Re: Effectively force all GNOME users to locally compile ZFS?

[Maxime Devos <maximedevos@telenet.be>]

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Mark H Weaver schreef op za 03-07-2021 om 15:33 [-0400]:
> [...]
> 
>     gnu: libvirt: Support ZFS.
>     
>     * gnu/packages/virtualization.scm (inputs): Add zfs.
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> 
> If I understand correctly, this will effectively force all GNOME users
> to locally compile ZFS.  The reason is that our 'gnome' package depends
> on 'gnome-boxes', which depends on 'libvirt', which now depends on
> 'zfs', and our 'zfs' package includes the following argument:
> 
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
>    ;; The ZFS kernel module should not be downloaded since the license
>    ;; terms don't allow for distributing it, only building it locally.
>    #:substitutable? #f
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> 
> Am I mistaken?  Are there opinions about whether this is desirable?

Perhaps the "zfs" package can be split in an userspace package (containing
userspace binaries and libraries) and a kernelspace component (containing
the kernel module)? And let the kernelspace component be unsubstitutable
and the userspace component substitutable?

If so, GNOME users won't have to compile ... unless they also use the
kernel module of course.

Or do the licensing concerns also apply to the userspace component?

Greetings,
Maxime

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