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#nixos

taschenlampe@despora.de
Taschenlampe Müller

Ah, NixOS!
Touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread – or was it wheel ;-) ? I gave it a whirl, and you know what? Not half bad, I understand why some people are loving it. But that documentation? It’s like they threw in a little mystery novel just for kicks. Tried to decode the enigma of flakes, and despite my self-proclaimed "Linux genius", felt like I was reading hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone. Oh, I get it – with Arch becoming the 'paint by numbers' of the Linux world, we needed a new puzzle, and NixOS said, "Hold my bong." Yes, I can mirror my oh-so-complex setup across my vast empire of... two computers. But the real question is, why? Merging configs and dotfiles into configuration.nix, home.nix or maybe in fake.nix is kind of like doing a jigsaw puzzle blindfolded. Fun, but I'll likely be calling Sherlock Holmes in a couple of months to decipher my own work. I'll have my fun experimenting, but NixOS, sweetie, you're not stealing the crown from my cherished Tumbleweed just yet. ;-)

Peace and a happy nixos-rebuild switch to y'all! :-D

#nixos #linux #almostnottrolling #justalittle

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waynerad@diasp.org
Wayne Radinsky

"NixOS: The hype is real!"

NixOS is a Linux distribution that has its own package manager and with it, its own programming language. The entire system configuration is in one configuration file. You edit the configuration file, and the system adds and removes apps all by itself. You can copy the file to another computer and replicate the entire system from just that configuration file.

It does this with a human-readable file and "functional" package manger that handles packages in a fully isolated manner. It has the largest repository of any Linux with over 80,000 packages. Packages declare exactly which versions of dependencies they use, and the Nix package manager will guarantee the different versions will be isolated.

Updates are atomic, meaning the updates are done entirely or not at all. The old system is kept and you can always switch back to it. NixOS never breaks because you can always roll back to a working system.

NixOS doesn't sacrifice performance and makes all the Linux desktop environments available.

That's what's in the video. Now my own commentary. NixOS has been around for 20 years, but it may just now be reaching the "critical mass" of functionality and users for it to break out. I suspect it may break out slowly. Like the people in the Jupiter Broadcasting podcast (link below) say, maybe it 10 years most Linux users will be using NixOS, but the transition will probably be gradual. I'm going to try it out.

I put the word "functional" in quotes above on purpose. In regular english, "functional" just means something works as intended. But in computer science, the word "functional" has a very particular meaning. Think "math functions" like you learned in calculus class. In computer science, a functional programming language is a language where functions are treated as deterministic mathematical functions, which take an input and compute an output, and crucially, produce so "side effects" altering data outside the output data. In regular "imperative" languages, the language executes a series of statements which update the program's state.

Nix applies this "functional" concept to package management. They've made a "purely functional package manager." This means that it treats packages like values in a purely functional programming language, "pure" meaning it forbids all side effects. Packages, once installed, never change after they have been built. If a different version of a package is needed, it gets built and lives alongside the first one, and likewise can never change. Cryptographic hashes are used to differentiate the versions. All these packages are stored in the "Nix store".

The Nix build process ensures package dependency specifications are complete. The build process can only find resources that have been declared explicitly as dependencies, so if any are missing, the build will fail.

It's definitely a different philosophy from traditional Linux. And may have some pitfalls for those used to regular Linux (see below).

NixOS : The hype is real ! Everything you need to know (new!) - Linux Tex

#solidstatelife #linux #distros #nixos

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danie10@squeet.me
Danie

NixOS has one config file, can roll back changes, and keeps package dependencies separated for each app

Bild/Foto
This is quite an interesting Linux distro that has been around longer than Ubuntu, but does require some learning of their package management system in the command line interface i.e. not really for beginners.

The single config file gives you the ability to replicate the exact same setup across other machines (organisation) or maybe just for rebuilding your own machine. It also enables you to specific exactly what packages must be installed on any build, ready to use. So to restore, or reproduce, your system all you need is that main config file, and your document and user config files from /home (I’m imagining you still need to backup the entire /home folder).

Updates are run from the command line, but it tracks dependencies separately for each application, so this keeps the system rock solid. One update does not break other packages. As far as I understand it, this extends further than just user applications, so on boot-up at the grub menu, you can roll back changes. Yes Flatpak and Appimages also do this, but only for their applications, and it does support both of this, but not Snaps.

It usually has two stable releases per year, but you can also opt for a unstable rolling release. It has over 80,000 packages so is close to what the AUR has.

So, yes its a different philosophy, much like Arch is different say to Debian. It does require an initial learning curve, and then you do need to stick to using its package manager and keeping your config file updated when required.

Watch (Peertube) at https://tilvids.com/w/kNVby1VfBYz9vbn6Zbg5xW
#Blog, #linux, #NixOS, #opensource, #technology

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federatica_bot@federatica.space
IT

Full Circle Magazine #186

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This month: * Command & Conquer * How-To : Python, Blender and Latex * Graphics : Inkscape * Everyday Ubuntu : Morrowind * Micro This Micro That * Review : Ubuntu Budgie 22.04 * Review : NixOS * Book Review : Dead Simple Python * Tabletop Ubuntu [NEW!] : Eight Minute Empire plus: News, My Story, The

#magazine #2204 #blender #book #budgie #empire #inkscape #latex #micro #morrowind #nixos #python #review #story #fullcirclemagazine #ubuntu #linux

Full Circle Magazine #186

This month: * Command & Conquer * How-To : Python, Blender and Latex * Graphics : Inkscape * Everyday Ubuntu : Morrowind * Micro This Micro That * Review : Ubuntu Budgie 22.04 * Review : NixOS …

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