Using nix flakes for managing dependency

[wavewave]

As of Nix 2.4, nix has a built-in mechanisms for pinning and updating dependencies (channel-like mechanism, but locked)
I am experimenting this with my other project (https://github.com/wavewave/fficxx-projects) and like it as a great one-liner tool for providing user experiments.
old style nix packaging can coexist with new flake.nix.
I will do some exploration in my branch and let you know about that.

[wavewave]

off-line discussion: @sellout noted:

here’s what (I think) I want in a project-specific nix config:
1. it should be buildable "traditionally", i.e., if someone doesn’t know anything about nix or have it, they should be able to use their usual cabal commands for it. In this case, I think that means managing the "source-packages" in cabal.project.
2. nix develop should work (I don't think it does in my default.nix approach) to make the traditional build work within a nix env (i.e., Haskell libs are all via nix, clang is installed, etc.)
3. nix-build  should work as the default/preferred way to build (I think)
4. It should be as automatic as possible. E.g., direnv should make sure you're in the nix develop environment.
5. the boilerplate should be minimal. (But also, I probably just need to learn more nix)

totally agree :-)

[wavewave]

good progress in providing composable overlays and shells for different use cases.
I made the following WIP PRs for further discussion (haven't worked on CI builds yet):
con-kitty/concat#4
#66
con-kitty/categorifier-c#62

[wavewave]

as #66 matures, now we have full nix builds. We can reduce build time much by using nix cache server like cachix.