From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Doron Behar Subject: Re: Help with preparing to move from Arch Linux to Guix Date: Sat, 11 May 2019 17:04:44 +0300 Message-ID: <20190511140444.j3c7uzpdsoibjd3g@NUC.doronbehar.com> References: <20190510204434.qeyqoftn27t2igga@NUC.doronbehar.com> <5ad73fea74bebfad3cb0802e00c47fce@disroot.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([209.51.188.92]:37067) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hPSqX-0005Qg-Lg for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 11 May 2019 10:19:31 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hPSdG-0003W4-U6 for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 11 May 2019 10:05:48 -0400 Received: from mail-wr1-x42d.google.com ([2a00:1450:4864:20::42d]:33858) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hPSdG-0003HR-DM for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 11 May 2019 10:05:46 -0400 Received: by mail-wr1-x42d.google.com with SMTP id f8so990678wrt.1 for ; Sat, 11 May 2019 07:05:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (bzq-79-180-236-30.red.bezeqint.net. [79.180.236.30]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id s11sm22136249wrb.71.2019.05.11.07.05.25 for (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305 bits=256/256); Sat, 11 May 2019 07:05:25 -0700 (PDT) Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <5ad73fea74bebfad3cb0802e00c47fce@disroot.org> List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-guix-bounces+gcggh-help-guix=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Help-Guix" To: help-guix@gnu.org Thanks Znavko! You sure has some awesome blog posts there.. I guess it's not as bad as I thought but I do understand now that in fact it's more complicated then I thought.. I'm not sure what's my opinion about it yet.. On Sat, May 11, 2019 at 06:06:10AM +0000, znavko@disroot.org wrote: > Hello! While you haven't get the answer by some hackers I offer you to read znavko's blog where links to manuals are collected: > http://live-znavko.pantheonsite.io (http://live-znavko.pantheonsite.io/) > > The limitation of saving files into '/etc/' directory does not exist, as I know. You may put your own files there, but only configuration files will be modified there by running `guix system reconfigure confis.scm`. > Now I have there old files dhcpd.conf and sddm.conf from my previous generations where I had these services. And even after removing those generation and garbage collection they remain there. So, there are no such limitation for '/etc/'. > > Yes, Arch has awesome docs, I've been using it for configure touchpad tap for slim configuration in Guix System's config. > Sometimes it is difficult to understand how to use strings and types in config.scm, what is G-expression, why to use twice '(xorg-configuration (xorg-configuration ...))' and other quirks. > > All the configurations should be passed to your system config file config.scm that is using in `guix system reconfigure config.scm`. All the services accept configurations only from there. I think it is not proper way to edit those files in '/etc/' after `guix system reconfigure ..`. > > Cannot say about configs for samba, vpn, may be you'll get info reading package definitions here http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/tree/gnu/packages/samba.scm (http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/tree/gnu/packages/samba.scm) > > znavko. > > May 10, 2019 9:50 PM, "Doron Behar" wrote: > > Hello Guix community, > > I'm very excited ever since I've discovered Guix. I have been using Arch > Linux user for years and everything I've found annoying with Arch Linux > (especially as a maintainer of a few AUR packages), finally has an > elegant and robust solution. > > I haven't done the transition yet. There are still around 100 packages I > use on my Arch installation which are not available on Guix and I guess > I'll need to contribute their Guile definitions my self. > > My main question though, regards general system configuration. I have a > Guix 1.0.0 image burned on a USB which I boot to every once in a while > to prepare my self for the transition. I must say that while I've > inspected the filesystem of the installation media, I was astounded by > the genius design of it! I can see how it all works (notably the > symlinks) and I can see how it wonderfully enables the reproducibility > and rollback features of Guix. > > Anyway, to come to the bottom of it, I've searched the documentation and > couldn't find an answer regarding what-so-ever configurations in `/etc/`. > > Pretty much everything that makes Arch Linux impressive, is it's > documentation on the aspect of everything that is needed to be put in > every file in `/etc/` so the system can be tweaked exactly the way one > wishes. > > I noticed that in Guix, all the files in /etc/ are read only. I > understand why - `guix system` is responsible for reading a Scheme file > that will create an etc store that will be used for the configuration of > the whole system and I'm not supposed to touch anything in /etc/ > manually.. But, I couldn't find how to generally do stuff there. > > I have dozens of very personal configurations I've done in my current > Arch system's /etc/ which I have no clue how to port them all and make > sure all of them are picked in the transition. Here are just a few > examples: > > - tinc (VPN software): This one expects to find cryptographic key files > to in `/etc/tinc/`. > - samba: Where do I define my shares? > - pam: gnome keyring daemon autostart on login (Arch documents how to > achieve this without a login manager, see > https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME/Keyring#PAM_method (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME/Keyring#PAM_method)). > - vconsole.conf: just another example for a file I've put some stuff in. > > I noticed that there is a section in the manual called: Services (#8.8) > and it shows the built-in support of Guix to many common services such > as printing for example. Printing is a good example where I don't > understand how it's supposed to actually work at the end. When one adds > a printer using the Web UI in http://localhost:631 (http://localhost:631) , files in > `/etc/cups/` are modified and this is not tracked by `/etc/config.scm` I > suppose.. Most importantly, one cannot predict the contents of these > files after a printer is added. Not to mention that `/etc/` is all > readonly! > > And there is so much more.. Additionally, some files in my current > /etc/, have passwords written in them and I wonder whether it's > considered safe to put these strings right away in `/etc/config.scm`.. > > Anyway, I hope this email is not too long and I could get some pointers > to places I missed in the documentation.. > > Thanks, Doron.