1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
1425
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472
1473
1474
1475
1476
1477
1478
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
1484
1485
1486
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499
1500
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543
1544
1545
1546
1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
1556
1557
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572
1573
1574
1575
1576
1577
1578
1579
1580
1581
1582
1583
1584
1585
1586
1587
1588
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612
1613
1614
1615
1616
1617
1618
1619
1620
1621
1622
1623
1624
1625
1626
1627
1628
1629
1630
1631
1632
1633
1634
1635
1636
1637
1638
1639
1640
1641
1642
1643
1644
1645
1646
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652
1653
1654
1655
1656
1657
1658
1659
1660
1661
1662
1663
1664
1665
1666
1667
1668
1669
1670
1671
1672
1673
1674
1675
1676
1677
1678
1679
1680
1681
1682
1683
1684
1685
1686
1687
1688
1689
1690
1691
1692
1693
1694
1695
1696
1697
1698
1699
1700
1701
1702
1703
1704
1705
1706
1707
1708
1709
1710
1711
1712
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1738
1739
1740
1741
1742
1743
1744
1745
1746
1747
1748
1749
1750
1751
1752
1753
1754
1755
1756
1757
1758
1759
1760
1761
1762
1763
1764
1765
1766
1767
1768
1769
1770
1771
1772
1773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781
1782
1783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
1789
1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
2037
2038
2039
2040
2041
2042
2043
2044
2045
2046
2047
2048
2049
2050
2051
2052
2053
2054
2055
2056
2057
2058
2059
2060
2061
2062
2063
2064
2065
2066
2067
2068
2069
2070
2071
2072
2073
2074
2075
2076
2077
2078
2079
2080
2081
2082
2083
2084
2085
2086
2087
2088
2089
2090
2091
2092
2093
2094
2095
2096
2097
2098
2099
2100
2101
2102
2103
2104
2105
2106
2107
2108
2109
2110
2111
2112
2113
2114
2115
2116
2117
2118
2119
2120
2121
2122
2123
2124
2125
2126
2127
2128
2129
2130
2131
2132
2133
2134
2135
2136
2137
2138
2139
2140
2141
2142
2143
2144
2145
2146
2147
2148
2149
2150
2151
2152
2153
2154
2155
2156
2157
2158
2159
2160
2161
2162
2163
2164
2165
2166
2167
2168
2169
2170
2171
2172
2173
2174
2175
2176
2177
2178
2179
2180
2181
2182
2183
2184
2185
2186
2187
2188
2189
2190
2191
2192
2193
2194
2195
2196
2197
2198
2199
2200
2201
2202
2203
2204
2205
2206
2207
2208
2209
2210
2211
2212
2213
2214
2215
2216
2217
2218
2219
2220
2221
2222
2223
2224
2225
2226
2227
2228
2229
2230
2231
2232
2233
2234
2235
2236
2237
2238
2239
2240
2241
2242
2243
2244
2245
2246
2247
2248
2249
2250
2251
2252
2253
2254
2255
2256
2257
2258
2259
2260
2261
2262
2263
2264
2265
2266
2267
2268
2269
2270
2271
2272
2273
2274
2275
2276
2277
2278
2279
2280
2281
2282
2283
2284
2285
2286
2287
2288
2289
2290
2291
2292
2293
2294
2295
2296
2297
2298
2299
2300
2301
2302
2303
2304
2305
2306
2307
2308
2309
2310
2311
2312
2313
2314
2315
2316
2317
2318
2319
2320
2321
2322
2323
2324
2325
2326
2327
2328
2329
2330
2331
2332
2333
2334
2335
2336
2337
2338
2339
2340
2341
2342
2343
2344
2345
2346
2347
2348
2349
2350
2351
2352
2353
2354
2355
2356
2357
2358
2359
2360
2361
2362
2363
2364
2365
2366
2367
2368
2369
2370
2371
2372
2373
2374
2375
2376
2377
2378
2379
2380
2381
2382
2383
2384
2385
2386
2387
2388
2389
2390
2391
2392
2393
2394
2395
2396
2397
2398
2399
2400
2401
2402
2403
2404
2405
2406
2407
2408
2409
2410
2411
2412
2413
2414
2415
2416
2417
2418
2419
2420
2421
2422
2423
2424
2425
2426
2427
2428
2429
2430
2431
2432
2433
2434
2435
2436
2437
2438
2439
2440
2441
2442
2443
2444
2445
2446
2447
2448
2449
2450
2451
2452
2453
2454
2455
2456
2457
2458
2459
2460
2461
2462
2463
2464
2465
2466
2467
2468
2469
2470
2471
2472
2473
2474
2475
2476
2477
2478
2479
2480
2481
2482
2483
2484
2485
2486
2487
2488
2489
2490
2491
2492
2493
2494
2495
2496
2497
2498
2499
2500
2501
2502
2503
2504
2505
2506
2507
2508
2509
2510
2511
2512
2513
2514
2515
2516
2517
2518
2519
2520
2521
2522
2523
2524
2525
2526
2527
2528
2529
2530
2531
2532
2533
2534
2535
2536
2537
2538
2539
2540
2541
2542
2543
2544
2545
2546
2547
2548
2549
2550
2551
2552
2553
2554
2555
2556
2557
2558
2559
2560
2561
2562
2563
2564
2565
2566
2567
2568
2569
2570
2571
2572
2573
2574
2575
2576
2577
2578
2579
2580
2581
2582
2583
2584
2585
2586
2587
2588
2589
2590
2591
2592
2593
2594
2595
2596
2597
2598
2599
2600
2601
2602
2603
2604
2605
2606
2607
2608
2609
2610
2611
2612
2613
2614
2615
2616
2617
2618
2619
2620
2621
2622
2623
2624
2625
2626
2627
2628
2629
2630
2631
2632
2633
2634
2635
2636
2637
2638
2639
2640
2641
2642
2643
2644
2645
2646
2647
2648
2649
2650
2651
2652
2653
2654
2655
2656
2657
2658
2659
2660
2661
2662
2663
2664
2665
2666
2667
2668
2669
2670
2671
2672
2673
2674
2675
2676
2677
2678
2679
2680
2681
2682
2683
2684
2685
2686
2687
2688
2689
2690
2691
2692
2693
2694
2695
2696
2697
2698
2699
2700
2701
2702
2703
2704
2705
2706
2707
2708
2709
2710
2711
2712
2713
2714
2715
2716
2717
2718
2719
2720
2721
2722
2723
2724
2725
2726
2727
2728
2729
2730
2731
2732
2733
2734
2735
2736
2737
2738
2739
2740
2741
2742
2743
2744
2745
2746
2747
2748
2749
2750
2751
2752
2753
2754
2755
2756
2757
2758
2759
2760
2761
2762
2763
2764
2765
2766
2767
2768
2769
2770
2771
2772
2773
2774
2775
2776
2777
2778
2779
2780
2781
2782
2783
2784
2785
2786
2787
2788
2789
2790
2791
2792
2793
2794
2795
2796
2797
2798
2799
2800
2801
2802
2803
2804
2805
2806
2807
2808
2809
2810
2811
2812
2813
2814
2815
2816
2817
2818
2819
2820
2821
2822
2823
2824
2825
2826
2827
2828
2829
2830
2831
2832
2833
2834
2835
2836
2837
2838
2839
2840
2841
2842
2843
2844
2845
2846
2847
2848
2849
2850
2851
2852
2853
2854
2855
2856
2857
2858
2859
2860
2861
2862
2863
2864
2865
2866
2867
2868
2869
2870
2871
2872
2873
2874
2875
2876
2877
2878
2879
2880
2881
2882
2883
2884
2885
2886
2887
2888
2889
2890
2891
2892
2893
2894
2895
2896
2897
2898
2899
2900
2901
2902
2903
2904
2905
2906
2907
2908
2909
2910
2911
2912
2913
2914
2915
2916
2917
2918
2919
2920
2921
2922
2923
2924
2925
2926
2927
2928
2929
2930
2931
2932
2933
2934
2935
2936
2937
2938
2939
2940
2941
2942
2943
2944
2945
2946
2947
2948
2949
2950
2951
2952
2953
2954
2955
2956
2957
2958
2959
2960
2961
2962
2963
2964
2965
2966
2967
2968
2969
2970
2971
2972
2973
2974
2975
2976
2977
2978
2979
2980
2981
2982
2983
2984
2985
2986
2987
2988
2989
2990
2991
2992
2993
2994
2995
2996
2997
|
\input texinfo
@c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename guix-cookbook.info
@documentencoding UTF-8
@settitle GNU Guix Cookbook
@c %**end of header
@copying
Copyright @copyright{} 2019 Ricardo Wurmus@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2019 Efraim Flashner@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2019 Pierre Neidhardt@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Oleg Pykhalov@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Matthew Brooks@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Marcin Karpezo@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Brice Waegeneire@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2020 André Batista@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Christine Lemmer-Webber@*
Copyright @copyright{} 2021 Joshua Branson@*
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A
copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free
Documentation License''.
@end copying
@dircategory System administration
@direntry
* Guix cookbook: (guix-cookbook). Tutorials and examples for GNU Guix.
@end direntry
@titlepage
@title GNU Guix Cookbook
@subtitle Tutorials and examples for using the GNU Guix Functional Package Manager
@author The GNU Guix Developers
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@insertcopying
@end titlepage
@contents
@c *********************************************************************
@node Top
@top GNU Guix Cookbook
This document presents tutorials and detailed examples for GNU@tie{}Guix, a
functional package management tool written for the GNU system. Please
@pxref{Top,,, guix, GNU Guix reference manual} for details about the system,
its API, and related concepts.
@c TRANSLATORS: You can replace the following paragraph with information on
@c how to join your own translation team and how to report issues with the
@c translation.
This manual is also available in French (@pxref{Top,,, guix-cookbook.fr,
Livre de recettes de GNU Guix}) and German (@pxref{Top,,,
guix-cookbook.de, GNU-Guix-Kochbuch}). If you would like to translate
this document in your native language, consider joining
@uref{https://translate.fedoraproject.org/projects/guix/documentation-cookbook,
Weblate} (@pxref{Translating Guix,,, guix, GNU Guix reference manual}).
@menu
* Scheme tutorials:: Meet your new favorite language!
* Packaging:: Packaging tutorials
* System Configuration:: Customizing the GNU System
* Advanced package management:: Power to the users!
* Environment management:: Control environment
* Acknowledgments:: Thanks!
* GNU Free Documentation License:: The license of this document.
* Concept Index:: Concepts.
@detailmenu
--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
Scheme tutorials
* A Scheme Crash Course:: Learn the basics of Scheme
Packaging
* Packaging Tutorial:: Let's add a package to Guix!
System Configuration
* Auto-Login to a Specific TTY:: Automatically Login a User to a Specific TTY
* Customizing the Kernel:: Creating and using a custom Linux kernel on Guix System.
