It most certainly does require root to install nix, as it needs the /nix directory on Linux to work
Re:Booting ARM Linux the standard way
by octoberfranklin on Friday March 11, 2022 @06:51AM
(#30638767)
That's like saying that logging in as an ordinary user "requires root" because otherwise /home/ordinary_user wouldn't exist. This is silly.
In any event, the nix store doesn't need to be in "/nix/store" anymore: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Nix_Installation_Guide#nix_2.0.27s_n...
If you're willing to recompile the nix interpreter and sacrifice cached binaries you don't even need namespaces or ptrace. Just
./configure --with-store-dir=xyz
when you build the nix interpreter.
Is this some kind of joke?
Installing nix on a non-nixOS computer doesn't even require root. You can even bootstrap the entirety of nixpkgs that way. That's one of the most awesome things about nix and nixpkgs.