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I'm very new to nixOS so excuse what might be an easily resolved issue. The brave browser package in the nix package manager is not the most recent. Is this normal?

siggy47
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Pretty much.

Software developers release their new versions on their own pace on the platforms of their choice. Any other platforms get the new versions when their maintainers have compiled the new version for the platform and tested it to work. Any piece of software depends on other pieces of software, so updating one may involve updating one or more others.

The people managing Brave NixOS package simply haven't had time to update yet.

Peregrino69
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Nix OS allows a user to build and install software, but that requires that one download the source code for Brave Browser, build it on an individual machine running Nix OS, and install the resultant package. There does not seem to be a simple path to allowing third-party software to be installed and then automatically updated.

In some Linux distros, such as Ubuntu, one can choose to add Brave, LibreOffice, Mozilla, etc. as PPA. Pro: one now gets the latest release (or even beta) versions installed automatically. Con: There is some risk in installing versions the OS creator has not fully vetted. In a home use, I'd add the PPA's. If I were managing PC's for a business, government or educational institution, for example, I'd be loathe to make that change.

There are two distinct steps in software being made available for an operating system:

  1. The software developer, e.g., Brave.com, or LibreOffice.org, go through a development cycle of coding and testing, releasing various versions -- from latest build, to alpha and beta releases (usually available to public), to the final release version. These may be downloaded from the developer's web site, or can be made available to the user's PC by adding the developer as Personal Package Archives (PPA), where there is a compatible package manager, e.g., in Ubuntu. Nix OS, however, appears to be a closed environment, i.e., one where it is not trivial to import a package from any source other than the Nix OS repositories.

    For example, one can add Brave development and production versions directly from Brave automatically in Ubuntu (though I do not know if Nix can do so).

  2. The operating system developers, e.g., NixOS.org, can elect to make a specific version of external software available. Since the OS developer did not create that third-party software, it may take a considerable time before the OS developer is comfortable with a new release of the software... or the OS developer might choose never to update third-party apps! For example, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS shipped with a particular version of Thunderbird, and T'bird might not be updated until Ubuntu 22.04 OS is installed.

DrMoishe Pippik
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  • Thanks very much for the explanations. I have been using Ubuntu for years and, like you said, it's a simple issue. Nix is not as straightforward. – siggy47 Apr 05 '23 at 19:22
  • @siggy47, apparently there *isn't* a straight-forward way to automatically update software other than directly from Nix OS repositories, so unless a Nix developer creates a Brave release from Brave's source code, you'd need to do that yourself. – DrMoishe Pippik Apr 09 '23 at 01:28