nixos: quote the response

content/log/2023/nixos-subjective.md

@@ -12,47 +12,48 @@ things I did with NixOS. After publishing the post, my friend promptly asked:
 
 Here is my response:
 
-My journey to NixOS has been bumpy ride: it's been over a year since I looked
+> My journey to NixOS has been bumpy ride: it's been over a year since I looked
-at first, and I still sometimes feel I did not escape the beginner level. The
+> at first, and I still sometimes feel I did not escape the beginner level. The
-learning curve is steep, and it is best to take it on gently or have a good
+> learning curve is steep, and it is best to take it on gently or have a good
-mentor nearby. I started by installing NixOS on my primary laptop, which was a
+> mentor nearby. I started by installing NixOS on my primary laptop, which was
-mistake. The annoyance of "I can do this in Debian in 5 seconds, and I am an
+> a mistake. The annoyance of "I can do this in Debian in 5 seconds, and I am
-hour in without an end of sight in this thing" was very discouraging at times.
+> an hour in without an end of sight in this thing" was very discouraging at
-
+> times.
-I reinstalled my laptop back to Debian and took a few slow months to provision
+>
-2 personal servers (the thing that's detailed in the blog). Taking it slow has
+> I reinstalled my laptop back to Debian and took a few slow months to
-been fantastic experience. The folks in Matrix are very helpful where
+> provision 2 personal servers (the thing that's detailed in the blog). Taking
-documentation, especially high-level, is patchy. Now I feel comfortable enough
+> it slow has been fantastic experience. The folks in Matrix are very helpful
-to retry NixOS on my laptop again.
+> where documentation, especially high-level, is patchy. Now I feel comfortable
-
+> enough to retry NixOS on my laptop again.
-Recently I realized that what I originally perceived as immaturity later turned
+>
-out lack of knowledge and/or lack of high-level documentation. Technicals are
+> Recently I realized that what I originally perceived as immaturity later
-good. Granted, I have found some bugs (though trivially [fixed][nixos-prs]),
+> turned out lack of knowledge and/or lack of high-level documentation.
-but they mostly come from the power to configure it and thus the huge surface
+> Technicals are good. Granted, I have found some bugs (though trivially
-area. Also, variety does not help: for example, there are [10 deployment
+> [fixed][nixos-prs]), but they mostly come from the power to configure it and
-tools][deployment-tools] in the wiki ("nixops related" counts too). It is hard
+> thus the huge surface area. Also, variety does not help: for example, there
-to choose when I don't know what to expect, much less know what's possible. It
+> are [10 deployment tools][deployment-tools] in the wiki ("nixops related"
-is also nontrivial to ask for a "high-level" advice: a beginner will just tell
+> counts too). It is hard to choose when I don't know what to expect, much less
-their favorite system, not knowing the trade-offs or alternatives. An expert
+> know what's possible. It is also nontrivial to ask for a "high-level" advice:
-will tell "depends on what you want to do". Moving beyond such answer requires
+> a beginner will just tell their favorite system, not knowing the trade-offs
-time and a beverage, which brings it's own constraints. In this concrete case,
+> or alternatives. An expert will tell "depends on what you want to do". Moving
-I spent quite some time learning krops, which later turned out to be a
+> beyond such answer requires time and a beverage, which brings it's own
-dead-end. Later moved to deploy-rs, which turned out to be a good decision so
+> constraints. In this concrete case, I spent quite some time learning krops,
-far.
+> which later turned out to be a dead-end. Later moved to deploy-rs, which
-
+> turned out to be a good decision so far.
-As far as recommendations go. For smaller companies, especially where
+>
-developers are also taking care of operations/deployments/infrastructure, I
+> As far as recommendations go. For smaller companies, especially where
-can't recommend NixOS enough. For medium-large size companies it would
+> developers are also taking care of operations/deployments/infrastructure, I
-certainly bring a lot of value (I can already see how many things mine or my
+> can't recommend NixOS enough. For medium-large size companies it would
-sister-team at Uber had to re-implement which come out of the box in NixOS),
+> certainly bring a lot of value (I can already see how many things mine or my
-but, like with anything that has a different paradigm, requires a mentality
+> sister-team at Uber had to re-implement which come out of the box in NixOS),
-shift, which may be very hard organizationally.
+> but, like with anything that has a different paradigm, requires a mentality
-
+> shift, which may be very hard organizationally.
-There is at least one large-ish company I know that uses NixOS
+>
-([proof][canva]). I did not look, I found it by accident. I also know a few
+> There is at least one large-ish company I know that uses NixOS
-folks in Tweag; their primary consulting stream is helping companies onboard to
+> ([proof][canva]). I did not look, I found it by accident. I also know a few
-Bazel and/or Nix. They won't tell who they are, but there are "quite a few, of
+> folks in Tweag; their primary consulting stream is helping companies onboard
-different sizes, flying under the radar".
+> to Bazel and/or Nix. They won't tell who they are, but there are "quite a
+> few, of different sizes, flying under the radar".
 
 [nixos-prs]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Amotiejus+is%3Aclosed
 [deployment-tools]: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Applications#Deployment