Hi Guix, See: * Patch #1: Use 'gtk-doc/stable' instead of 'gtk-doc' in native-inputs To test packages can still be built: PACKAGES="thermald glimpse glib mate-desktop atril caja-extensions" PACKAGES+=" mate-utils eom engrampa pluma mate-polkit" PACKAGES+=" libgnt loudmouth denemo gsequencer libu2f-host libu2f-server" PACKAGES+=" keybinder keybinder-3.0" ./pre-inst-env guix build $PACKAGES -M # Output: The following derivation will be built: /gnu/store/n84fwcigw3djfxv12iqv76bwp2gx9mnf-denemo-2.5.0.drv The following files will be downloaded: [...] ./pre-inst-env guix build denemo [Bla bla.] # Success! To test no references to imagemagick or gtk-doc are retained: ./pre-inst-env guix graph --type=references $PACKAGES # ^ search for imagemagick in output # ^ TODO it should not be required to substitute $PACKAGES # first, as the 'references' information is in the narinfo. * Patch #2: Export canonicalize-reference * Patch #3: Add a '#:disallowed-references' argument to 'python-build'. Used in later patches. * Patch #4: Let 'python-sphinx' use 'imagemagick/stable'. python-sphinx depends on imagemagick. As (before this patch series), many packages depend on 'python-sphinx' ... guix refresh --list-dependent python-sphinx Building the following 199 packages would ensure 427 dependent packages are rebuilt: [...] ... it may be worthwile to depend a /stable variant of python-sphinx, and use it when sphinx is used only for generating the documentation. However, defining a variant of python-sphinx is not required, as python-sphinx does not retain its reference to imagemagick. Thus, I simply replaced 'imagemagick' with 'imagemagick/stable' in the inputs. To make sure python-sphinx does not retain references to imagemagick/stable, I added #:disallowed-references `(,imagemagick/stable) to #:arguments. It is commented out in the patch to avoid rebuilds: $ ./pre-inst-env guix build python-sphinx > substitute: updating substitutes from 'https://ci.guix.gnu.org'... 100.0% > 1.6 MB will be downloaded: > /gnu/store/sf2kdppaf8z2ri40rlp27l7ffkd8kvyf-python-sphinx-3.3.1 > substituting /gnu/store/sf2kdppaf8z2ri40rlp27l7ffkd8kvyf-python-sphinx-3.3.1... > downloading from https://ci.guix.gnu.org/nar/lzip/sf2kdppaf8z2ri40rlp27l7ffkd8kvyf-python-sphinx-3.3.1 ... > python-sphinx-3.3.1 1.5MiB 121KiB/s 00:13 [##################] 100.0% > [...] When uncommented, 'python-sphinx' still builds. * Patch #5 .. #10: I replaced imagemagick with imagemagick/stable in some packages * After this patch series: how many packages would be rebuild if imagemagick is updated? $ ./pre-inst-env guix refresh --list-dependent imagemagick@6.9.12-4 > Building the following 47 packages would ensure 73 dependent packages are rebuilt: [..] Also, I verified ./pre-inst-env guix build guix still succeeds. Greetings, Maxime.