From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: iyzsong@member.fsf.org (=?utf-8?B?5a6L5paH5q2m?=) Subject: Re: Some questions regarding GuixSD Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2016 09:50:11 +0800 Message-ID: <87vaxckfcc.fsf@member.fsf.org> References: <20160930010954.GA644@khaalida> <87zimpssv3.fsf@gnu.org> <20160930194615.GA17165@khaalida> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:40857) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bq9RN-0003d1-Az for help-guix@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Sep 2016 21:50:14 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bq9RJ-0000SN-6H for help-guix@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Sep 2016 21:50:12 -0400 Received: from mail2.openmailbox.org ([62.4.1.33]:58600) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bq9RJ-0000Qd-0C for help-guix@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Sep 2016 21:50:09 -0400 In-Reply-To: <20160930194615.GA17165@khaalida> (dian cecht's message of "Fri, 30 Sep 2016 12:46:15 -0700") 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: dian_cecht@zoho.com Cc: help-guix@gnu.org dian_cecht@zoho.com writes: > On Fri, Sep 30, 2016 at 10:18:40AM +0200, Ludovic Court=C3=A8s wrote: >> > 2) Are multiple versions of a package in the tree at any given time? >>=20 >> You can have multiple profiles, each containing a different version of a >> given package, for example. >>=20 >> The source tree of Guix itself usually only contains the latest version >> of each package. There are exceptions for packages where it makes sense >> to keep several stable series in parallel: GCC, Python, Guile, etc. > > I don't know where Guix/GuixSD is in regards to the plans for it, and I h= avn't > had a chance to glance at the ROADMAP you mentioned later in this email, = but I > can say from personal experience that maintaining one and only one versio= n of a > package in a tree is a Really Bad Idea. When I used Arch they had (and ma= y still > have, I have no clue what has happened with that distro since) a policy t= o only > maintain one version of any package at any given time in the distro. This= is a > huge PITA and sometimes can make a system unusable if a package breaks. I > distinctly recall having one package I relied on breaking when I used Arc= h and > having to wait a few days for them to release a new version. On GuixSD, you can rollback the whole system safely and easily (by choosing a grub menu item at boot). And the CI service (hydra) is building (each package if any of its inputs changed) and testing (system with services in qemu) the whole distribution. While in Guix it's easier than Debian or ArchLinux to have multiple versions of the same packages, it's reasonble only do it when needed :-) > >>=20 >> > 3) Is there any way to install GuixSD from something other than the Li= veUSB >> > image on the site? >>=20 >> You can install Guix on top of your GNU/Linux system and run: >>=20 >> guix system init config.scm / >>=20 >> Be careful: this is a one-way change! > > So as long as Guix is installed correctly in the host system, the aforeme= ntioned > command is effectivly the install phase, while the rest is simply setting= up the > enviroment for the new system? I can certain get behind that. Yes, the install phase mainly contains: - build the system from config, only write to /gnu/store. (safe) - deploy the system to target, overwrite /etc, /var/, etc. and install the grub bootloader. (dangerous) You can install it into a seperate partion (same as in the Manual), it's more safe IMO.