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> we don’t have any problem with Nix itself. But there is a problem with how we were using it. A good example of 'use the right tool for the right job'. Nix is

> we don’t have any problem with Nix itself. But there is a problem with how we were using it. A good example of 'use the right tool for the right job'. Nix is great for some use cases and awful for others. The problem is the Nix learning curve is so high that by the time you've grasped it enough to make a decision you feel you've invested too much time to back out now and pivot to something else so you try to shoehorn it to solve the original need.

teekert 1y ago
I feel it like that as well, but in some ways Nix is a more normal programming paradigm than other OS’s. We’re just not used to thinking about an OS that way. Nix expressions have inputs (a package repo, lots of key-value pairs) and outputs (a Linux system). Idk perhaps in a couple of years it will be much more normal. Ie it is very easy for an AI to create a to-spec shell.nix (some Python packages, some Linux packages, some env vars, some path entries etc), or configuration.nix because of this paradigm. I do this a lot to include envs with repos that fully support the package. It would probably be more reproducible with flakes (a flake.nix is like a shell.nix but with version pinning… or something, I’m still climbing that learning hill).
- zxexz 1y ago
  I often find it takes about 10 minutes of my time to package your average python package into nix, or 1 minute if its pyproject.toml based (uv/poetry projects!. There is a long tail though (cough weasyprint cough).
  - gf000 1y ago
    That's mostly just a tooling issue/a paradigm mismatch. Python's package management is notoriously bad, so it sorta makes sense that it won't fit as nicely with Nix.
    - throwaway314155 1y ago
      > Python's package management is notoriously bad, so it sorta makes sense that it won't fit as nicely with Nix This sort of thing is immaterial to users of Nix/Python who just want it to do the god damn thing it's supposed to do.
    - ted_dunning 1y ago
      "just a tooling issue/a paradigm mismatch" is how many people pronounce "bad UX".

teekert 1y ago

I feel it like that as well, but in some ways Nix is a more normal programming paradigm than other OS’s. We’re just not used to thinking about an OS that way. Nix expressions have inputs (a package repo, lots of key-value pairs) and outputs (a Linux system). Idk perhaps in a couple of years it will be much more normal. Ie it is very easy for an AI to create a to-spec shell.nix (some Python packages, some Linux packages, some env vars, some path entries etc), or configuration.nix because of this paradigm. I do this a lot to include envs with repos that fully support the package. It would probably be more reproducible with flakes (a flake.nix is like a shell.nix but with version pinning… or something, I’m still climbing that learning hill).

zxexz 1y ago
I often find it takes about 10 minutes of my time to package your average python package into nix, or 1 minute if its pyproject.toml based (uv/poetry projects!. There is a long tail though (cough weasyprint cough).
- gf000 1y ago
  That's mostly just a tooling issue/a paradigm mismatch. Python's package management is notoriously bad, so it sorta makes sense that it won't fit as nicely with Nix.
  - throwaway314155 1y ago
    > Python's package management is notoriously bad, so it sorta makes sense that it won't fit as nicely with Nix This sort of thing is immaterial to users of Nix/Python who just want it to do the god damn thing it's supposed to do.
  - ted_dunning 1y ago
    "just a tooling issue/a paradigm mismatch" is how many people pronounce "bad UX".