Why I love NixOS

Summary

22 Mar 2026 What I love about NixOS has less to do with Linux and more to do with the Nix package manager. To me, NixOS is the operating system artifact of a much more important idea: a deterministic and reproducible functional package manager. That is the core of why I love NixOS. It is not distro branding that I care about. It is the fact that I can construct a whole operating system as a deterministic result of feeding Nix DSL to Nix and then rebuild it, change it bit by bit, and roll it back if I do not like the result. I love NixOS because most operating systems slowly turn into a pile of state. You install packages, tweak settings, try random tools, remove some of them, upgrade over time and after a while you have a machine that works but not in a way that you can confidently explain from first principles. NixOS felt very different to me. I do not have to trust a pile of state. I can define a system and build it. I love NixOS because I can specify the whole OS including the packages I need and the configuration in one declarative setup. That one place aspect matters to me more than it might sound at first. I do not have to chase package choices in one place, desktop settings in another place and keyboard behavior somewhere else. Below are a couple of small Nix DSL examples. environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ gnomeExtensions.dash-to-dock gnomeExtensions.unite gnomeExtensions.appindicator libappindicator ]; services.desktopManager.gnome.extraGSettingsOverrides = '' [org.gnome.shell] enabled-extensions=['dash-to-dock@gnome-shell-extensions.gcampax.github.com', 'unite@hardpixel.eu', 'appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com'] [org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock] dock-position='BOTTOM' autohide=true dock-fixed=false extend-height=false transparency-mode='FIX' ''; Key mapping per keyboard: services.keyd = { enable = true; keyboards = { usb_keyboard = { ids = [ "usb:kb" ]; settings.main = { leftcontrol = "leftmeta"; leftmeta = "leftcontrol"; rightalt = "rig...