this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024
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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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I'm going to go against the grain and say that the Nix and Guix package managers are very good, but they really belong in their respective distros where they're a core part of the system. That'd be Guix System for Guix and NixOS for Nix.
They may have advantages for a foreign distro too, but they are lesser (Guix System can boot into a backup of the system before the last update, for example, but that advantage doesn't exist on, say, Debian.
Also, can we agree to not recommend these systems to new users for the time being? While they're very powerful, they're absolutely designed for power users, and until they're more polished and they have fancy GUIs and stuff for installation and package management, I think it'd be best to keep recommending normal distros like Debian for now.
You can do rollbacks if you're using something like home-manager on a foreign distribution. It's just a bit more janky admittedly.