It's not about the destination, it's about the journey.
...to get a working config, you need to learn a whole new programming language and figure out the tweaks for each package you want to install, so I'd argue the journey is just as long
NixOS sounds like a way to avoid learning Linux by learning an abstraction.
that's why I only use my computer with raw system calls, shell is bloat
You guys use an OS? I just push the electrons around my motherboard manually with a little magnet on a toothpick.
I'd personally advise against NixOS as a first distribution for that matter. It's a great distribution, but if you want to understand the underlying mechanics, start with something where you interact with them, like Arch or whatever.
That's why I used to use arch btw
Like everything with Nix, you pay a little more upfront to get a great experience later.
That's not true.
You have to get PhD in functional programming first.
That's why you go for GNU Guix instead, since it's the same kind of concept but configured using the Guile Scheme you already know.
(You do already know Scheme, right?)
the Guile Scheme you already know.
⬅️➡️👊
It comes with a working config.
Adding applications and rebuilding is generally trivial.
The problem becomes if you want to use flakes or home manager, which you probably should. The config for those is complicated and poorly documented.
I don't know the programming language. I've been running it for about a month now. If you're not doing anything complicated or doing any crazy conditionals or running one config for 27 boxes it's no different than editing a yaml.
It took me about 2 days to get Nvidia working properly with offloading that was my hardest task so far.
I had no experience in nixOS, just went to the package website, it tells you exactly what to add to each section of the config.
Well not everything is packaged and when they aren’t it Can get more complicated to install since nixos doesn’t use the default file system layout. Another thing is that certain programs have assumptions about being able to do certain things like changing their own config files that don’t work well with the nixos way of doing things. (Looking at you fish(it works but you can’t manage your configuration for it(pretty sure?)with nix))
How often do you reinstall your OS? In practice never, I installed Arch around 8 years ago on one computer and that's the install I have today still. I copied it twice to a bigger SSD but that's kind of it.
There is a certain thrill when you nuke your disk to install a distro you never tried before. I actually just nuke one of my laptop last night to try void linux.
I was wondering if Void was still popular. It was kind of feeling like NixOS took all its hype
It is getting traction lately, the last few years. I myself am a Void user. Currently, I either install NetBSD, Debian or Void, depending on the use scenario.
I'm reporting you to the Ubuntu police!
Yeah, I don't think that's the best selling point for desktop use. For me it's having all my configs for all my devices in a single place, checked in git, with bits of config I can easily share between my different devices.
Hey, man. Some of us just suck at everything but reinstalling.
You clearly don't have a software hoarding problem
Easy install is not the only benefit. You also get fearless upgrades. When I upgrade my Nvidia driver and it inevitably exposes bugs in one of my apps, I can always jump back to the previous build version without uninstalling anything.
Damn... 8 years? I made it almost two years with tumbleweed on my work laptop.
I like mixing it up, trying different diatros and various programs. After awhile, a fresh install just feels nice...
nix being 20 years old and still lacking decent documentation on the language it's what hurts me the most, because the people who do know it works so some amazing things with it
Imagine if NixOS had as good a wiki as Arch. Personally, I wouldn't bother with another distribution again.
They released their wiki apparently on April 1st.
So now we need just to fill it with the missing content. (which there is a lot). And it will be as good as the arch one..... In 20 years.
Or smb made a bad April's fool and actually their wiki is older.
The NixOS wiki's been around for a few years at least, it just doesn't get as much traffic from search engines since NixOS isn't super popular.
I think what they are referring to is the official wiki at wiki.nixos.org (there also is / was an unofficial wiki)
nix is 20 years old?!? I thought it was relatively new like maybe 10 years old
the package manager was first released in 2003, so nearly 21!
Get that code a bottle of vodka!
Or, they could learn Ansible and get 80% of the way, and be able to reproduce the result on more than one OS. 🥹
Nix is not something exclusive to NixOS, and people are already using it to make reproducible configs that work on more than one OS.
I'm even using Ansible in what I'm currently building with Nix, because it does one thing well that I need to do: distribute files and run commands on a lot of hosts at once.
That is, until a new Ansible version breaks playbooks again, or an OS is updated in a way that messes with you playbooks, or a package is removed from the playbook but not the installed system...
Ansible is good for ephemeral containers or VMs, but any more permanent system will eventually deviate from the set configuration.
Meanwhile me using Fedora with pretty much everything setup the way I want it out of the box:
Wow, you have sold me on installing Nix next. I'm a programmer and this sounds dreamy!
Stop threatening me with a good time!
Hint: :q!
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