From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Thorsten Wilms Subject: Re: Review of pros and cons of package managers including Guix Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2018 10:43:23 +0100 Message-ID: <2de6a0a3-3d2b-caf5-4c72-37e9eafdb28f@freenet.de> References: Reply-To: t_w_@freenet.de Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:58082) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1gKgt8-0005pk-Uq for guix-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Nov 2018 04:46:11 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1gKgt4-0004Ib-TX for guix-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Nov 2018 04:46:10 -0500 Received: from mout1.freenet.de ([2001:748:100:40::2:3]:42678) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1gKgt3-0004F9-Bw for guix-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Nov 2018 04:46:06 -0500 Received: from [195.4.92.164] (helo=mjail1.freenet.de) by mout1.freenet.de with esmtpa (ID t_w_@freenet.de) (port 25) (Exim 4.90_1 #2) id 1gKgt0-0007bd-7E for guix-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Nov 2018 10:46:02 +0100 Received: from [::1] (port=54544 helo=mjail1.freenet.de) by mjail1.freenet.de with esmtpa (ID t_w_@freenet.de) (Exim 4.90_1 #2) id 1gKgt0-0007ND-6B for guix-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Nov 2018 10:46:02 +0100 Received: from sub5.freenet.de ([195.4.92.124]:35390) by mjail1.freenet.de with esmtpa (ID t_w_@freenet.de) (Exim 4.90_1 #2) id 1gKgqS-0006Tv-DZ for guix-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Nov 2018 10:43:24 +0100 Received: from p200300e4f3eeb30091aa49aef4552c07.dip0.t-ipconnect.de ([2003:e4:f3ee:b300:91aa:49ae:f455:2c07]:54228) by sub5.freenet.de with esmtpsa (ID t_w_@freenet.de) (TLSv1.2:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:256) (port 465) (Exim 4.90_1 #2) id 1gKgqS-0003fm-BC for guix-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Nov 2018 10:43:24 +0100 In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US 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: guix-devel@gnu.org On 08/11/2018 10.09, swedebugia wrote: > > https://www.slant.co/topics/344/~best-linux-package-managers > > Insights from the Guix-section: > > 4 pros: (missing the roll-back feature) see link. > > 1 cons: > > "Cannot handle filetypes that have different semantics across different > versions > While the functional approach that Guix takes is great for sandboxing > binary artifacts of packages, it seriously lacks any power in handling > configuration files or user data. It's difficult to upgrade and > downgrade files where semantics and syntax can change between versions." > > Do you agree with this critique? The whole page is far from a worthwhile comparison, because the "cons" and "pros" are all over the place. Characteristics that are listed as either for one manager do not appear for all others that have them, too. This specific con could be listed for most, if not all others, too, right? Curious, if anyone knows an exception. The best handling of configuration files I got to know is offered by Debian, which, if a package comes with a new configuration file, asks what to do about it. Better than nothing, but still not exactly a good user experience. There quite simply isn't the right level of granularity and encoding of intentions given with plain text configuration files. -- Thorsten Wilms thorwil's design for free software: http://thorwil.wordpress.com/