On that note, is there some valid reason Nix absolutely needs access to / to create /nix? Why can't it live somewhere else? I believe some parts can go anywhere, but /nix is hard coded for the rest, which I'm not entirely comfortable with.
I understand this path is configurable, but you'll be compiling everything yourself, unable to use Nix's binary cache. You also risk running into unique problems since everyone else is using /nix
I'd recommend everyone try nixos out as well to see why everything (mostly) in /nix is a good idea.
nixos is easily the most un unix unix i've seen, and honestly i can't wait to get rid of apt/rpm/yum/zypper. Not dealing with /some/file/blah being version X or Y in general is so freeing.
Not necessarily. Homebrew compiles stuff for a special prefix then substitutes your own prefix when you install the binary. It doesn’t work with everything (that’s why some compiled packages are available for /usr/local only) but it’s a start.
Homebrew just assumes that the needed executables will be available on $PATH and that the dynamic linker will find libs in /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib.
So yes, you really would need to recompile everything if change the prefix from /nix/store to something else.
Edits: fixed spelling and structure from originally typing via phone.