this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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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If the distribution does not have it by default, please include the instructions to use it on the system.

Note: I can't compile the libre kernel from the source.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

The complex part of Guix comes from it being a inmutable distribution based on the ideas from NixOS

That's not the most significant factor in what makes it hard/different. There are immutable distros that come with less complexity and are arguably more immutable than NixOS or guix.

What actually sets it apart and can make these harder to use is:

  1. They're declarative rather than imperative. You describe the desired end-result rather than providing (or manually executing) the steps to construct it.
  2. There is not a single global dependency dependency state upon parts of which any given package depends. Dependencies are explicit, direct and encapsulated on a level that's as fine as you'd like instead (down to the per-file level).