Jake Hamilton (@jakehamilton@hachyderm.io)
bytes.programming.dev
UPDATE: We now have a forum https://forum.aux.computer/ I like #Nix, I do not like what has happened to it. #NixOS is an incredible technology and it deserves better. Nobody else has started the process so I guess I have to be the one to do it. We are forking. I would rather try and fail alongside all the people who love Nix but were pushed away from the project than give up. https://aux.computer/

I just saw the news of the soft fork announcement over on the IceShrimp instance and thought I should share here

Background Context for Anyone Out of the Loop

(newest to oldest news - top to bottom):

As mentioned (by u/steventrouble in the previous post here):

    • therealjcdenton@lemmy.zipEnglish
      2·
      7 months ago

      You see if it was closed sourced it would be the end, but because its open and is actually really useful, it’ll be picked up by a new team

    • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      TL;DR the nix community forums are toxic from all sides

      There’s been a spout between core contributors + the foundation vs a loud portion of the community. Some related to code, but from what I’ve seen, the loudest have been about social issues and values.

      It all boiled over when a military contractor wanted to join the list of sponsors for one of the conferences (upcoming on in USA?). That caused a lot of tension, the foundation came to a decision not to accept sponsorship and tried to put sponsorship rules in place for future sponsors. These were however perceived as too blurry by some parts of the community as they wouldn’t prevent such a situation from happening again.

      In the aftermath, a frequent contributor (John something?) was suspended and we’re now here.

      On top of everything an open letter was released targeting the creator of nix (Eelco Dolstra). They claim his benevolent dictatorship is not so benevolent and accuse him of multiple things.

      There are people who just get on with writing code and are very helpful in the forums and other community channels, but the, let’s call it “management style”, of some people on the project is not beyond reproach. Big egos and a mix of bringing in issues external to the project has made the forums become a very unfun place to be.

      Edited to clarify that they actually did accept sponsorship from the defense contractor.

      Anti Commercial-AI license

  • spartanatreyu@programming.devEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    As an outsider looking in, it looks like it’s a bit of a wipe the slate clean governance and moderation wise as voted on by the community.

    So, now over the coming days the community will in essence vote on whether they will allow sponsorships from the military industrial complex.

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      I’m still not entirely sure what’s happening. I get the one guy who works for Anduril was suspended a few days ago for being toxic, but did the community side with him or not? The subreddit sure seems to be siding with him, but something tells me that may not something to be proud of.

      Was this split about trying to get away from Anduril or because they didn’t care for the moderation that suspended the guy from Anduril?

      • ericjmorey@programming.devEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        Seems like political tensions stemming from developments with situations Israel/Gaza/Iran and Ukraine have piqued the discontentment over accepting donations from organizations that profit from contracts with the US DoD.

        The lead developer/organizer of the NixOS project seems to be pro authoritarian in their political values and this has also lead to an uneasiness amongst a number of contributors although things seem to be civil overall.

        It seems that the “toxic” behavior from Hamilton was derailing technical discussions over concerns about the funding from military contractors.

        I may have got some of this wrong, but it seems that everyone involved is trying not to draw attention to the broader political aspect of the schism in the community. So people out of the loop are having trouble figuring out what is going on.

    • Jake Hamilton@hachyderm.io
      1·
      7 months ago

      @onlinepersona @recursive_recursion I don’t think we need to spend time bikeshedding the name. As for the reasons I chose it:

      - it is short
      - similar to nix
      - is short for “auxiliary” which can be used to mean “another”, “additional”, “secondary”, “separate”; so it being a separate nix ecosystem lines up

      • Nate Cox@programming.devEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        The SEO on this name is going to be a major irritation for adoption.

        But that aside, doesn’t it strike you as a concerning that this project is born at least in part from the complaints about a “benevolent dictator”, and the very first time—at least that I’ve seen—someone asks you to put something up for community consensus you say no?