Specify substitute url in GUI installer

Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[Zhu Zihao]

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Hi, Guix users!

Thanks to the <Alex Chi iskyzh@gmail.com> (from SJTU). We finally set up
a Guix substitute mirror in SJTU LUG.

You can try with command line option
"--substitute-urls=https://mirrors.sjtug.sjtu.edu.cn/guix"

However, it's sad that there's no option for user to specify substitute
url in GUI installer of Guix ISO. It means that people new to Guix still
have to tolerate the slow connection during the installation.

Can we add such option for GUI installer?

-- 
Retrieve my PGP public key:

  gpg --recv-keys D47A9C8B2AE3905B563D9135BE42B352A9F6821F

Zihao

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Re: Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hello,

> However, it's sad that there's no option for user to specify substitute
> url in GUI installer of Guix ISO. It means that people new to Guix still
> have to tolerate the slow connection during the installation.
>
> Can we add such option for GUI installer?

Adding such an option shouldn't be too hard, as there's already the
possibility to add an HTTP mirror from the parameters menu.

The problem is to authorize the substitute server. I don't think it's
reasonable to ask the user to enter the server public key manually. An
option would be to fetch the public key from
"https://the-substitute-sever/signing-key.pub", display it, and propose
the user to authorize or not this server.

WDYT?

Mathieu

Re: Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org> skribis:

>> However, it's sad that there's no option for user to specify substitute
>> url in GUI installer of Guix ISO. It means that people new to Guix still
>> have to tolerate the slow connection during the installation.
>>
>> Can we add such option for GUI installer?
>
> Adding such an option shouldn't be too hard, as there's already the
> possibility to add an HTTP mirror from the parameters menu.
>
> The problem is to authorize the substitute server. I don't think it's
> reasonable to ask the user to enter the server public key manually. An
> option would be to fetch the public key from
> "https://the-substitute-sever/signing-key.pub", display it, and propose
> the user to authorize or not this server.

That looks reasonable to me.

We should make sure most common use cases don’t end up going through too
many extra dialog boxes though.

Thanks,
Ludo’.

Re: Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[hahawang]

Hi,

      I don't think substitute server authorization is a problem. In 
most cases, the purpose of using a substitute server in the installation 
process is mainly for speeding up package downloads. The content of the 
substitute server mirror remains the same as the official one. As I 
know, in that case, the authorization is not necessary. So that adding a 
substitute server option in the graphical installer is reasonable. It 
would improve the convenience radically, especially for people in some 
countries or regions where a fast internet connection to the official 
server is not available.

ZeroBeyond

Re: Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[ZeroBeyond]

Hi,

      I don't think substitute server authorization is a problem. In 
most cases, the purpose of using a substitute server in the installation 
process is mainly for speeding up package downloads. The content of the 
substitute server mirror remains the same as the official one. As I 
know, in that case, the authorization is not necessary. So that adding a 
substitute server option in the graphical installer is reasonable. It 
would improve the convenience radically, especially for people in some 
countries or regions where a fast internet connection to the official 
server is not available.

ZeroBeyond

Re: Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[ZeroBeyond]

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Hi,

      I don't think substitute server authorization is a problem. In 
most cases, the purpose of using a substitute server in the installation 
process is mainly for speeding up package downloads. The content of the 
substitute server mirror remains the same as the official one. As I 
know, in that case, the authorization is not necessary. So that adding a 
substitute server option in the graphical installer is reasonable. It 
would improve the convenience radically, especially for people in some 
countries or regions where a fast internet connection to the official 
server is not available.

ZeroBeyond

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Re: Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[ZeroBeyond]

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Hi,

     I don't think substitute server authorization is a problem. In
most cases, the purpose of using a substitute server in the installation
process is mainly for speeding up package downloads. The content of the
substitute server mirror remains the same as the official one. As I
know, in that case, the authorization is not necessary. So that adding a
substitute server option in the graphical installer is reasonable. It
would improve the convenience radically, especially for people in some
countries or regions where a fast internet connection to the official
server is not available.

ZeroBeyond

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Re: Specify substitute url in GUI installer

[ZeroBeyond]

Hi,

      I don't think substitute server authorization is a problem. In 
most cases, the purpose of using a substitute server in the installation 
process is mainly for speeding up package downloads. The content of the 
substitute server mirror remains the same as the official one. As I 
know, in that case, the authorization is not necessary. So that adding a 
substitute server option in the graphical installer is reasonable. It 
would improve the convenience radically, especially for people in some 
countries or regions where a fast internet connection to the official 
server is not available.

ZeroBeyond