• camr_on@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’m not super clear on what being declarative and atomic means in an OS context. Does it mean there’s a file describing what packages are installed, kind of like nix?

    • governorkeagan@lemdro.id
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      6 months ago

      I am no expert, please correct me if I’m wrong

      From what I understand, it’s like Nix but Arch based. The /system.yaml file contains all of the packages installed on the system.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Also it’s the worst when you download an operating system and you realize that it’s mutable

        You’re like “oh no I did not want the mutable one I wanted the immutable one”

        I know what all words mean

    • mhague@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It’s new to me, I think it’s saying that your system is built up by you declaring what you want in a file, a single source that everything comes from.

      It’s atomic because each action the system takes is carefully completed rather than bailing out and requiring you to fix something.

      It’s immutable meaning you declare how you want things to be set up and then critical changes stem from those declarations and nothing else. You would obviously generate preferences, save data, etc. but the files that make the system / packages work are carefully locked.

      It’s like the concept of flatpaks + structured system defining + modern common sense OS operations?