flake-utils-plus VS repology-rules

You don't need channels to use nix-shell or nix-env. You can generate the Nix path and registry from your flake inputs. flake-utils-plus makes this easy with nix.generateRegistryFromInputs and nix.generateNixPathFromInputs.

Use flake-utils-plus to easily define multiple systems in flake.nix.and then use the --target-host flag of nixos-rebuild to deploy it remotely.

If you're trying to handle multiple systems with one config a flake is a significantly better option. I would personally recommend looking at flake-utils-plus and specifically this example config.

I looked at some past threads / examples and saw people recommend flake-utils-plus, but after reading the examples I don't understand how I would get home-manager on Darwin or Ubuntu.

Depending on your specific needs, the channelsConfig (modify arguments passed to Nixpkgs) and overlay tooling in flake-utils-plus may be adequate: https://github.com/gytis-ivaskevicius/flake-utils-plus/tree/...

For flakes you don't have to set up everything manually there are helper libraries, I use flake-utils-plus.

Converting to flakes is not that hard if you use a good library. The documentation is other people's configs, really.

Neat! I've been using flake-utils-plus's implementation until now. https://github.com/gytis-ivaskevicius/flake-utils-plus/blob/master/lib/repl.nix

I use flake-utils-plus based configuration to apply patches on top of nixpkgs where overlays don't suffice.

A lot, it's (also) a complete linux distribution. See https://guix.gnu.org/en/packages/ and for comparison with other distros: https://repology.org/ It looks like they entered the top ten since last time I checked.

I'm having a hard time believing it, but apparently nixpkgs is larger than AUR per https://repology.org/?

Generally, the easiest thing to do is to do nothing - if your software is useful and people are using it, then packagers will show up. You can track what distros packaged your project on https://repology.org/.

I remember when the internet was smaller (20 years ago?) some people would have a comparison of different package managers for linux distros where they would dive in to examples and use. Anyway, this is a high level of package currency : https://repology.org/

The last distros I've used that didn't really have their own package managers were Slackware (it is just a tarball) and PuppyLinux (adopted from slackware or debian).

Anyway, Slitaz is here https://repology.org/repository/slitaz_cooking

You can basically install nix packages on every Linux and even MacOS. They are imo better developed and less error prone. You are guaranteed to never have dependency issues. The hashing scheme and idea of representing and building packages from derivation logic is spectacular design. The design of Nix inherently supports atomic upgrades and the likes of an immutable system. Also, afaik, it has the largest package availability currently (at least as many pkgs as Arch's) https://repology.org/

Yep, it's no. 1 on https://repology.org/

Most have it on their website, but you can also check here