this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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I use Arch btw


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[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago (3 children)

yea i think its the popularity spike. if only there were more docs on flakes though.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I still don't completely get their point, TBH.

And the Nix language seems to be intentionally confusingly close to json.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

The similarities are superficial at best. The only thing similar is that it uses braces for attribute sets (objects) and square brackets for lists. And I guess quotes for strings.

But otherwise it's a full (functional) programming language, with functions, variable bindings, etc.

Flakes aren't perfect, but they are really good for ensuring that you have completely reproducible builds since the version used for every dependency is pinned.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago
  • control the versions of the repo and packages

  • config the official repo (allow unfree packages for example) that doesn't work unless you're on nixos

  • add packages from a git repo

  • update package definitions (think apt update)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

iirc theyre meant to improve reproducibility by using pinned versions of stuff like nixpkgs instead of inheriting from your system which could be a problem if for example someone on 23.11 sends a deriv to someone on 24.05

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

If only wiki was as good as Arch's...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

exactly. cant blame them tho, its unofficial.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I agree, altough I'm trying to use them here and there, i'm still very confused by it.