[davexunit]

>Guix runs on Nix technology with a new config language for packages & a different philosophy about what can go into its core package set (it's a GNU project).

This is a common misunderstanding. Guix is not just a new config layer on top of Nix, it's a new implementation of the concepts pioneered by Nix. The only component that is shared between Nix and Guix is the daemon (written in C++), and they have diverged quite a bit at this point. Everything else about the core implementation (UI, the client for the daemon, recipe->derivation conversion, initial ram disk, init system, etc.) is implemented in Scheme and has pretty significant differences with Nix/NixOS. Even the Guix daemon will be written in Scheme eventually.

>People also think scheme is better than Nix as a language, but if you reason backwards from the requirements that's not at all clear to me. I think Nix-the-language would be better off with types, but the lazy, functional & pure parts are necessary for the concept.

This is another common misunderstanding. The part that is necessary for the concept is that the derivations, the things that the package recipes are transformed into to be built by the daemon, are computed lazily and act as pure functions. Guix certainly retains this quality. Also, if you look at the Scheme code in Guix you'll find that it's written in a purely functional style. I think Scheme's multi-paradigm nature is a strength, not a weakness.

[teh]

Apologies for misrepresenting - my Guix knowledge is clearly out of date!

OTOH disagree with many of your choices and the assumptions you based them on. But I also think that this would easier to discuss in a civilized face-to-face than over the lossy, easy-to-misinterpret medium of text on the Internet!