[Nix-dev] Announcing free-nix: the free Linux distribution based on the Nix package manager

[Peter Simons]

Hi guys,

it is my pleasure to announce the free-nix project, which aims to provide a
user- and developer-friendly free Linux distribution based on the Nix package
manager. The project is hosted on Github at

  http://github.com/free-nix

and it offers two repositories:

 - pkgs         is a database of free software packages that can be installed
                with the Nix package manager.

 - os           is a ready-to-use Linux distribution that supports many
                different architectures, including i686 and x86_64.

Now, you may wonder: what is free-nix's unique selling point? Why is that
project beneficial to anyone in the presence of the already established NixOS
and Nixpkgs projects?

The answers are:

 - free-nix is managed strictly based on democratic principles. There are no
   project "owners", and everyone's opinion is equally good. Decisions are made
   by the MAJORITY, and the majority is determined by PUBLIC VOTING.

 - free-nix has a positive attitude towards contributors. This project is based
   on the notion that people generally have good intentions and know what they
   are doing. We don't believe that people should be "guided" by a technocratic
   oligarchy, but they should be EMPOWERED to live out their creativity with as
   little restrictions as possible.

The initial setup procedure works as follows: everyone who has previously
contributed to Nix, NixOS, or Nixpkgs is entitled to become an owner of the
free-nix organization in Github. All you have to do is contact me and tell me
your Github user name. Naturally, this gives you full access to the Git
repositories and the ability to administer the project.

We'll wait a couple of days for things to settle down, and then the group of
people that comes out of this process is going to constitute itself as a
community by jointly creating a SOCIAL CONTRACT that determines the project's
goals, policies, and procedures.

Best regards,
Peter