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The language and documentation is pretty awful, however I use NixOS (and therefore Nix) on my work desktop and still absolutely love it. The ability to create r

by exdsq 6y ago

The language and documentation is pretty awful, however I use NixOS (and therefore Nix) on my work desktop and still absolutely love it. The ability to create reproducible builds, test out tools without installing them permanently, and roll the OS back if you break something is just excellent. For example I spent ages this morning trying to get a gRPC Rust environment working and battled the nix file for a good two hours but now it works I know it will always work and never have to do it again.

bamboozled 6y ago
Do you truly understand how it works though? I was similar. I loved my setup and it did mostly just "work" but I found it unnerving that eventually when it does break, I wouldn't know how to fix it.
- exdsq 6y ago
  I have a very minimal nix.configuration, write very small shell.nix files, and try to only use things I know or understand. So I’m definitely only using 1% of Nix right now but I’m comfortable with it! Edit: I should clarify Nix is the build tool at work for Haskell and some of my colleagues are contributors so I know I can get help if stuck. I’m a noob though.
- gmfawcett 6y ago
  What kind of breaks were you having that you couldn't simply roll back? Database upgrades, or something?
  - tnzm 6y ago
    The latest version of something failing to build. Like when the Tor project removes a Tor Browser package from its servers and `tor-browser-bin` hasn't yet been updated in nixpkgs.
  - camehere3saydis 6y ago
    Can't upgrade Deno from 1.3.3 to 1.8.3 by updating the sources and hashes in the derivation, as is normal procedure. `fetchFromGitHub` and friends fail to recursively fetch commits that are not visible from `HEAD` (`git clone` works), and I'm completely at a loss about how to debug this. This kind of breaks. For people like myself who already spend a lot of time debugging dependency and compatibility issues in less sound package ecosystems (scripting languages I'm looking at you), Nix alternates between enlightening and maddening. Which I like.
mason55 6y ago
I’m in the same boat. Love using it day to day (dropping into nix-shell to try something e.g.). Love administering the systems when I need to make small changes or do things I already know how to do. Absolutely dread having to figure out something new.

by exdsq 6y ago

bamboozled 6y ago

Do you truly understand how it works though? I was similar. I loved my setup and it did mostly just "work" but I found it unnerving that eventually when it does break, I wouldn't know how to fix it.

exdsq 6y ago
I have a very minimal nix.configuration, write very small shell.nix files, and try to only use things I know or understand. So I’m definitely only using 1% of Nix right now but I’m comfortable with it! Edit: I should clarify Nix is the build tool at work for Haskell and some of my colleagues are contributors so I know I can get help if stuck. I’m a noob though.
gmfawcett 6y ago
What kind of breaks were you having that you couldn't simply roll back? Database upgrades, or something?
- tnzm 6y ago
  The latest version of something failing to build. Like when the Tor project removes a Tor Browser package from its servers and `tor-browser-bin` hasn't yet been updated in nixpkgs.
- camehere3saydis 6y ago
  Can't upgrade Deno from 1.3.3 to 1.8.3 by updating the sources and hashes in the derivation, as is normal procedure. `fetchFromGitHub` and friends fail to recursively fetch commits that are not visible from `HEAD` (`git clone` works), and I'm completely at a loss about how to debug this. This kind of breaks. For people like myself who already spend a lot of time debugging dependency and compatibility issues in less sound package ecosystems (scripting languages I'm looking at you), Nix alternates between enlightening and maddening. Which I like.

mason55 6y ago

I’m in the same boat. Love using it day to day (dropping into nix-shell to try something e.g.). Love administering the systems when I need to make small changes or do things I already know how to do. Absolutely dread having to figure out something new.