We’re pleased to introduce a new initiative we’ve been working on: Nix@NGI. This working group is centered around the idea of improving how open source software operates, with a focus on reliability and ease of use.
The background and details of this project are explained in more depth in our initial post on the Nix Discourse. You can read it here: Nix Discourse Initial Post. For those who’d like to dig into the technical aspects, the project’s GitHub repository is available here: Project GitHub.
We’d appreciate your feedback—have you undertaken similar efforts or encountered challenges we should be aware of? Let’s share insights and build connections through our experiences!
@idabzo looks like you’ve got some money to work, learn and meet. That’s very nice. Bit still you’ve got money from the state, and that means the help is politicized, so no way for me to participate.
Anyway, if you want my honest opinion, Nix doesn’t work. So for example you need to have two versions of PostreSQL installed for development - 13 and 14. How do you switch between them and upgrade minor versions? There are a couple of cryptic file formats, and a ton of overly excited people, but no things like this:
# install both versions and make later active
onix install postrgres@13 postgres@14
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and engaging with us.
While it’s true that this project operates within the broader framework of the NGI Zero initiative—focused on promoting European values such as transparency, inclusivity, and democratic participation in IT—our role is to implement the associated deliverables in ways that serve the entire community. We’re committed to ensuring that the tools and practices we build reflect these principles while remaining practical and impactful for all users, regardless of political stance.
We understand the specific concern raised, and while it’s not directly within the scope of this project, we believe our efforts will provide a foundation that empowers the NixOS ecosystem as a whole. By fostering collaboration and innovation, we hope to help developers address such challenges more effectively in the future.
Your feedback plays a crucial role in shaping our work, and we’re grateful for your insights. Thank you again for taking the time to share your perspective—it’s invaluable to us.
Let’s help your group produce something useful to a single person, and then scale it.
I started with two specific problems, which need to addressed.
Not all contributors are welcome. If some government points that some nations are bad, people are expected to treat them badly. Otherwise it is “reputation risks” to work with them.
For actual NGI I need to run two versions of PostgreSQL side by side. It is unclear to me why there is still no easy solution to this problem.
So the challenge here is when people receive funding, it is one more responsibility (and a huge one), so they start prioritizing things differently. Spinning question / avoiding direct answers is not really the open source way, but that’s what overloaded people do when they need to maintain their reputation to preserve the money flow.
Scaling. At first I thought - give me 1 token, and then scale it to 1000 participants, but now I think there is a fundamental communication problem that needs to be fixed, and that would lead to scale of positive outcome.
Thank you for your thoughtful and candid comments. I truly appreciate the time and effort you’ve taken to share your perspective.
You’ve raised some important points that highlight the complexity of the challenges we face, both within the Nix ecosystem and the broader open-source community. I completely understand the concerns regarding government involvement and the implications it may have on collaboration and inclusivity. It’s an ongoing challenge to ensure that everyone feels welcome, regardless of their background, and I agree that we need to focus on creating an environment that fosters open dialogue and cooperation.
Regarding your PostgreSQL example, I acknowledge the frustration you’ve expressed with the lack of an easy solution for managing multiple versions. While this particular issue might not be directly addressed within the current scope of the NGI initiative, we certainly recognize the need for more practical tools to simplify such use cases. Your feedback is invaluable, and I will bring it to the attention of the team for consideration in future development efforts.
I also agree that scaling positive outcomes in the Nix community requires clear and effective communication. It’s crucial that we address foundational issues before scaling solutions, and I’m committed to ensuring that our work remains focused on both practical impact and the long-term growth of the ecosystem.
Thank you again for engaging with us and for your constructive input. It’s through conversations like this that we can continue to improve and build a better future for the Nix project.