home-manager/docs/manual/usage/dotfiles.md
Viktor Kronvall 69a96783b1 docs: render without deprecated optionsDocBook
The `optionsDocBook` function is deprecated in nixpkgs since
nixos-23.11. This commit updates the manual and manpages to
use commonmark formatted documentation instead of the deprecated
docbook format.
2023-12-09 01:06:44 +09:00

928 B

Keeping your ~ safe from harm

To configure programs and services Home Manager must write various things to your home directory. To prevent overwriting any existing files when switching to a new generation, Home Manager will attempt to detect collisions between existing files and generated files. If any such collision is detected the activation will terminate before changing anything on your computer.

For example, suppose you have a wonderful, painstakingly created ~/.config/git/config and add

{
  # …

  programs.git = {
    enable = true;
    userName = "Jane Doe";
    userEmail = "jane.doe@example.org";
  };

  # …
}

to your configuration. Attempting to switch to the generation will then result in

$ home-manager switch
Activating checkLinkTargets
Existing file '/home/jdoe/.config/git/config' is in the way
Please move the above files and try again