@end detailmenu
@end menu
@c *********************************************************************
@node Scheme tutorials
@chapter Scheme tutorials
GNU@tie{}Guix is written in the general purpose programming language Scheme,
and many of its features can be accessed and manipulated programmatically.
You can use Scheme to generate package definitions, to modify them, to build
them, to deploy whole operating systems, etc.
Knowing the basics of how to program in Scheme will unlock many of the
advanced features Guix provides --- and you don't even need to be an
experienced programmer to use them!
Let's get started!
@node A Scheme Crash Course
@section A Scheme Crash Course
@cindex Scheme, crash course
Guix uses the Guile implementation of Scheme. To start playing with the
language, install it with @code{guix install guile} and start a
@dfn{REPL}---short for @uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read%E2%80%93eval%E2%80%93print_loop,
@dfn{read-eval-print loop}}---by running @code{guile} from the command line.
Alternatively you can also run @code{guix environment --ad-hoc guile -- guile}
if you'd rather not have Guile installed in your user profile.
In the following examples, lines show what you would type at the REPL;
lines starting with ``@result{}'' show evaluation results, while lines
starting with ``@print{}'' show things that get printed. @xref{Using Guile
Interactively,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}, for more details on the
REPL.
@itemize
@item
Scheme syntax boils down to a tree of expressions (or @emph{s-expression} in
Lisp lingo). An expression can be a literal such as numbers and strings, or a
compound which is a parenthesized list of compounds and literals. @code{#true}
and @code{#false} (abbreviated @code{#t} and @code{#f}) stand for the
Booleans ``true'' and ``false'', respectively.
Examples of valid expressions:
@lisp
"Hello World!"
@result{} "Hello World!"
17
@result{} 17
(display (string-append "Hello " "Guix" "\n"))
@print{} Hello Guix!
@result{} #<unspecified>
@end lisp
@item
This last example is a function call nested in another function call. When a
parenthesized expression is evaluated, the first term is the function and the
rest are the arguments passed to the function. Every function returns the
last evaluated expression as its return value.
@item
Anonymous functions are declared with the @code{lambda} term:
@lisp
(lambda (x) (* x x))
@result{} #<procedure 120e348 at <unknown port>:24:0 (x)>
@end lisp
The above procedure returns the square of its argument. Since everything is
an expression, the @code{lambda} expression returns an anonymous procedure,
which can in turn be applied to an argument:
@lisp
((lambda (x) (* x x)) 3)
@result{} 9
@end lisp
@item
Anything can be assigned a global name with @code{define}:
@lisp
(define a 3)
(define square (lambda (x) (* x x)))
(square a)
@result{} 9
@end lisp
@item
Procedures can be defined more concisely with the following syntax:
@lisp
(define (square x) (* x x))
@end lisp
@item
A list structure can be created with the @code{list} procedure:
@lisp
(list 2 a 5 7)
@result{} (2 3 5 7)
@end lisp
@item
The @dfn{quote} disables evaluation of a parenthesized expression: the
first term is not called over the other terms (@pxref{Expression Syntax,
quote,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}). Thus it effectively
returns a list of terms.
@lisp
'(display (string-append "Hello " "Guix" "\n"))
@result{} (display (string-append "Hello " "Guix" "\n"))
'(2 a 5 7)
@result{} (2 a 5 7)
@end lisp
@item
The @dfn{quasiquote} disables evaluation of a parenthesized expression
until @dfn{unquote} (a comma) re-enables it. Thus it provides us with
fine-grained control over what is evaluated and what is not.
@lisp
`(2 a 5 7 (2 ,a 5 ,(+ a 4)))
@result{} (2 a 5 7 (2 3 5 7))
@end lisp
Note that the above result is a list of mixed elements: numbers, symbols (here
@code{a}) and the last element is a list itself.
@item
Multiple variables can be named locally with @code{let} (@pxref{Local
Bindings,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}):
@lisp
(define x 10)
(let ((x 2)
(y 3))
(list x y))
@result{} (2 3)
x
@result{} 10
y
@error{} In procedure module-lookup: Unbound variable: y
@end lisp
Use @code{let*} to allow later variable declarations to refer to earlier
definitions.
@lisp
(let* ((x 2)
(y (* x 3)))
(list x y))
@result{} (2 6)
@end lisp
@item
@dfn{Keywords} are typically used to identify the named parameters of a
procedure. They are prefixed by @code{#:} (hash, colon) followed by
alphanumeric characters: @code{#:like-this}.
@xref{Keywords,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}.
@item
The percentage @code{%} is typically used for read-only global variables in
the build stage. Note that it is merely a convention, like @code{_} in C.
Scheme treats @code{%} exactly the same as any other letter.
@item
Modules are created with @code{define-module} (@pxref{Creating Guile
Modules,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}). For instance
@lisp
(define-module (guix build-system ruby)
#:use-module (guix store)
#:export (ruby-build
ruby-build-system))
@end lisp
defines the module @code{guix build-system ruby} which must be located in
@file{guix/build-system/ruby.scm} somewhere in the Guile load path. It
depends on the @code{(guix store)} module and it exports two variables,
@code{ruby-build} and @code{ruby-build-system}.
@end itemize
For a more detailed introduction, check out
@uref{http://www.troubleshooters.com/codecorn/scheme_guile/hello.htm, Scheme
at a Glance}, by Steve Litt.
One of the reference Scheme books is the seminal ``Structure and
Interpretation of Computer Programs'', by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay
Sussman, with Julie Sussman. You'll find a
@uref{https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html, free copy
online}, together with
@uref{https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/,
videos of the lectures by the authors}. The book is available in Texinfo
format as the @code{sicp} Guix package. Go ahead, run @code{guix install
sicp} and start reading with @code{info sicp} (@pxref{,,, sicp, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs}).
An @uref{https://sarabander.github.io/sicp/, unofficial ebook is also
available}.
You'll find more books, tutorials and other resources at
@url{https://schemers.org/}.
@c *********************************************************************
@node Packaging
@chapter Packaging
@cindex packaging
This chapter is dedicated to teaching you how to add packages to the
collection of packages that come with GNU Guix. This involves writing package
definitions in Guile Scheme, organizing them in package modules, and building
them.
@menu
* Packaging Tutorial:: A tutorial on how to add packages to Guix.
@end menu
@node Packaging Tutorial
@section Packaging Tutorial
GNU Guix stands out as the @emph{hackable} package manager, mostly because it
uses @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/, GNU Guile}, a powerful
high-level programming language, one of the
@uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheme_%28programming_language%29, Scheme}
dialects from the
@uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_%28programming_language%29, Lisp family}.
Package definitions are also written in Scheme, which empowers Guix in some
very unique ways, unlike most other package managers that use shell scripts or
simple languages.
@itemize
@item
Use functions, structures, macros and all of Scheme expressiveness for your
package definitions.
@item
Inheritance makes it easy to customize a package by inheriting from it and
modifying only what is needed.
@item
Batch processing: the whole package collection can be parsed, filtered and
processed. Building a headless server with all graphical interfaces stripped
out? It's possible. Want to rebuild everything from source using specific
compiler optimization flags? Pass the @code{#:make-flags "..."} argument to
the list of packages. It wouldn't be a stretch to think
@uref{https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/USE_flag, Gentoo USE flags} here, but this
goes even further: the changes don't have to be thought out beforehand by the
packager, they can be @emph{programmed} by the user!
@end itemize
The following tutorial covers all the basics around package creation with Guix.
It does not assume much knowledge of the Guix system nor of the Lisp language.
The reader is only expected to be familiar with the command line and to have some
basic programming knowledge.
@node A ``Hello World'' package
@subsection A ``Hello World'' package
The ``Defining Packages'' section of the manual introduces the basics of Guix
packaging (@pxref{Defining Packages,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}). In
the following section, we will partly go over those basics again.
GNU@tie{}Hello is a dummy project that serves as an idiomatic example for
packaging. It uses the GNU build system (@code{./configure && make && make
install}). Guix already provides a package definition which is a perfect
example to start with. You can look up its declaration with @code{guix edit
hello} from the command line. Let's see how it looks:
@lisp
(define-public hello
(package
(name "hello")
(version "2.10")
(source (origin
(method url-fetch)
(uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/hello/hello-" version
".tar.gz"))
(sha256
(base32
"0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i"))))
(build-system gnu-build-system)
(synopsis "Hello, GNU world: An example GNU package")
(description
"GNU Hello prints the message \"Hello, world!\" and then exits. It
serves as an example of standard GNU coding practices. As such, it supports
command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
(home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
(license gpl3+)))
@end lisp
As you can see, most of it is rather straightforward. But let's review the
fields together:
@table @samp
@item name
The project name. Using Scheme conventions, we prefer to keep it
lower case, without underscore and using dash-separated words.
@item source
This field contains a description of the source code origin. The
@code{origin} record contains these fields:
@enumerate
@item The method, here @code{url-fetch} to download via HTTP/FTP, but other methods
exist, such as @code{git-fetch} for Git repositories.
@item The URI, which is typically some @code{https://} location for @code{url-fetch}. Here
the special `mirror://gnu` refers to a set of well known locations, all of
which can be used by Guix to fetch the source, should some of them fail.
@item The @code{sha256} checksum of the requested file. This is essential to ensure
the source is not corrupted. Note that Guix works with base32 strings,
hence the call to the @code{base32} function.
@end enumerate
@item build-system
This is where the power of abstraction provided by the Scheme language really
shines: in this case, the @code{gnu-build-system} abstracts away the famous
@code{./configure && make && make install} shell invocations. Other build
systems include the @code{trivial-build-system} which does not do anything and
requires from the packager to program all the build steps, the
@code{python-build-system}, the @code{emacs-build-system}, and many more
(@pxref{Build Systems,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
@item synopsis
It should be a concise summary of what the package does. For many packages a
tagline from the project's home page can be used as the synopsis.
@item description
Same as for the synopsis, it's fine to re-use the project description from the
homepage. Note that Guix uses Texinfo syntax.
@item home-page
Use HTTPS if available.
@item license
See @code{guix/licenses.scm} in the project source for a full list of
available licenses.
@end table
Time to build our first package! Nothing fancy here for now: we will stick to a
dummy @code{my-hello}, a copy of the above declaration.
As with the ritualistic ``Hello World'' taught with most programming languages,
this will possibly be the most ``manual'' approach. We will work out an ideal
setup later; for now we will go the simplest route.
Save the following to a file @file{my-hello.scm}.
@lisp
(use-modules (guix packages)
(guix download)
(guix build-system gnu)
(guix licenses))
(package
(name "my-hello")
(version "2.10")
(source (origin
(method url-fetch)
(uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/hello/hello-" version
".tar.gz"))
(sha256
(base32
"0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i"))))
(build-system gnu-build-system)
(synopsis "Hello, Guix world: An example custom Guix package")
(description
"GNU Hello prints the message \"Hello, world!\" and then exits. It
serves as an example of standard GNU coding practices. As such, it supports
command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
(home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
(license gpl3+))
@end lisp
We will explain the extra code in a moment.
