NixOS is an independently developed Linux distribution that aims to improve the state of the art in system configuration management. Built on top of the Nix package manager, it uses declarative configuration and allows reliable system upgrades. Two main branches are offered: current Stable release and Unstable following latest development.
Although NixOS started as a research project, it is a fully functional and usable operating system.
NixOS is DevOps friendly and has tools dedicated to deployment tasks.
NixOS started as a research project by Eelco Dolstra in 2003.
In 2015 the NixOS foundation was started to help projects supporting the purely functional deployment model like NixOS.
In NixOS, the entire operating system — the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on — is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a functional build language. It means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations.
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Across the vein of night
There cuts a path of searing light
Burning like a beacon
On the edges of our sight
At the point of total darkness
And the lights divine divide
A soul can let its shadow stretch
And land on either side --
either side.
And balanced on the precipice
The moment must reveal
Naked in the face of time
Our race within the wheel
As we hang beneath the heavens
And we hover over hell
Our hearts become the instruments
We learn to play so well.
Wealthy the spirit that knows its
own flight
Stealthy the hunter who slays
his own fright
Blessed the traveler who journeys
the length of the light.
Outside the pull of gravity
Beyond the spectral veil
Within our careful reasoning
We search to no avail
For the constant in the chaos
For the fulcrum in the void
Following a destiny
Our steps cannot avoid.
Across the vein of night
There cuts a path of searing light
Burning like a beacon
On the edges of our sight
At the point of total darkness
And the lights divine divide
A soul can let its shadow
Stretch and land on either side.
Wealthy the spirit that knows its
own flight
Stealthy the hunter who slays
his own fright
Blessed the traveler who journeys
the length of the light.
In a spiral never-ending
Are we drawn towards the source
Spinning at the mercy of an
unrelenting force
So we stare into the emptiness
and fall beneath the weight
Circling the Nexus in a
fevered dance with fate --
Wealthy the spirit that knows its
own flight
Stealthy the hunter who slays
his own fright
Blessed the traveler who journeys