Re: [PLUG] NixOS

[Michael Lazin via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

This is fascinating to me because it seems to offer a way to make
applications with dependencies portable without the use of containers.
I once participated in a hack-a-thon where we had to build and defend
an application and we never got off the ground because the
application, written in Ruby, required a version of Firefox not
available on Ubuntu Server, which we deployed on AWS.  My thoughts
are: This is really neat.  This is not in any way portable in the same
way containers are.  This can make porting an application easy but it
doesn't mean it will work anywhere else.

Michael Lazin

.. τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ νοεῖν ἐστίν τε καὶ εἶναι.

On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 12:51 PM Matt Mossholder via plug
<plug@lists.phillylinux.org> wrote:
>
> I have a single server running it at home. Don't underestimate two things about it....
>      1) How big of a change it is from other linux distros (positive)
>            - Roll back any change
>            - Store your configuration in git
>            - All OS configuration stored in a single place
>            - Coexistence of multiple versions of the same package without conflict
>            - Isolated shells with packages that are different than what is installed in the OS
>      2) How big of a change it is from other linux distros (negative)
>            - New system for defining configurations to learn
>            - A new language to learn if you want to build custom packages
>            - No more just popping into an editor and directly changing an app's /etc/someconfig file
>
> The Nix language is not for the faint of heart, but it is also extremely powerful.
>
> Also keep in mind that Nix is also a package manager that can be run on other Linux distros, giving you the ability to have multiple revisions of a package coexist. You can dip your toes in there, and move to NixOS later after getting a feel for it.
>
>      --Matt
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 11:38 AM Morgan Jones via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>> This is the first I've heard of this, does anyone have experience or know if it in production elsewhere?
>>
>> https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7414312903463333890-xIXH
>>
>> -morgan
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> ___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
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Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug