Well, today has been exciting. We’ve launched this forum, gained over a hundred new users, seen an enormous amount of support and collaboration here, and… Eelco has stepped down from the NixOS Foundation?
Please read the linked response from the board, it’s a big deal for Nix and, by extension, Aux.
Eelco is stepping down
This is an extraordinary change for him. He invented Nix, furthered it, and tried to continue improving it. The community surrounding Nix grew and, eventually, it outgrew Eelco’s ability to manage much of it. Stepping back from NixOS and focusing on NixCPP was one phase of that. Today is a much larger one that takes a lot of thought and hope to do: placing your trust in others.
The Foundation is delegating
In my opinion this is the largest part of the announcement. As was pointed out in the link, the board was not originally intended to provide leadership or make decisions for the Nix ecosystem. Instead, it was created to handle paperwork. This isn’t how the NixOS foundation is seen today. Now, that changes. There will be a constitutional assembly in two weeks to discuss and resolve how governance will work for the Nix ecosystem. This will be Nix’s opportunity to implement real, foundational change. The resulting structure will have the authority to actually make things happen.
What about Aux?
A large reason for Aux existing is the lacking governance structures in Nix. If Nix is able to resolve these, that reason will be dealt with. However, additional problems have contributed to the community split, including: moderation, sponsorship, and conflicts of interest. These all have the potential to be addressed by a refactored Nix community. That does not mean it will be.
I believe that the best course of action right now is to do… both. Work with the Nix Foundation to espouse the values and goals we have rallied around for Aux. If we are able to do so and Nix is transformed into what we all believed that Aux could be, then our job is done. But if it doesn’t; if we are unable to effect meaningful change, then having Aux ready to fall back on is the only answer. As such, we will be continuing towards Phase 1 of our roadmap. A soft fork does is nowhere near as intensive as a hard fork is, but gaining the knowledge and building the community is invaluable during the time these processes will take place.
There is an opportunity here, but we should not be naive and believe that everything is magically fixed. There will be work to do whether Nix is repaired or not. The repairing of Nix itself being potentially more exhausting due to the many (sentient) obstacles in the way.