Feel free to play with the different values of the various fields. If you
change the source, you'll need to update the checksum. Indeed, Guix refuses to
build anything if the given checksum does not match the computed checksum of the
source code. To obtain the correct checksum of the package declaration, we
need to download the source, compute the sha256 checksum and convert it to
base32.
Thankfully, Guix can automate this task for us; all we need is to provide the
URI:
@c TRANSLATORS: This is example shell output.
@example sh
$ guix download mirror://gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz
Starting download of /tmp/guix-file.JLYgL7
From https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz...
following redirection to `https://mirror.ibcp.fr/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz'...
…10.tar.gz 709KiB 2.5MiB/s 00:00 [##################] 100.0%
/gnu/store/hbdalsf5lpf01x4dcknwx6xbn6n5km6k-hello-2.10.tar.gz
0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i
@end example
In this specific case the output tells us which mirror was chosen.
If the result of the above command is not the same as in the above snippet,
update your @code{my-hello} declaration accordingly.
Note that GNU package tarballs come with an OpenPGP signature, so you
should definitely check the signature of this tarball with `gpg` to
authenticate it before going further:
@c TRANSLATORS: This is example shell output.
@example sh
$ guix download mirror://gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig
Starting download of /tmp/guix-file.03tFfb
From https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig...
following redirection to `https://ftp.igh.cnrs.fr/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig'...
….tar.gz.sig 819B 1.2MiB/s 00:00 [##################] 100.0%
/gnu/store/rzs8wba9ka7grrmgcpfyxvs58mly0sx6-hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig
0q0v86n3y38z17rl146gdakw9xc4mcscpk8dscs412j22glrv9jf
$ gpg --verify /gnu/store/rzs8wba9ka7grrmgcpfyxvs58mly0sx6-hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig /gnu/store/hbdalsf5lpf01x4dcknwx6xbn6n5km6k-hello-2.10.tar.gz
gpg: Signature made Sun 16 Nov 2014 01:08:37 PM CET
gpg: using RSA key A9553245FDE9B739
gpg: Good signature from "Sami Kerola <kerolasa@@iki.fi>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Sami Kerola (http://www.iki.fi/kerolasa/) <kerolasa@@iki.fi>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 8ED3 96E3 7E38 D471 A005 30D3 A955 3245 FDE9 B739
@end example
You can then happily run
@c TRANSLATORS: Do not translate this command
@example sh
$ guix package --install-from-file=my-hello.scm
@end example
You should now have @code{my-hello} in your profile!
@c TRANSLATORS: Do not translate this command
@example sh
$ guix package --list-installed=my-hello
my-hello 2.10 out
/gnu/store/f1db2mfm8syb8qvc357c53slbvf1g9m9-my-hello-2.10
@end example
We've gone as far as we could without any knowledge of Scheme. Before moving
on to more complex packages, now is the right time to brush up on your Scheme
knowledge. @pxref{A Scheme Crash Course} to get up to speed.
@node Setup
@subsection Setup
In the rest of this chapter we will rely on some basic Scheme
programming knowledge. Now let's detail the different possible setups
for working on Guix packages.
There are several ways to set up a Guix packaging environment.
We recommend you work directly on the Guix source checkout since it makes it
easier for everyone to contribute to the project.
But first, let's look at other possibilities.
@node Local file
@subsubsection Local file
This is what we previously did with @samp{my-hello}. With the Scheme basics we've
covered, we are now able to explain the leading chunks. As stated in @code{guix
package --help}:
@example
-f, --install-from-file=FILE
install the package that the code within FILE
evaluates to
@end example
Thus the last expression @emph{must} return a package, which is the case in our
earlier example.
The @code{use-modules} expression tells which of the modules we need in the file.
Modules are a collection of values and procedures. They are commonly called
``libraries'' or ``packages'' in other programming languages.
@node @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}
@subsubsection @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}
@emph{Note: Starting from Guix 0.16, the more flexible Guix @dfn{channels} are the
preferred way and supersede @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}. See next section.}
It can be tedious to specify the file from the command line instead of simply
calling @code{guix package --install my-hello} as you would do with the official
packages.
Guix makes it possible to streamline the process by adding as many ``package
declaration directories'' as you want.
Create a directory, say @file{~/guix-packages} and add it to the @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}
environment variable:
@example
$ mkdir ~/guix-packages
$ export GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH=~/guix-packages
@end example
To add several directories, separate them with a colon (@code{:}).
Our previous @samp{my-hello} needs some adjustments though:
@lisp
(define-module (my-hello)
#:use-module (guix licenses)
#:use-module (guix packages)
#:use-module (guix build-system gnu)
#:use-module (guix download))
(define-public my-hello
(package
(name "my-hello")
(version "2.10")
(source (origin
(method url-fetch)
(uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/hello/hello-" version
".tar.gz"))
(sha256
(base32
"0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i"))))
(build-system gnu-build-system)
(synopsis "Hello, Guix world: An example custom Guix package")
(description
"GNU Hello prints the message \"Hello, world!\" and then exits. It
serves as an example of standard GNU coding practices. As such, it supports
command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
(home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
(license gpl3+)))
@end lisp
Note that we have assigned the package value to an exported variable name with
@code{define-public}. This is effectively assigning the package to the @code{my-hello}
variable so that it can be referenced, among other as dependency of other
packages.
If you use @code{guix package --install-from-file=my-hello.scm} on the above file, it
will fail because the last expression, @code{define-public}, does not return a
package. If you want to use @code{define-public} in this use-case nonetheless, make
sure the file ends with an evaluation of @code{my-hello}:
@lisp
; ...
(define-public my-hello
; ...
)
my-hello
@end lisp
This last example is not very typical.
Now @samp{my-hello} should be part of the package collection like all other official
packages. You can verify this with:
@example
$ guix package --show=my-hello
@end example
@node Guix channels
@subsubsection Guix channels
Guix 0.16 features channels, which is very similar to @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH} but
provides better integration and provenance tracking. Channels are not
necessarily local, they can be maintained as a public Git repository for
instance. Of course, several channels can be used at the same time.
@xref{Channels,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for setup details.
@node Direct checkout hacking
@subsubsection Direct checkout hacking
Working directly on the Guix project is recommended: it reduces the friction
when the time comes to submit your changes upstream to let the community benefit
from your hard work!
Unlike most software distributions, the Guix repository holds in one place both
the tooling (including the package manager) and the package definitions. This
choice was made so that it would give developers the flexibility to modify the
API without breakage by updating all packages at the same time. This reduces
development inertia.
Check out the official @uref{https://git-scm.com/, Git} repository:
@example
$ git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git
@end example
In the rest of this article, we use @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT} to refer to the location of
the checkout.
Follow the instructions in the manual (@pxref{Contributing,,, guix, GNU Guix
Reference Manual}) to set up the repository environment.
Once ready, you should be able to use the package definitions from the
repository environment.
Feel free to edit package definitions found in @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/gnu/packages}.
The @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/pre-inst-env} script lets you use @samp{guix} over the package
collection of the repository (@pxref{Running Guix Before It Is
Installed,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
@itemize
@item
Search packages, such as Ruby:
@example
$ cd $GUIX_CHECKOUT
$ ./pre-inst-env guix package --list-available=ruby
ruby 1.8.7-p374 out gnu/packages/ruby.scm:119:2
ruby 2.1.6 out gnu/packages/ruby.scm:91:2
ruby 2.2.2 out gnu/packages/ruby.scm:39:2
@end example
@item
Build a package, here Ruby version 2.1:
@example
$ ./pre-inst-env guix build --keep-failed ruby@@2.1
/gnu/store/c13v73jxmj2nir2xjqaz5259zywsa9zi-ruby-2.1.6
@end example
@item
Install it to your user profile:
@example
$ ./pre-inst-env guix package --install ruby@@2.1
@end example
@item
Check for common mistakes:
@example
$ ./pre-inst-env guix lint ruby@@2.1
@end example
@end itemize
Guix strives at maintaining a high packaging standard; when contributing to the
Guix project, remember to
@itemize
@item
follow the coding style (@pxref{Coding Style,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}),
@item
and review the check list from the manual (@pxref{Submitting Patches,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
@end itemize
Once you are happy with the result, you are welcome to send your contribution to
make it part of Guix. This process is also detailed in the manual. (@pxref{Contributing,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual})
It's a community effort so the more join in, the better Guix becomes!
@node Extended example
@subsection Extended example
The above ``Hello World'' example is as simple as it goes. Packages can be more
complex than that and Guix can handle more advanced scenarios. Let's look at
another, more sophisticated package (slightly modified from the source):
@lisp
(define-module (gnu packages version-control)
#:use-module ((guix licenses) #:prefix license:)
#:use-module (guix utils)
#:use-module (guix packages)
#:use-module (guix git-download)
#:use-module (guix build-system cmake)
#:use-module (gnu packages ssh)
#:use-module (gnu packages web)
#:use-module (gnu packages pkg-config)
#:use-module (gnu packages python)
#:use-module (gnu packages compression)
#:use-module (gnu packages tls))
(define-public my-libgit2
(let ((commit "e98d0a37c93574d2c6107bf7f31140b548c6a7bf")
(revision "1"))
(package
(name "my-libgit2")
(version (git-version "0.26.6" revision commit))
(source (origin
(method git-fetch)
(uri (git-reference
(url "https://github.com/libgit2/libgit2/")
(commit commit)))
(file-name (git-file-name name version))
(sha256
(base32
"17pjvprmdrx4h6bb1hhc98w9qi6ki7yl57f090n9kbhswxqfs7s3"))
(patches (search-patches "libgit2-mtime-0.patch"))
(modules '((guix build utils)))
;; Remove bundled software.
(snippet '(delete-file-recursively "deps"))))
(build-system cmake-build-system)
(outputs '("out" "debug"))
(arguments
`(#:tests? #true ; Run the test suite (this is the default)
#:configure-flags '("-DUSE_SHA1DC=ON") ; SHA-1 collision detection
#:phases
(modify-phases %standard-phases
(add-after 'unpack 'fix-hardcoded-paths
(lambda _
(substitute* "tests/repo/init.c"
(("#!/bin/sh") (string-append "#!" (which "sh"))))
(substitute* "tests/clar/fs.h"
(("/bin/cp") (which "cp"))
(("/bin/rm") (which "rm")))))
;; Run checks more verbosely.
(replace 'check
(lambda _ (invoke "./libgit2_clar" "-v" "-Q")))
(add-after 'unpack 'make-files-writable-for-tests
(lambda _ (for-each make-file-writable (find-files "." ".*")))))))
(inputs
(list libssh2 http-parser python-wrapper))
(native-inputs
(list pkg-config))
(propagated-inputs
;; These two libraries are in 'Requires.private' in libgit2.pc.
(list openssl zlib))
(home-page "https://libgit2.github.com/")
(synopsis "Library providing Git core methods")
(description
"Libgit2 is a portable, pure C implementation of the Git core methods
provided as a re-entrant linkable library with a solid API, allowing you to
write native speed custom Git applications in any language with bindings.")
