What is Nix and why you should try it
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What is Nix and why you should try it
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Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#2Nix is pretty cool but has some significant usability issues.
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#3On my macOS work machine, Nix has replaced Homebrew. The ability to switch between generations of your system state [1] when a new install goes awry is underrated, IMO.
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#4Nix is pretty cool but has some significant usability issues.
Having never used Nix before, I would like to know what kind of usability issues it faces.
For me, the biggest one is that I can't use it at clients running a Windows shop. That's a blocker.
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#5Nix is pretty cool but has some significant usability issues.
* is pretty cool but has some issues.
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#6Nix is pretty cool but has some significant usability issues.
Having never used Nix before, I would like to know what kind of usability issues it faces. For me, the biggest one is that I can't use it at clients running a Windows shop. That's a blocker.
I think biggest ones are i) nix command is a bit complex, but it's getting redesigned [1] & ii) nixpkg definitions sometimes contain a lot of cruft.
I've found Guix and GuixSD, which are a GNU-blessed Guile Scheme-based reimplementation of Nix and NixOS, more aesthetically pleasing. Quite simple and elegant in fact.
The major differences are that Guix DSLs are implemented on top of Scheme, whereas Nix uses a custom DSL. Furthermore, Guix avoids systemd and uses GNU herd instead.
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having never used Nix before, I would like to know what kind of usability issues it faces. For me, the biggest one is that I can't use it at clients running a Windows shop. That's a blocker.
I think biggest ones are i) nix command is a bit complex, but it's getting redesigned [1] & ii) nixpkg definitions sometimes contain a lot of cruft. I've found Guix and GuixSD, which are a GNU-blessed Guile Scheme-based reimplementation of Nix and NixOS, more aesthetically pleasing. Quite simple and elegant in fact. The major differences are that Guix DSLs are implemented on top of Scheme, whereas Nix uses a custom D…
Guix uses it’s own init system implemented in Scheme: Sheperd (https://www.gnu.org/software/shepherd/)
Herd/Hurd is a kernel, not an init system, although since systemd is Linux only, using a different kernel implies using a non-systemd init system.
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#8Nix is pretty cool but has some significant usability issues.
Having never used Nix before, I would like to know what kind of usability issues it faces. For me, the biggest one is that I can't use it at clients running a Windows shop. That's a blocker.
Primarily from my perspective... the entire package repo acts as one enormous program. Which is both good and bad. Its not that easy imo to create ad hoc packages or packaging scripts
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#9Gobolinux does something similar, and has been around for years: https://www.gobolinux.org/
Re: What is Nix and why you should try it
#10I'm very excited about Nix and the possibilities that it opens.
If you want to learn more about Nix, I suggest starting with this excellent article on InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/articles/configuration-management-with...
I also gave a talk about why I think Nix is so great: https://vimeo.com/album/4676161/video/223525975
Finally, I highly recommend the PhD thesis that Nix is based on: https://nixos.org/~eelco/pubs/phd-thesis.pdf