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NixOS

25 Jun 2014 . All software components in NixOS are installed using the Nix package manager. Packages in Nix are defined using the nix language to create nix expressions.

NixOS Reviews and details

Screenshots and images

  • NixOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12

Features & Specs

  1. Reproducibility

    NixOS ensures that the system configuration is entirely reproducible. Every package, configuration file, and system setting is defined in a single, declarative configuration file, enabling easy recreation of the environment on different machines or after clean installs.

  2. Atomic Upgrades & Rollbacks

    Upgrades in NixOS are atomic, meaning they either complete successfully or not at all. Additionally, it is easy to rollback to previous configurations if something goes wrong, which adds a significant safety net during system updates.

  3. Isolated Environments

    NixOS supports creating isolated development environments, preventing dependency conflicts and allowing developers to work with different versions of packages comfortably.

  4. Package Management

    Nix, the package manager of NixOS, allows for the installation of multiple versions of the same software simultaneously without conflicts, facilitating experimentation and development.

  5. Declarative Configuration

    All aspects of the NixOS system are configurable using a declarative language, making it easier to understand, share, and reproduce configurations compared to imperative setups.

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Videos

First Impression of the NixOS Installation Procedure

Introduction to NixOS - Brownbag by Geoffrey Huntley

NixOS 18.03 - A Configuration-focused GNU+Linux Distro

Social recommendations and mentions

We have tracked the following product recommendations or mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you see what people think about NixOS and what they use it for.
  • Show HN: Node.js video tutorials where you can edit and run the code
    I'd love to create some Nix (https://nixos.org/) content. - Source: Hacker News / 11 days ago
  • 20 years of Git. Still weird, still wonderful
    NixOS may end up being "the last OS I ever use" (especially now that gaming is viable on it): https://nixos.org/ Check it out. The whitepaper's a fairly digestible read, too, and may get you excited about the whole concept (which is VERY different from how things are normally done, but ends up giving you guarantees). - Source: Hacker News / 27 days ago
  • Overengineer your CV
    For implementing the themes I have decided to use nix flakes since they allow each theme to specify their own dependencies and which command to run with the resulting JSON from the previous step as input. Another alternative could have been to use docker, but I wanted to learn more about nix. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Easy Development Environments
    One of the most tedious and time-wasting parts of the development process is setting up tooling. For a NodeJS project this requires getting the right Node version, getting the preferred package manager, installing things like a linter, formatter, and sometimes a compiler for TypeScript or other JS-transpiled languages. Well today we are going to talk about using Nix as an SDK/tool manager, and how we can setup... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2025)
    Zest Dermatology | Remote (USA residents only) | Full-time | Systems Administrator / Software Engineer | https://zesthealth.com Zest is a virtual dermatology clinic that delivers care for chronic eczema and psoriasis with a level of satisfaction and patient outcomes that are unheard of in conventional dermatology. What makes Zest particularly exciting is its value-based care business model, a topic worth... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Customize Go Builds on AWS SAM with Dockerfiles and Makefiles
    After came up with the new project structure, I decided to use Nix ❄️ for managing all my project dependencies (languajes, tools, libraries). The way Nix works, is by creating a new temporary shell with all the dependencies you request it. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Fidget
    Just in case you are unaware, these build issues are entirely solvable by defining a Nix flake for your project, resulting in a repeatable, reproducible build every time: https://nixos.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Getting started with Nix and Nix Flakes
    The Nix website's download page guides you into using their installer to install Nix on your system. However, this article will use [Determinate Systems' Nix installer] instead, since it lets you easily undo all changes their Nix installer makes (i.e. uninstall) with one command, and it also enables Nix flakes by default, which you'd have to enable on your own if you were using the official Nix installer instead. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • My new Nix series!
    From the NixOS website, Nix is a tool that takes a unique approach to package management and system configuration. This "unique approach" refers to building packages in isolation from each other, ensuring that if packages work on one machine, they will work on another. This is done in a declarative fashion, essentially meaning that you tell Nix what to do, and it does it for you, without you having to tell Nix how... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • 7 Ways to Use the SLSA Framework to Secure the SDLC
    To achieve reproducibility, your build process must control for environmental differences like timestamps, file ordering, or machine-specific configurations. Tools like Bazel or Nixprovide deterministic build systems that lock down these variables. For instance, Bazel uses a content-addressable cache, meaning the same source code and dependencies always result in the same build outputs, even when run on different... - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • How to start using nix?
    An operational system, in the form of Linux distribution, called NixOS. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Developing with Docker
    These are the sort of issues that Nix solves quite well. Pinning dependencies to specific versions so the only time dependencies change is when you explicitly do it - and the only packages present in your images are ones you specifically request, or dependencies of those packages. It also gives you local dev environments using the ~same dependencies by typing `nix develop`. Once you get past... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Managing NixOS on DigitalOcean with Colmena
    DigitalOcean does not have out-of-the-box support for NixOS. However, we can use a custom image to launch a droplet with NixOS. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • An Introduction to Nix for Ruby Developers
    Nix is an entire universe of software. It runs on Linux and macOS, on both Apple Silicon and Intel processors, and has several components:. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Packing Custom Fonts for NixOS
    I have been using NixOS for a long time. And I am very happy with it. It is very stable and easy to configure. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Managing NixOS Secrets via SOPS, sops-nix and opsops
    The data definition and operational model of SOPS is well suited for a Nix-powered system. sops-nix offers both NixOS and Nix Home Manager modules which provide a declarative way to manage secrets using SOPS. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • OpenResty on NixOS for an API Gateway
    Are you using an API gateway? Do you really need one? If you are using NixOS and feel comfortable with some Lua, you may want to consider OpenResty on NixOS as an API gateway. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Archiving PostgreSQL Backups on NixOS
    This is a technical note on how to archive PostgreSQL backups on NixOS to one or more targets using rclone. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Automating Azure VM Ubuntu install without fancy tools
    Since then I have been using NixOS on my tinkering computers (x86 & ARM64) at home because I liked this one-file-format-declarative-definition of machines. With some new cloud technology evaluations ahead, for which I usually bring up dedicated disposable VMs, I wanted to transfer some of my NixOS learnings and create a disposable NixOS Azure VM. As I did want to create a (lame, everbody does that) custom image I... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Tenv v2.0: The Importance of Explicit Behavior for Version Manager
    Tenv manages all tools by wrapping them in an additional binary that serves as a proxy for the original tool. It means you can't install Terraform or OpenTofu on an ordinary Linux machine alongside tenv (except NixOS case). At our tool, we supply a binary with the same name as the tool (Terraform / OpenTofu / Terragrunt / Atmos), within which we implement the proxy pattern. It was required since it simplifies... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • I use NixOS for my home-server, and you should too!
    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. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago

External sources with reviews and comparisons of NixOS

The 10 Best Immutable Linux Distributions in 2024
Why it’s on the list: NixOS uses the Nix package manager, which treats packages as isolated from each other. This unique approach to package management virtually eliminates “dependency hell”.

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NixOS discussion

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This is an informative page about NixOS. You can review and discuss the product here. The primary details have not been verified within the last quarter, and they might be outdated. If you think we are missing something, please use the means on this page to comment or suggest changes. All reviews and comments are highly encouranged and appreciated as they help everyone in the community to make an informed choice. Please always be kind and objective when evaluating a product and sharing your opinion.