3 ms·
I don't understand why any languages exist for describing packages, its a layer above describing real dependencies like with make, ninja, etc. Just have an os w
by nwmcsween 8y ago
I don't understand why any languages exist for describing packages, its a layer above describing real dependencies like with make, ninja, etc. Just have an os written in something like premake but with a nicer DSL.
- lallysingh 8y agoMake & ninja don't support two key activities: - Versioning - Getting the package (the actual URL, deciding if you want the package, determining which variant -- sometimes two packages solve the same dependency, etc.)
- zimbatm 8y agoIt allows to have some guarantees around the evaluation. The Nix expression language enforces things like not allowing arbitrary network access during evaluation. This is hard to do in a general-purpose language where network and file access are usually backed in.
- nwmcsween 8y agoThis is easily done by chain-loading and system()