5 ms·

NixOS on Prgmr and Failing to Learn Nix

39 points by luu 8y ago

agumonkey 8y ago
author got a bit backward, nix came first, I wonder if he would still have desire to try guixsd ..
- Harkins 8y ago
  (author here) I knew Nix came before NixOS but was interested in both for the possibility of managing servers. I'd have made significantly less progress starting from Nix. I can see how Guile would be an improvement over the Nix language, but have tapped out my patience on related topics for a while.
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    Hi, I hope you took no offense by my comment. I tried nixos and failed to get what I want from it then went back to archlinux. But I understand how it's full of ambiguity (that's why I got back into familiar territory) Maybe I'll make an article about guixsd and you'll read:p
- nerdponx 8y ago
  Surprisingly, the included 1.25 GB of RAM was not enough to run some nix commands. Does Guix run in a "low memory" (scare/sarcasm quotes because 1.25 GB is still a non-trivial amount of memory) environment like this?
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    I'm not sure but I think. Usually vbox vms are 1G by default and I remember trying guixsd without memory errors but I didn't go far.
dbwest 8y ago
How long did you spend trying to learn Nix? I am trying to learn Nix as well because when I see it working it looks very clear and organized. NixOS seems like it is from the future in my opinion. I agree the docs are outdated a bit. I had to go on IRC to #nixos to find out nix-shell is now nix shell. I submitted a pull request to the Nix Pills for that.
- vaibhavsagar 8y ago
  The command is still `nix-shell`, `nix shell` is the next-generation replacement but unfortunately it's still not at feature parity with the old command.
- Harkins 8y ago
  This was probably ~20 hours over two weeks. (I'm the author of the post.)
king_nothing 8y ago
Prgmr is still around? They seemed like they went tits up.
vertex-four 8y ago
I use NixOS on a day to day basis, and have encouraged others to do so - and I completely agree with the documentation issues described here. I’ll also note that using Nixpkgs/NixOS will practically require you to actively maintain at least some portion of Nixpkgs to keep it up to date and functional for your specific use case. I think that’s where a lot of the configuration mess comes from - NixOS modules have tended to be created to meet a specific user’s need, rather than meet some holistic design goal.

39 points by luu 8y ago

agumonkey 8y ago

author got a bit backward, nix came first, I wonder if he would still have desire to try guixsd ..

Harkins 8y ago
(author here) I knew Nix came before NixOS but was interested in both for the possibility of managing servers. I'd have made significantly less progress starting from Nix. I can see how Guile would be an improvement over the Nix language, but have tapped out my patience on related topics for a while.
- agumonkey 8y ago
  Hi, I hope you took no offense by my comment. I tried nixos and failed to get what I want from it then went back to archlinux. But I understand how it's full of ambiguity (that's why I got back into familiar territory) Maybe I'll make an article about guixsd and you'll read:p
nerdponx 8y ago
Surprisingly, the included 1.25 GB of RAM was not enough to run some nix commands. Does Guix run in a "low memory" (scare/sarcasm quotes because 1.25 GB is still a non-trivial amount of memory) environment like this?
- agumonkey 8y ago
  I'm not sure but I think. Usually vbox vms are 1G by default and I remember trying guixsd without memory errors but I didn't go far.

dbwest 8y ago

How long did you spend trying to learn Nix? I am trying to learn Nix as well because when I see it working it looks very clear and organized. NixOS seems like it is from the future in my opinion. I agree the docs are outdated a bit. I had to go on IRC to #nixos to find out nix-shell is now nix shell. I submitted a pull request to the Nix Pills for that.

vaibhavsagar 8y ago
The command is still `nix-shell`, `nix shell` is the next-generation replacement but unfortunately it's still not at feature parity with the old command.
Harkins 8y ago
This was probably ~20 hours over two weeks. (I'm the author of the post.)

king_nothing 8y ago

Prgmr is still around? They seemed like they went tits up.

vertex-four 8y ago

I use NixOS on a day to day basis, and have encouraged others to do so - and I completely agree with the documentation issues described here. I’ll also note that using Nixpkgs/NixOS will practically require you to actively maintain at least some portion of Nixpkgs to keep it up to date and functional for your specific use case. I think that’s where a lot of the configuration mess comes from - NixOS modules have tended to be created to meet a specific user’s need, rather than meet some holistic design goal.