[META] How to effectively ask for help with Guix?

[META] How to effectively ask for help with Guix?

[Ben Weinstein-Raun]

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Hello!

I notice that I haven't been able to get much help with Guix, via any
route. Having asked six or seven questions[^1] over the last three weeks
(on this list, on the subreddit, and on the IRC channel), I've received
help with only one of those problems (thanks nckx!). Ultimately I've
cobbled together crappy solutions to my problems over that time, but a
couple knowledgeable responses could have saved me dozens of hours.

I'd love to wholeheartedly recommend Guix, because technically speaking
I much prefer it to Nix, and to the "classic" alternatives. I'm hugely
grateful that it exists! Of course it's nobody's responsibility to
answer beginner questions! But at the moment, I'm going to need to give
a big caveat with any recommendation: "The Guix documentation is
relatively high-quality, but if you want to understand anything that
isn't explained there, you should expect to dive much deeper than you
would with most tools, as it's quite hard to get any engagement fr
om
people who know the answers to your questions."

One possibility is that there just aren't many people who know those
answers. If that's true, then there's not much to be done. Another is
that I've gone about this wrongly somehow, in which case I'd love to
know how I could do better (in reply to this message is great, though I
also have an anonymous feedback form you can use, if you want to be
really ruthless :-) https://forms.gle/8fYoiNedq2g4UTPj8). And another
possibility is that I've just been unlucky, either with timing, or with
the particular questions I've wanted to ask.

Anyway, what, if anything, could I be doing better? I've read and try to
follow the advice at http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html,
but it's been a while and it occurs to me that I should refresh myself.
What else?

Thanks for any meta-help!

[1]
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00123.html
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg001
60.html
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00164.html
-
https://www.reddit.com/r/GUIX/comments/18mimv0/user_services_that_run_on_startup/
- https://logs.guix.gnu.org/guix/2023-12-16.log#003630


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Re: [META] How to effectively ask for help with Guix?

[Ian Eure]

Hi Ben,

I’ve seen some of your posts, and haven’t had any help to offer. 
Your questions remind me of others I’ve seen, where someone gets 
into the weeds of a problem and asks weedy questions, when they 
should be asking big picture questions.  I don’t know for if 
that’s the case here, but it seems like a possibility.  At the 
very least, I’ve found that explaining how I got to the point of 
having a specific question almost always gets better results.  In 
the many, many cases where I’ve been on the wrong path, this has 
allowed people to suggest better approaches that I didn’t know 
about, or hadn’t considered.

I’d also note that the last three weeks are typically a much 
slower time of year for people in the US due to the holidays, and 
that almost certainly means that you’ll get slower responses (if 
any) for this type of thing.

  — Ian

Ben Weinstein-Raun <root@benwr.net> writes:

> [[PGP Signed Part:Undecided]]
> Hello!
>
> I notice that I haven't been able to get much help with Guix, 
> via any
> route. Having asked six or seven questions[^1] over the last 
> three weeks
> (on this list, on the subreddit, and on the IRC channel), I've 
> received
> help with only one of those problems (thanks nckx!). Ultimately 
> I've
> cobbled together crappy solutions to my problems over that time, 
> but a
> couple knowledgeable responses could have saved me dozens of 
> hours.
>
> I'd love to wholeheartedly recommend Guix, because technically 
> speaking
> I much prefer it to Nix, and to the "classic" alternatives. I'm 
> hugely
> grateful that it exists! Of course it's nobody's responsibility 
> to
> answer beginner questions! But at the moment, I'm going to need 
> to give
> a big caveat with any recommendation: "The Guix documentation is
> relatively high-quality, but if you want to understand anything 
> that
> isn't explained there, you should expect to dive much deeper 
> than you
> would with most tools, as it's quite hard to get any engagement 
> fr
> om
> people who know the answers to your questions."
>
> One possibility is that there just aren't many people who know 
> those
> answers. If that's true, then there's not much to be 
> done. Another is
> that I've gone about this wrongly somehow, in which case I'd 
> love to
> know how I could do better (in reply to this message is great, 
> though I
> also have an anonymous feedback form you can use, if you want to 
> be
> really ruthless :-) https://forms.gle/8fYoiNedq2g4UTPj8). And 
> another
> possibility is that I've just been unlucky, either with timing, 
> or with
> the particular questions I've wanted to ask.
>
> Anyway, what, if anything, could I be doing better? I've read 
> and try to
> follow the advice at 
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html,
> but it's been a while and it occurs to me that I should refresh 
> myself.
> What else?
>
> Thanks for any meta-help!
>
> [1]
> - 
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00123.html
> - 
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00160.html
> - 
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00164.html
> -
> https://www.reddit.com/r/GUIX/comments/18mimv0/user_services_that_run_on_startup/
> - https://logs.guix.gnu.org/guix/2023-12-16.log#003630
>
> [[End of PGP Signed Part]]
>

Re: [META] How to effectively ask for help with Guix?