;; GPLv2 with linking exception
(license license:gpl2))))
@end lisp
(In those cases were you only want to tweak a few fields from a package
definition, you should rely on inheritance instead of copy-pasting everything.
See below.)
Let's discuss those fields in depth.
@subsubsection @code{git-fetch} method
Unlike the @code{url-fetch} method, @code{git-fetch} expects a @code{git-reference} which takes
a Git repository and a commit. The commit can be any Git reference such as
tags, so if the @code{version} is tagged, then it can be used directly. Sometimes
the tag is prefixed with a @code{v}, in which case you'd use @code{(commit (string-append
"v" version))}.
To ensure that the source code from the Git repository is stored in a
directory with a descriptive name, we use @code{(file-name (git-file-name name
version))}.
The @code{git-version} procedure can be used to derive the
version when packaging programs for a specific commit, following the
Guix contributor guidelines (@pxref{Version Numbers,,, guix, GNU Guix
Reference Manual}).
How does one obtain the @code{sha256} hash that's in there, you ask? By
invoking @command{guix hash} on a checkout of the desired commit, along
these lines:
@example
git clone https://github.com/libgit2/libgit2/
cd libgit2
git checkout v0.26.6
guix hash -rx .
@end example
@command{guix hash -rx} computes a SHA256 hash over the whole directory,
excluding the @file{.git} sub-directory (@pxref{Invoking guix hash,,,
guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
In the future, @command{guix download} will hopefully be able to do
these steps for you, just like it does for regular downloads.
@subsubsection Snippets
Snippets are quoted (i.e. non-evaluated) Scheme code that are a means of patching
the source. They are a Guix-y alternative to the traditional @file{.patch} files.
Because of the quote, the code in only evaluated when passed to the Guix daemon
for building. There can be as many snippets as needed.
Snippets might need additional Guile modules which can be imported from the
@code{modules} field.
@subsubsection Inputs
There are 3 different input types. In short:
@table @asis
@item native-inputs
Required for building but not runtime -- installing a package
through a substitute won't install these inputs.
@item inputs
Installed in the store but not in the profile, as well as being
present at build time.
@item propagated-inputs
Installed in the store and in the profile, as well as
being present at build time.
@end table
@xref{Package Reference,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for more details.
The distinction between the various inputs is important: if a dependency can be
handled as an @emph{input} instead of a @emph{propagated input}, it should be done so, or
else it ``pollutes'' the user profile for no good reason.
For instance, a user installing a graphical program that depends on a
command line tool might only be interested in the graphical part, so there is no
need to force the command line tool into the user profile. The dependency is a
concern to the package, not to the user. @emph{Inputs} make it possible to handle
dependencies without bugging the user by adding undesired executable files (or
libraries) to their profile.
Same goes for @emph{native-inputs}: once the program is installed, build-time
dependencies can be safely garbage-collected.
It also matters when a substitute is available, in which case only the @emph{inputs}
and @emph{propagated inputs} will be fetched: the @emph{native inputs} are not required to
install a package from a substitute.
@quotation Note
You may see here and there snippets where package inputs are written
quite differently, like so:
@lisp
;; The "old style" for inputs.
(inputs
`(("libssh2" ,libssh2)
("http-parser" ,http-parser)
("python" ,python-wrapper)))
@end lisp
This is the ``old style'', where each input in the list is explicitly
given a label (a string). It is still supported but we recommend using
the style above instead. @xref{package Reference,,, guix, GNU Guix
Reference Manual}, for more info.
@end quotation
@subsubsection Outputs
Just like how a package can have multiple inputs, it can also produce multiple
outputs.
Each output corresponds to a separate directory in the store.
The user can choose which output to install; this is useful to save space or
to avoid polluting the user profile with unwanted executables or libraries.
Output separation is optional. When the @code{outputs} field is left out, the
default and only output (the complete package) is referred to as @code{"out"}.
Typical separate output names include @code{debug} and @code{doc}.
It's advised to separate outputs only when you've shown it's worth it: if the
output size is significant (compare with @code{guix size}) or in case the package is
modular.
@subsubsection Build system arguments
The @code{arguments} is a keyword-value list used to configure the build process.
The simplest argument @code{#:tests?} can be used to disable the test suite when
building the package. This is mostly useful when the package does not feature
any test suite. It's strongly recommended to keep the test suite on if there is
one.
Another common argument is @code{:make-flags}, which specifies a list of flags to
append when running make, as you would from the command line. For instance, the
following flags
@lisp
#:make-flags (list (string-append "prefix=" (assoc-ref %outputs "out"))
"CC=gcc")
@end lisp
translate into
@example
$ make CC=gcc prefix=/gnu/store/...-<out>
@end example
This sets the C compiler to @code{gcc} and the @code{prefix} variable (the installation
directory in Make parlance) to @code{(assoc-ref %outputs "out")}, which is a build-stage
global variable pointing to the destination directory in the store (something like
@file{/gnu/store/...-my-libgit2-20180408}).
Similarly, it's possible to set the configure flags:
@lisp
#:configure-flags '("-DUSE_SHA1DC=ON")
@end lisp
The @code{%build-inputs} variable is also generated in scope. It's an association
table that maps the input names to their store directories.
The @code{phases} keyword lists the sequential steps of the build system. Typically
phases include @code{unpack}, @code{configure}, @code{build}, @code{install} and @code{check}. To know
more about those phases, you need to work out the appropriate build system
definition in @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm}:
@lisp
(define %standard-phases
;; Standard build phases, as a list of symbol/procedure pairs.
(let-syntax ((phases (syntax-rules ()
((_ p ...) `((p . ,p) ...)))))
(phases set-SOURCE-DATE-EPOCH set-paths install-locale unpack
bootstrap
patch-usr-bin-file
patch-source-shebangs configure patch-generated-file-shebangs
build check install
patch-shebangs strip
validate-runpath
validate-documentation-location
delete-info-dir-file
patch-dot-desktop-files
install-license-files
reset-gzip-timestamps
compress-documentation)))
@end lisp
Or from the REPL:
@lisp
(add-to-load-path "/path/to/guix/checkout")
,use (guix build gnu-build-system)
(map first %standard-phases)
@result{} (set-SOURCE-DATE-EPOCH set-paths install-locale unpack bootstrap patch-usr-bin-file patch-source-shebangs configure patch-generated-file-shebangs build check install patch-shebangs strip validate-runpath validate-documentation-location delete-info-dir-file patch-dot-desktop-files install-license-files reset-gzip-timestamps compress-documentation)
@end lisp
If you want to know more about what happens during those phases, consult the
associated procedures.
For instance, as of this writing the definition of @code{unpack} for the GNU build
system is:
@lisp
(define* (unpack #:key source #:allow-other-keys)
"Unpack SOURCE in the working directory, and change directory within the
source. When SOURCE is a directory, copy it in a sub-directory of the current
working directory."
(if (file-is-directory? source)
(begin
(mkdir "source")
(chdir "source")
;; Preserve timestamps (set to the Epoch) on the copied tree so that
;; things work deterministically.
(copy-recursively source "."
#:keep-mtime? #true))
(begin
(if (string-suffix? ".zip" source)
(invoke "unzip" source)
(invoke "tar" "xvf" source))
(chdir (first-subdirectory "."))))
#true)
@end lisp
Note the @code{chdir} call: it changes the working directory to where the source was
unpacked.
Thus every phase following the @code{unpack} will use the source as a working
directory, which is why we can directly work on the source files.
That is to say, unless a later phase changes the working directory to something
else.
We modify the list of @code{%standard-phases} of the build system with the
@code{modify-phases} macro as per the list of specified modifications, which may have
the following forms:
@itemize
@item
@code{(add-before @var{phase} @var{new-phase} @var{procedure})}: Run @var{procedure} named @var{new-phase} before @var{phase}.
@item
@code{(add-after @var{phase} @var{new-phase} @var{procedure})}: Same, but afterwards.
@item
@code{(replace @var{phase} @var{procedure})}.
@item
@code{(delete @var{phase})}.
@end itemize
The @var{procedure} supports the keyword arguments @code{inputs} and @code{outputs}. Each
input (whether @emph{native}, @emph{propagated} or not) and output directory is referenced
by their name in those variables. Thus @code{(assoc-ref outputs "out")} is the store
directory of the main output of the package. A phase procedure may look like
this:
@lisp
(lambda* (#:key inputs outputs #:allow-other-keys)
(let ((bash-directory (assoc-ref inputs "bash"))
(output-directory (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
(doc-directory (assoc-ref outputs "doc")))
;; ...
#true))
@end lisp
The procedure must return @code{#true} on success. It's brittle to rely on the return
value of the last expression used to tweak the phase because there is no
guarantee it would be a @code{#true}. Hence the trailing @code{#true} to ensure the right value
is returned on success.
@subsubsection Code staging
The astute reader may have noticed the quasi-quote and comma syntax in the
argument field. Indeed, the build code in the package declaration should not be
evaluated on the client side, but only when passed to the Guix daemon. This
mechanism of passing code around two running processes is called @uref{https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.00833, code staging}.
@subsubsection Utility functions
When customizing @code{phases}, we often need to write code that mimics the
equivalent system invocations (@code{make}, @code{mkdir}, @code{cp}, etc.)@: commonly used during
regular ``Unix-style'' installations.
Some like @code{chmod} are native to Guile.
@xref{,,, guile, Guile reference manual} for a complete list.
Guix provides additional helper functions which prove especially handy in the
context of package management.
Some of those functions can be found in
@samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/guix/build/utils.scm}. Most of them mirror the behaviour
of the traditional Unix system commands:
@table @code
@item which
Like the @samp{which} system command.
@item find-files
Akin to the @samp{find} system command.
@item mkdir-p
Like @samp{mkdir -p}, which creates all parents as needed.
@item install-file
Similar to @samp{install} when installing a file to a (possibly
non-existing) directory. Guile has @code{copy-file} which works
like @samp{cp}.
@item copy-recursively
Like @samp{cp -r}.
@item delete-file-recursively
Like @samp{rm -rf}.
@item invoke
Run an executable. This should be used instead of @code{system*}.
@item with-directory-excursion
Run the body in a different working directory,
then restore the previous working directory.
@item substitute*
A ``@command{sed}-like'' function.
@end table
@xref{Build Utilities,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}, for more
information on these utilities.
@subsubsection Module prefix
The license in our last example needs a prefix: this is because of how the
@code{license} module was imported in the package, as @code{#:use-module ((guix licenses)
#:prefix license:)}. The Guile module import mechanism
(@pxref{Using Guile Modules,,, guile, Guile reference manual})
gives the user full control over namespacing: this is needed to avoid
clashes between, say, the
@samp{zlib} variable from @samp{licenses.scm} (a @emph{license} value) and the @samp{zlib} variable
from @samp{compression.scm} (a @emph{package} value).
