NixOS/foundation

Rename to Nix Foundation

fricklerhandwerk opened this issue · 5 comments

fricklerhandwerk commented

The foundation and community it is serving is clearly not about just NixOS. Nix is the cornerstone of the ecosystem.

Related, and more context why using appropriate names would help with reducing confusion: #34

I understand that renaming a public entity is associated with costs. This issue is mostly for reference, since the topic came up quite often in the past months.

zimbatm commented

Let's address the fundamental problem; NixOS refers both to the project and the Linux distribution. It's that overlap of terms that is confusing.

Renaming the project would require changing the GitHub Org, domain and foundation. How about we rename the Linux distribution instead?

infinisil commented

@zimbatm I don't think that makes sense, "OS" clearly refers to an operating system. And if NixOS is the project, then should the language be called "The NixOS language"? And should we change the CLI to nixos build, etc.? That would be very confusing and unintuitive on all levels.

Renaming the project to just "Nix" makes the most sense.

zimbatm commented

Hold on, you're taking what I said and running away with it; I didn't say we should rename Nix either. Nix is also an overloaded term because it refers to the language, implementation, build system, ...

If you can forget for a second that "OS" maps to the operating system, it's possible to attribute another meaning. Do you still think about the fruit when talking about Apple computers? What I am saying is that if we accept this as a historical accident, then it opens new possibilities.

Eg:

  • Nixos - the project / GitHub org / domain
  • Nixos Foundation - the foundation that represents the project
  • Nix Distri - the Linux distribution. Or find another name, I don't care.
  • Nixexpr - the language
  • CNix - the implementation
  • ...

What I mean is that if we have to do rebranding, it might be easier to change the name of the Linux distribution

zmitchell commented

Let's address the fundamental problem; NixOS refers both to the project and the Linux distribution. It's that overlap of terms that is confusing.

Renaming the project would require changing the GitHub Org, domain and foundation. How about we rename the Linux distribution instead?

We would have Nix the language, nix the package manager and build system, Nix (?) the OS, NixOS the abstract project, and the NixOS Foundation? That seems worse than what we have now where at least the name of the project, the OS, and the foundation all have NixOS in the name.

I’m not sure this is the most pressing issue right now, but if the name is going to change I agree that Nix Foundation is better since Nix is the common denominator.