Linux

48715 readers

1115 users here now

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.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Why everyone is switching to NixOS ? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

158 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi everyone!

I saw that NixOS is getting popularity recently. I really have no idea why and how this OS works. Can you guys help me understanding all of this ?

Thanks !

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Tilted 21 points 2 years ago (5 children)

I used NixOS for a couple of years. My experience is like this:

It is a rolling release (mostly)
You write a declarative configuration for your system, e.g., my config will say I want Neovim with certain plugins, and I can also include my Neovim configuration
It is stable, and when it breaks it is easy to go back
Packages are mostly bleeding edge

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Note that there's both the rolling unstable channel and a bi-annual stable release channel.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The configuration stuff seems great. I guess it reduce the struggle of porting a full config from one pc to another right ?

[–] Tilted 9 points 2 years ago

Yes absolutely. It is really great. It is also a source of frustration, e.g., missing configuration options, non-obvious options and so on. Overall it works well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

You can even define configurations for different systems/hosts/users from a single place. I'ev atomized my config and I can reuse lots of parts for my different machines. Also my user config is nearly identical (except hardware specific things).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Important to note that NixOS has both a rolling release and point release version.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Wow, that sounds really cool (specially the config thing). I'll have to try it sometime.

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

Are you still using it and happy with it? I've been increasingly using single purpose dev VMs in a server, and a declarative configuration system would make the process of spinning them up faster and more robust. My current shell script system is clunky, and I've been looking at Ansible.

[–] Tilted 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Not using it anymore. Although I'm thinking about going back to it. The NixOS learning curve is a bit more steep than most other distros.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why did you stop using it?

[–] Tilted 1 points 2 years ago

Some level of frustration with the nix language and the configuration
Wanting to try various obscure Python packages

Nothing too major. Just already knowing how to make things work in other distros vs investing more time into learning to do it the NixOS way.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What are you using instead?

[–] Tilted 1 points 2 years ago

I have been using Arch and Fedora. Considering Fedora Silverblue too. Everything is working well, so not in a rush to distro hop.