Should we give a name to nix on non NixOS?

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I have a strong and possibly controversial opinion on this. We should set up the entire value proposition and subsequent narrative as follows:

  • Nix is a program to run on Linux and Darwin.
  • NixOS is a special (advanced) use case of Nix.

There has already been much debate around this, and it would be great if someone writes down the facts, pro’s and con’s so we have an overview.

Briefly, off the top of my head:

  • easing people into Nix on their customary systems provides a much more fluent onboarding experience

    • running a new operating system is a barrier to entry, as it involves many additional steps
    • our current target audience of software developers is highly resource constrained if they want to get things done, and we should enable them to leverage a large part of Nix’s value in the least amount of time.
      • dealing with NixOS on top of Nix is a tax on their valuable time
    • obscuring what confused newcomers need to know with (for them, at that moment irrelevant) details about NixOS makes that job harder

  • @garbas argues the “simple” use cases are where we have most potential for increasing mind-share (i.e., market adoption)

  • @mat, @garbas, @polygon, and others, report that NixOS is simply not an option for many business use cases

  • 2022 Nix community survey (~1900 responses) tells us NixOS is a very important, but not the primary use case

    • caveat: the numbers only tell us about our core audience of active community members

    • only ~50% use NixOS regularly

    • ~ 20% use Nix on non-Linux

Yes, many of us care to set up their systems like well-oiled machines that are reproducible with a single press of a button. Yet, we have to assume this is not the majority of people who would greatly benefit from learning and using Nix standalone.

Edit:

Using a term such as “non-NixOS” (which I have seen many times) is problematic in its own right.

  • It contains a negation. What is the actual thing you are talking about then, if it’s not NixOS?
  • It hints at the unfounded assumption that NixOS is the only thing of relevance. It is not, see above.

I can only imagine where that notion comes from historically, but I think we should move away from that.

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