When comparing NixOS vs Guix, the Slant community recommends Guix for most people. In the question“What are the best operating systems for advanced users?” Guix is ranked 6th while NixOS is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Guix is:
For those with a clear focused concept of what is wanted, after building, the build can be replicated in a blink on countless machines. Both GUIX and shephard are complex but also a breath of fresh air.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro State of the art package manager
Atomic non-destructive upgrades / rollback of a system upgrade / declarative reproducible system configuration / unprivileged installation of packages / transparent source or binary deployment.
Pro Minimal
You can start with a minimal environment and add packages and software to suit your needs as you go along.
Pro Reproducible system
NixOS is configured using the Nix package manager, allowing your system to be replicated and kept in sync across multiple machines. Great for keeping a laptop and desktop in sync.
Pro Robust
Packages don't break after a NixOS upgrade as they are prone to with other distros (especially Arch).
Pro Atomic package management without bloated init/supervision systems
For those with a clear focused concept of what is wanted, after building, the build can be replicated in a blink on countless machines. Both GUIX and shephard are complex but also a breath of fresh air.
Pro Secure rootless installation
While the whole system can be configured using a declarative file with sufficient privileges. Users can install any package in their own local profile with a single command without root.
Pro A truly advanced operating system
Solves modern problems of software management in one concise, coherent, and fully integrated system.
Cons
Con Documentation is not good
A lot of the documentation of various functions is buried on the source code, their respective manuals, or non-existent. The documentation, the conventions, and the scattered toolchain really made searching for stuff easily missable.
Con A configuration change might end up bricking your system
Con Not for newbies, neither for seasoned professionals, unless raging against conformity with artful purpose
