[humanrebar]

If you're saying to use a proper dependency management system (package manager or monorepo build system) and keep Docker to mostly dumb installs, I agree.

Though I also think Nix and Bazel are typically not the right starting points for most projects. If you're not committed to having at least four experts on those complex tools in perpetuity, find something simpler.

To be clear, inventing your own, better system is typically as bad. Language specific ecosystems can be too, but it's often hard to avoid both Maven and gradle if you're a Java shop, for instance.

[jpgvm]

Yeah it's a conundrum. The easiest time to adopt something like Bazel/Buck/etc is at the start. However that is when tools like that provide the least value which given their additional friction isn't a good trade-off.

I recently started a side project and decided to do the whole thing using Gradle instead of Bazel. Essentially committing to writing absolutely everything in Kotlin instead of going for a multi-language setup with a more complex build tool. However Kotlin is a bit special in that regard because with multi-platform you can build for server/desktop/mobile/web all in one language with one build system.