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NixOS

NixOS is a Linux distro built around the Nix package system. Nix is built around the idea of immutability. It makes all packages immutable by giving them their own directory identified by a hash that is derived from ALL of that package's dependencies. This has a number of desirable properties:

  • It makes it trivial to have multiple versions of the same package installed at the same time and allows you to switch between them at will.
  • It is trivial to roll back your system after a failed upgrade. Difficult system recovers after you upgrade to a new unstable version are a thing of the past.
  • Non-privileged users can install software completely securely.
  • Projects packaged with nix have the best possible build reproducibility because nix accounts for ALL of your dependencies all the way down to the lowest level system libraries, compilers, etc.

Whilst I don't use NixOS as my primary OS. I use nix package manager on macOS. And I am exploring using NixOS for servers I use.

NixOS Weekly is useful newsletter. NixOS MicroVMs seem neat.

Nix configs (NixOS)​

Nix configs (macOS)​

Notes​