When comparing GNU Guix vs RebornOS, the Slant community recommends RebornOS for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for desktops?” RebornOS is ranked 41st while GNU Guix is ranked 58th. The most important reason people chose RebornOS is:
You can choose from 15 different desktop environments. Choose from a list of software to install that lets you pick web browsers, Spotify, what kind of office suite, etc. Not as robust in terms of choosing what you install compared to Arch, but more than enough for newcomers and those just looking to get things done. Nice midweight OS.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Can setup a shell which has exactly the defined libraries available
A method which works across languages and provides a reproducible programming environment.
Pro Can always roll back to a safe state
Guix creates new profile generations for each operation. If anything goes wrong, a simple --roll-back gets you immediately back to the previous, working, generation. Because it is a purely functional package management system, generations don't affect each other, so you're back to the exact same state as before : still working.
Pro Can create independent packages
Guix pack creates packages which do not need Guix to be run.
Pro No side effects when building packages
Guix is a purely functional package management system. This means that the act of building a package does not have side effects, such as destructively updating or deleting files that may be used by other packages.
Pro Can build containers right-away, from docker to tarballs
See guix pack --help and here.
Pro Easy to add your own packages
The clean and declarative syntax makes it easy to define new packages by using an existing one as an example.
Pro Doesn't require root privileges
Normal users can install packages on a Guix-enabled system, or even run their own Guix instance if the system isn't Guix-enabled.
Pro Arch Customization without the hassle
You can choose from 15 different desktop environments. Choose from a list of software to install that lets you pick web browsers, Spotify, what kind of office suite, etc. Not as robust in terms of choosing what you install compared to Arch, but more than enough for newcomers and those just looking to get things done. Nice midweight OS.
Pro AUR enabled by default
The Arch Users Repository is already enabled. Really helps with finding some proprietary software.
Pro Very stable
Pro Great community!
Pro Runs Android apps
Reborn OS has a program that allows you to install and run Android apps on your desktop. Great for app developers or those who might be addicted to a certain app.
Pro Flatpak support
Having Flatpak support adds a nice graphical app store to the OS. You can find most software you might need in there.
Cons
Con Updates take a long time
It's gotten better over time but both updating Guix itself and updating the installed packages can take a long time.
Con Cannot handle filetypes that have different semantics across different versions
While the functional approach that Guix takes is great for sandboxing binary artifacts of packages, it seriously lacks any power in handling configuration files or user data. It's difficult to upgrade and downgrade files where semantics and syntax can change between versions.
Con AUR enabled by default
this is a security risk since AUR packages are maintained by users rather than a single company and anyone can insert malicious code into the AUR packages
Con Redundant
it is just Arch Linux with an easier installer and doesn't provide any functionality that neither Manjaro nor Arch doesn't already have.
Con Uses systemd
Con Can be a little buggy sometimes
Although not outright system crashes or freezes, but programs not working correctly after an update is quite common. Some desktop environments can be temperamental. Examples: running Deepin DE at first and the zoom for the display is 150%. You can fix this by going to settings and setting the desktop to 100%, but then something else might happen, e.g. you lose icons on the dock. Minor headaches and some are easily fixable. Certainly not a deal breaker.
