Newbie: How to transfer built binaries between Guix systems in the same LAN network?

Newbie: How to transfer built binaries between Guix systems in the same LAN network?

[Rodrigo Morales]

Table of Contents
_________________

1. The context
2. The question
3. Additional information


Newbie: How to transfer built packages from one system from another?


1 The context
=============

  I have two systems in the same LAN network: system A and system
  B. System A has much better computational resources than system B. I
  installed a package in system A, the build stage lasted around 2
  hours. I don't want to do the build stage again in system B because
  that would require much more time.

  I haven't modified any compilation flags and both systems are using
  the same architecture, so I suspect that the build stage might yield
  the same result (unless my limited knowledge makes me not consider
  some aspects that are dependent on each systems' configuration and
  make transfer impossible).

  I came up with this question when I remembered that the installation
  step asked me whether I desired to enable "Substitute server
  discovery" (complete prompt shown in the code block below), so I
  thought that it might be possible to do the same between two Guix
  systems.

        --- [Substitute server discovery] ---

        By turning this option on, you allow Guix to fetch
        subtitutes (pre-built binaries) during installation from
        servers discovered on your local area network (LAN) in
        addition to the official server. This can increase
        download throughput.

        There are no security risks: only genuine subtitutes may
        be retrieved from these servers. However, eavesdroppers on
        your LAN may be able to see what software you are
        installing.e

        [Enable] [Disable]


2 The question
==============

  Is it possible to transfer already pre-built binaries between two Guix
  systems that exist in the same LAN network?


3 Additional information
========================

  Initially, I assumed this was the default behavior. However, I
  successfully installed a package in system A, then I tried to install
  the same package in system B, but the build stage still started in
  system B.

Re: Newbie: How to transfer built binaries between Guix systems in the same LAN network?

[Felix Lechner via]

Hi Rodrigo,

On Sun, Apr 2, 2023 at 4:39 PM Rodrigo Morales
<moralesrodrigo1100@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> How to transfer built packages from one system from another?

I cross-publish my stores locally via port 4849 (which spells
G-U-I-X). [1][2] Hope that works for you, too!

Kind regards,
Felix Lechner

[1] https://codeberg.org/lechner/system-config/src/commit/4d8de8cd575fd7ea5cb00beacad2731d0fd06f7b/service/guix-publish.scm#L7
[2] https://codeberg.org/lechner/system-config/src/commit/4d8de8cd575fd7ea5cb00beacad2731d0fd06f7b/host/lechner-desktop/operating-system.scm#L439-L440

Re: Newbie: How to transfer built binaries between Guix systems in the same LAN network?

[Simon Tournier]

Hi,

On Sun, 02 Apr 2023 at 23:38, Rodrigo Morales <moralesrodrigo1100@gmail.com> wrote:

>   Is it possible to transfer already pre-built binaries between two Guix
>   systems that exist in the same LAN network?

Well, depending on your configuration between the 2 machines, you can
use offloading [1], “guix copy” [2] or “guix publish” [3]

1: https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Daemon-Offload-Setup
2: https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Invoking-guix-copy
3: https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Invoking-guix-publish

HTH,
simon