Re: How do I install packages from a file without removing currently installed packages?

[sirgazil <sirgazil@zoho.com>]

Hi Giovanni,


---- On Sat, 11 May 2019 03:30:34 -0500 Giovanni Biscuolo <g@xelera.eu> wrote ----

 > Hello sirgazil, 
 >  
 > sirgazil <sirgazil@zoho.com> writes: 
 >  
 > [...] 
 >  
 > > Is there any way to tell Guix to create a generation that is the 
 > > aggregate of the packages installed in the current generation and the 
 > > packages specified in the manifest file? 
 >  
 > no way to aggregate packages this way in the same profile (default 
 > profile I imagine), you should use "guix environment" as already poitend 
 > out by ison in this thread or... 


Guix environment will work for other use cases I have, but not for this one. Because once I exit an environment the packages I installed there are not kept around, but I want the packages specified in the manifest to be added to the user profile. Also, I can't do just "guix environment -m FILE", I have to provide at least one package as an argument for PACKAGES..., and that would not make sense in my use case. 


 > if you are willing to hack a little bit, Ricardo Wurmus wrote a little 
 > Guile script that helps convert a profile manifest (e.g. your default 
 > profile) to a manifest.scm file: 
 >  
 > http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2018-10/msg00023.html 
 >  

That gave me ideas. I looked at the (guix profiles) module and wrote a manifest like this for testing:

##########
(use-modules (gnu packages)
             (guix profiles)
             (ice-9 match)
             (ice-9 pretty-print))


;;; HELPER PROCEDURES
;;; =================

(define (profile-manifest->package-names)
  "Return a list with the names of the packages installed in the user
   profile (see %user-profile-directory in the (guix profiles) module)."
  (map manifest-entry-name
       (manifest-entries (profile-manifest %user-profile-directory))))


;;; PACKAGES
;;; ========

(define packages
  (append (profile-manifest->package-names)
          (list "alex4"
                "endless-sky")))


;;; MANIFEST
;;; ========

(packages->manifest (map specification->package packages))
##########

I think that's what I wanted.


Thanks, Giovanni :)