NixOS Fork Announced by Jake Hamilton - eviltoast
Jake Hamilton (@jakehamilton@hachyderm.io)
bytes.programming.dev
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):

  • spartanatreyu@programming.devEnglish
    231·
    6 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
      12·
      6 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
        12·
        6 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.

    • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
      231·
      6 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

  • gomp@lemmy.mlEnglish
    91·
    6 months ago

    IDK about the issue itself but I must say the discourse post does a mighty good job at explaining the reasons the guy was NOT suspended for and a really terrible one at explaining what they actually did suspend him for, except pissing off “the moderation team, in consultation with members of the Foundation board”.

    • XTL@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      6·
      6 months ago

      Not to mention every auxiliary anything. Another completely idiotic and unsearchable “name”.

  • refalo@programming.devEnglish
    2·
    6 months ago

    I do not like distributed, community-driven leadership. The more leadership is shared, the more arguments there are, and the less gets done.

    I would rather have a strong dictatorship focused on technical merit, to be deposed in the future for another dictator, again, based on technical merit.

  • Solar Bear@slrpnk.netEnglish
    2·
    6 months ago

    I’m not sold on the name, but I’m definitely interested in the fork. I think there is an irreconcilable schism in the NixOS community that cannot be fixed unless the Benevolent Dictator steps down as leader, and it sure seems like he’s not gonna do that, as he’s built his entire company on top of NixOS.