximilian Bosch bd40c92c2c
nixos/oh-my-zsh: add documentation
In the last year `programs.oh-my-zsh` gained more complexity and since
the introduction of features like `customPkgs` which builds a
`ZSH_CUSTOM` path from a sequence of derivation a documentation may be
fairly helpful to make the knowledge how to use the module and how to
package new ZSH plugins visible.

See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/43282#issuecomment-410770432
2018-08-07 15:47:02 +02:00

126 lines
4.7 KiB
XML

<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
version="5.0"
xml:id="module-programs-zsh-ohmyzsh">
<title>Oh my ZSH</title>
<para><literal><link xlink:href="https://ohmyz.sh/">oh-my-zsh</link></literal> is a framework
to manage your <link xlink:href="https://www.zsh.org/">ZSH</link> configuration
including completion scripts for several CLI tools or custom prompt themes.</para>
<section><title>Basic usage</title>
<para>The module uses the <literal>oh-my-zsh</literal> package with all available features. The
initial setup using Nix expressions is fairly similar to the configuration format
of <literal>oh-my-zsh</literal>.
<programlisting>
{
programs.ohMyZsh = {
enable = true;
plugins = [ "git" "python" "man" ];
theme = "agnoster";
};
}
</programlisting>
For a detailed explanation of these arguments please refer to the
<link xlink:href="https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/wiki"><literal>oh-my-zsh</literal> docs</link>.
</para>
<para>The expression generates the needed
configuration and writes it into your <literal>/etc/zshrc</literal>.
</para></section>
<section><title>Custom additions</title>
<para>Sometimes third-party or custom scripts such as a modified theme may be needed.
<literal>oh-my-zsh</literal> provides the
<link xlink:href="https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/wiki/Customization#overriding-internals"><literal>ZSH_CUSTOM</literal></link>
environment variable for this which points to a directory with additional scripts.</para>
<para>The module can do this as well:
<programlisting>
{
programs.ohMyZsh.custom = "~/path/to/custom/scripts";
}
</programlisting>
</para></section>
<section><title>Custom environments</title>
<para>There are several extensions for <literal>oh-my-zsh</literal> packaged in <literal>nixpkgs</literal>.
One of them is <link xlink:href="https://github.com/spwhitt/nix-zsh-completions">nix-zsh-completions</link>
which bundles completion scripts and a plugin for <literal>oh-my-zsh</literal>.</para>
<para>Rather than using a single mutable path for <literal>ZSH_CUSTOM</literal>, it's also possible to
generate this path from a list of Nix packages:
<programlisting>
{ pkgs, ... }:
{
programs.ohMyZsh.customPkgs = with pkgs; [
pkgs.nix-zsh-completions
# and even more...
];
}
</programlisting>
Internally a single store path will be created using <literal>buildEnv</literal>.
Please refer to the docs of
<link xlink:href="https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#sec-building-environment"><literal>buildEnv</literal></link>
for further reference.</para>
<para><emphasis>Please keep in mind that this is not compatible with <literal>programs.ohMyZsh.custom</literal>
as it requires an immutable store path while <literal>custom</literal> shall remain mutable! An evaluation failure
will be thrown if both <literal>custom</literal> and <literal>customPkgs</literal> are set.</emphasis>
</para></section>
<section><title>Package your own customizations</title>
<para>If third-party customizations (e.g. new themes) are supposed to be added to <literal>oh-my-zsh</literal>
there are several pitfalls to keep in mind:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>To comply with the default structure of <literal>ZSH</literal> the entire output needs to be written to
<literal>$out/share/zsh.</literal></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Completion scripts are supposed to be stored at <literal>$out/share/zsh/site-functions</literal>. This directory
is part of the <literal><link xlink:href="http://zsh.sourceforge.net/Doc/Release/Functions.html">fpath</link></literal>
and the package should be compatible with pure <literal>ZSH</literal> setups. The module will automatically link
the contents of <literal>site-functions</literal> to completions directory in the proper store path.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The <literal>plugins</literal> directory needs the structure <literal>pluginname/pluginname.plugin.zsh</literal>
as structured in the <link xlink:href="https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/tree/91b771914bc7c43dd7c7a43b586c5de2c225ceb7/plugins">upstream repo.</link>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
A derivation for <literal>oh-my-zsh</literal> may look like this:
<programlisting>
{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub }:
stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
name = "exemplary-zsh-customization-${version}";
version = "1.0.0";
src = fetchFromGitHub {
# path to the upstream repository
};
dontBuild = true;
installPhase = ''
mkdir -p $out/share/zsh/site-functions
cp {themes,plugins} $out/share/zsh
cp completions $out/share/zsh/site-functions
'';
}
</programlisting>
</para>
</section>
</chapter>