nix VS NixOS-docker

> https://github.com/NixOS/nix/pull/9911#issuecomment-19252073...

As we covered in my last post, NixOS is a amazing Linux distribution for creating stable and declared environments. Now while this is amazing for a desktop setup, it is also perfect for a home-server or home-lab.

(Nix itself is slowly chugging along with Windows via MinGW - https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nix-on-windows/1113/108 and https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/1320 , for example.)

Nix is a cross-platform package manager. It uses the nix programming language. Nix and NixOs are often used in the same context, but while the first is a package manager, the latter is a linux distribution based on nix.

Today I want to talk to you about Nixos. What is it? Nixos is a declarative and reproducible OS, partly taking the words used on their own page. What does that mean?

Software developers often want to customize:

1. their home environments: for packages (some reach for brew on MacOS) and configurations (dotfiles, and some reach for stow).

2. their development shells: for build dependencies (compilers, SDKs, libraries), tools (LSP, linters, formatters, debuggers), and services (runtime, database). Some reach for devcontainers here.

3. or even their operating systems: for development, for CI, for deployment, or for personal use.

Nix provision all of the above in the same language, with Nixpkgs, NixOS, home-manager, and devShells such as https://devenv.sh/. What's more, Nix is (https://nixos.org/):

- reproducible: what works on your dev machine also works in CI in prod,

- declarative: you version control and review your configurations and infrastructure as code, at a reasonable level of abstraction,

- reliable: all changes are atomic with easy roll back.

Hopping from one distro to another with a different package manager might require some time to adapt. Using a package manager that can be installed on most distro is one way to help you get to work faster. Flatpak is one of them; other alternative are Snap, Nix or Homebrew. Flatpak is a good starter, and if you have a bunch of free time, I suggest trying Nix.

- it reduces bloat, because you can generate an environment or OS image with only the software needed to run a specific program or service

My guess is that a big efficiency gain would come from the second point, because you don't waste CPU on code that you don't use.

Does this make sense? Has anyone explored this?

[0]: https://nixos.org

1) Setting up the development environment - I currently use devcontainers for most things, but may also dig into nix -> isolated, portable, repeatable development environment 2) Exploring Echo - understand routing, requests, response, etc. 3) Incorporate Templ - integration with Echo, template composition, etc. 4) Integrating TailwindCSS - config for use with Echo/Templ, development cycle, deployment, etc. 5) Add in HTMX - endpoints, template structure, concepts, etc. 6) hyperscript for interactivity - client side interactivity

"Your greatest challenge lies ahead -- and downwards..."

Oh, wait a second, my bad, that's the quote on the box cover for Zork I: (

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ac/Zork_I_box_ar...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork

)

What you really wanted was a link to where you could download Nix/NixOS -- and/or learn more about it!

Here ya go!

https://nixos.org/

"Your greatest challenge lies ahead -- and downwards..."

:-) :-)

I say all of the above in the spirit of humor -- and as a NixOS user and fan!

(But yes, there is a learning curve to it, so yes, learning Nix/NixOS could be a challenge!)

((But you're a bright person, you have Google and ChatGPT to assist you, and you like challenges!))

Luckily, I did not have to start from scratch as Nix serves their own docker image. I mounted one of my directories and was able to drop into a Nix shell with my configuration file.

There is one: https://github.com/NixOS/docker

But it's more of a Nix docker image than a NixOS one, because half of the things that NixOS gives you don't really make much sense in a docker image (systemd in a container?).

I only know of the nix package manager. https://hub.docker.com/r/nixos/nix

Ability to run buildkite agents inside a kubernetes cluster on preemble instances without need to modify agent’s Dockerfile every time new dependency comes up - was one of major reasons to learn Nix. I’m just using nixos/docker image as a base, install buildkite-agent and some base stuff like bash via nix-env inside Dickerfile, everything else lays in flake.nix of every project my dockerized nixified buildkite agent run.