Project Setup: Homebrew vs. Nix

At this point, there are two main ways you can choose to continue setting up your local environment:

• Using nix with a bit of homebrew
• Using primarily only homebrew

Nix and Homebrew are both package managers, but they have different philosophies and approaches to managing software and dependencies.

You can check out the Nix website for more information on Nix, but in essence it is a cross-platform package manager that is designed to provide a reproducible and isolated environment for software packages and their dependencies, which allows for easy versioning and rollback of packages.

On the other hand, Homebrew focuses on providing a simple and user-friendly way to install and manage software packages. It doesn't enforce immutability or isolation to the same degree as Nix. Packages are installed to a common location, and the user is responsible for managing dependencies and potential conflicts.

Which Should I Choose?

Ultimately, it’s up to you!

Nix is known to have a steep learning curve and can be difficult to set up for first-time users. It has low-level documentation available compared to other tools. Once working, it is usually a fairly seamless experience.

Homebrew, being the simpler and probably the more familiar way of managing packages, is a good choice if you want simple and fast installations now, at the cost of maybe having to deal with dependency conflicts in the future.

If you want to continue setting up the project using Homebrew, go to 📄 Option 1: Setup Using Homebrew >>.

If you want to continue setting up the project using Nix, go to 📄 Option 2: Setup Using Nix >>.