From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic =?utf-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?=) Subject: Re: website: say what Guix is at the very top Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2018 15:19:00 +0100 Message-ID: <87h8rb1grv.fsf@gnu.org> References: <87inc0gzoz.fsf@elephly.net> <87efmixtl7.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:49612) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eeLtM-0006rZ-FJ for guix-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:19:14 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eeLtH-00071i-LZ for guix-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:19:08 -0500 Received: from hera.aquilenet.fr ([185.233.100.1]:36754) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eeLtH-00070C-FA for guix-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:19:03 -0500 In-Reply-To: <87efmixtl7.fsf@gmail.com> (Chris Marusich's message of "Sun, 21 Jan 2018 23:04:20 -0800") 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: Chris Marusich Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org Hello, Chris Marusich skribis: > Ricardo Wurmus writes: > >> Hi Guix, >> >> on the website it starts right away with a list of features: >> =E2=80=9CLiberating=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9CDependable=E2=80=9D, and =E2=80= =9CHackable=E2=80=9D. But what is this thing >> called Guix? >> >> We should add a very short paragraph above that list to say what Guix >> and GuixSD are. >> >> What do you think? > > How is Guix different from other package managers? Why is it better? That=E2=80=99s what Liberating (free software), Dependable (transactional, etc.), Hackable (it=E2=80=99s a Scheme API) tries to convey. The hope was that by reading these 3 items people could tell how it differs from APT/dpkg, Conda, or Nix. > Perhaps the best way to do that would be to write a problem statement. > Instead of explaining what Guix is, explain what problems Guix solves. > The first chapter of Eelco Dolstra's Ph. D. thesis [1] did a fantastic > job of explaining what problems Nix solves, and by the end of that > chapter, I was really excited to learn more about Nix (and Guix) and try > it out. In particular, the list of problems with the state of the art > in section 1.3 "Motivation" and the list of solutions that Nix offers in > section 1.5 "Contributions" were particularly concise and convincing. > Maybe we can aim for something similar on our Guix website? The =E2=80=9CIntroduction=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9CFeatures=E2=80=9D sections = of the manual aim to achieve that goal, but in a =E2=80=9Cconstructive=E2=80=9D way (stating what proper= ties it has, rather than what properties other solutions lack.) However, I think it=E2=80=99s not that concise and it=E2=80=99s quite technical, so I=E2=80= =99d keep that in the manual rather than on the front page. Thoughts? Ludo=E2=80=99.