Recent searches
Search options
"Immutable Linux distros work like your phone"
Buddy, I fucking hate my phone and how it works. I am constantly fighting it. Why would I want my PC to be this way, too?
@codemonkeymike@fosstodon.org@cinimodev hahaha. Well the good parts.of your phone. Youve never had an android update go sideways and make your phone unbootable
But yes, nobody wants a phone experience UI wise
@codemonkeymike 
I hear ya, but it's also how the OS works, too. For example, I want apps to access data but only some parts of my system are available. I'm constantly struggling with why app can't access directory. Just one example.
I've tried immutable OS's and it feels like someone else is making decisions for me and I can't stop them, which is how I feel using my phone, too.
@cinimodev well that's why NixOS is the only real option. You decide what's in that immutable image. So evruthuhg can access everything if you want.
I've also hated other immutable distros
@codemonkeymike I haven't tried Nix yet, just hasn't hit the right cords for my brain. I'm also not a dev, so I don't think about things like infra as code, etc. You're gonna have to show me a config I can try!
@cinimodev i got you!.that was my whole talk at linuxfest NW
@cinimodev @codemonkeymike Out of curiousity, are immutable Linux distros essentially taking functional programming to the OS level?
Because that sounds nightmarish.
@AT1ST @cinimodev no.. thats not the way I take it.
If you're familiar with Docker Compose.. imagine a Docker Compose file for your entire computer.
I wrote a short article on this a couple years ago, and it's all still fully true.
https://medium.com/the-gray-area/why-do-people-love-nixos-so-much-a60c363b2b94
@codemonkeymike @cinimodev Interesting, but I can definitely see "/nix/store/" absolutely getting on my nerves - I already find myself ripping my hair out over Windows programs that insist on installing part, if not all of themselves, on my C drive, even when I explicitly set the installation folder to E drive.
@codemonkeymike @cinimodev I've had an Android update remove critical basic communication functionality I depended on (SIP) and require me to go see out klunky 3p apps to replace it.
@dalias @codemonkeymike @cinimodev That's because the vendor decided so. In that regard, Linux distros could do the same thing to you regardless of being immutable or not. However, an Android upgrade entirely nuking your device is, by design, less probable than an Ubuntu upgrade doing so (at least, from what I understand about A/B upgrades and immutability)
@ailepet @codemonkeymike @cinimodev However you can downgrade them (component wise not just the whole system).
@dalias @codemonkeymike @cinimodev To be clear, removal of functionality is independent from immutability. Your traditional non-immutable Windows desktop computer could receive a non-immutable Windows update which removes some functionality you depend on from Windows.