2 minor (webpage) bug report: 1. the link available as pre-built binariesin 'Status' on http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/ is dead. (hydra.gnu.org down?) 2. 'Download Area' on http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/guix/ points to a 404 location. Maybe list those two links on the project page? ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-0.2.tar.gz ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-0.2.tar.gz.sig Best wishes, BlueT - Matthew Lien - ¾š†´Ã÷ 2013/5/16 Ludovic Court¨¨s > (Stripping Cc list.) > > Brandon Invergo skribis: > > > Guix, on the other hand, is a full package manager that will eventually > > form the foundation of a GNU distribution. It has far more features as > > a package manager, including some really novel ones that go above and > > beyond the usual package management functionality (better to let Ludovic > > explain). > > Yes. Basically Guix is two things: a package manager (like, say, > dpkg/APT), and a distribution. > > The package manager provides the features tools like APT implement. > From a user¡¯s viewpoint, in addition to what common package managers > implement, it supports nifty features, detailed at > . > > From a developer¡¯s viewpoint, its functional approach simplifies > reasoning about package composition, and allows developers to actually > check that packages do build and work together (see > .) > Also, it has a Scheme API that makes packaging relatively easy (see > >). > > > The Guix distribution will provide all of the software necessary to > > have a complete, bootable GNU system, including non-GNU packages. It > > will also handle all the fun "under-the-hood" stuff like system > > configuration and initialization, etc. > > Yes. Currently the distro has ~400 packages, and can only be used atop > a running GNU/Linux system. In that sense, it¡¯s comparable to GSRC in > that it provides a way to install the latest versions of GNU packages > (though GSRC has more GNU packages, I think.) > > But as Brandon notes, the longer-term goal is to build ¡°the GNU System¡±. > Until now, the GNU Project has been providing many independent packages, > which have been integrated and delivered to final users by others. > > In a way, this is great, because it¡¯s a sign that the free software > ideals have expanded way beyond the GNU Project. > > However, I believe it¡¯s also detrimental to GNU in several ways. > Distros have been making compromises, in particular to software freedom, > that contradict GNU¡¯s vision. Integration of GNU software, and cohesion > among the various GNU packages has arguably suffered. Distros have > contributed to a disconnection between users and developers of GNU > packages. Distro branding has made GNU, and to some extent its > political message, much less visible to users. Etc. > > Having a GNU distro is an opportunity to fix these problems. A stronger > GNU Project is good for individual GNU packages, and it¡¯s good for > software freedom. > > Let¡¯s build that GNU System! :-) > > Ludo¡¯. > > -- / GPG 5296C7A8 / / matthew = BlueT / / matthew@BlueT.org / / Just be Perl Hacking! /