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Yes but then you're committed to using Nix which doesn't work so well the moment you need some software not packaged by Nix. Want to throw a requirements.txt i
by Spivak 7mo ago
Yes but then you're committed to using Nix which doesn't work so well the moment you need some software not packaged by Nix.
Want to throw a requirements.txt in there? No no, why would you even ask that? Meanwhile docker says yeah sure just run pip install, why should I care?
- okso 7mo agoLLMs are getting very good at packaging software using Nix.
- CuriouslyC 7mo agoThis. I wouldn't have touched Nix when you needed someone who was really good at Nix to keep it working, but agents make it viable to use in a number of place.
- mort96 7mo agoThen you're committing to maintaining a package for that software. Like all LLM boosters, you've ignored the fact that the largest time sink in many kinds of software is not initial development, but perpetual maintenance.
- xyzzy_plugh 7mo agoIt's not materially any different from maintaining lines in a Dockerfile.
- mort96 7mo agoIt is mateirially different compared to "maintaining" the line 'RUN apt-get -y install foobar'
- SOLAR_FIELDS 7mo agoIs it though? If the way that I’m going to edit those files is by typing the same natural language command into Claude code, and the edit operation to maintain it takes 20 seconds instead of 10, to me that seems pretty materially the same
- mort96 7mo agoYes, it is
- SOLAR_FIELDS 7mo agoHow so?
- whateveracct 7mo agoI use software from pretty much every language with Nix. And I package it myself too when needed. Including Python often :)
- nothrabannosir 7mo agoNix doesn't make sense if all you're going to use it for is building Docker images. It only makes sense if you're all in in the first place. Then Docker images are free.
- gnull 7mo agoPackaging for nix is exceptionally easy once you learn it. And once something is packaged, it's solved for all, it's not going to randomly break. If you care about getting it to work with minimal effort right now more thar about it being sustainable later, then sure.
- hamandcheese 7mo agoI don't in ow if I'd say it's "easy". The Python ecosystem in particular is quite hard to get working in a hermetic way (Nix or otherwise). Multiple attempts at getting Python easy to package with Nix have come and gone over the years.
- saghm 7mo ago> Packaging for nix is exceptionally easy once you learn it Most of the complaints I've seen about Nix about around documentation, so "once you learn it" might be the larger issue.
- ghthor 7mo agoPacking software with nix is easier than any other system TBH and just seems to be just getting easier.