I have also ended up with Home-Manager. It's an extremely powerful tool that I am unlikely to replace in the next ten or so years, but you also need to learn a whole programming language (Nix) plus a DSL (the NixOS module system) to get the most out of it.
On the upside: you do get a whole purpose-build language for configuring your system, piecing together your configurations dynamically, installing your packages and so much more.
Ability to install packages is another huge thing. Home-Manager does not just configure my tools, it also installs them (including my DE), so I can get started with my custom config on a new system in a matter of minutes.
On the upside: you do get a whole purpose-build language for configuring your system, piecing together your configurations dynamically, installing your packages and so much more.
Ability to install packages is another huge thing. Home-Manager does not just configure my tools, it also installs them (including my DE), so I can get started with my custom config on a new system in a matter of minutes.