Sailfish Community News, 14th December, Nix

[robang74]

@vige

NixOS is an interesting Linux distribution that’s been around for a while but seems to have picked up a lot of momentum recently. The twelth law of tech states that all aspiring software ecosystems must define themselves in three words. In the case of NixOS these three words are: reproducible, declarative, reliable. But it’s also a Linux distribution with both standard and mobile variants.

Which supports PinePhone and PinePhone Pro but not PinePhone Tab and none of the device from Sony on which SailFish OS runs.

• Devices List — Mobile NixOS

However, once a boot image with recovering tools are running based on Sony Open Device Program AOSP can boot a Sony device included in that program, then any GNU/Linux distribution could also be installed on it and run on it. The next two steps to complete the job is to integrate one mobile UI among many available and develop a system configuration manager.

This is also true for the PinePhone Tab which recently has been ported on Sailfish OS.

@vige

But readers of this newsletter are interested in Sailfish OS, so why would I be writing about NixOS? Apart from being a fully fledged Linux distribution, NixOS is built around a versatile package management system — the Nix Package Manager — that can be installed on other distributions. And that’s exactly what Yann Büchau ( nobodyinperson ) did recently on his Sailfish OS phone. He then went on to write about his experiences here on the forum.

Because it has a system configuration manager natively as a pillar of its architecture:

Nix is a tool that takes a unique approach to package management and system configuration.

@vige

The tedious process of making his apps available also feeds in to his route to using NixOS. We’ll come back to that, but first let’s look at why Nix is important outside of Sailfish OS. Although Nix is already over 20 years old, it’s been gaining a lot of traction recently in scientific circles as a way to achieve reproducible research. I ask Yann why that’s important.

Unfortunately, about SFOS applications - making his apps available - it is not the only tedious task for a modern mobile OS which aims to privacy and security. Therefore porting Nix Package Manager on Sailfish OS is not enough and move the SailFish UI to the mobile NixOS would kill all the apps ecosystem which requires SFOS binary compatibility.

@vige

Yann highlights the fact that the Nix shell won’t interact with any of your existing Sailfish OS software unless you explicitly ask it to.

Nix packages are completely isolated from Sailfish OS and bring their own libraries. Sailfish OS doesn’t even know about the Nix-installed packages as they reside in non-standard locations. No danger here.

In other words Nix Package Manager on SFOS lose its best feature being a system configuration manager. In fact, he wrote:

@vige

I use my Sailfish OS as an extension to my laptops and desktops. Having the identical toolset available is crucial. With Nix, this works!

Which means that now SFOS limitations are working on another device instead of the beauty of NIX is fully working on SFOS.

Ok, I accept that TRANSITION times are hard and sometimes messy but I cannot still see any system architecture design here that would bring anywhere in a reasonable time with a reasonable effort.

Just let me ask a question.

All these independent attempts puzzled together like a patchwork blanket to avoid accepting the sad true that the only valuable part of SFOS is its UI which cannot run on a modern and secure [1] Linux distro even if that distro might be installed on a Sony device and the only way to fulfill this gap is to release that UI under open-source license and publish its code?

Conclusion

Advancing slowly for an open-source community is fine not for a business. As long as, there is a clearly and precise direction to go forward. Here, I do not see anything like that but I accept that it can be my fault. A system redesign (because refactoring word has been just taken) plan has been published somewhere?

Moreover, SFOS is not open-source and that is its main problem: SFOS evolution is limited by the Jollyboy Oy team best effort [2]. NIX package manager will not solve any of the SFOS issues but just allow some technically skilled people to have their Linux application running effortlessly on their SFOS smartphone [3].

Another question, for @nobodyinperson

Which is great but then why SFOS apart its UI?

Notes

[1] because the best choice here is CentOS 8 which does not fit into the “modern and secure” Linux distro definition because its support is ceased and moving on a CentOS 9 is required at the expense that every SFOS might need to be rebuild. Nix package manger on SFOS would solve this? Nope.

[2] all the effort included into the Repository roundup is meaningless because it could - then it should - be avoided adopting a community driven Linux Distribution which can be CentOS because binary convergence with 8 to upgrade to 9 or NixOS mobile because its configuration manager but in this latter case say “goodby” to the SFOS app ecosystem unless rebuilding all the apps and moving into NixOS which NixOS people might will to do, but only if the SFOS UI will be published open-source.

[3] In fact, after having check the related post my guess was right:

@lolek

Sadly in my life I had the oportunity to work with nix and nixos and honestly I see literaly zero benefits and more negative problems with it on SailfshOS. One of the biggest is the space requirements, second is the learning curve for newcomers.

@nobodyinperson

Well then, easy solution for you: don’t use nix on SailfishOS.