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From: Sree Harsha Totakura <sreeharsha@totakura.in>
Subject: Re: Default store-dir
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 10:09:03 +0200
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To: guix-devel@gnu.org

On 04/18/2014 10:42 PM, Elric Erkose wrote:
> When guix is configured with an alternate "prefix", why isn't "store-dir"
> relative to this alternate prefix? Yes, it is possible to specify something
> like, "--with-store-dir=<some-prefix>/gnu", but some people expect all
> files/directories to be relative to "--prefix" to isolate source based
> installed software from their base system.

Because, it enables Guix to download and use pre-built binaries
(substitutes).  This is a feature many wound want to have as compiling a
package can take a lot of time (especially when doing it for the first
time).  These binaries are built with their prefix directory set into
'/gnu/store/...' and they will be valid only if they are installed into
'/gnu/store/...' on your system.

The `--prefix' option will still let you install Guix into a directory
of your choice and still be able to download substitutes along as you
didn't configure with a different `--with-store-dir'.

Sree