I should point out that Nix exists as an independent Linux Package Manager (hereafter referred to as "The Nix Package Manager") -- completely separate from NixO

I should point out that Nix exists as an independent Linux Package Manager (hereafter referred to as "The Nix Package Manager") -- completely separate from NixOS and the Nix Programming Language... That is, The Nix Package Manager can be used independently of NixOS or The Nix Programming Language to install software on any Linux system (or MacOS) from the Nix Package Repository (search it at: https://search.nixos.org/packages https://search.nixos.org/packages) regardless of any knowledge (or any lack of knowledge!) that a given user has (or doesn't have!) of the Nix Programming Language... Here's how to install it on a non-NixOS system (top half of page): https://nixos.org/download/ https://nixos.org/download/ (Basically just "$ sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon" for multi-user setup, or "$ sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install https://nixos.org/nix/install) --no-daemon" for single-user setup...) The idea of running another Linux distro's package manager/installer to install things from their repository onto your Linux distro is not a new one -- in fact, it has been done rather successfully on many Linux distros for some time... This concept invariably brings us to Bedrock Linux, a distribution whose sole purpose is to run package managers/installers -- from other distros! https://bedrocklinux.org/index.html https://bedrocklinux.org/index.html ...Or at least attempt to! That's because some distros/package managers/Linux software -- may create conflicts with other installers/package managers/Linux software... As can be seen here, from these Bedrock compatibility charts/"compatibility matrices": https://bedrocklinux.org/0.7/distro-compatibility.html https://bedrocklinux.org/0.7/distro-compatibility.html https://bedrocklinux.org/0.7/feature-compatibility.html https://bedrocklinux.org/0.7/feature-compatibility.html Still, if not perfect in the current day, the idea of being able to mix-and-match package managers/installers from multiple Linux distros/repositories -- is a very compelling one! Both the Nix and the Bedrock teams should be highly lauded for their efforts! Nix to create hermetic software environments, Bedrock to mix-and-match (and sort out compatibility issues!) between multi distro package managers/installers and software repositories... Both are worth a serious look -- and potentially some of your time!