comma VS direnv

Nowadays, I tend to try things out with comma, then add them to my configuration for later use. Some tools are not even installed in my systems because I use them so infrequently - opening a terminal and running , freecad is basically as easy as actually having it installed.

There's a version of this approach that uses nix-index to figure out which package a command is in called comma: https://github.com/nix-community/comma

Relatedly, check out comma. It's basically a shortcut prefix command that will search packages for the binary you want to run (via nix-index), and gives you an interactive choice if there are multiple. Which package was drill in again? No matter, I'll just prefix a comma :)

https://github.com/nix-community/comma

this + if you want to run a command automatically I suggest comma

Yeah dude. Emphemeral installs are a feature, not a bug. Similar vein is , https://github.com/nix-community/comma

You're looking for https://github.com/nix-community/comma

One of the nicest tools is comma. https://github.com/Shopify/comma. It's just a light weight wrapper around searching nix-pkgs and running something, but it sure makes a lot of things easier when you're sharing somebody else's laptop.

If you want to test out some program, I would STRONGLY recommend using nix-shell -p . This will create temporary environment, that will allow you to test out the package. You can also check out comma.

I love using Shopifys comma tool https://github.com/Shopify/comma cause it's so useful for just small programs that u need to run once and then forget about them

I think direnv already does a good job in this space, and it's already available in your package manager.

https://direnv.net/

I switched from asdf to mise after a comment on lobste.rs[1] suggested I do so a few months ago, and I have been very happy with it.

It sands off some of asdf's sharp UI edges and provides a somewhat larger but still reasonable feature set; I've also replaced most of my direnv[2] usage with it.

The mise -> asdf comparison page is useful[3]

1: https://lobste.rs/s/66uxbj/how_love_homebrew#c_mvmsjp

2: https://direnv.net/

3: https://mise.jdx.dev/dev-tools/comparison-to-asdf.html

I also made the export diff configurable, motivated by this post: https://github.com/direnv/direnv/pull/1233

Nice.

For years I've been using [direnv](https://direnv.net/) for this, setting environment variables which git picks up. This looks like a more feature complete equivalent, although to be honest I only really need switching of committer email and the SSH key used.

Direnv, for the uninitiated, loads and unloads environment variables when directories are entered and exited. Under every project folder there is a `$PROJ_DIR/.envrc` which contains:

buffer-env: A pure-Elisp version of the direnv utility. Useful to make Emacs aware of Python virtualenvs (which, judging by the questions posted here, is unfortunately still a complication for a lot of people). Similar to (and inspired by) envrc, but doesn't require the direnv program.

You can look at direnv to see this in action as they wrote shell hooks that get loaded into the shell profile and are executed on every prompt. https://direnv.net/

Yes, most Nix users employ https://direnv.net or the equivalent for your IDE of choice. Emacs for instance has https://github.com/purcell/envrc which set per-buffer variables.