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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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Jump from Arch to NixOS? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As the title implies, should I do it? I love Arch so far, and I can fix most issues that pop out. However, I sometimes wish to start fresh without too much hassle, but I get a feeling NixOS isn't as mature as Arch.

Have any of you used both, and if so, what do you miss from Arch? What are you grateful for in NixOS?

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've also been distro-hopping, but settled on NixOS. I find it very clean, you know exactly where your (system-level) configuration files are (...and could even manage user-level config files using home-manager). There is a stable branch, which is, well, stable. And even if it wasn't, you can rollback the system at any point, which is trivial (just select a different generation during boot).

One of the biggest advantages for me is universal reproducible working environments. Using Nix+direnv, I can lock all tools (make, gcc, JupyterLab, Python, Julia) that I'm using in a project to specific versions (and upgrade/rollback). I can install programs/libraries in a nix shell and they will be removed on the next garbage collection. Upgrades are extremely safe: I once had a problem with RAM that corrupted a lot of my files during an upgrade. Nix can detect and repair this.

Downside is that Nix doesn't follow FHS, so some programs need a little help, for example by Nix' steam-run.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you mind me asking what FHS means in this context?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

FHS is the filesystem hierarchy standard than Linux and most Unix/Unix-like systems use. The Wikipedia entry has a good simple explanation. The full standard can be found here. NixOS does not use this standard, as it's not compatible with many features Nix offers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks.