# Nixpkgs's current development workflow is not sustainable

**URL:** https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixpkgss-current-development-workflow-is-not-sustainable/18741
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [April 20, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixpkgss-current-development-workflow-is-not-sustainable/18741 "2022-04-20T21:16:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 79

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### Author: ![milahu](https://discourse.nixos.org/user_avatar/discourse.nixos.org/milahu/32/4006_2.png) [@milahu](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/milahu)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixpkgss-current-development-workflow-is-not-sustainable/18741/79 "2022-04-27T18:52:29Z")

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> [@Ericson2314](#):
>
> tackling the problems Nixpkgs faces in bold, innovative ways.

fix python to allow multiple versions of dependencies  
[Allowing Multiple Versions of Python Package in PYTHONPATH/nixpkgs](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/allowing-multiple-versions-of-python-package-in-pythonpath-nixpkgs/3849)

then expensive packages (tensorflow …) can pin all their dependencies (“bottom-up pinning”, inversion of control), and we avoid rebuilds

then nix can get closer to its promise

> [@](#):
>
> Nix has a more graceful approach that lets different versions of software coexist. ([wikipedia: Dependency hell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_hell#cite_note-linuxdependencyhell-4))

the current python situation (collisions in `site-packages/`) is like the FHS situation (collisions in `usr/`) that nix wants to solve

> … and we avoid rebuilds

the other strategy is to make builds cheaper, for example with [Incremental builds](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/incremental-builds/9988)  
but it requires more complexity (normalize sources, store objects, patch objects)

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