NixOS is an operating system where everything from the Kernel, applications, system packages, and configuration files are built by the OS’s own Nix package manager. These packages are stored in isolation from one another because of which directories like /bin, /sbin, /lib are absent, and a separate directory /nix/store is maintained.
Due to this, NixOS aims at providing great system configuration management. The latest version of the OS NixOS 20.09 brings many important and subtle changes to the mix.
The OS also includes reliable upgrades, rollbacks, source-based models with binaries, system configurations, and multi-user package management. Nixpkgs is a source distribution that allows you to modify any package locally. Let’s look at what’s new in NixOS 20.09 Nightingale
This release adds over 7000, updates 14442, and removes 8181 packages. One of the major additions is: the OS now ships a separate GNOME ISO.
NixOS 20.09 Changes:
- GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) 9.2.0 updated to 9.3.0 and Glibc from 2.30 to 2.31
- Mesa 19.3.5 graphics library updated to 20.1.7
- Plasma5 => 5.17.5 to 5.18.5
- GNOME3 => 3.34 to 3.36. Cinnamon added at 4.6
- KDEApplications => 19.12.3 to 20.08.1
Additionally, a lot of programming languages like PHP and Python were also updated. There are also many more module changes — more about that here.
Due to nixpkgs version-controlled, cached, and shared builds and configurations, it is one of the best Linux Distros for Developers. Head over to the official NixOS website to download the OS.
