Every piece of technology is incapable of doing anything if you label all solutions as "hacks." Here's proof: Is it possible to write C programs that manipula

Every piece of technology is incapable of doing anything if you label all solutions as "hacks." Here's proof: Is it possible to write C programs that manipulate strings? No, because string library functions are "hacks." Is it possible to write a bash script that passes arguments with spaces to a command? No, because quoting and character escaping are "hacks." Nix packages are malleable. With a bit of code, customizations can be applied to individual packages and entire dependency closures alike. An overlay is an embodiment of this property. It allows the user to create packages that fits their unique needs on the fly without having to repackage the whole world. No other package manager maybe besides Guix has this capability. I don't think it's fair to dismiss it as an "hack."