Re: how can I open files through packages installed in different profiles

[Ian Eure <ian@retrospec.tv>]

gfp <gfp@posteo.at> writes:

> Hi,
>
> 1.
> Approx. 2 years ago some Guixers proposed to create profiles in 
> order
> to have not too many packages in the main profile, which makes 
> it
> easier to update the profile. If during updating the profile one
> package creates trouble, the whole updating process stops. I had 
> those
> trouble several times.
>

What kinds of problems?

Guix is a transactional package manager, so one failure must halt 
the operation it occurred within.  This is one of the tradeoffs of 
the Guix system, and it certainly can lead to some annoying 
situations.  If it’s a major problem for you, you might consider 
another distro, or using Guix on a foreign distro, where you let 
the other package management system handle some of the software.

> 2.
> If I put all packages in the main profile, I would have 
> approx. 30
> packages more and altogether approx. 120 packages at the moment, 
> and
> there will be more in future.
>

That seems fine.

> 3.
> May be those Guixers have special needs and it works easier for 
> them.
> Of course, those Guixers know what they are doing unlike me.
>

One of the best things about Guix is how you can tailor it to your 
tastes!  I would definitely recommend experimenting a bit to find 
something that works for you.


> 4.
> If I had all packages in my main profile, would it be possible 
> to
> update only some packages?
>

I believe `guix package -u package-name-or-regexp' will do what 
you want, but can’t test it.


> e.g. icecat and others quite regularly are updated, so it would 
> be
> good to update them more often.
>

Note also that by not updating packages in profiles, you’re 
increasing the number of vulnerabilites you’re subject to (and 
making it harder to update to fix them).  For example, if an 
OpenSSL vuln is patched, and two of your profiles have packages 
which need the library, they’ll remain vulnerable until you 
upgrade within those profiles.

  -- Ian