Re: Hello GUIX

[pukkamustard <pukkamustard@posteo.net>]

Hi Shivam,

Welcome to Guix! I think that Sneakernet-esque distribution of
substitutes is very interesting and something that was also talked about
at the Guix Days before FOSDEM 23 (Guix with no internet and air-gapped
machines).

Some comments on the proposal:

- You might want to refer to the document "SQLite for ERIS block
  storage" (https://eris.codeberg.page/eer/sqlite.xml).

- I think the user experience as described in the proposal could be
  improved/might not quite work as expected:

  - Reading from a disk maybe should happen automagically if it can be
    detected (and is enabled in some configuration). This might also
    require some integration with udisks. The complexity of this should
    not be underestimated.

  - Writing packages to a USB stick seems to be closer to a `guix
    publish` or `guix deploy`. Maybe you can read up on those commands
    and think of a nice way to publish or deploy a set of packages to a
    USB stick. This is also relevant for publishing to other p2p
    networks (IPFS, GNUnet, etc.).

- Maybe the Narinfos also need to packed onto the USB drive? How would
  an air-gapped computer otherwise know which substitute to get? Also
  have a look at the nar-herder tool
  (https://git.cbaines.net/guix/nar-herder) by Christopher Baines (in
  CC).

-pukkamustard

Shivam Madlani <shivammadlani5@gmail.com> writes:

> Hey everyone!
> I am Shivam Madlani, an undergraduate at DAIICT, India. I want to participate in GSoC'23 for The GNU
> organization. The project "Decentralized substitute distribution" in GUIX amused me and I want to
> apply for the same. I have been in touch with the project mentor -pukkamustard for over a month
> now and started learning more about the project. I'm very excited to work on this project as it lies in
> my interests.
>
> I've drafted a proposal on this project and I aim to add a transport protocol-Sneakernet. This will allow
> the substitutes to be air-gappable. My approach is to use SQLite to store the ERIS encoded substitute
> in the external drive using a custom schema. This is just a brief overview of the project and more
> details are included in the attached proposal.
>
> I would love to hear your thoughts and reviews on my proposal and hopefully improve it by filling in
> any missing key points.
>
> Thank you,
> Shivam
>
> [4. application/pdf; GSoC'23 GUIX proposal.pdf]...