Re: Questions about "guix pull"

[Efraim Flashner <efraim@flashner.co.il>]

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On Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:50:01 -0800
Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I have read the Info node "(guix) Invoking guix pull", but it doesn't
> seem to answer the following questions:
> 
> - Who is allowed to run "guix pull"? Only root? Any user?

Anybody can. Also, each user (and root) have their own snapshot of the guix
packages, so knowing that someone else just ran `guix pull` won't allow you
to upgrade your packages. One way it will help you, is if there's been no
change to git between the last pull on the system (by anybody) and the next
pull, the next one will reuse the definitions already saved on the machine
and not recompile them.

> - After a successful "guix pull", are the new guix tools and package
>   definitions visible to everyone, regardless of who ran the command?
 
Available to whomever ran the command.

> - Are there any best practices, or pitfalls to avoid, when using "guix
>   pull"?

In "guix on a foreign distro (aka not GuixSD)" /usr/bin/local/guix is a
symlink to root's copy of guix. When I notice that the guix binary has been
updated, I also run `sudo guix pull && sudo guix package -u`. As above, `guix
pull && sudo guix pull` will likely get the speed benefit for the sudo guix
pull.
 
> - I understand that some people don't use "guix pull" and instead just
>   run guix from a local git checkout. Should the manual also explain why
>   you might want to do that and how it can be done?

The manual does have a section about using guix before installing. 8.1 and
8.2 has some information about that.

> I'm happy to submit a patch to improve this Info node, but I need to
> understand "guix pull" first.
> 
> Thank you,
> Chris
> 

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Efraim Flashner   <efraim@flashner.co.il>   אפרים פלשנר
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