SteamOS 3.5 will have a /nix directory to support the NixOS package manager. The package manager will probably not come pre-installed but the folder structure prepared, users will be able to install it without jumping through hoops.
oooh, this would be SUPER helpful; most of what I want is available as a flatpak but for the few things that aren’t, nix would be a great tool to install user apps without messing with “valve’s area”.
Is there anything significant on nix that’s unavailable with Pacman or Discovery? Seems it’s more like a traditional package manager with more mainline Linux repositories.
Pacman isn’t available on SteamOS without unlocking developer mode. Nix is intended to be used alongside the native package manager. Discover (not Discovery) on SteamOS is for Flatpak packages.
I’ve been in developer mode on betas for a while so I wasn’t aware that wasn’t the vanilla experience. Having a relatively normal Linux package manager could be nice as an easy alternative to Discover.
I’m curious what would be worth getting through nix though. I suppose anything that isn’t on Discover, but I haven’t had too hard a time finding what I’ve wanted so far.
I’ve been hearing a lot about Nix package manager, NixOS, and immutable/atomic Linux distros like BlendOS, VanillaOS, and ChimeraOS with containers and flatpaks on top.
I may be confused but I think conceptually these distributions are moving towards this idea of reproducibility with a strong immutable core OS for the sake of stability. I can see why this would be perfect for an appliance like the Deck.
The idea of a rolling distribution where my configuration simply survives upgrades forever … sounds like a dream come true. Is it possible?
That’s amazing. Now when I get paged while playing Diablo I can just switch to desktop mode and nix-env -i awscli.
awesome
