[RFC] refactoring extra-special-file; an /etc/tmpfiles/ equivalent

[Attila Lendvai <attila@lendvai.name>]

hello Guix,

context 1:

i want to write a string into a file at boot to disable wake-up by my keyboard (so that it doesn't immediately wake up my laptop after i suspend it). it requires doing this once per boot:

echo XHC >/proc/acpi/wakeup

the standard solution on systemd distros is to use a /etc/tmpfiles.d/disable-usb-wake.conf file, which systemd interprets (see e.g. https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=312953).


context 2:

i need to create an empty directory in an image created by `guix system vm ...` (for "reasons"; this is the simplest way i'm aware of to hack forward).


in Guix we have extra-special-file (what a strange name!) that in fact can do one thing: a (single shot?) shepherd service that can symlink something somewhere.

what i need is something like extra-special-file, but with a few more keyword arguments that would allow creating empty directories, and appending/overwriting files with content given as literals.

or something else that i'm not aware of?


solution 1:

i think i could backwards compatibly extend extra-special-file with the keyword args.

solution 2:

introduce a new abstraction (preferrably with a better name), and mark extra-special-file obsolete.

dear maintainers, any thoughts on which way i should start digging?

also, any suggestion for the API? the naming of the keyword args?

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• attila lendvai
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