@node Other build systems
@subsection Other build systems
What we've seen so far covers the majority of packages using a build system
other than the @code{trivial-build-system}. The latter does not automate anything
and leaves you to build everything manually. This can be more demanding and we
won't cover it here for now, but thankfully it is rarely necessary to fall back
on this system.
For the other build systems, such as ASDF, Emacs, Perl, Ruby and many more, the
process is very similar to the GNU build system except for a few specialized
arguments.
@xref{Build Systems,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}, for more
information on build systems, or check the source code in the
@samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/build} and
@samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/build-system} directories.
@node Programmable and automated package definition
@subsection Programmable and automated package definition
We can't repeat it enough: having a full-fledged programming language at hand
empowers us in ways that reach far beyond traditional package management.
Let's illustrate this with some awesome features of Guix!
@node Recursive importers
@subsubsection Recursive importers
You might find some build systems good enough that there is little to do at all
to write a package, to the point that it becomes repetitive and tedious after a
while. A @emph{raison d'être} of computers is to replace human beings at those
boring tasks. So let's tell Guix to do this for us and create the package
definition of an R package from CRAN (the output is trimmed for conciseness):
@example
$ guix import cran --recursive walrus
(define-public r-mc2d
; ...
(license gpl2+)))
(define-public r-jmvcore
; ...
(license gpl2+)))
(define-public r-wrs2
; ...
(license gpl3)))
(define-public r-walrus
(package
(name "r-walrus")
(version "1.0.3")
(source
(origin
(method url-fetch)
(uri (cran-uri "walrus" version))
(sha256
(base32
"1nk2glcvy4hyksl5ipq2mz8jy4fss90hx6cq98m3w96kzjni6jjj"))))
(build-system r-build-system)
(propagated-inputs
(list r-ggplot2 r-jmvcore r-r6 r-wrs2))
(home-page "https://github.com/jamovi/walrus")
(synopsis "Robust Statistical Methods")
(description
"This package provides a toolbox of common robust statistical
tests, including robust descriptives, robust t-tests, and robust ANOVA.
It is also available as a module for 'jamovi' (see
<https://www.jamovi.org> for more information). Walrus is based on the
WRS2 package by Patrick Mair, which is in turn based on the scripts and
work of Rand Wilcox. These analyses are described in depth in the book
'Introduction to Robust Estimation & Hypothesis Testing'.")
(license gpl3)))
@end example
The recursive importer won't import packages for which Guix already has package
definitions, except for the very first.
Not all applications can be packaged this way, only those relying on a select
number of supported systems. Read about the full list of importers in
the guix import section of the manual
(@pxref{Invoking guix import,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
@node Automatic update
@subsubsection Automatic update
Guix can be smart enough to check for updates on systems it knows. It can
report outdated package definitions with
@example
$ guix refresh hello
@end example
In most cases, updating a package to a newer version requires little more than
changing the version number and the checksum. Guix can do that automatically as
well:
@example
$ guix refresh hello --update
@end example
@node Inheritance
@subsubsection Inheritance
If you've started browsing the existing package definitions, you might have
noticed that a significant number of them have a @code{inherit} field:
@lisp
(define-public adwaita-icon-theme
(package (inherit gnome-icon-theme)
(name "adwaita-icon-theme")
(version "3.26.1")
(source (origin
(method url-fetch)
(uri (string-append "mirror://gnome/sources/" name "/"
(version-major+minor version) "/"
name "-" version ".tar.xz"))
(sha256
(base32
"17fpahgh5dyckgz7rwqvzgnhx53cx9kr2xw0szprc6bnqy977fi8"))))
(native-inputs (list `(,gtk+ "bin")))))
@end lisp
All unspecified fields are inherited from the parent package. This is very
convenient to create alternative packages, for instance with different source,
version or compilation options.
@node Getting help
@subsection Getting help
Sadly, some applications can be tough to package. Sometimes they need a patch to
work with the non-standard file system hierarchy enforced by the store.
Sometimes the tests won't run properly. (They can be skipped but this is not
recommended.) Other times the resulting package won't be reproducible.
Should you be stuck, unable to figure out how to fix any sort of packaging
issue, don't hesitate to ask the community for help.
See the @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/contact/, Guix homepage} for information on the mailing lists, IRC, etc.
@node Conclusion
@subsection Conclusion
This tutorial was a showcase of the sophisticated package management that Guix
boasts. At this point we have mostly restricted this introduction to the
@code{gnu-build-system} which is a core abstraction layer on which more advanced
abstractions are based.
Where do we go from here? Next we ought to dissect the innards of the build
system by removing all abstractions, using the @code{trivial-build-system}: this
should give us a thorough understanding of the process before investigating some
more advanced packaging techniques and edge cases.
Other features worth exploring are the interactive editing and debugging
capabilities of Guix provided by the Guile REPL@.
Those fancy features are completely optional and can wait; now is a good time
to take a well-deserved break. With what we've introduced here you should be
well armed to package lots of programs. You can get started right away and
hopefully we will see your contributions soon!
@node References
@subsection References
@itemize
@item
The @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/en/html_node/Defining-Packages.html, package reference in the manual}
@item
@uref{https://gitlab.com/pjotrp/guix-notes/blob/master/HACKING.org, Pjotr’s hacking guide to GNU Guix}
@item
@uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/guix-ghm-andreas-20130823.pdf, ``GNU Guix: Package without a scheme!''}, by Andreas Enge
@end itemize
@c *********************************************************************
@node System Configuration
@chapter System Configuration
Guix offers a flexible language for declaratively configuring your Guix
System. This flexibility can at times be overwhelming. The purpose of this
chapter is to demonstrate some advanced configuration concepts.
@pxref{System Configuration,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for a complete
reference.
@menu
* Auto-Login to a Specific TTY:: Automatically Login a User to a Specific TTY
* Customizing the Kernel:: Creating and using a custom Linux kernel on Guix System.
* Guix System Image API:: Customizing images to target specific platforms.
* Connecting to Wireguard VPN:: Connecting to a Wireguard VPN.
* Customizing a Window Manager:: Handle customization of a Window manager on Guix System.
* Running Guix on a Linode Server:: Running Guix on a Linode Server
* Setting up a bind mount:: Setting up a bind mount in the file-systems definition.
* Getting substitutes from Tor:: Configuring Guix daemon to get substitutes through Tor.
* Setting up NGINX with Lua:: Configuring NGINX web-server to load Lua modules.
@end menu
@node Auto-Login to a Specific TTY
@section Auto-Login to a Specific TTY
While the Guix manual explains auto-login one user to @emph{all} TTYs (
@pxref{auto-login to TTY,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}), some
might prefer a situation, in which one user is logged into one TTY with
the other TTYs either configured to login different users or no one at
all. Note that one can auto-login one user to any TTY, but it is
usually advisable to avoid @code{tty1}, which, by default, is used to
log warnings and errors.
Here is how one might set up auto login for one user to one tty:
@lisp
(define (auto-login-to-tty config tty user)
(if (string=? tty (mingetty-configuration-tty config))
(mingetty-configuration
(inherit config)
(auto-login user))
config))
(define %my-services
(modify-services %base-services
;; @dots{}
(mingetty-service-type config =>
(auto-login-to-tty
config "tty3" "alice"))))
(operating-system
;; @dots{}
(services %my-services))
@end lisp
One could also @code{compose} (@pxref{Higher-Order Functions,,, guile,
The Guile Reference Manual}) @code{auto-login-to-tty} to login multiple
users to multiple ttys.
Finally, here is a note of caution. Setting up auto login to a TTY,
means that anyone can turn on your computer and run commands as your
regular user.
However, if you have an encrypted root partition, and thus already need
to enter a passphrase when the system boots, auto-login might be a
convenient option.
@node Customizing the Kernel
@section Customizing the Kernel
Guix is, at its core, a source based distribution with substitutes
(@pxref{Substitutes,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}), and as such building
packages from their source code is an expected part of regular package
installations and upgrades. Given this starting point, it makes sense that
efforts are made to reduce the amount of time spent compiling packages, and
recent changes and upgrades to the building and distribution of substitutes
continues to be a topic of discussion within Guix.
The kernel, while not requiring an overabundance of RAM to build, does take a
rather long time on an average machine. The official kernel configuration, as
is the case with many GNU/Linux distributions, errs on the side of
inclusiveness, and this is really what causes the build to take such a long
time when the kernel is built from source.
The Linux kernel, however, can also just be described as a regular old
package, and as such can be customized just like any other package. The
procedure is a little bit different, although this is primarily due to the
nature of how the package definition is written.
The @code{linux-libre} kernel package definition is actually a procedure which
creates a package.
@lisp
(define* (make-linux-libre* version gnu-revision source supported-systems
#:key
(extra-version #f)
;; A function that takes an arch and a variant.
;; See kernel-config for an example.
(configuration-file #f)
(defconfig "defconfig")
(extra-options %default-extra-linux-options))
...)
@end lisp
The current @code{linux-libre} package is for the 5.15.x series, and is
declared like this:
@lisp
(define-public linux-libre-5.15
(make-linux-libre* linux-libre-5.15-version
linux-libre-5.15-gnu-revision
linux-libre-5.15-source
'("x86_64-linux" "i686-linux" "armhf-linux" "aarch64-linux" "riscv64-linux")
#:configuration-file kernel-config))
@end lisp
Any keys which are not assigned values inherit their default value from the
@code{make-linux-libre} definition. When comparing the two snippets above,
notice the code comment that refers to @code{#:configuration-file}. Because of
this, it is not actually easy to include a custom kernel configuration from the
definition, but don't worry, there are other ways to work with what we do have.
There are two ways to create a kernel with a custom kernel configuration. The
first is to provide a standard @file{.config} file during the build process by
including an actual @file{.config} file as a native input to our custom
kernel. The following is a snippet from the custom @code{'configure} phase of
the @code{make-linux-libre} package definition:
@lisp
(let ((build (assoc-ref %standard-phases 'build))
(config (assoc-ref (or native-inputs inputs) "kconfig")))
;; Use a custom kernel configuration file or a default
;; configuration file.
(if config
(begin
(copy-file config ".config")
(chmod ".config" #o666))
(invoke "make" ,defconfig)))
@end lisp
Below is a sample kernel package. The @code{linux-libre} package is nothing
special and can be inherited from and have its fields overridden like any
other package:
@lisp
(define-public linux-libre/E2140
(package
(inherit linux-libre)
(native-inputs
`(("kconfig" ,(local-file "E2140.config"))
,@@(alist-delete "kconfig"
(package-native-inputs linux-libre))))))
@end lisp
In the same directory as the file defining @code{linux-libre-E2140} is a file
named @file{E2140.config}, which is an actual kernel configuration file. The
@code{defconfig} keyword of @code{make-linux-libre} is left blank here, so the
only kernel configuration in the package is the one which was included in the
@code{native-inputs} field.
