readme: recommend only the Lix installer

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Sam 2025-12-18 14:24:08 -07:00
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@ -13,20 +13,9 @@ nix-darwin is built up around [Nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs), quite
The only prerequisite is a Nix implementation; both Nix and Lix are supported.
As the official Nix installer does not include an automated uninstaller, and manual uninstallation on macOS is a complex process, we recommend using one of the following installers instead:
* The [Nix installer from Determinate Systems](https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer?tab=readme-ov-file#determinate-nix-installer) is only recommended for use with flake-based setups.
It can install one of two distributions of Nix:
* To install the **recommended** vanilla upstream [Nix](https://nixos.org), you will need to explicitly pass the `--prefer-upstream-nix` flag to the installer.
* When run without the `--prefer-upstream-nix` flag, it will install the [Determinate](https://docs.determinate.systems/) distribution.
As Determinate manages the Nix installation itself, you will need to set `nix.enable = false;` in your configuration to disable nix-darwins own Nix management.
Some nix-darwin functionality that relies on managing the Nix installation, like the `nix.*` options to adjust Nix settings or configure a Linux builder, will be unavailable.
* The [Lix installer](https://lix.systems/install/#on-any-other-linuxmacos-system) supports both flake-based and channel-based setups.
As the official Nix installer does not include an automated uninstaller, and manual uninstallation on macOS is a complex process, we recommend using the [Lix installer](https://lix.systems/install/#on-any-other-linuxmacos-system), which supports both flake-based and channel-based setups.
The installer you use doesn't affect which Nix interpreter your system will use later on. nix-darwin manages the Nix installation by default and will default to upstream Nix. If you wish to use Lix instead of Nix, set `nix.package = pkgs.lix` in your configuration.
## Getting started