> Write as much CI logic as possible in your own code
Nix really helps with this. Its not just that you do everything via a single script invocation, local or ci, you do it in an identical environment, local or ci. You are not trying to debug the difference between Ubuntu as setup in GHA or Arch as it is on your laptop.
Setting up a nix build cache also means that any artefact built by your CI is instantly available locally which can speed up some workflows a lot.
Absolutely. Being able to have a single `nix build` line that gets all the way from source to your final asset (iso, ova, container image, whatever) with everything being aggressively cached all the way along is a game changer. I think it's worth the activation energy for a lot more organizations than realize it.
Imo, the “activation energy” is a lot lower than it appears too. The determinate systems nix installer solves a lot of the local development issues and it’s fairly easy, as a first pass, to write a simple derivation that just copies your current build process and uses nix for dependencies.
Sounds like a business that surfaces the power of Nix with a gentle learning curve as a simpler, cleaner CI tool could have some success. Every time I see Nix come up, it’s described as very powerful but difficult to learn to use.
Nix really helps with this. Its not just that you do everything via a single script invocation, local or ci, you do it in an identical environment, local or ci. You are not trying to debug the difference between Ubuntu as setup in GHA or Arch as it is on your laptop.
Setting up a nix build cache also means that any artefact built by your CI is instantly available locally which can speed up some workflows a lot.