> The OS-specific interpreter can be bundled with the application itself
Why does the interpreter need to be OS-specific at runtime?
If you're "bundled with the application itself", and your application is OS-specific anyways, then you should of course bundle a optimized OS-specific interpreter.
But, for an actually portable application, that runs on several OSes, you probably want an actually portable interpreter?
> And it doesn’t have to be “installed”, nix solves this problem by nix-shell -p package “installing” the package temporarily, making it available in the shell only.)
`nix-shell -p package` is a very bad example of your point.
* It represents a "not bundled"/"not embedded" use case;
* You "just" need to install Nix, then;
* You "just" need to invoke Nix using the correct derivation, then;
* Nix "just" need to temporary install the native interpreter and all other dependencies specified in the derivation, then;
* Nix "just" need to temporary install your packages and all other dependencies specified in the derivation in a temporary location.
all in order to not need to have it to not be installed.
Even as someone that likes Nix, this doesn't make a lot of sense for the sake of argument.
Why does the interpreter need to be OS-specific at runtime?
If you're "bundled with the application itself", and your application is OS-specific anyways, then you should of course bundle a optimized OS-specific interpreter.
But, for an actually portable application, that runs on several OSes, you probably want an actually portable interpreter?
> And it doesn’t have to be “installed”, nix solves this problem by nix-shell -p package “installing” the package temporarily, making it available in the shell only.)
`nix-shell -p package` is a very bad example of your point.
* It represents a "not bundled"/"not embedded" use case;
* You "just" need to install Nix, then;
* You "just" need to invoke Nix using the correct derivation, then;
* Nix "just" need to temporary install the native interpreter and all other dependencies specified in the derivation, then;
* Nix "just" need to temporary install your packages and all other dependencies specified in the derivation in a temporary location.
all in order to not need to have it to not be installed.
Even as someone that likes Nix, this doesn't make a lot of sense for the sake of argument.