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    "title": [
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            "value": "Why I use nixpkgs-unstable"
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            "value": "\n          <p>In the majority of my <code>flake.nix<\/code> files, such as the one <a href=\"\/daily\/2025\/01\/19\/minimum-viable-development-environment\">I've been experimenting with for Drupal projects<\/a>, I use <code>nixpkgs-unstable<\/code> as my primary input.<\/p>\n\n<p>The nixpkgs package manager has two major releases a year, in May and November, which would be 24.05 and 24.11 for 2024 respectively.<\/p>\n\n<p>Using <code>nixpkgs-unstable<\/code>, I get the latest packages and NixOS options and don't need to wait for the next major stable release.<\/p>\n\n<p>But doesn't that make things more likely to break when updating?<\/p>\n\n<p>The number of backwards incompatible changes and breakages on unstable are minimal, but I'd rather deal with small issues and updates regularly rather than only twice a year.<\/p>\n\n<p>Small updates more often are better, in my opinion.<\/p>\n\n<p>But, what if there is an issue with a package that I'm using, such as a build issue, regression or incompatibility?<\/p>\n\n<p>With flakes, I can import multiple versions of nixpkgs in the same configuration and use them where the configuration I need to.<\/p>\n\n<p>I need to in one project, I've added an input with nixpkgs pinned to a specific Git commit in the nixpkgs repository as some packages are using outdated versions and are no longer present in the latest releases.<\/p>\n\n<p>It's not all or nothing, I can pick which packages to be unstable and which I want to use stable or use older versions.<\/p>\n\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/code.oliverdavies.uk\/opdavies\/dotfiles\/src\/commit\/a5c1c891020c5026ca1c2d83afd6cbe8002a136c\/flake.nix\">my dotfiles repository<\/a> for an example, where I have four versions of nixpkgs imported - including unstable and master, which is even newer.<\/p>\n\n<p>Every input is still locked in the <code>flake.lock<\/code> file, so everything is still reproducible whichever versions of nixpkgs I decide to use.<\/p>\n\n        ",
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            "processed": "\n          <p>In the majority of my <code>flake.nix<\/code> files, such as the one <a href=\"http:\/\/default\/daily\/2025\/01\/19\/minimum-viable-development-environment\">I've been experimenting with for Drupal projects<\/a>, I use <code>nixpkgs-unstable<\/code> as my primary input.<\/p>\n\n<p>The nixpkgs package manager has two major releases a year, in May and November, which would be 24.05 and 24.11 for 2024 respectively.<\/p>\n\n<p>Using <code>nixpkgs-unstable<\/code>, I get the latest packages and NixOS options and don't need to wait for the next major stable release.<\/p>\n\n<p>But doesn't that make things more likely to break when updating?<\/p>\n\n<p>The number of backwards incompatible changes and breakages on unstable are minimal, but I'd rather deal with small issues and updates regularly rather than only twice a year.<\/p>\n\n<p>Small updates more often are better, in my opinion.<\/p>\n\n<p>But, what if there is an issue with a package that I'm using, such as a build issue, regression or incompatibility?<\/p>\n\n<p>With flakes, I can import multiple versions of nixpkgs in the same configuration and use them where the configuration I need to.<\/p>\n\n<p>I need to in one project, I've added an input with nixpkgs pinned to a specific Git commit in the nixpkgs repository as some packages are using outdated versions and are no longer present in the latest releases.<\/p>\n\n<p>It's not all or nothing, I can pick which packages to be unstable and which I want to use stable or use older versions.<\/p>\n\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/code.oliverdavies.uk\/opdavies\/dotfiles\/src\/commit\/a5c1c891020c5026ca1c2d83afd6cbe8002a136c\/flake.nix\">my dotfiles repository<\/a> for an example, where I have four versions of nixpkgs imported - including unstable and master, which is even newer.<\/p>\n\n<p>Every input is still locked in the <code>flake.lock<\/code> file, so everything is still reproducible whichever versions of nixpkgs I decide to use.<\/p>\n\n        ",
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