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The version limits come from the fact that the Nix cache doesn't maintain older versions. So, if you use an older version, you will have to compile from sources
by elbear 1y ago
The version limits come from the fact that the Nix cache doesn't maintain older versions. So, if you use an older version, you will have to compile from sources. It sounds like they didn't want to take it upon themselves and provide a cache with older versions, even though it doesn't sound like much effort.
Honestly, the reasons given don't feel very solid. Maybe the person who introduced Nix left and the ones remaining didn't like it very much (the language itself is not very nice, the docs weren't great either in the past).
Still, I'm not familiar enough with the stack they chose, but does it provide a level of determinism close to Nix? If not, it might come to bite them or make their life harder later on.
- e3bc54b2 1y agoNix cache (cache.nixos.org) does in fact maintain older versions[0]. In fact, they maintain so much older stuff (binaries and associated source), that they are used in both research[1][2] and are having issues with gigantic cache size[3][4]. And yes, their reasoning implies NIH and just unfamiliarity combined with unwillingness to really understand Nix. [0]: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/how-long-is-binary-cache-kept-on-cache-nixos-org/11210 https://discourse.nixos.org/t/how-long-is-binary-cache-kept-... [1]: https://hal.science/hal-04913007 https://hal.science/hal-04913007 [2]: https://luj.fr/blog/is-nixos-truly-reproducible.html https://luj.fr/blog/is-nixos-truly-reproducible.html [3]: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixos-foundations-financial-summary-a-transparent-look-into-2022/28107/16 https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixos-foundations-financial-su... [4]: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/the-nixos-foundations-call-to-action-s3-costs-require-community-support/28672?page=7 https://discourse.nixos.org/t/the-nixos-foundations-call-to-...
- mplanchard 1y agoEven if this weren’t true, setting up their own binary cache on S3 would have been trivial. It took me half a day to get it set up for our CI pipeline.
- akho 1y agoNix cache does provide old versions. What they seem to want is old versions built with new versions of dependencies. That's also possible, but you will have to build things.