I have Nix installs on two computers and have moved one of them twice to different hardware. Works, as it says, on the side of the tin.
BUUUUT... It's a bear to get under control. It adds a lot complexity to things that should be simple, it makes some things nearly impossible, and then makes really hugely difficult things cake.
for example, one of a thousands things I want to do that's easy
If I want to run parsec client. (there is no server available sadly)
nix search nixpkgs parsec
- legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.parsec-bin (150_97c) Remote streaming service client
nix-shell -p parsec-bin #ephemeral install, puts it in the store but only links it for this shell
done! Let's start it!
parsec
parsec: command not found
parsec-bin
parsec-bin: command not found
parsec-client
parsec-client: command not found
google: nixos parsec
a million ways to run parsec but none from the package manager
google: nixos packages->https://search.nixos.org/packages
https://search.nixos.org/packages
parsec-bin
nothing about how to run it
but there are at least notes about how to install it permanently
so you plow through /nix/store looking for parsec, 4 minutes later
parsecd
they could have just included that in the docs, but nope...
Honestly, I really enjoy it, it feels like I'm in slackware back in the 90's completely lost and confused learning everything new, and moving an install from box to box with a home directory sync and two files? chef's kiss
Figuring out why a rebuild isn't working is pain. Figuring out why an update won't run, is pain.
ohh and you only get a month after a major release to install it before they stop putting in security updates for the previous version. And historically all the revisions before 25.05 were generally not just one and done. 24.11 ended up with me doing a wipe, fresh install, restoring my home folder and slowly easing parts of configuration.nix back in one rebuild at a time. but to be fair, they've been fighting wayland for a while now.
My desktops are Nix, my servers are Debian.