4 ms·

Nix solves this exact problem you've described.

• defanor 4y ago
  There is a few more approaches to solving this, with different drawbacks: - Nix, Guix, package managers in general: suitable for advanced users, but smooth sailing is not guaranteed, especially with Nix/Guix on top of an arbitrary system. - Remote (virtual) desktop: network lags, dependence on Internet connection, issues with resolution mismatches and whatnot, but fairly straightforward and seems to be somewhat popular. Being a remote system in a thin client, seems similar to the web IDE approach. - Configuration management software (ansible and friends, and/or just git and stow): also rather for advanced users and may require some debugging/adjustments. - (Possibly lightweight) virtualization: used commonly, with all the containerization. I've also heard of a person downloading a VM from an online storage, working in it, saving the progress, uploading that -- allowing to work locally. - Web-based projects (as being discussed). - Working on a remote server over SSH (including pubnix systems), possibly with X forwarding (also similar to the discussed approach, with a thin client, though doesn't require special software). Edit: also depending on kinds of projects one works on, some of those won't work at all: developing software that interacts with hardware, even something common like a graphics card, may not work at all (or work better, depending on a setup) with remote approaches, and is likely to be more tricky with virtualized ones. Edit 2: actually looking closer into GitLab Web IDE, seems like it may be closer to the remote/virtual desktop software, but accessible via a web browser.