The second way to create a custom kernel is to pass a new value to the
@code{extra-options} keyword of the @code{make-linux-libre} procedure. The
@code{extra-options} keyword works with another function defined right below
it:
@lisp
(define %default-extra-linux-options
`(;; https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2014-04/msg00039.html
("CONFIG_DEVPTS_MULTIPLE_INSTANCES" . #true)
;; Modules required for initrd:
("CONFIG_NET_9P" . m)
("CONFIG_NET_9P_VIRTIO" . m)
("CONFIG_VIRTIO_BLK" . m)
("CONFIG_VIRTIO_NET" . m)
("CONFIG_VIRTIO_PCI" . m)
("CONFIG_VIRTIO_BALLOON" . m)
("CONFIG_VIRTIO_MMIO" . m)
("CONFIG_FUSE_FS" . m)
("CONFIG_CIFS" . m)
("CONFIG_9P_FS" . m)))
(define (config->string options)
(string-join (map (match-lambda
((option . 'm)
(string-append option "=m"))
((option . #true)
(string-append option "=y"))
((option . #false)
(string-append option "=n")))
options)
"\n"))
@end lisp
And in the custom configure script from the `make-linux-libre` package:
@lisp
;; Appending works even when the option wasn't in the
;; file. The last one prevails if duplicated.
(let ((port (open-file ".config" "a"))
(extra-configuration ,(config->string extra-options)))
(display extra-configuration port)
(close-port port))
(invoke "make" "oldconfig")
@end lisp
So by not providing a configuration-file the @file{.config} starts blank, and
then we write into it the collection of flags that we want. Here's another
custom kernel:
@lisp
(define %macbook41-full-config
(append %macbook41-config-options
%file-systems
%efi-support
%emulation
(@@@@ (gnu packages linux) %default-extra-linux-options)))
(define-public linux-libre-macbook41
;; XXX: Access the internal 'make-linux-libre*' procedure, which is
;; private and unexported, and is liable to change in the future.
((@@@@ (gnu packages linux) make-linux-libre*)
(@@@@ (gnu packages linux) linux-libre-version)
(@@@@ (gnu packages linux) linux-libre-gnu-revision)
(@@@@ (gnu packages linux) linux-libre-source)
'("x86_64-linux")
#:extra-version "macbook41"
#:extra-options %macbook41-config-options))
@end lisp
In the above example @code{%file-systems} is a collection of flags enabling
different file system support, @code{%efi-support} enables EFI support and
@code{%emulation} enables a x86_64-linux machine to act in 32-bit mode also.
@code{%default-extra-linux-options} are the ones quoted above, which had to be
added in since they were replaced in the @code{extra-options} keyword.
This all sounds like it should be doable, but how does one even know which
modules are required for a particular system? Two places that can be helpful
in trying to answer this question is the
@uref{https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Kernel, Gentoo
Handbook} and the
@uref{https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/README.html?highlight=localmodconfig,
documentation from the kernel itself}. From the kernel documentation, it
seems that @code{make localmodconfig} is the command we want.
In order to actually run @code{make localmodconfig} we first need to get and
unpack the kernel source code:
@example shell
tar xf $(guix build linux-libre --source)
@end example
Once inside the directory containing the source code run @code{touch .config}
to create an initial, empty @file{.config} to start with. @code{make
localmodconfig} works by seeing what you already have in @file{.config} and
letting you know what you're missing. If the file is blank then you're
missing everything. The next step is to run:
@example shell
guix environment linux-libre -- make localmodconfig
@end example
and note the output. Do note that the @file{.config} file is still empty.
The output generally contains two types of warnings. The first start with
"WARNING" and can actually be ignored in our case. The second read:
@example shell
module pcspkr did not have configs CONFIG_INPUT_PCSPKR
@end example
For each of these lines, copy the @code{CONFIG_XXXX_XXXX} portion into the
@file{.config} in the directory, and append @code{=m}, so in the end it looks
like this:
@example shell
CONFIG_INPUT_PCSPKR=m
CONFIG_VIRTIO=m
@end example
After copying all the configuration options, run @code{make localmodconfig}
again to make sure that you don't have any output starting with ``module''.
After all of these machine specific modules there are a couple more left that
are also needed. @code{CONFIG_MODULES} is necessary so that you can build and
load modules separately and not have everything built into the kernel.
@code{CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD} is required for reading from hard drives. It is
possible that there are other modules which you will need.
This post does not aim to be a guide to configuring your own kernel however,
so if you do decide to build a custom kernel you'll have to seek out other
guides to create a kernel which is just right for your needs.
The second way to setup the kernel configuration makes more use of Guix's
features and allows you to share configuration segments between different
kernels. For example, all machines using EFI to boot have a number of EFI
configuration flags that they need. It is likely that all the kernels will
share a list of file systems to support. By using variables it is easier to
see at a glance what features are enabled and to make sure you don't have
features in one kernel but missing in another.
Left undiscussed however, is Guix's initrd and its customization. It is
likely that you'll need to modify the initrd on a machine using a custom
kernel, since certain modules which are expected to be built may not be
available for inclusion into the initrd.
@node Guix System Image API
@section Guix System Image API
Historically, Guix System is centered around an @code{operating-system}
structure. This structure contains various fields ranging from the
bootloader and kernel declaration to the services to install.
Depending on the target machine, that can go from a standard
@code{x86_64} machine to a small ARM single board computer such as the
Pine64, the image constraints can vary a lot. The hardware
manufacturers will impose different image formats with various partition
sizes and offsets.
To create images suitable for all those machines, a new abstraction is
necessary: that's the goal of the @code{image} record. This record
contains all the required information to be transformed into a
standalone image, that can be directly booted on any target machine.
@lisp
(define-record-type* <image>
image make-image
image?
(name image-name ;symbol
(default #f))
(format image-format) ;symbol
(target image-target
(default #f))
(size image-size ;size in bytes as integer
(default 'guess))
(operating-system image-operating-system ;<operating-system>
(default #f))
(partitions image-partitions ;list of <partition>
(default '()))
(compression? image-compression? ;boolean
(default #t))
(volatile-root? image-volatile-root? ;boolean
(default #t))
(substitutable? image-substitutable? ;boolean
(default #t)))
@end lisp
This record contains the operating-system to instantiate. The
@code{format} field defines the image type and can be @code{efi-raw},
@code{qcow2} or @code{iso9660} for instance. In the future, it could be
extended to @code{docker} or other image types.
A new directory in the Guix sources is dedicated to images definition. For now
there are four files:
@itemize @bullet
@item @file{gnu/system/images/hurd.scm}
@item @file{gnu/system/images/pine64.scm}
@item @file{gnu/system/images/novena.scm}
@item @file{gnu/system/images/pinebook-pro.scm}
@end itemize
Let's have a look to @file{pine64.scm}. It contains the
@code{pine64-barebones-os} variable which is a minimal definition of an
operating-system dedicated to the @b{Pine A64 LTS} board.
@lisp
(define pine64-barebones-os
(operating-system
(host-name "vignemale")
(timezone "Europe/Paris")
(locale "en_US.utf8")
(bootloader (bootloader-configuration
(bootloader u-boot-pine64-lts-bootloader)
(targets '("/dev/vda"))))
(initrd-modules '())
(kernel linux-libre-arm64-generic)
(file-systems (cons (file-system
(device (file-system-label "my-root"))
(mount-point "/")
(type "ext4"))
%base-file-systems))
(services (cons (service agetty-service-type
(agetty-configuration
(extra-options '("-L")) ; no carrier detect
(baud-rate "115200")
(term "vt100")
(tty "ttyS0")))
%base-services))))
@end lisp
The @code{kernel} and @code{bootloader} fields are pointing to packages
dedicated to this board.
Right below, the @code{pine64-image-type} variable is also defined.
@lisp
(define pine64-image-type
(image-type
(name 'pine64-raw)
(constructor (cut image-with-os arm64-disk-image <>))))
@end lisp
It's using a record we haven't talked about yet, the @code{image-type} record,
defined this way:
@lisp
(define-record-type* <image-type>
image-type make-image-type
image-type?
(name image-type-name) ;symbol
(constructor image-type-constructor)) ;<operating-system> -> <image>
@end lisp
The main purpose of this record is to associate a name to a procedure
transforming an @code{operating-system} to an image. To understand why
it is necessary, let's have a look to the command producing an image
from an @code{operating-system} configuration file:
@example
guix system image my-os.scm
@end example
This command expects an @code{operating-system} configuration but how
should we indicate that we want an image targeting a Pine64 board? We
need to provide an extra information, the @code{image-type}, by passing
the @code{--image-type} or @code{-t} flag, this way:
@example
guix system image --image-type=pine64-raw my-os.scm
@end example
This @code{image-type} parameter points to the @code{pine64-image-type}
defined above. Hence, the @code{operating-system} declared in
@code{my-os.scm} will be applied the @code{(cut image-with-os
arm64-disk-image <>)} procedure to turn it into an image.
The resulting image looks like:
@lisp
(image
(format 'disk-image)
(target "aarch64-linux-gnu")
(operating-system my-os)
(partitions
(list (partition
(inherit root-partition)
(offset root-offset)))))
@end lisp
which is the aggregation of the @code{operating-system} defined in
@code{my-os.scm} to the @code{arm64-disk-image} record.
But enough Scheme madness. What does this image API bring to the Guix user?
One can run:
@example
mathieu@@cervin:~$ guix system --list-image-types
The available image types are:
- pinebook-pro-raw
- pine64-raw
- novena-raw
- hurd-raw
- hurd-qcow2
- qcow2
- uncompressed-iso9660
- efi-raw
- arm64-raw
- arm32-raw
- iso9660
@end example
and by writing an @code{operating-system} file based on
@code{pine64-barebones-os}, you can customize your image to your
preferences in a file (@file{my-pine-os.scm}) like this:
@lisp
(use-modules (gnu services linux)
(gnu system images pine64))
(let ((base-os pine64-barebones-os))
(operating-system
(inherit base-os)
(timezone "America/Indiana/Indianapolis")
(services
(cons
(service earlyoom-service-type
(earlyoom-configuration
(prefer-regexp "icecat|chromium")))
(operating-system-user-services base-os)))))
@end lisp
run:
@example
guix system image --image-type=pine64-raw my-pine-os.scm
@end example
or,
@example
guix system image --image-type=hurd-raw my-hurd-os.scm
@end example
to get an image that can be written directly to a hard drive and booted
from.
Without changing anything to @code{my-hurd-os.scm}, calling:
@example
guix system image --image-type=hurd-qcow2 my-hurd-os.scm
@end example
will instead produce a Hurd QEMU image.
@node Connecting to Wireguard VPN
@section Connecting to Wireguard VPN
To connect to a Wireguard VPN server you need the kernel module to be
loaded in memory and a package providing networking tools that support
it (e.g. @code{wireguard-tools} or @code{network-manager}).
