Some software will require a lot of patching because they hardcode locations or has some non-deterministic build process. Other than that you will have to deal

Some software will require a lot of patching because they hardcode locations or has some non-deterministic build process. Other than that you will have to deal with a non-conventional language for which you may need to look at the manual when making changes depending on how much you use nix-shell. I use nixos on a laptop. You have to watch space usage here to clean old generations.