From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Pjotr Prins Subject: Re: Using Guix archive (Help!) Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2018 11:32:11 +0100 Message-ID: <20180107103211.GA3362@thebird.nl> References: <20180103110836.GA15026@thebird.nl> <878tdb40kl.fsf@elephly.net> <20180107091624.GA2981@thebird.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:41538) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eY8IT-00089V-OD for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 07 Jan 2018 05:35:22 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eY8IP-0007sC-NO for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 07 Jan 2018 05:35:21 -0500 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20180107091624.GA2981@thebird.nl> List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" To: Pjotr Prins Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org, "Frederick M. Muriithi" > On Sat, Jan 06, 2018 at 01:46:18PM +0100, Ricardo Wurmus wrote: > > > Q3: how do we view the contents of a NAR file without unpacking i= t? > >=20 > > I don=E2=80=99t think you can. It=E2=80=99s a custom format implemen= ted by > > nix/libutil/archive.cc. OK, the format is pretty simple. On why Nix did not use tar instead: https://lethalman.blogspot.nl/2014/08/nix-pill-9-automatic-runtime.html I kind of like the way nar files work(ed) in Nix. No signing, no assumptions. Much like tar. If we can view nar files and just add their contents to the store we would have another powerful distribution mechanism. Especially in controlled environments. At this point I have to set up two publish servers just to pass packages along. I have to tell others how to add a key and substitute URLs. It is overkill. Also nar files can be one-click installs with or without a store. And for the record, I am no fan of signed binaries installs. Much of the world does not require you to install a key first. When a user installs software we can assume he knows what he is doing and trusts the source (rightfully or not). Signing is good, but it should be optional. Same for a default Guix binary install. By installing Guix we trust the source implicitely. But I a know I am heretic screaming into the void ;). I'll scream once a year, nevertheless. I know screaming is easy, so maybe I can help a little here. I have limited internet these weeks, but when I have more space I can look at Nix tooling again. See if there is something to view the contents of a nar file. If we want to stick to NAR we can improve the use of them. That would give Guix nar, pack, Docker and my relocatable binary installs. Choice is good. Pj.