Could have sworn the author was a nix(os) user already. I know it’s a meme but what all the problems they’re describing literally is solved by nix. The nix sandbox even catches calls for time for example to replace it with 0 for determinism.
Nix doesn't help when the issue is a compiler bug, sadly.
From what I gather you fear determinate systems will guide future Nixos dev like google steers chromium or am I way off base?
What about Guix? May be more their tempo.
Weird article. The author is clearly heart-broken about some changes in how Nixos is managed - but what those changes were and why the author dislikes them is left completely unclear. The link to the Determinate blogpost doesn't clarify anything. I guess it might make sense to Nixos insiders...
This was my first thought, use a declarative system like Nix.