4 ms·

I would be extremely interested in an article contrasting the approaches of Docker and Nix/Guix. Is there anything like this available? A cursory search returne

by muraiki 11y ago

I would be extremely interested in an article contrasting the approaches of Docker and Nix/Guix. Is there anything like this available? A cursory search returned mostly information on using the two together...

davexunit 11y ago
I don't know of a good article about it. That would be quite useful. Maybe I should attempt to write it once Guix's container support lands in a release (I'm working on it). I use Docker by day, and hack on my own container implementation for Guix by night.
- walterbell 11y ago
  Does Guix help with the building of reproducible binaries, or is it focused on reproducible build environments/config?
  - davexunit 11y ago
    Yes, it helps with that a lot. Binaries built with Guix are likely to be bit-identical. See the manual[0] for some more details about how we (and Nix) do that. [0] https://gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Invoking-guix_002ddaemon.html#index-reproducible-builds https://gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Invoking-guix...
krick 11y ago
It's hard to compare them, because it's really 2 different things. I understand what parent means, and I think it's fair, but comparing Docker and Guix is weird, because they aren't really competing technologies. Docker is somewhat hacky solution for lightweight containers on Linux. It is something tagged by #virtualization, although it isn't really that. And, well, it comes with even more hacky solution to configure these containers. Nix/Guix is a package manager for your Linux distro. It is solution for stuff, for which you use apt-get. More generally, it is "the right one" solution for system configuration, which makes configuration reproducible. So it's hard to say, what is the difference between Docker and Nix/Guix because they serve different purposes, but if you compare configuration language, "the approach" - you don't have to think twice to decide which is better. Nix isn't hacky and Guix is even less so, as opposed to Docker.
- davexunit 11y ago
  I should point out that Nix has container support built-in, without Docker, using systemd-nspawn. So, you get to use the same tools to manage systems on "metal", virtual machines, and containers. Pretty cool stuff!
- michaelcampbell 11y ago
  > but comparing Docker and Guix is weird, because they aren't really competing technologies. I think that's his point; he doesn't want the future to be Dockery, he wants it to be Guixy. A different direction; a different future.

by muraiki 11y ago

davexunit 11y ago

I don't know of a good article about it. That would be quite useful. Maybe I should attempt to write it once Guix's container support lands in a release (I'm working on it). I use Docker by day, and hack on my own container implementation for Guix by night.

walterbell 11y ago
Does Guix help with the building of reproducible binaries, or is it focused on reproducible build environments/config?
- davexunit 11y ago
  Yes, it helps with that a lot. Binaries built with Guix are likely to be bit-identical. See the manual[0] for some more details about how we (and Nix) do that. [0] https://gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Invoking-guix_002ddaemon.html#index-reproducible-builds https://gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Invoking-guix...

krick 11y ago

It's hard to compare them, because it's really 2 different things. I understand what parent means, and I think it's fair, but comparing Docker and Guix is weird, because they aren't really competing technologies. Docker is somewhat hacky solution for lightweight containers on Linux. It is something tagged by #virtualization, although it isn't really that. And, well, it comes with even more hacky solution to configure these containers. Nix/Guix is a package manager for your Linux distro. It is solution for stuff, for which you use apt-get. More generally, it is "the right one" solution for system configuration, which makes configuration reproducible. So it's hard to say, what is the difference between Docker and Nix/Guix because they serve different purposes, but if you compare configuration language, "the approach" - you don't have to think twice to decide which is better. Nix isn't hacky and Guix is even less so, as opposed to Docker.

davexunit 11y ago
I should point out that Nix has container support built-in, without Docker, using systemd-nspawn. So, you get to use the same tools to manage systems on "metal", virtual machines, and containers. Pretty cool stuff!
michaelcampbell 11y ago
> but comparing Docker and Guix is weird, because they aren't really competing technologies. I think that's his point; he doesn't want the future to be Dockery, he wants it to be Guixy. A different direction; a different future.