homebrew-cask-versions VS nix-config

https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask-versions/blob/master/Casks/safari-technology-preview.rb -> that would brew install safari-technology-preview then, remembered it right.

> If I just wanted to install google-chrome, sublime, and skype, I would use the app store.

None of those is available on the Mac App Store. I don’t understand the argument you’re trying to make.

> In contrast to how it used to be, Homebrew now seems designed for people that only want popular bleeding edge packages, and nobody else.

Homebrew Cask—which is what you’re referring to in the reminder of that paragraph—has always been focused on the latest versions of packages. The versions repo[1] is secondary with stricter rules for acceptance.

[1]: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask-versions

> I tried to install NixOS using the live cd last week in a Hyper-V VM, but it failed to get anywhere due to SquashFS errors.

Heh, that reminds me of installing NixOS back around 2014. I didn't have any way to physically boot off the install CD; so I ran it in qemu, using my real /dev/sda as the "virtual" hard drive (which I'd already partitioned). Thankfully there was no interference with the host system (Trisquel).

I'm still using (and evolved version of) the same NixOS config to this day; it still contains the following comment ( https://github.com/Warbo/nix-config/blob/master/nixos/machin... ):

  trace "FIXME: Which modules are artefacts of using QEMU to install?"

Where nixpkgs2105 is a pinned revision of the Nixpkgs repo, defined in another overlay. My current Nix config has pinned Nixpkgs versions going back to 2016. For example, here's a bunch of such overrides:

https://github.com/Warbo/nix-config/blob/master/overrides/fi...

At the moment I'm using niv to manage the pinned Nixpkgs versions (the 'repoXXXX' entries):

https://github.com/Warbo/nix-helpers/blob/master/nix/sources...

`nix-env` is an imperative command, whilst writing a .nix file is declarative. In particular, the latter can be managed using git.

For example, here's a system-wide config dating back to Feb 2015: https://github.com/Warbo/nix-config

(That's actually a NixOS config; my macOS config is in a private repo, but it imports that repo to define its "one big system package")

> I'd like to see other configs from nix users too if you're still here!

Here's mine https://github.com/warbo/nix-config

I've used Nix/NixOS for about 8 years, but not delved into flakes yet.