Using Guix Home vs GNU Stow + Guix Package Manager

pros & cons.txt

*** TODO Decide on home env strategy
Time to think out some pros and cons for `guix home` versus stow:
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Guix Home vs |Pros                           |Cons                               |
|  GNU Stow +  |Home: 7                        |Home: 5                            |
| Guix Package |Stow: 9                        |Stow: 2                            |
|              |                               |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Home & Stow  |Distrobution agnostic, portable|                                   |
|              |& easy to version control with |                                   |
|              |git.                           |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |Consolidates user-level        |Package management is confusingly  |
|              |concerns including packages,   |separate from guix package and     |
|              |shell configs, services, crons |sometimes obtrustive when used with|
|              |& package/dotfile configs.     |guix package.                      |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |Isolates all active            |Adds a layer of complexity as      |
|              |configuration links as         |changes to any config requires the |
|              |immutable state, thus adding a |entire home config to be evaluated |
|              |layer of security.             |as a whole, including garbage      |
|              |                               |collected build files.             |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |Changes to the home environment|                                   |
|              |can be previewed before        |                                   |
|              |committing to them             |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |Every reconfigure is an        |The specifics of what was changed  |
|              |appended record, so changes to |are limited to the time-stamp of   |
|              |the home configs are always    |when they were changed and which   |
|              |"checked in"                   |channels were used. Not very useful|
|              |                               |if you want to see what was        |
|              |                               |updated.                           |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |Configurations are central to  |                                   |
|              |~/.config/guix and are s       |                                   |
|              |intended to be programmatically|                                   |
|              |put together with Guile scheme |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |How anything is configured, or |                                   |
|              |installed, for any reason is   |                                   |
|              |limited only by your ability to|                                   |
|              |program it in Guile scheme.    |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |                               |Still relatively new and moving    |
|              |                               |fast enough to have to watch out   |
|              |                               |for changes.                       |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Home     |                               |Many moving parts, harder learning |
|              |                               |curve, "book heavy" and yet sparse |
|              |                               |documentation.                     |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Separates concerns for shell   |                                   |
|              |configs, services, cons &      |                                   |
|              |package/dotfile configs.       |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Dead simple setup via symlinks |                                   |
|              |from a ~/.dotfiles folder,     |                                   |
|              |including the ~/.config/guix   |                                   |
|              |folder itself. There is not    |                                   |
|              |much documentation as there    |                                   |
|              |isn't need for it.             |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Is less opinionated & more     |Is not automatically aware of the  |
|              |package-manager agnostic       |guix .profile context and some     |
|              |                               |necessary changes that may need    |
|              |                               |updating                           |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Simplified environment version |You would have to remember to stage|
|              |control if you just use git    |+ commit changes faithfully after  |
|              |                               |each change to meet guix in        |
|              |                               |roll-back capability. Arguably, git|
|              |                               |is not as easy to roll-back with.  |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Utilizing guix package instead |                                   |
|              |of guix home for packages means|                                   |
|              |a better generation record for |                                   |
|              |your package changes           |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Mcrons are a simpler           |                                   |
|              |implementation if they don't   |                                   |
|              |have to be gexps.              |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |As a simple symlink manager    |                                   |
|              |stow can be used for managing  |                                   |
|              |custom-built software as well  |                                   |
|              |as config files. It simply     |                                   |
|              |symlinks a directory           |                                   |
|              |(recursively) to the parent    |                                   |
|              |directory.                     |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Configurations can be          |                                   |
|              |cherry-picked by folder name   |                                   |
|              |with stow/unstow without       |                                   |
|              |needing to evaluate much else. |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|     Stow     |Versions/variations of         |                                   |
|              |configurations or binaries that|                                   |
|              |stow can target are easy to    |                                   |
|              |make via symantic file naming. |                                   |
|              |You can then easily stow/unstow|                                   |
|              |the desired version.           |                                   |
+--------------+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+