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Version control of installed packages would be awesome. I am still on Arch coz I am lazy. It would be perfect if it worked like nixpkg or guix but simpler

• Filligree 9y ago
  Nix is much easier than it used to be, assuming you go all-in. Specifically, NixOS is; nix-without-NixOS has weird corners. If you haven't tried it in the last year or two, then you might want to give it another try. Keep to some simple rules: - Look for 'enable' toggles for particular software (for configuration.nix), rather than adding just the package. If it exists, use it; it wraps any extra configuration that's needed. - Don't use nix-env. If you want a package installed temporarily, use nix-shell. Your system is probably single-user anyway, right? This way you can put configuration.nix in git. - If you must use unpackaged software, then install and use steam-run. Despite the name, it's really just an Ubuntu-esque chroot. (...which duplicates the Steam runtime environment, yeah.) Forcing people to build package recipes for everything they want to use is helpful, but not actually required. :)
  • gcoda 9y ago
    Wow. Thanks a lot. You just covered all my questions about using nixos. I was confused about toggles vs packages. And about nix-env for a single user. Now i get it to the level of trying. Thanks you
    • Filligree 9y ago
      nix-env has its uses, but at least while you're learning it's better to put anything you need into systemPackages. Mainly because /etc/nixos should normally be a git repository. There isn't a good story for doing declarative package management with user packages (nix-env isn't it), though there are a hundred hacks.
  • DiThi 9y ago
    I came here to ask how GoboLinux compares to NixOS, because NixOS sounds like the perfect distro to me, and your comment pushed me to actually try it, thanks.
    • infinisil 9y ago
      If you have any trouble/questions, drop in on #nixos in Freenode
  • pmoriarty 9y ago
    What's the advantage of using Nix over Guix?
    • Filligree 9y ago
      Guix is a GNU project. This means: - It uses Scheme rather than Nix. Advantage Guix: Nix wasn't intended as a general-purpose language, and is only reluctantly letting itself be pushed therewards. - It's philosophically pure. The package repository doesn't allow any kind of non-free software, whereas Nix allows it behind a global allow-unfree switch. Advantage: Nix? - It's smaller. Perhaps as a result of the first two items, Guix has fewer developers and fewer packages. Beyond that, they're basically the same design implemented two different ways. The Guix project is nice, and if NixOS wasn't around I'd use it. The communities have cordial relations, with a lot of overlap.
      • digi_owl 9y ago
        More like Guix would not exist if not for Nix, as the primary dev of Guix came over from Nix. Guix even use the primary Nix package management code.
        • rekado 9y ago
          > Guix even use the primary Nix package management code. Guix uses the Nix daemon, which sets up the build environments, among other things. I would not call this "the primary Nix package management code".