this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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Linux

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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Hi everyone!

I saw that NixOS is getting popularity recently. I really have no idea why and how this OS works. Can you guys help me understanding all of this ?

Thanks !

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hmm, a very interesting approach indeed.

When you say rebuild, does it have to rebuilt everything? If so, is it quick to do so?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It checks everything that has changed since last build and it changes only what is needed, I'd say 30 seconds or less normally. When updateing, you can end up updating all of the packages on your system at once, which of course is dependent on your network speed / sometimes compile time, but for me it can take around 10-15 minutes in that case. On a slow network, with a laptop CPU.

But you get atomic rollbacks so any breaking changes can be rolled back just by rebooting and selecting a different build.