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FAQ: why are flakes controversial #546

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Jun 26, 2023
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FAQ: why are flakes controversial #546

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concept: why are flakes controversial
fricklerhandwerk May 11, 2023
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slightly expand on regressions
fricklerhandwerk Jun 26, 2023
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mention lack of major version bump on regressions
fricklerhandwerk Jun 26, 2023
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18 changes: 18 additions & 0 deletions source/concepts/flakes.md
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Expand Up @@ -40,3 +40,21 @@ Nix handles flakes differently than regular {term}`Nix file`s in the following w
- No external variables, parameters, or impure language values are allowed.

It means full reproducibility of a Nix expression, and, by extension, the resulting build instructions by default, but also prohibits parameterisation of results by consumers.

## Why are flakes controversial?

Originally proposed in [RFC 49](https://github.com/NixOS/rfcs/pull/49), flakes have been in development since 2019.
Nix introduced the implementation as its first [experimental feature] in 2021.

The subject is considered controversial among Nix users and developers in terms of design, development processes, and community governance.
In particular:
- The RFC was closed without conclusion, and some design and implementation issues are not yet resolved.
Examples include the notion of a global [flake registry], the [impossibility of parameterising flakes](https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/2861), and implementations of the new command line interface and flakes being [closely tied](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/2023-03-06-nix-team-meeting-minutes-38/26056#cli-stabilisation-announcement-draft-4).
- The original implementation introduced [regressions](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nix-2-4-and-what-s-next/16257) in the [Nix 2.4 release](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/release-notes/rl-2.4.html).
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- New Nix users were and still are encouraged by various individuals to adopt flakes despite there being no concrete plan or timeline for stabilisation.

This led to a situation where the stable interface was only sparsely maintained for multiple years, and repeatedly suffered breakages due to ongoing development.
Meanwhile, the new interface was adopted widely enough for evolving its design without negatively affecting users to become very challenging.

As of the [2022 community survey](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/2022-nix-survey-results/18983), more than half of the user base, a third of which were relative beginners, relied on experimental features.
{term}`Nixpkgs` as a contrasting example, while featuring a `flake.nix` for compatibility, does not depend on Nix experimental features in its code base.