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preface.md: Try to improve wording
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@ -6,14 +6,9 @@ NixOS is a highly distinctive Linux distribution built upon the Nix package mana
One of NixOS's major advantages over other distributions lies in its reproducibility and declarative configuration, allowing users to replicate consistent system environments across multiple machines.
While NixOS is powerful, its strength also comes with increased system complexity, making it more challenging for newcomers.
On the one hand, the knowledge accumulated on other Linux distributions is not easily transferable to NixOS.
On the other hand, NixOS has long been criticized for its scattered and outdated official and community documentation.
These issues have troubled many NixOS beginners.
While NixOS is powerful, its strength also comes with increased system complexity. This makes it more challenging for newcomers. One major challenge is that the knowledge accumulated on other Linux distributions is not easily transferable to NixOS. Another is that official and community documentation is often scattered and outdated. These issues have troubled many NixOS beginners.
Speaking of the experimental feature of the Nix package manager called Flakes. Inspired by package managers like npm and cargo, Flakes use `flake.nix` to record all external dependencies and `flake.lock` to lock their versions. This significantly enhances the reproducibility and composability of the Nix package manager and NixOS configurations. Flakes' advantages have made it widely popular within the community. According to official surveys, over half of the new Nix repositories created on GitHub now utilize Flakes, making the traditional Nix configuration method less prevalent.
However, on the flip side, Flakes, being an experimental feature, comes with uncertainties. To maintain stability, the official documentation barely covers any Flakes-related content. This has left many Nix/NixOS users feeling confused. They see everyone using Flakes and want to learn it too, but find nowhere to start, often having to piece together scattered information, search through Nixpkgs source code, or seek help from more experienced users.
One can observe these issues with the experimental feature of the Nix package manager called Flakes. Inspired by package managers like npm and Cargo, Flakes uses `flake.nix` to record all external dependencies and `flake.lock` to lock their versions. This significantly enhances the reproducibility and composability of the Nix package manager and NixOS configurations. Flakes' advantages have made it widely popular within the community: according to official surveys, over half of the new Nix repositories created on GitHub now utilize Flakes. However, to maintain stability, the official documentation covers barely any Flakes-related content. This has left many Nix/NixOS users feeling confused. They see everyone using Flakes and want to learn it too, but find nowhere to start, often having to piece together scattered information, search through Nixpkgs source code, or seek help from more experienced users.
## The Origin of This Book