FWIW, Guix does not require system-wide installation, but it is strongly recommended to run the daemon as root to benefit from reproducibility mechanisms.
Saying that it sounds "iffy" for something you haven't tried and seem to misunderstand is not reasonable.
[Disclaimer: I'm hacking on Guix since many years and use it at work and privately.]
The OP is about package managers that an unprivileged user can deploy by themselves on arbitrary POSIX systems. Guix docs make it sound like it (a) needs root to work best, and (b) only targets GNU/Linux - hence iffy for those purposes.
Re: freedom - One persons
feature is another’s useless restriction. I’d rather my package manager have strictly more software available, even if some of that software isn’t guaranteed GPL-compatible.
This is a common misunderstanding. There's much more free software out there than software under the GPL. "Only providing free software" does not mean "only providing software under the GPL or a GPL-compatible license". That would be ludicrous.
Guix does not provide proprietary software and I consider this a feature.
Wow. What a terrible way to describe a feature!
FWIW, Guix does not require system-wide installation, but it is strongly recommended to run the daemon as root to benefit from reproducibility mechanisms.
Saying that it sounds "iffy" for something you haven't tried and seem to misunderstand is not reasonable.
[Disclaimer: I'm hacking on Guix since many years and use it at work and privately.]