I like the idea of nixOS and will definitely try it in the future to see how portable I can make the setup be (hopefully a couple of files that can configure the entire machine).
But the only thing in my mind that is stopping it not being the absolute almost perfection of a tech-savy distro is the reliance of systemd, which has software that I as a user will never going to touch which adds unnecessary bloat to the init (also more unnecessary attack vectors). And if I really needed to have some of the systemd programs, there are replacements out there that do the job that can be later installed when needed, like having log files and stuff.
What do you think of some day seeing a fork of nixOS that uses other init systems and works well? Or is it just me that likes this idea? Like a voidish nixOS 🤔
You need to take a look at Artix Linux first before considering this. They offer four different init systems, including runit, s6, dinit, and openrc. The Artix devs have done a lot of work creating service scripts that interact with many common packages. They also have done integrated eudev and have created an elogind alternative called seatd in a push to remove systemd from their distro.
I’m not on NixOS (I use Artix with runit), but imho if you’re going to take on creating another systemd-less distro, Artix is the one to take inspiration from. They simply have done it better than the others (Devuan, Void) imho.
I personally would be interested in seeing a NixOS fork without systemd, solely because it sounds intriguing. But I’ll admit it sounds like it would be a pain to maintain.