uuid: - value: f3e69f27-6b57-434e-a50a-308e99838872 langcode: - value: en type: - target_id: daily_email target_type: node_type target_uuid: 8bde1f2f-eef9-4f2d-ae9c-96921f8193d7 revision_timestamp: - value: '2025-05-11T08:59:58+00:00' revision_uid: - target_type: user target_uuid: b8966985-d4b2-42a7-a319-2e94ccfbb849 revision_log: { } status: - value: true uid: - target_type: user target_uuid: b8966985-d4b2-42a7-a319-2e94ccfbb849 title: - value: 'Generating presentation slides with Nix and rst2pdf' created: - value: '2025-04-07T00:00:00+00:00' changed: - value: '2025-05-11T08:59:58+00:00' promote: - value: false sticky: - value: false default_langcode: - value: true revision_translation_affected: - value: true path: - alias: /daily/2025/04/07/nix-rst2pdf langcode: en body: - value: |

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.

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

I write the rst (reStructuredText) file and compile it to a PDF file.

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.

Here's how my flake.nix file looks now:

{
        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;
          };
      }

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

The source code is available at https://code.oliverdavies.uk/opdavies/talks if you want to see how I use rst2pdf to create my presentations and I've even given a presentation about how I create presentations.

format: full_html processed: |

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.

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

I write the rst (reStructuredText) file and compile it to a PDF file.

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.

Here's how my flake.nix file looks now:

{
        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;
          };
      }

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

The source code is available at https://code.oliverdavies.uk/opdavies/talks if you want to see how I use rst2pdf to create my presentations and I've even given a presentation about how I create presentations.

summary: null field_daily_email_cta: { }