this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024
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Nix / NixOS
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Nix needs a typed language, better CLI interface, better documentation, a distributed cache, to to get rid of the monorepo / single source of control, to support different builders (aka not just bash), and have a less toxic community.
For nix to be used by normal, non technical users, it must have a GUI. That is not optional.
Nix could be great for a lot of things, but it's not the only solution and won't be the last.
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Nix is typed: there are strings, paths, lists, attrsets, etc;
Not sure what's wrong with CLI, as I don't really use it except
nix flake update
(although I remember updating stuff installed vianix profile
being a bit cumbersome, but it's not exactly a good practice to use it this way);Good point with cache, although stuff outside of nixpkgs sometimes provides their own caches which are trivial to enable;
Nobody forces you to use
github:nixos/nixpkgs
, it's just a regular input. Ppl quite often have their own forks. It's also trivial to use stuff from outside nixpkgs (also just another input);There are different builders (e.g. buildGoModule);
Idk where you've found toxic community, my interactions have been pretty nice so far (mostly matrix rooms);
GUI is optional, just like for all the other package managers. And it exists: https://github.com/snowfallorg/nix-software-center
Perfectly agreed with nix not (yet ๐) being the best thing that exists, tho, albeit due to different reasons. For example, it's a PITA to debug, and the error messages are sometimes unhelpful.
I agree, the CLI is good enough. Thanks for the note about the GUI package manager! I hadn't heard about that.
I also second the positive interactions. Mine have been almost exclusively positive. I've come across a few no effort "RTFM, idiot" attitudes but it's rarer on Nix forums and repos than I've seen elsewhere.