Comment by choobacker
Comment by choobacker 3 days ago
I'm a NixOS user and contributor.
This post is fair.
Nix is very flexible, and it hasn't yet stabilised on a firm set of recommendations for a happy path.
Going on a whim:
* Use nixos-unstable. It's defacto stable, and gets much more attention than nixos-stable.
* Use flakes.
* Don't use multiple versions of nixpkgs. In the rare case a package is failing to build, then raise an issue, or wait, or rollback.
* On NixOS, don't use user profiles. They won't interop in the way OP hopes.
* Only use nixpkgs. If you absolutely must use another flake, only use popular ones from https://github.com/nix-community.
But until the community give opinionated suggestions, users will stray towards bad practices.
(Also, no need to mix pipewire and jack. Pipewire can emulate jack.)
I attended NixconfNA last year as part of SCaLE.
I spent quite a while trying to understand what Nix was actually trying to accomplish and how one would actually go about using it. Granted I was trying to do it on a Chromebook, but the idea stands: I should be able to get at least the nix environment set up and the silly gnu hello world built and running, right?
Turns out nah. The ergonomics are just that of a hiltless double bladed sword.
I'm glad I'm not the only one, but i also was aware of pushcx trying years ago and still failing [1] and he's a smart dude unlike me. I didn't feel so dumb.
[1] https://push.cx/nixos