Re:Nix Survival Mode: macOS upgrades won't break Nix anymore
by pxc on Wednesday October 25, 2023 @08:23PM
(#38020099)
> The main problem that Brew solves that Nix does not (well, it does, but it defers to Brew to do so), is installation of graphical applications. There is an open Apple bug on this issue IIRC - I don't recall all the specific details at this moment, however
The issue is that Spotlight doesn't index across volumes other than /, so when you symlink apps into /Applications or whatever from /nix/store, Spotlight won't recognize them.
Installing those applications via Homebrew is one way to manage it, but you can alternatively instruct Nix-Darwin to install those applications by copying them out of the Nix store rather than symlinking, which also works.
The issue is that Spotlight doesn't index across volumes other than /, so when you symlink apps into /Applications or whatever from /nix/store, Spotlight won't recognize them.
Installing those applications via Homebrew is one way to manage it, but you can alternatively instruct Nix-Darwin to install those applications by copying them out of the Nix store rather than symlinking, which also works.