Perhaps dumb questions inbound ;)

I use Arch because I’m strapped for time and my system is always moving.

  • 2 minutes to install something? AUR probably has it.

  • Ten minutes of free time to look for a software that fits a new need? Try random AUR things (auditing PKGBUILDs is just twenty seconds or so).

  • If I need a tiny patch, I’ll just add a sed or patch file to the PKGBUILD. (Super easy, you barely learn any syntax cuz it’s intuitive shell.)

  • make && make install/meson blahblah usually just works.

  • Wiki does the thinking for me if I need something special (e.g. hw video acceleration)

Buuuut update surprises can be a pain (e.g. Pipewire explodes Saturday evening) and declarative rollbackable immutability sounds really freakin’ AWESOME, so I’m considering NixOS for my new laptop (old one’s webcam broke). So I ask:

  • How much can I grok in a week?
    • I need to know Nixlang, right? I have a ton of dotfiles and random homemade cpp commands in ~/.local/bin that I use daily
  • How quick is it to make a derivation?
    • I make install a lot, do I need to declare that due to non-FHS? Can I boilerplate the whole thing with someone else’s make install and ctrl+c ctrl+v? How does genAI fare? (Lemmy hates word guess bots, I know)
  • How quick is it to install something new and random?
    • Do I just use nix-shell if I need something asap? Do I need to make a derivation for all my programs? e.g. do I need to declare a Hyprland plugin I’m test-running?
  • How long do you research a new package for?
    • On Gentoo I always looked up USE flags (NOO my time); on Arch I just audit the PKGBUILD and test-run it (20 seconds); on Ubuntu I had to find the relevant PPA (2 minutes). What’s it like for Nix?
  • Can you set up dev environments quickly or do you need to write a ton of configs?
    • I hear python can be annoying. Do C++/Android Studio have header file/etc. issues?
  • What maintenance ouchies do you run into? How long to rectify?
  • Do I need to finagle on my own to have /boot encrypted?
    • I boot via: unencrypted EFI grub asks for LUKS password -> decrypt /boot, which then has a keyfile -> decrypt and mount btrfs root partition. But lots of guides don’t do it this way

Thanks for bearing with me ദ്ദി(｡•̀ヮ<)~✩‧₊

    • @[email protected]
      16•17 hours ago

      Or had a lot of time, and have streamlined their setup to the point that they don’t spend nearly any time on the fiddly bits, because they now have next to no time.

      • @[email protected]OP
        6•15 hours ago

        Yep this is my diagnosis. I had a lot of time at the start to config horns and halos and miniguns and waffle toasters onto my craptop but now everything is constrained

        o(╥﹏╥)o

        • @[email protected]
          4•5 hours ago

          It’s really unfair. The older we get, the faster time seems to pass, and the less we have to spare. If we’re lucky, maybe we can get 15 or 20 years at the end to enjoy our labour…most of us will be too banged up from the grind to enjoy it.