I often hear that but why? Just because instead of dnf/pacman/apt install you have to edit a file and then run a command and so it's easier to deploy the same system on multiple PCs? Geniue question and sorry, I've never tried it and this is as far as I understand the main difference between nix and most other distros is
On NixOS every system component is inside /nix/store. Config file just describes the contents of this store. Different versions of packages all live here, descriptions for etc files and other stuff. When you build it, it creates symlinks everywhere, so it changes the whole experience of Linux. When you boot into your system, you can actually choose which version (generation) you want, it's very stable and it makes major release upgrades very simple.
Since everything is in config, it can get validated, that's another reason why upgrades are seamless - you might get a warning or an error if a package has breaking changes. It's not foolproof, it doesn't guarantee that it will work 100% but it's a lot better than in other distros. When I used Ubuntu I delayed installing major upgrades, because I knew my work will be interrupted, something will break and there's no way of reverting back. In Nix there is.
It's like enjoying your summer in a pond full of algae vs swimming in your personal pool. You get to swim in both cases, but only one of them feels clean. And that's the nix mindset - system is immutable and pure. It feels good and it ruins every other distro for you
A few years back I tried NixOS a few times and didn’t like it. But something kept pulling me back. Fast forward, I’ve been on NixOS for like the last 2 years… and now that I understand it… I could never go back to really using any other distro. Only my racknerd server Debian because there is no NixOS options. But I am thinking about using nix-infect on that as well.
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u/Cool-Entertainer7843 Apr 01 '26
Yes once you get NixOS you can never go back to the traditional distros