oliverdavies.uk/content/node.f3e69f27-6b57-434e-a50a-308e99838872.yml

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title:
  - value: 'Generating presentation slides with Nix and rst2pdf'
created:
  - value: '2025-04-07T00:00:00+00:00'
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  - value: '2025-05-11T08:59:58+00:00'
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body:
  - value: |
      <p>Since switching to Nix and NixOS, I've been looking for opportunities to use Nix more in addition to managing my laptop and server configurations and creating development shells for projects.</p>

      <p>Nix is a build tool, so I've started to use it to build my slide decks which I create using rst2pdf.</p>

      <p>I write the rst (reStructuredText) file and compile it to a PDF file.</p>

      <p>I had a flake.nix file to add rst2pdf, pdfpc and other tools to my shell, but the compilation to a PDF file was done in a bash script which I've since removed.</p>

      <p>Here's how my flake.nix file looks now:</p>

      <pre><code class="nix">{
        inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";

        outputs = { nixpkgs, ... }:
          let
            system = "x86_64-linux";
            pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; };

            inherit (nixpkgs.lib) makeOverridable;
            inherit (pkgs.stdenvNoCC) mkDerivation;

            shared = mkDerivation {
              name = "talks-shared";
              src = ./src;

              installPhase = ''
                runHook preInstall

                mkdir $out
                cp -r fonts styles $out

                runHook postInstall
              '';
            };

            commonBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
              (python310.withPackages (p: with p; [ rst2pdf ]))
            ];

            mkTalk = makeOverridable ({ src }: mkDerivation {
              inherit shared src;

              name = builtins.head (builtins.attrNames talks);

              buildInputs = commonBuildInputs;

              buildPhase = ''
                runHook preBuild

                mkdir $out

                rst2pdf slides.rst \
                  --break-level 1 \
                  --fit-background-mode scale \
                  --font-path "${toString shared}/fonts" \
                  --output "$out/slides.pdf" \
                  --stylesheets bw,"${toString shared}/styles/opdavies-light"

                runHook postBuild
              '';
            });

            talks = {
              build-configs = mkTalk { src = ./src/building-build-configs; };
              sculpin = mkTalk { src = ./src/building-static-websites-sculpin; };
              tailwind-css = mkTalk { src = ./src/taking-flight-with-tailwind-css; };
              test-driven-drupal = mkTalk { src = ./src/test-driven-drupal; };
            };
          in
          {
            devShells.${system}.default = with pkgs; mkShell {
              packages = with pkgs; commonBuildInputs ++ [
                ghostscript
                just
                pdfpc
                texliveMedium # includes pdfjam
              ];
            };

            packages.${system} = {
              inherit shared;
            } // talks;
          };
      }
      </code></pre>

      <p>Each talk is its own derivation, so I can run <code>nix run .#test-driven-drupal</code> and it will generate the appropriate PDF file for me to present or share.</p>

      <p>The source code is available at <a href="https://code.oliverdavies.uk/opdavies/talks">https://code.oliverdavies.uk/opdavies/talks</a> if you want to see how I use rst2pdf to create my presentations and I've even <a href="/presentations/building-presenting-slide-decks-rst2pdf">given a presentation about how I create presentations</a>.</p>

              
    format: full_html
    processed: |
      <p>Since switching to Nix and NixOS, I've been looking for opportunities to use Nix more in addition to managing my laptop and server configurations and creating development shells for projects.</p>

      <p>Nix is a build tool, so I've started to use it to build my slide decks which I create using rst2pdf.</p>

      <p>I write the rst (reStructuredText) file and compile it to a PDF file.</p>

      <p>I had a flake.nix file to add rst2pdf, pdfpc and other tools to my shell, but the compilation to a PDF file was done in a bash script which I've since removed.</p>

      <p>Here's how my flake.nix file looks now:</p>

      <pre><code class="nix">{
        inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";

        outputs = { nixpkgs, ... }:
          let
            system = "x86_64-linux";
            pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; };

            inherit (nixpkgs.lib) makeOverridable;
            inherit (pkgs.stdenvNoCC) mkDerivation;

            shared = mkDerivation {
              name = "talks-shared";
              src = ./src;

              installPhase = ''
                runHook preInstall

                mkdir $out
                cp -r fonts styles $out

                runHook postInstall
              '';
            };

            commonBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
              (python310.withPackages (p: with p; [ rst2pdf ]))
            ];

            mkTalk = makeOverridable ({ src }: mkDerivation {
              inherit shared src;

              name = builtins.head (builtins.attrNames talks);

              buildInputs = commonBuildInputs;

              buildPhase = ''
                runHook preBuild

                mkdir $out

                rst2pdf slides.rst \
                  --break-level 1 \
                  --fit-background-mode scale \
                  --font-path "${toString shared}/fonts" \
                  --output "$out/slides.pdf" \
                  --stylesheets bw,"${toString shared}/styles/opdavies-light"

                runHook postBuild
              '';
            });

            talks = {
              build-configs = mkTalk { src = ./src/building-build-configs; };
              sculpin = mkTalk { src = ./src/building-static-websites-sculpin; };
              tailwind-css = mkTalk { src = ./src/taking-flight-with-tailwind-css; };
              test-driven-drupal = mkTalk { src = ./src/test-driven-drupal; };
            };
          in
          {
            devShells.${system}.default = with pkgs; mkShell {
              packages = with pkgs; commonBuildInputs ++ [
                ghostscript
                just
                pdfpc
                texliveMedium # includes pdfjam
              ];
            };

            packages.${system} = {
              inherit shared;
            } // talks;
          };
      }
      </code></pre>

      <p>Each talk is its own derivation, so I can run <code>nix run .#test-driven-drupal</code> and it will generate the appropriate PDF file for me to present or share.</p>

      <p>The source code is available at <a href="https://code.oliverdavies.uk/opdavies/talks">https://code.oliverdavies.uk/opdavies/talks</a> if you want to see how I use rst2pdf to create my presentations and I've even <a href="/presentations/building-presenting-slide-decks-rst2pdf">given a presentation about how I create presentations</a>.</p>

              
    summary: null
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