I tried NixOS in a VM a while back and I found it pretty confusing. I liked the idea of having a configuration file that describes the packages installed in the system. The first thing I did was use the CLI to install Firefox, then I found that it didn't update my nix config, nor did there seem to be a CLI command to say "install this and add it to my config".
Instead, it seemed that I had to manually update the nix config. Then, I had to learn the syntax of the language. Then when I figured out the basic, I added Firefox, but it required me to add some parameters (I don't remember the specifics) but I couldn't find any explanation about what those should be for the Firefox package.
I don't understand why they don't have tooling (or didn't at the time) to update your nix config for you.
If they want to convert people over to their way of doing things they have to lower the barriers to entry substantially.
There is a global config and a user-specific one. So every user can install (without root) their set of packages and their PATH will be changed accordingly.
You probably tried to add firefox to your local one - which should be good enough. I wouldn’t really want a program to auto-update the global configurarion.nix
Instead, it seemed that I had to manually update the nix config. Then, I had to learn the syntax of the language. Then when I figured out the basic, I added Firefox, but it required me to add some parameters (I don't remember the specifics) but I couldn't find any explanation about what those should be for the Firefox package.
I don't understand why they don't have tooling (or didn't at the time) to update your nix config for you.
If they want to convert people over to their way of doing things they have to lower the barriers to entry substantially.