I tried them both last week. All I did was spin up a server, connect through ssh.
NixOS was fine. Standard systemd (bleah!) commands to enable and then start sshd. (Because "enabling" and "starting" are two different things, yeah?)
Guix required editing a file and rebuilding the OS. This wasn't well documented, and they had forgotten to include the file in the VM image. (The manual says edit /etc/config.scm (IIRC) but it's not there. There's a bug open for it.)
I had to find a copy of the VM config and hack it up to work, but after that everything went smoothly. (Can you taste the irony on that last sentence? I am being sardonic. The experience was hugely demotivating.)
Anyhoo, FWIW, Nix seems great but I don't like the language (and I don't like systemd, and no, I don't want to talk about it.) Guix seems like it will approach being a new kind of Lisp Machine, Guile lisp is fine, and integrated into other parts of the OS. (Shepard seems fine.) But having to edit a file and rebuild the OS to get ssh access was gnarly.
All in all, something like NixOS or Guix seems to me to be the way of the future. Other build/package managers seem just stupid and dangerous in comparison (like operating a chainsaw without kevlar chaps. I have two legs thanks to kevlar chaps. Always wear your chaps kids!)
NixOS was fine. Standard systemd (bleah!) commands to enable and then start sshd. (Because "enabling" and "starting" are two different things, yeah?)
Guix required editing a file and rebuilding the OS. This wasn't well documented, and they had forgotten to include the file in the VM image. (The manual says edit /etc/config.scm (IIRC) but it's not there. There's a bug open for it.) I had to find a copy of the VM config and hack it up to work, but after that everything went smoothly. (Can you taste the irony on that last sentence? I am being sardonic. The experience was hugely demotivating.)
Anyhoo, FWIW, Nix seems great but I don't like the language (and I don't like systemd, and no, I don't want to talk about it.) Guix seems like it will approach being a new kind of Lisp Machine, Guile lisp is fine, and integrated into other parts of the OS. (Shepard seems fine.) But having to edit a file and rebuild the OS to get ssh access was gnarly.
All in all, something like NixOS or Guix seems to me to be the way of the future. Other build/package managers seem just stupid and dangerous in comparison (like operating a chainsaw without kevlar chaps. I have two legs thanks to kevlar chaps. Always wear your chaps kids!)