My Journey to NixOS

nixos adoption Switched the secondary machine (Dell Inspiron 3501) to NixOS after stints with Arch, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, and Bazzite. Drawn by the declarative configuration model — the entire system described in code, reproducible from a Git repo. The learning curve was steep: Nix's functional, lazily-evaluated expression language is unlike anything in typical sysadmin work. The module system was the main source of early frustration — options nest, attributes merge, and things that look compatible sometimes aren't. Eventually it clicked, and the config-as-documentation model became the primary appeal. Rollback support changed how willing I was to experiment — worst case is a failed build and the system sits on the previous generation.