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> Guix and Nix [...] require you to learn a new language Not true. `guix install foo`, done. Oh, you want to define an operating system declaratively in a fi

• AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  So the thing that is the primary value proposition of the system, yeah?
  • mbakke 6y ago
    I think the package managers themselves, with unprivileged operation, immutable profiles, atomic upgrades and rollbacks, "guix pack", etc are the main value propositions. The OS thing is mostly a side effect.
    • AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
      Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but isn't part of the point that the packages themselves are declarative and you're not beholden to some maintainer to get stuff? Wouldn't that mean writing your own... whatever it is your write to get software installed?
      • mbakke 6y ago
        To install stuff with Guix you simply type "guix install foo". From an end-user perspective, the main difference from other package managers is that you don't need root privileges (and that each user have their own "collections" of packages).
      • kaba0 6y ago
        Both. You get to use packages others have written the same way as you do on arch. And you can also decleratively specify your build environkent, or override some attributes like apply a custom patch in a package someone else wrote. But you are just as not required to learn nix, as you don’t need to know how to write a .deb package to use ubuntu
    • edgyquant 6y ago
      Not sure about guix but the unprivileged part isn’t true of nix as you do need root to install initially.
      • kaba0 6y ago
        It is only required because /nix is hardcoded (but only to make using binary caches possible). Later on, writing to this store is done by a nix user, and install can be issued by a normal user.