Here is a configuration example for Linux-Libre < 5.6, where the module
is out of tree and need to be loaded manually---following revisions of
the kernel have it built-in and so don't need such configuration:
@lisp
(use-modules (gnu))
(use-service-modules desktop)
(use-package-modules vpn)
(operating-system
;; …
(services (cons (simple-service 'wireguard-module
kernel-module-loader-service-type
'("wireguard"))
%desktop-services))
(packages (cons wireguard-tools %base-packages))
(kernel-loadable-modules (list wireguard-linux-compat)))
@end lisp
After reconfiguring and restarting your system you can either use
Wireguard tools or NetworkManager to connect to a VPN server.
@subsection Using Wireguard tools
To test your Wireguard setup it is convenient to use @command{wg-quick}.
Just give it a configuration file @command{wg-quick up ./wg0.conf}; or
put that file in @file{/etc/wireguard} and run @command{wg-quick up wg0}
instead.
@quotation Note
Be warned that the author described this command as a: “[…] very quick
and dirty bash script […]”.
@end quotation
@subsection Using NetworkManager
Thanks to NetworkManager support for Wireguard we can connect to our VPN
using @command{nmcli} command. Up to this point this guide assumes that
you're using Network Manager service provided by
@code{%desktop-services}. Ortherwise you need to adjust your services
list to load @code{network-manager-service-type} and reconfigure your
Guix system.
To import your VPN configuration execute nmcli import command:
@example shell
# nmcli connection import type wireguard file wg0.conf
Connection 'wg0' (edbee261-aa5a-42db-b032-6c7757c60fde) successfully added
@end example
This will create a configuration file in
@file{/etc/NetworkManager/wg0.nmconnection}. Next connect to the
Wireguard server:
@example shell
$ nmcli connection up wg0
Connection successfully activated (D-Bus active path: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/6)
@end example
By default NetworkManager will connect automatically on system boot. To
change that behaviour you need to edit your config:
@example shell
# nmcli connection modify wg0 connection.autoconnect no
@end example
For more specific information about NetworkManager and wireguard
@uref{https://blogs.gnome.org/thaller/2019/03/15/wireguard-in-networkmanager/,see
this post by thaller}.
@node Customizing a Window Manager
@section Customizing a Window Manager
@cindex wm
@node StumpWM
@subsection StumpWM
@cindex stumpwm
You could install StumpWM with a Guix system by adding
@code{stumpwm} and optionally @code{`(,stumpwm "lib")}
packages to a system configuration file, e.g.@: @file{/etc/config.scm}.
An example configuration can look like this:
@lisp
(use-modules (gnu))
(use-package-modules wm)
(operating-system
;; …
(packages (append (list sbcl stumpwm `(,stumpwm "lib"))
%base-packages)))
@end lisp
@cindex stumpwm fonts
By default StumpWM uses X11 fonts, which could be small or pixelated on
your system. You could fix this by installing StumpWM contrib Lisp
module @code{sbcl-ttf-fonts}, adding it to Guix system packages:
@lisp
(use-modules (gnu))
(use-package-modules fonts wm)
(operating-system
;; …
(packages (append (list sbcl stumpwm `(,stumpwm "lib"))
sbcl-ttf-fonts font-dejavu %base-packages)))
@end lisp
Then you need to add the following code to a StumpWM configuration file
@file{~/.stumpwm.d/init.lisp}:
@lisp
(require :ttf-fonts)
(setf xft:*font-dirs* '("/run/current-system/profile/share/fonts/"))
(setf clx-truetype:+font-cache-filename+ (concat (getenv "HOME") "/.fonts/font-cache.sexp"))
(xft:cache-fonts)
(set-font (make-instance 'xft:font :family "DejaVu Sans Mono" :subfamily "Book" :size 11))
@end lisp
@node Session lock
@subsection Session lock
@cindex sessionlock
Depending on your environment, locking the screen of your session might come built in
or it might be something you have to set up yourself. If you use a desktop environment
like GNOME or KDE, it's usually built in. If you use a plain window manager like
StumpWM or EXWM, you might have to set it up yourself.
@node Xorg
@subsubsection Xorg
If you use Xorg, you can use the utility
@uref{https://www.mankier.com/1/xss-lock, xss-lock} to lock the screen of your session.
xss-lock is triggered by DPMS which since Xorg 1.8 is auto-detected and enabled if
ACPI is also enabled at kernel runtime.
To use xss-lock, you can simple execute it and put it into the background before
you start your window manager from e.g. your @file{~/.xsession}:
@example
xss-lock -- slock &
exec stumpwm
@end example
In this example, xss-lock uses @code{slock} to do the actual locking of the screen when
it determines it's appropriate, like when you suspend your device.
For slock to be allowed to be a screen locker for the graphical session, it needs to
be made setuid-root so it can authenticate users, and it needs a PAM service. This
can be achieved by adding the following service to your @file{config.scm}:
@lisp
(screen-locker-service slock)
@end lisp
If you manually lock your screen, e.g. by directly calling slock when you want to lock
your screen but not suspend it, it's a good idea to notify xss-lock about this so no
confusion occurs. This can be done by executing @code{xset s activate} immediately
before you execute slock.
@node Running Guix on a Linode Server
@section Running Guix on a Linode Server
@cindex linode, Linode
To run Guix on a server hosted by @uref{https://www.linode.com, Linode},
start with a recommended Debian server. We recommend using the default
distro as a way to bootstrap Guix. Create your SSH keys.
@example
ssh-keygen
@end example
Be sure to add your SSH key for easy login to the remote server.
This is trivially done via Linode's graphical interface for adding
SSH keys. Go to your profile and click add SSH Key.
Copy into it the output of:
@example
cat ~/.ssh/<username>_rsa.pub
@end example
Power the Linode down.
In the Linode's Storage tab, resize the Debian disk to be smaller.
30 GB free space is recommended. Then click "Add a disk", and fill
out the form with the following:
@itemize @bullet
@item
Label: "Guix"
@item
Filesystem: ext4
@item
Set it to the remaining size
@end itemize
In the Configurations tab, press "Edit" on the default Debian profile.
Under "Block Device Assignment" click "Add a Device". It should be
@file{/dev/sdc} and you can select the "Guix" disk. Save Changes.
Now "Add a Configuration", with the following:
@itemize @bullet
@item
Label: Guix
@item
Kernel:GRUB 2 (it's at the bottom! This step is @b{IMPORTANT!})
@item
Block device assignment:
@item
@file{/dev/sda}: Guix
@item
@file{/dev/sdb}: swap
@item
Root device: @file{/dev/sda}
@item
Turn off all the filesystem/boot helpers
@end itemize
Now power it back up, booting with the Debian configuration. Once it's
running, ssh to your server via @code{ssh
root@@@var{<your-server-IP-here>}}. (You can find your server IP address in
your Linode Summary section.) Now you can run the "install guix from
@pxref{Binary Installation,,, guix, GNU Guix}" steps:
@example
sudo apt-get install gpg
wget https://sv.gnu.org/people/viewgpg.php?user_id=15145 -qO - | gpg --import -
wget https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/plain/etc/guix-install.sh
chmod +x guix-install.sh
./guix-install.sh
guix pull
@end example
Now it's time to write out a config for the server. The key information
is below. Save the resulting file as @file{guix-config.scm}.
@lisp
(use-modules (gnu)
(guix modules))
(use-service-modules networking
ssh)
(use-package-modules admin
certs
package-management
ssh
tls)
(operating-system
(host-name "my-server")
(timezone "America/New_York")
(locale "en_US.UTF-8")
;; This goofy code will generate the grub.cfg
;; without installing the grub bootloader on disk.
(bootloader (bootloader-configuration
(bootloader
(bootloader
(inherit grub-bootloader)
(installer #~(const #true))))))
(file-systems (cons (file-system
(device "/dev/sda")
(mount-point "/")
(type "ext4"))
%base-file-systems))
(swap-devices (list "/dev/sdb"))
(initrd-modules (cons "virtio_scsi" ; Needed to find the disk
%base-initrd-modules))
(users (cons (user-account
(name "janedoe")
(group "users")
;; Adding the account to the "wheel" group
;; makes it a sudoer.
(supplementary-groups '("wheel"))
(home-directory "/home/janedoe"))
%base-user-accounts))
(packages (cons* nss-certs ;for HTTPS access
openssh-sans-x
%base-packages))
(services (cons*
(service dhcp-client-service-type)
(service openssh-service-type
(openssh-configuration
(openssh openssh-sans-x)
(password-authentication? #false)
(authorized-keys
`(("janedoe" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub"))
("root" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub"))))))
%base-services)))
@end lisp
Replace the following fields in the above configuration:
@lisp
(host-name "my-server") ; replace with your server name
; if you chose a linode server outside the U.S., then
; use tzselect to find a correct timezone string
(timezone "America/New_York") ; if needed replace timezone
(name "janedoe") ; replace with your username
("janedoe" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub")) ; replace with your ssh key
("root" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub")) ; replace with your ssh key
@end lisp
The last line in the above example lets you log into the server as root
and set the initial root password (see the note at the end of this
recipe about root login). After you have done this, you may
delete that line from your configuration and reconfigure to prevent root
login.
Copy your ssh public key (eg: @file{~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub}) as
@file{@var{<your-username-here>}_rsa.pub} and put
@file{guix-config.scm} in the same directory. In a new terminal run
these commands.
@example
sftp root@@<remote server ip address>
put /path/to/files/<username>_rsa.pub .
put /path/to/files/guix-config.scm .
@end example
In your first terminal, mount the guix drive:
@example
mkdir /mnt/guix
mount /dev/sdc /mnt/guix
@end example
Due to the way we set up the bootloader section of the guix-config.scm,
only the grub configuration file will be installed. So, we need to copy
over some of the other GRUB stuff already installed on the Debian system:
@example
mkdir -p /mnt/guix/boot/grub
cp -r /boot/grub/* /mnt/guix/boot/grub/
@end example
Now initialize the Guix installation:
@example
guix system init guix-config.scm /mnt/guix
@end example
Ok, power it down!
Now from the Linode console, select boot and select "Guix".
Once it boots, you should be able to log in via SSH! (The server config
will have changed though.) You may encounter an error like:
@example
$ ssh root@@<server ip address>
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is
SHA256:0B+wp33w57AnKQuHCvQP0+ZdKaqYrI/kyU7CfVbS7R4.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /home/joshua/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending ECDSA key in /home/joshua/.ssh/known_hosts:3
ECDSA host key for 198.58.98.76 has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed.
@end example
Either delete @file{~/.ssh/known_hosts} file, or delete the offending line
starting with your server IP address.
Be sure to set your password and root's password.
@example
ssh root@@<remote ip address>
passwd ; for the root password
passwd <username> ; for the user password
@end example
You may not be able to run the above commands at this point. If you
have issues remotely logging into your linode box via SSH, then you may
still need to set your root and user password initially by clicking on
the ``Launch Console'' option in your linode. Choose the ``Glish''
instead of ``Weblish''. Now you should be able to ssh into the machine.
Hooray! At this point you can shut down the server, delete the
Debian disk, and resize the Guix to the rest of the size.
Congratulations!
