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[-] ruffsl@programming.dev 4 points 5 months ago

Well let me at least leave why I think Nix is not it at the moment:

  • Software Center - browsing search.nixos.org isn't quite the same in terms low friction and discoverability
    • You already have to know what you're looking for, and it can't make system config on your behalf
    • Debian or conventional package managers usually offer a native GUI for package selection and deployment
  • System Defaults - the minimality of a basic default install can cause a lot of papercuts
    • the default boot partition is rather small given the OS's prepecity to add new kernels with new generations
    • and without any garbage collection service enabled by default, user first encounter switch failures due to this
  • External Binaries Compatibility - Linux also suffers from this in general as compared to MacOS or Windows
    • in addition to being much more niche, reuse of existing binaries from more prevalent distros becomes complicated
    • the desktop ISO could suggest a nix-ld config with default libs most binary distributes expect, easing in new users
  • The Nix language - much more complex than conventional cong markup langs, being more of a turing complete DSL
    • partial working LSP impare introspection while writing, and the runtime error messages are poorly formatted
    • most desktop users (in debian or fedora) have little need to learn their OS's packaging schemas, but NixOS users do
this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2025
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