Make custom packaging a breeze

[marcuswhybrow]

My heart sinks at the thought of creating a custom self-contained package. Creating a custom package isolates the result with it's configuration. But that demands knowing the package dependencies well enough.

• nix profile install is appropriate for trivial cases.
• Modifying ./users/marcus.nix disintegrates logical dependencies that should be packaged together.

Solutions?

• Adjust perceptions of custom packages to start in non-isolation (i.e. using XDG_CONFIG_HOME) and move over time into complete isolation.
  • Indicate isolation by naming convention?
• Support multiple modules in ./users/marcus.nix. Modules prevent disintegration of dependencies. Without modules nix options cannot be repeated, meaning the API becomes the ordering principle.