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I'm considering taking a look at GuixSD, and making a fork that accepts non-free packages. The reason I haven't is that NixOS is just so damn comfortable that

I'm considering taking a look at GuixSD, and making a fork that accepts non-free packages. The reason I haven't is that NixOS is just so damn comfortable that I don't want to leave.

lucaspiller 10y ago
Do you use NixOS as a desktop OS? If so, what advantages do you find over something like Arch? I understand the repoducability from configuration files are often touted as a selling point, but I'm not reinstalling my OS regularly so I don't really see the advantage.
- Nullabillity 10y ago
  Personally I run Arch on my desktops but NixOS on my servers. I mostly use Arch because of all the relatively uncommon stuff I occasionally use from the AUR (somehow I doubt STM32CubeMX or ESPtool will enter Nixpkgs any time soon), but I've occasionally ended up cursing that I couldn't do a Nix-style rollback when an update broke something important.
- thomastjeffery 10y ago
  Yes. It's so easy. When I upgrade or (un)install a package, I get a completely clean fresh installed system. If upgrading my video driver broke my system, I can just pick the most recent version of my install from the bootloader. When I want to start writing code, I can use nix-shell to create an isolated environment with all the dependencies I need, and get to work, with one command. At any moment, I know that my entire OS install is completely clean, devoid of any cruft, even if I have been installing and removing obscure software for months. I don't have a mess in /etc, in /usr/share, anywhere. > I'm not reinstalling my OS regularly so I don't really see the advantage. With NixOS, I'm never reinstalling my OS, because every update leaves me with a fresh new system, guaranteed.
nagvx 10y ago
You don't need to fork the entire OS, though - just provide the relevant non-free packages on top of the regular OS. Guix devs themselves have hinted that "adding impurity to a free OS is much easier than removing impurity from a non-free OS", so I suspect they may not be categorically opposed to the idea of non-free packages.

I'm considering taking a look at GuixSD, and making a fork that accepts non-free packages. The reason I haven't is that NixOS is just so damn comfortable that I don't want to leave.

lucaspiller 10y ago

Do you use NixOS as a desktop OS? If so, what advantages do you find over something like Arch? I understand the repoducability from configuration files are often touted as a selling point, but I'm not reinstalling my OS regularly so I don't really see the advantage.

Nullabillity 10y ago
Personally I run Arch on my desktops but NixOS on my servers. I mostly use Arch because of all the relatively uncommon stuff I occasionally use from the AUR (somehow I doubt STM32CubeMX or ESPtool will enter Nixpkgs any time soon), but I've occasionally ended up cursing that I couldn't do a Nix-style rollback when an update broke something important.
thomastjeffery 10y ago
Yes. It's so easy. When I upgrade or (un)install a package, I get a completely clean fresh installed system. If upgrading my video driver broke my system, I can just pick the most recent version of my install from the bootloader. When I want to start writing code, I can use nix-shell to create an isolated environment with all the dependencies I need, and get to work, with one command. At any moment, I know that my entire OS install is completely clean, devoid of any cruft, even if I have been installing and removing obscure software for months. I don't have a mess in /etc, in /usr/share, anywhere. > I'm not reinstalling my OS regularly so I don't really see the advantage. With NixOS, I'm never reinstalling my OS, because every update leaves me with a fresh new system, guaranteed.

nagvx 10y ago

You don't need to fork the entire OS, though - just provide the relevant non-free packages on top of the regular OS. Guix devs themselves have hinted that "adding impurity to a free OS is much easier than removing impurity from a non-free OS", so I suspect they may not be categorically opposed to the idea of non-free packages.