[rekado]

> guix was pretty close, at least in part because of the whole "packages are just side-effects of a functional programming language" idea

This must be a misunderstanding. One of the big visible differences of Guix compared to Nix is that packages are first-class values.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

You're right; on further reading I can see guix making packages the actual output of functions. I do maintain that the use of a whole functional language to build packages raises the barrier to entry, but my precise criticism was incorrect.