Re: GuixSD automated installation

[Csepp <raingloom@riseup.net>]

Ian Eure <ian@retrospec.tv> writes:

> Hello,
>
> On Debian, you can create a preseed file containing answers to all the questions
> you’re prompted for during installation, and build a new install image which
> includes it.  When booted, this installer skips any steps which have been
> preconfigured, which allows for either fully automated installation, or partly
> automated (prompt for hostname and root password, but otherwise automatic).
>
> Does Guix have a way to do something like this?  The declarative config is more
> or less the equivalent of the Debian preseed file, but I don’t see anything that
> lets you build an image that’ll install a configuration.
>
> I see there’s `guix deploy’, but that requires an already-installed GuixSD to
> work, which isn’t helpful for getting it installed in the first place.
>
> Thanks,
>
>  — Ian

guix system image is maybe closer, but it doesn’t automate everything that the
installer does.
But the installer can be used as a Scheme library, at least in theory.  The way
I would approach the problem is by creating a Shepherd service that runs at boot
from the live booted ISO.