LLMs change this since you can get them to create a wrapper for some software you want based on a hash, and then bump it when you want to update it.

The end goal is that you have a reproducible, immutable build contained in some git-diffed config files which is all I want.

And it becomes especially nice when you have a single repo that configures all the machines you use, from your macOS laptop to your remote servers, with common config/programs shared between them.

Whether anyone else offers a nix/flake/HM version of their software barely moves the needle on utility of this setup.