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

[Peter Simons]

Hi Eelco,

if you bear with me for a second, I'd like to explain where I'm coming
from.

I have contributed to Nix regularly for the last 4 years. According to
the stats at Github, I've submitted an average of 1.6 commits per day
over that entire period of time. I'm not saying that because want to
imply that the value of anyone's contribution ought to be measured by
the number of commits. All I'm saying is that I have been very involved
in Nix. I have dedicated a lot of time working on this project. By now,
I have installed Nix on well over a hundred different machines. Every
machine I own runs NixOS. Every server I rely on runs NixOS. Every
workstation I use has Nix installed. I am a very happy Nix user, and I
admire the work you have done creating it. I want Nix to be successful.

Some of the machines that I use cannot compile big packages. So I've
relied on Hydra to provide binaries for them. Furthermore, I've been
relying on my ability to modify the package set that Hydra builds and
provides binaries for. I sort of assumed: if there is some problem, I'll
commit a fix, and a couple of hours later I'll have binaries for every
machine.

Arguably, it was a bad idea to rely on the infrastructure from Delft to
that extend. But, well, it worked great for the last couple of years, so
I didn't even realize the extend to which I am relying on it.

Then, one day, I wake up and find my access to that infrastructure is
gone. I can no longer commit, and consequently I can't utilize Hydra
either. Duh! If I would have known that this is going to happen, say 1
day in advance, then I could have set up Hydra myself and make sure that
my working environment isn't affected in any way, but I had no chance to
do that because my access to the Nix infrastructure disappeared without
prior warning.

What I am saying is that after 4 years of continuous work on Nix, I have
a significant investment in this project, and changes that are made to
this project affect me personally and professionally in ways that may
not be obvious to the person who is making that change.

Now, it is true that the move to Github was announced well ahead of time
and everyone knew about it. However, no-one I have talked to knew that
this move would make all developer accounts disappear. That detail feels
significant, and it would have been a good idea to communicate that fact
to make sure everyone in the community has a chance to prepare for that
situation.

I appreciate that you intended to try a different development model.
That's fine with me, but it would have been really nice if we -- the
developers -- could have been informed about a sweeping change such as
this one before it actually happens.

Can you see why I am kind-of unhappy right now? Can you emphasize with
my feeling of disappointment? Or do you think that my perception is
unreasonable?

Take care,
Peter