Some notes on nix flakes

The author, initially skeptical about Nix flakes, embarked on a journey to understand their utility, drawing parallels to Docker containers for conceptual clarity. While acknowledging flakes' superiority in reproducibility and dependency management, the author aimed to utilize them for maintaining a centralized list of system packages, seeking advantages in system setup and software uninstallation. Through a process of trial and error, the author navigated challenges like untracked files in Git repositories, incorporating unfree packages, and resolving relative path issues with flake dependencies. Using 'nix develop' and 'buildEnv', the author successfully created a directory of symlinks representing desired packages. However, the process was not without hurdles, encountering an error related to build hooks that hindered progress. Despite the difficulties, the author remained persistent in their exploration of flakes, seeking a more streamlined and manageable approach to their Nix package management workflow. The author found existing explanations of flakes difficult to grasp, relying instead on analogies and practical experimentation to develop their understanding. Although the author's initial foray into flakes presented challenges, their commitment to mastering this aspect of Nix highlights a desire for a more robust and efficient package management experience.