lock files

lock files

[jgart]

Does Guix have a concept of lock files?

Or, why doesn't Guix need lock files?

Re: lock files

[Dominic Martinez]

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jgart <jgart@dismail.de> writes:

> Does Guix have a concept of lock files?

In Guix, instead of locking specific packages, you lock an entire Guix
installation. You can see the "lock" for your current installation with
the 'guix describe' command.

This has the benefit of not only locking the packages you use, but Guix
itself. As long as you're going back to a version of Guix post version
1 and all the source code is available, you can guarantee with
reasonable certainty that your entire environment is the same.

Instead of this locking happening automatically when you run commands in
a directory, you use the 'guix time-machine' command to run the Guix
defined by a lock file.

The Guix manual goes into more detail about how to use these features.

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Re: lock files

[Ricardo Wurmus]

jgart <jgart@dismail.de> writes:

> Does Guix have a concept of lock files?
>
> Or, why doesn't Guix need lock files?

Guix uses lock files.  See for example “call-with-file-lock” in (guix
build syscalls).

But the question and its answer tells you very little about Guix.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: lock files

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Dominic Martinez <dom@dominicm.dev> skribis:

> jgart <jgart@dismail.de> writes:
>
>> Does Guix have a concept of lock files?
>
> In Guix, instead of locking specific packages, you lock an entire Guix
> installation. You can see the "lock" for your current installation with
> the 'guix describe' command.

Yes.  To complement that, see:

  https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Replicating-Guix.html

BTW, I know it’s become widespread, but I find “lock file” to be a
confusing term (and indeed, Ricardo understood the historical meaning of
that term).  “Version pinning” sounds like a more accurate description
of the concept to me.

HTH!

Ludo’.