[HN Gopher] The many issues plaguing Nix
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The many issues plaguing Nix
Author : lambdaba
Score : 26 points
Date : 2023-08-11 14:52 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| paradox460 wrote:
| I've wanted to use nix for a very long time, but every time I
| devote a few hours to using it, some intractable issue always
| stops me. Years ago it was a lack of any support for shells other
| than bash and zsh. I've been using fish for over a decade.
|
| I'm sure that's been fixed, but the issue for attempting to use
| it again is that something else will come up. I'm not expecting
| it to work perfectly, but I'd prefer the bugs be small, not
| showstoppers.
|
| I love the idea, having everything as config layers, but still
| think the process needs more iteration. Frankly, I like guix
| more, in theory anyways, but haven't given it a chance. Maybe
| it's choice paralysis, and I need to just rip that bandaid off
| one of these days
| heyoni wrote:
| I will say as a nixos newbie coming from arch linux, I am seeing
| a lot of overlap between different functions and I'm probably not
| reading the docs carefully enough but I'm still sorting out the
| differences between nix-env, profiles, and this "home" thing
| which I still haven't figured out.
|
| I get nix-shell though lol.
|
| Probably not worth switching to guix just yet so long as I can
| get my emacs and cuda environment up and running.
| CameronNemo wrote:
| CUDA on Guix might be a challenge, I imagine.
| scolby33 wrote:
| I would use Guix over Nix in a second if only Guix had support
| for ZFS. I don't even need root or /home on ZFS, which I admit
| can be tricky.
| yarekt wrote:
| Also new to nixos but the first few hours was a breeze: installed
| x and i3, commented out, installed waylaid and sway, realised
| that my configs aren't ready to switch yet (mainly custom
| xmodmap) so commented that back out, and i3 back in. I'm still
| left with a perfectly working system. Such experiments on Ubuntu
| normally left numerous irreversible changes (granted, mostly
| through lack of knowledge).
|
| I do see the OP's points though, people are the weakest point of
| nix ecosystem, and I wish both projects worked together to solve
| this, as the tooling/approaches have similarities
| CameronNemo wrote:
| I don't think sway plans to support xmodmap, but it does
| support custom XKB layouts.
|
| https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/4250
| bsder wrote:
| The _idea_ of Nix is quite solid--controlling your dev
| environment is a good thing.
|
| The _implementation_ of Nix feels extremely shaky. Nix has
| genuine deficiencies that several different projects all attempt
| to address. When you have to patch things at the level of ELF,
| your basic architecture needs work.
|
| The _project management_ of Nix feels like a disaster. For
| example, when fixing the basic, inscrutable error message for the
| fact that your "flake.nix" hasn't been checked into version
| control has been extant for _two years_ in spite of people
| handing you PRs, something is broken in your project.
| m463 wrote:
| That sounds like what I've always said about make. :)
| s/nix/make/
|
| It's hard when your gut gets wrapped up in the useful <->
| insufferable conundrum
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