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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Why aren't more people using NixPKGs? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Distro agnostic packages like flatpaks and appimages have become extremely popular over the past few years, yet they seem to get a lot of dirt thrown on them because they are super bloated (since they bring all their dependencies with them).

NixPkgs are also distro agnostic, but they are about as light as regular system packages (.deb/.rpm/.PKG) all the while having an impressive 80 000 packages in their repos.

I don't get why more people aren't using them, sure they do need some tweaking but so do flatpaks, my main theory is that there are no graphical installer for them and the CLI installer is lacking (no progress bar, no ETA, strange syntax) I'm also scared that there is a downside to them I dont know about.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I'm going to go against the grain and say that the Nix and Guix package managers are very good, but they really belong in their respective distros where they're a core part of the system. That'd be Guix System for Guix and NixOS for Nix.

They may have advantages for a foreign distro too, but they are lesser (Guix System can boot into a backup of the system before the last update, for example, but that advantage doesn't exist on, say, Debian.

Also, can we agree to not recommend these systems to new users for the time being? While they're very powerful, they're absolutely designed for power users, and until they're more polished and they have fancy GUIs and stuff for installation and package management, I think it'd be best to keep recommending normal distros like Debian for now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

You can do rollbacks if you're using something like home-manager on a foreign distribution. It's just a bit more janky admittedly.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Guix System can boot into a backup of the system before the last update, for example, but that advantage doesn't exist on, say, Debian.

Yeah, why would I ever want to have bleeding edge userland packages on Debian? Nobody needs something like that or the option to rollback the entire update or pin specific versions of packages...

Also, can we agree to not recommend these systems to new users for the time being?

Did anyone do it in this thread? OP is literally just asking about a list of packages to home-manage. Beginners can most certainly handle it if they don't need a gui to update their system.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

No, nobody did mention it, I was just making a side-point.

I also said there are advantages to Guix/Nix on foreign distros.