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Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

lix.systems

11–20 of 52 posts

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#11
post #8
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have anything against people going their own way but having been on both ends of this kind of rumble in open source my resounding opinion is that you literally cannot please the aggrieved side. It's a mixture of many things — some people are reasonable and just want sensible change, others are dangerous neurotics who need to go outside; both can end up, deliberately or not, using it as blackmail for control —…

>BDFL "Benevolent Dictator For Life", most famously Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu if I recall.

Funny how it probably differs per ~5 years who is the most famous BDFL. I'd have gone for Linus Torvalds as the most famous, or maybe Guido van Rossum.

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#13
What's the goal here? As a Nix[OS] user for a couple years now, the underlying Nix impl is not really on my radar for personal problems i have with Nix. It's entirely about the language and (lack of) language-tooling.

I write typed systems on purpose during my day/hobby programming, and dynamic untyped experiences are just no fun for me personally. Nickel is far more interesting to me on my checklist of UX issues.

Kinda surprises me to see larger rewrites of various Nix systems that i've not had issue with. Am i missing something?

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#14
post #7

> Plans include a gradual, piecewise introduction of the memory-safe Rust programming language Oh cool, I had "rewrite in Rust" on my bingo card. Anyway this doesn't seem to be much more than a %s/nix/lix/g so far. I'm all for the right to rage-fork something, but you should be clear that it's not a new project. https://git.lix.systems/lix-project/lix/commits/branch/main You can see one of their most recent contribut…

Well, they do say it's a fork in the About and FAQ pages. I'm guessing the front page's aim is to be broader, more newbie-friendly, more forward-looking, etc.

> Oh cool, I had "rewrite in Rust" on my bingo card

You may also be curious about tvix, which is a greenfield version in Rust, not a fork (but still pretty feature-incomplete, iiuc).

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#15
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fork that grew from https://save-nix-together.org/ .

How many commits has each fork that are not in the other?

Not sure, but afaik, one of the first big changes was to use Meson for building, instead of Dolstra's homegrown build system.

Apparently, the switch to Meson was approved, and coded, ages ago, but Dolstra kept dragging his heels on it.

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#16

What's the goal here? As a Nix[OS] user for a couple years now, the underlying Nix impl is not really on my radar for personal problems i have with Nix. It's entirely about the language and (lack of) language-tooling. I write typed systems on purpose during my day/hobby programming, and dynamic untyped experiences are just no fun for me personally. Nickel is far more interesting to me on my checklist of UX issues. Ki…

>Am i missing something?

The issue isn't really technical. It is a conflict over governance of nix, caused by multiple factors among them involvement of US military industry companies sponsoring conferences and a general dissatisfaction with leadership.

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#18

I don't understand the issues around Anduril - FOSS grants all users the same rights, that's what it means to be FOSS. And in general it's good to have companies like Anduril. Democracy needs to be defended afterall - as Israel and Ukraine demonstrate.

I don't think it was ever the issue itself that Anduril was sponsoring a conference. That should be a somewhat neutral issue anyway, any organization should determine what sponsors they want.

Of course there is a sizable group of people who view all MIC companies as furthering war, which had objected to the sponsorship on moral grounds. But Anduril never was the only issue.

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#19

I don't understand the issues around Anduril - FOSS grants all users the same rights, that's what it means to be FOSS. And in general it's good to have companies like Anduril. Democracy needs to be defended afterall - as Israel and Ukraine demonstrate.

"Right to sponsor a project and get it to advertise your company" does not exist in any FOSS license that I know of. There's pretty much nobody complaining about Anduril using Nix, or even contributing to Nix. Many contributors have placed their ethical line at "accepting money from Anduril in exchange for services at official project events".

It's not helpful to misrepresent these things to try and simplify a complicated situation.

Re: Lix is a modern, delicious implementation of the Nix package manager

#20

What's the goal here? As a Nix[OS] user for a couple years now, the underlying Nix impl is not really on my radar for personal problems i have with Nix. It's entirely about the language and (lack of) language-tooling. I write typed systems on purpose during my day/hobby programming, and dynamic untyped experiences are just no fun for me personally. Nickel is far more interesting to me on my checklist of UX issues. Ki…

> What's the goal here? ... Am i missing something?

Forks tend to be for social reasons, rather than technical. e.g. NeoVim was forked out of frustration relating to a complicated changeset being rejected. Or OpenTofu over licensing issues.

There's an open letter (https://save-nix-together.org/) which vents concerns over governance, community moderation, and involvement with Anduril.

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