[Nix-dev] nix-shell pro/con (was: Python 3 as default)

[Profpatsch]

On 17-02-15 09:10pm, Ricardo M. Correia wrote:
> Personally, I try to avoid using "nix-shell" as much as possible because I
> want "nixos-rebuild switch" to atomically install (and upgrade) all the
> software that I usually need, including development packages.
> 
> With nix-shell, I risk having the packages I need become outdated (without
> me noticing) and/or become garbage collected (which I do every day
> automatically) and unavailable if I lose Internet access (e.g. because I'm
> traveling).

I think you are confusing nix-env and nix-shell; nix-shell can’t have
“outdated” packages, it will use what you specify.

packages being not cached is a largely orthogonal problem;
for example it would be quite easy to create a script that fetches
the nix-shell deps for all your projects and creates a folder with
gc-roots.

For long-running projects I use `git worktree` to have a stable
checkout. If you want to get fancy you could set up a hydra
if you want to follow e.g. stable with your own patches applied.

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