I recently decided to try Nix OS out after using Arch Linux for about half a year. From what I can tell from reading posts around here, this is a...
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The original was posted on /r/nixos by /u/nikitarevenco on 2024-11-01 10:50:35+00:00.

I recently decided to try Nix OS out after using Arch Linux for about half a year. From what I can tell from reading posts around here, this is a very common situation

I have very simple dotfiles with just about 7 files that I spent a lot of time configuring to my liking and I am now just productive with them ()

And I wanted to keep it this way. Before I really switched to NixOS, I thought I’ll have to rewrite my entire config in Nix.

But I don’t! I was able to seamlessly just use my existing dotfiles and configure system-wide settings in a single configuration.nix file

I was ecstatic when I found out about this, because I realised that I can reap the benefits of NixOS without having to spend a lot of time on configuration. Some people in this subreddit claim to spend literal weeks learning about NixOS

I didn’t learn that much about it, but I was able to figure out the configuration.nix file and port my dotfiles in about 6 hours. The features I am particularly hyped about are:

  • Managing my system dependencies from a single file and always being aware which packages I have installed
  • Not scared that an update might kill my day and render me unproductive. I can just fix it later!
  • I can be more adventurous with the stuff I do in my system, like I can try doing stuff I would never do on Arch because a rollback is extremely easy to do.
  • Stable channel for all packages but unstable if I need the latest and greatest

So basically it’s more stable than Debian AND I can have the latest and greatest packages of my choice!

I’m currently learning about backend web development, and this information came just at the right time to me! I’ll be able to use nixOS to always have reproducible servers which I’m particularly looking forward to. It’s a lot more elegant than entering commands or automatic with a script.

So basically, I had the illusion that home manager is necessary which initially made me not want to try nix out because I thought its going to be a huge commitment for barely any gain. It was the opposite. A little bit of commitment but my actual quality of life will be significantly improved from now on.

Thank you Nix OS developers and researches for developing this awesome distribution!