> but rather the package manager ("npm" or "pip" or similar) should do so on a system-wide basis.
I basically agree with this. With the caveat that programs should not use any system search paths and packages should be hardlinked into the project directory structure from a centralized cache. This also means that a dev version looks identical to a centralized version - both are just directories within the project.
Kind of, but not really. Nix is extremely complicated. Programs / projects including their dependencies is exceedingly simple.
Also, Windows is my primary dev environment. Any solution must work cross-platform and cross-distro. Telling everyone to use a specific distro is not a solution.
It is complicated... but honestly I have found claude 3.5 to just 'fix it'. So you hardly have to spend much time spelunking. You just give it all your dependencies and tell it what you want. It'll whip up a working flake in a few iterations. Kinda magic. So yeah when you can abstract out the complexity it moves the needle enough to make it worth it.
I basically agree with this. With the caveat that programs should not use any system search paths and packages should be hardlinked into the project directory structure from a centralized cache. This also means that a dev version looks identical to a centralized version - both are just directories within the project.