Mirror on Odysee <a href=“https://odysee.com/@nrdxp:6/Nix-Sucks-Everything-else-is-Worse:4” rel=“ugc”>https://odysee.com/@nrdxp:6/Nix-Sucks-Everything-else-is-Worse:4</a> Tim DeHerrera, a Nix contributor since 2017, critiques the limitations of traditional package managers, virtual environments, and Docker in handling dependency conflicts, reproducibility, and supply-chain security. The core innovation presented is Atom — a packaging abstraction built on Git tree objects, but decoupled from full commit history. Each atom is a reproducible, detached Git commit referencing a specific tree object, enabling lightweight, cryptographically verifiable references to package outputs without requiring the entire repository history or unrelated files. Package sets are modeled as mathematical sets: collections of atoms with globally unique names and content-addressed identities, enforced via cryptographic hashes. This eliminates version conflicts and supports decentralized, mirrorable distribution. Eka is a Rust-based CLI providing a high-level interface to Nix, with: <pre><code>Atom creation and semantic versioning Decentralized dependency resolution Deterministic lock files with full provenance Compatibility with existing Nix expressions </code></pre> Live demo: repository setup, atom publishing, dependency resolution, and lock-file generation. Project: <a href=“https://github.com/ekala-project/eka” rel=“ugc”>https://github.com/ekala-project/eka</a> Discord: <a href=“https://discord.gg/DgC9Snxmg7” rel=“ugc”>https://discord.gg/DgC9Snxmg7</a> Presented on Tuesday, November 4, 2025 Nix Sucks; Everything else is Worse: Building Better Software Supply Chains - Tim DeHerrera (nrdxp) Comments