Talk:NixOS

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PC Hardware Architectures

According to Distrowatch, NixOS is available for 32 bits i686 (Intel Pentium Pro and more modern), and 64 bits x86_64 (AMD Athlon 64 and more modern). On the Nix homepage one can find downloads for both platforms. I trust DW more than I do WP, somebody who cares should correct the info here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.16.52.89 (talk) 15:42, 14 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

 Resolved Gmarmstrong (talk) 02:34, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nix language

I hear people referring to Nix as a language, I guess they mean this: https://medium.com/@MrJamesFisher/nix-by-example-a0063a1a4c55 --Nemo 17:25, 14 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The Nix manual (not the NixOS manual) has a section on "Nix expressions". That's the purely functional language behind Nix. The language itself is usually just called Nix (from my understanding). 20:23, 4 March 2018 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gmarmstrong (talk • contribs)

Requires reboot?

One of the reviews (out on distrowatch) states that the system requires a reboot in order for an updated package to take effect? Is this true? This seems like a very important constraint; it should be mentioned here.

There's another suggestion in some other review that nixos may soon be a viable alternative to docker (software) and/or LXC (in terms of functionality). Is this true? Can one use nixos as if it was LXC? If so, how? If not, was this just wishful imagination on the part of some reviewer, or is this a stated future goal of nixos? 67.198.37.16 (talk) 19:19, 1 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

questions above: 1. updating a package on nixos does not require a reboot. In fact virtually nothing requires a reboot. You can run nixos-rebuild on a live server safely, and the configuration will switch if it is valid, or roll back to last known config if not

2. nixos has a built in support for systemd-nspawn containers. I can also support Docker, LXC, and rkt containers.--69.47.70.168 (talk) 13:41, 30 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

NixOS additionally has measures in place to prevent borked updates, because they are atomic. It is virtually impossible to have a half-upgraded system in vanilla NixOS (it is possible to have the home-manager config fail to switch while the system succeeds, in cases where home-manager would overwrite a home configuration file). However, kernel updates would require a reboot, and probably never will have something like "live-patches" offered by Ubuntu. Donottellmetonottellyou (talk) 09:11, 4 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Please add about compilation flags

Hi, I am on Gentoo, that is famous about it USE flag, that used mostly for compilation. Please, add such information to the article, how this is popular to tune the compiler system-wide, for example in Gentoo is popular to set march=native for faster binaries, and to build minimal versions of some software without unused features, if ebuild have such knobs. Vitaly Zdanevich (talk) 21:14, 17 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm unclear the relevance to NixOS? Are you saying comparisons should be made between how NixOS handles system-wide compilers? The NixOS philosophy is generally that system-wide compilers aren't great. By this I mean installation of C/C++/GO/Rust compilers are generally done using nix shells rather that having a system wide package to handle it. I may not be 100% correct on all those details as I'm still getting my head around NixOS. Generically Named (talk) 11:46, 11 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

More diverse Reception?

Not sure if it's a good idea that both of the entries under Reception are from DistroWatch Weekly. Osalbahr (talk) 04:12, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Some sources

[1][2] 0xDeadbeef→∞ (talk to me) 03:08, 16 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Technical and Professional Editing

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 August 2025 and 12 December 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gemmmma (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Dr.ozkul (talk) 12:13, 20 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Upcoming Changes

Hello! I'm a student planning to edit this article. The issues I plan on addressing include:

• general structure shortcomings
• irrelevant info (the Wiki section caught my eye)
• NPOV violations - just a couple minor instances
• citing sources and adding some more recent info

If you have any thoughts, please let me know! I would love any advice or input. Gemmmma (talk) 14:57, 29 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I do wonder if the fact that Eelco standing down and the community controversy with Anduril and the MIC industry in general should be noted here. Nyabinary (talk) 02:02, 12 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Linux is not based on a functional structure, how can NixOS be a functional distribution?

Linux is not based on a functional structure, how can NixOS be a functional distribution? The main problem of Linux is that of the Babel tower, there are many distributions with different releases incompatible among them. NixOS address the problem of deployment with a functional model approach. What and how it works compared with other alternatives including Windows and MacOS should be the guide to structure this article. The Nix language is a functional language used to design and implement a deployment system for Linux. In the few things that I have browsed, is what I understood. I hope this suggestion helps to those volunteers who know NixOS Linux to fix this article. Unfortunately I don't know NixOS to help. ~2026-31663-1 (talk) 10:43, 15 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]