> manually create and specify the entire "system" libraries set bit by bit every time I want to compile (or run!) something is no go. I don't have first hand e

> manually create and specify the entire "system" libraries set bit by bit every time I want to compile (or run!) something is no go. I don't have first hand experience with nix, but if I would look at this statement from Guix point of view (and I assume nix will be same/very similar), this is not really true. Nothing prevents you from having a list of libraries (in a manifest). That list might be way to wide for any specific program and it can represent what you would normally have as "system libraries". You can then just invoke shell as guix shell --manifest=manifest.scm and you will be given working shell with all the libraries available. You can also just package your program using trivial copy&paste code with the same list. Sure, the dependencies will be too wide, but since you are not sending the package to upstream Guix for inclusion, no one really cares. So, is it as friction-less as "normal" distro? No (especially the "add to /bin" part). Is it as bad as "manually create and specify the entire "system" libraries set bit by bit every time"? Also no.