Julia EvansNov 14, 2023
some notes on nix flakes https://jvns.ca/blog/2023/11/11/notes-on-nix-flakes/
Some notes on nix flakes

Some notes on nix flakes

Julia Evans
Show threadJulia EvansNov 14, 2023

a few people in the replies are asking why someone might want to use nix as an OS / to manage your python packages / to manage your config files.

does anyone want to share their reasons for doing those things? I don't really know.

(please give examples of some specific problems Nix solves for you and what you like about it, don't just say "it's reproducible/declarative” :) )

Show threadTim KelloggNov 14, 2023
@b0rk so is nix flakes also somewhat analogous to homebrew too? if i install a binary to my $PATH (if that’s a thing) does it work the same as if i had installed it via brew? if so, that would be a lot different than docker…
Show threadSteve PurcellNov 14, 2023
@kellogh @b0rk Yes, you ultimately get hermetically-packaged binaries in your $PATH. They all live under `/nix` and don't clash with each other, so you can have multiple versions of, say, Python in different projects.
Show threadTim Kellogg
@sanityinc hmm 🤔 i’m getting interested @b0rk
Nov 14, 2023 at 5:01pmWeb
Show threadSteve PurcellNov 14, 2023
@kellogh @b0rk Regarding per-project environments, and as a taste of some of the powertools #nix gives you, my 10min screencast is still pretty relevant. It helps a lot to learn the language itself and a few of the patterns early on, otherwise it all ends up looking like runic nonsense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbIHRHy7_JM
Package and deploy Python apps faster with Poetry and Nix

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