[Josh Marshall]

Hi Ben.  I've seen some of this, too.  I attribute it to the small
community and userbase.  We just can't compete with the likes of Nix.

On Tue, Jan 2, 2024, 11:52 PM Ian Eure <ian@retrospec.tv> wrote:

> Hi Ben,
>
> I’ve seen some of your posts, and haven’t had any help to offer.
> Your questions remind me of others I’ve seen, where someone gets
> into the weeds of a problem and asks weedy questions, when they
> should be asking big picture questions.  I don’t know for if
> that’s the case here, but it seems like a possibility.  At the
> very least, I’ve found that explaining how I got to the point of
> having a specific question almost always gets better results.  In
> the many, many cases where I’ve been on the wrong path, this has
> allowed people to suggest better approaches that I didn’t know
> about, or hadn’t considered.
>
> I’d also note that the last three weeks are typically a much
> slower time of year for people in the US due to the holidays, and
> that almost certainly means that you’ll get slower responses (if
> any) for this type of thing.
>
>   — Ian
>
> Ben Weinstein-Raun <root@benwr.net> writes:
>
> > [[PGP Signed Part:Undecided]]
> > Hello!
> >
> > I notice that I haven't been able to get much help with Guix,
> > via any
> > route. Having asked six or seven questions[^1] over the last
> > three weeks
> > (on this list, on the subreddit, and on the IRC channel), I've
> > received
> > help with only one of those problems (thanks nckx!). Ultimately
> > I've
> > cobbled together crappy solutions to my problems over that time,
> > but a
> > couple knowledgeable responses could have saved me dozens of
> > hours.
> >
> > I'd love to wholeheartedly recommend Guix, because technically
> > speaking
> > I much prefer it to Nix, and to the "classic" alternatives. I'm
> > hugely
> > grateful that it exists! Of course it's nobody's responsibility
> > to
> > answer beginner questions! But at the moment, I'm going to need
> > to give
> > a big caveat with any recommendation: "The Guix documentation is
> > relatively high-quality, but if you want to understand anything
> > that
> > isn't explained there, you should expect to dive much deeper
> > than you
> > would with most tools, as it's quite hard to get any engagement
> > fr
> > om
> > people who know the answers to your questions."
> >
> > One possibility is that there just aren't many people who know
> > those
> > answers. If that's true, then there's not much to be
> > done. Another is
> > that I've gone about this wrongly somehow, in which case I'd
> > love to
> > know how I could do better (in reply to this message is great,
> > though I
> > also have an anonymous feedback form you can use, if you want to
> > be
> > really ruthless :-) https://forms.gle/8fYoiNedq2g4UTPj8). And
> > another
> > possibility is that I've just been unlucky, either with timing,
> > or with
> > the particular questions I've wanted to ask.
> >
> > Anyway, what, if anything, could I be doing better? I've read
> > and try to
> > follow the advice at
> > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html,
> > but it's been a while and it occurs to me that I should refresh
> > myself.
> > What else?
> >
> > Thanks for any meta-help!
> >
> > [1]
> > -
> > https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00123.html
> > -
> > https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00160.html
> > -
> > https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-12/msg00164.html
> > -
> >
> https://www.reddit.com/r/GUIX/comments/18mimv0/user_services_that_run_on_startup/
> > - https://logs.guix.gnu.org/guix/2023-12-16.log#003630
> >
> > [[End of PGP Signed Part]]
> >
>
>

Re: [META] How to effectively ask for help with Guix?

[Luis Felipe]

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El 3/01/24 a las 4:30, Ian Eure escribió:
>
> I’d also note that the last three weeks are typically a much slower 
> time of year for people in the US due to the holidays, and that almost 
> certainly means that you’ll get slower responses (if any) for this 
> type of thing.
I'd even say that this applies to continental America in general (and 
maybe parts of Europe too). It feels like a Sunday.

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