By the way, if you save it as a disk image right at this point, you'll
have an easy time spinning up new Guix images! You may need to
down-size the Guix image to 6144MB, to save it as an image. Then you
can resize it again to the max size.
@node Setting up a bind mount
@section Setting up a bind mount
To bind mount a file system, one must first set up some definitions
before the @code{operating-system} section of the system definition. In
this example we will bind mount a folder from a spinning disk drive to
@file{/tmp}, to save wear and tear on the primary SSD, without
dedicating an entire partition to be mounted as @file{/tmp}.
First, the source drive that hosts the folder we wish to bind mount
should be defined, so that the bind mount can depend on it.
@lisp
(define source-drive ;; "source-drive" can be named anything you want.
(file-system
(device (uuid "UUID goes here"))
(mount-point "/path-to-spinning-disk-goes-here")
(type "ext4"))) ;; Make sure to set this to the appropriate type for your drive.
@end lisp
The source folder must also be defined, so that guix will know it's not
a regular block device, but a folder.
@lisp
(define (%source-directory) "/path-to-spinning-disk-goes-here/tmp") ;; "source-directory" can be named any valid variable name.
@end lisp
Finally, inside the @code{file-systems} definition, we must add the
mount itself.
@lisp
(file-systems (cons*
...<other drives omitted for clarity>...
source-drive ;; Must match the name you gave the source drive in the earlier definition.
(file-system
(device (%source-directory)) ;; Make sure "source-directory" matches your earlier definition.
(mount-point "/tmp")
(type "none") ;; We are mounting a folder, not a partition, so this type needs to be "none"
(flags '(bind-mount))
(dependencies (list source-drive)) ;; Ensure "source-drive" matches what you've named the variable for the drive.
)
...<other drives omitted for clarity>...
))
@end lisp
@node Getting substitutes from Tor
@section Getting substitutes from Tor
Guix daemon can use a HTTP proxy to get substitutes, here we are
configuring it to get them via Tor.
@quotation Warning
@emph{Not all} Guix daemon's traffic will go through Tor! Only
HTTP/HTTPS will get proxied; FTP, Git protocol, SSH, etc connections
will still go through the clearnet. Again, this configuration isn't
foolproof some of your traffic won't get routed by Tor at all. Use it
at your own risk.
Also note that the procedure described here applies only to package
substitution. When you update your guix distribution with
@command{guix pull}, you still need to use @command{torsocks} if
you want to route the connection to guix's git repository servers
through Tor.
@end quotation
Guix's substitute server is available as a Onion service, if you want
to use it to get your substitutes through Tor configure your system as
follow:
@lisp
(use-modules (gnu))
(use-service-module base networking)
(operating-system
…
(services
(cons
(service tor-service-type
(tor-configuration
(config-file (plain-file "tor-config"
"HTTPTunnelPort 127.0.0.1:9250"))))
(modify-services %base-services
(guix-service-type
config => (guix-configuration
(inherit config)
;; ci.guix.gnu.org's Onion service
(substitute-urls "https://bp7o7ckwlewr4slm.onion")
(http-proxy "http://localhost:9250")))))))
@end lisp
This will keep a tor process running that provides a HTTP CONNECT tunnel
which will be used by @command{guix-daemon}. The daemon can use other
protocols than HTTP(S) to get remote resources, request using those
protocols won't go through Tor since we are only setting a HTTP tunnel
here. Note that @code{substitutes-urls} is using HTTPS and not HTTP or
it won't work, that's a limitation of Tor's tunnel; you may want to use
@command{privoxy} instead to avoid such limitations.
If you don't want to always get substitutes through Tor but using it just
some of the times, then skip the @code{guix-configuration}. When you
want to get a substitute from the Tor tunnel run:
@example
sudo herd set-http-proxy guix-daemon http://localhost:9250
guix build --substitute-urls=https://bp7o7ckwlewr4slm.onion …
@end example
@node Setting up NGINX with Lua
@section Setting up NGINX with Lua
@cindex nginx, lua, openresty, resty
NGINX could be extended with Lua scripts.
Guix provides NGINX service with ability to load Lua module and specific
Lua packages, and reply to requests by evaluating Lua scripts.
The following example demonstrates system definition with configuration
to evaluate @file{index.lua} Lua script on HTTP request to
@uref{http://localhost/hello} endpoint:
@example
local shell = require "resty.shell"
local stdin = ""
local timeout = 1000 -- ms
local max_size = 4096 -- byte
local ok, stdout, stderr, reason, status =
shell.run([[/run/current-system/profile/bin/ls /tmp]], stdin, timeout, max_size)
ngx.say(stdout)
@end example
@lisp
(use-modules (gnu))
(use-service-modules #;… web)
(use-package-modules #;… lua)
(operating-system
;; …
(services
;; …
(service nginx-service-type
(nginx-configuration
(modules
(list
(file-append nginx-lua-module "/etc/nginx/modules/ngx_http_lua_module.so")))
(lua-package-path (list lua-resty-core
lua-resty-lrucache
lua-resty-signal
lua-tablepool
lua-resty-shell))
(lua-package-cpath (list lua-resty-signal))
(server-blocks
(list (nginx-server-configuration
(server-name '("localhost"))
(listen '("80"))
(root "/etc")
(locations (list
(nginx-location-configuration
(uri "/hello")
(body (list #~(format #f "content_by_lua_file ~s;"
#$(local-file "index.lua"))))))))))))))
@end lisp
@c *********************************************************************
@node Advanced package management
@chapter Advanced package management
Guix is a functional package manager that offers many features beyond
what more traditional package managers can do. To the uninitiated,
those features might not have obvious use cases at first. The purpose
of this chapter is to demonstrate some advanced package management
concepts.
@pxref{Package Management,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for a complete
reference.
@menu
* Guix Profiles in Practice:: Strategies for multiple profiles and manifests.
@end menu
@node Guix Profiles in Practice
@section Guix Profiles in Practice
Guix provides a very useful feature that may be quite foreign to newcomers:
@emph{profiles}. They are a way to group package installations together and all users
on the same system are free to use as many profiles as they want.
Whether you're a developer or not, you may find that multiple profiles bring you
great power and flexibility. While they shift the paradigm somewhat compared to
@emph{traditional package managers}, they are very convenient to use once you've
understood how to set them up.
If you are familiar with Python's @samp{virtualenv}, you can think of a profile as a
kind of universal @samp{virtualenv} that can hold any kind of software whatsoever, not
just Python software. Furthermore, profiles are self-sufficient: they capture
all the runtime dependencies which guarantees that all programs within a profile
will always work at any point in time.
Multiple profiles have many benefits:
@itemize
@item
Clean semantic separation of the various packages a user needs for different contexts.
@item
Multiple profiles can be made available into the environment either on login
or within a dedicated shell.
@item
Profiles can be loaded on demand. For instance, the user can use multiple
shells, each of them running different profiles.
@item
Isolation: Programs from one profile will not use programs from the other, and
the user can even install different versions of the same programs to the two
profiles without conflict.
@item
Deduplication: Profiles share dependencies that happens to be the exact same.
This makes multiple profiles storage-efficient.
@item
Reproducible: when used with declarative manifests, a profile can be fully
specified by the Guix commit that was active when it was set up. This means
that the exact same profile can be
@uref{https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2018/multi-dimensional-transactions-and-rollbacks-oh-my/,
set up anywhere and anytime}, with just the commit information. See the
section on @ref{Reproducible profiles}.
@item
Easier upgrades and maintenance: Multiple profiles make it easy to keep
package listings at hand and make upgrades completely frictionless.
@end itemize
Concretely, here follows some typical profiles:
@itemize
@item
The dependencies of a project you are working on.
@item
Your favourite programming language libraries.
@item
Laptop-specific programs (like @samp{powertop}) that you don't need on a desktop.
@item
@TeX{}live (this one can be really useful when you need to install just one
package for this one document you've just received over email).
@item
Games.
@end itemize
Let's dive in the set up!
@node Basic setup with manifests
@subsection Basic setup with manifests
A Guix profile can be set up @emph{via} a so-called @emph{manifest specification} that looks like
this:
@lisp
(specifications->manifest
'("package-1"
;; Version 1.3 of package-2.
"package-2@@1.3"
;; The "lib" output of package-3.
"package-3:lib"
; ...
"package-N"))
@end lisp
@pxref{Invoking guix package,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}, for
the syntax details.
We can create a manifest specification per profile and install them this way:
@example
GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES=$HOME/.guix-extra-profiles
mkdir -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project # if it does not exist yet
guix package --manifest=/path/to/guix-my-project-manifest.scm --profile="$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project
@end example
Here we set an arbitrary variable @samp{GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES} to point to the directory
where we will store our profiles in the rest of this article.
Placing all your profiles in a single directory, with each profile getting its
own sub-directory, is somewhat cleaner. This way, each sub-directory will
contain all the symlinks for precisely one profile. Besides, ``looping over
profiles'' becomes obvious from any programming language (e.g.@: a shell script) by
simply looping over the sub-directories of @samp{$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES}.
Note that it's also possible to loop over the output of
@example
guix package --list-profiles
@end example
although you'll probably have to filter out @file{~/.config/guix/current}.
To enable all profiles on login, add this to your @file{~/.bash_profile} (or similar):
@example
for i in $GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES/*; do
profile=$i/$(basename "$i")
if [ -f "$profile"/etc/profile ]; then
GUIX_PROFILE="$profile"
. "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile
fi
unset profile
done
@end example
Note to Guix System users: the above reflects how your default profile
@file{~/.guix-profile} is activated from @file{/etc/profile}, that latter being loaded by
@file{~/.bashrc} by default.
You can obviously choose to only enable a subset of them:
@example
for i in "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project-1 "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project-2; do
profile=$i/$(basename "$i")
if [ -f "$profile"/etc/profile ]; then
GUIX_PROFILE="$profile"
. "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile
fi
unset profile
done
@end example
When a profile is off, it's straightforward to enable it for an individual shell
without "polluting" the rest of the user session:
@example
GUIX_PROFILE="path/to/my-project" ; . "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile
@end example
The key to enabling a profile is to @emph{source} its @samp{etc/profile} file. This file
contains shell code that exports the right environment variables necessary to
activate the software contained in the profile. It is built automatically by
Guix and meant to be sourced.
It contains the same variables you would get if you ran:
@example
guix package --search-paths=prefix --profile=$my_profile"
@end example
Once again, see (@pxref{Invoking guix package,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual})
for the command line options.
To upgrade a profile, simply install the manifest again:
@example
guix package -m /path/to/guix-my-project-manifest.scm -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project
@end example
To upgrade all profiles, it's easy enough to loop over them. For instance,
assuming your manifest specifications are stored in
@file{~/.guix-manifests/guix-$profile-manifest.scm}, with @samp{$profile} being the name
of the profile (e.g.@: "project1"), you could do the following in Bourne shell:
@example
for profile in "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/*; do
guix package --profile="$profile" --manifest="$HOME/.guix-manifests/guix-$profile-manifest.scm"
done
@end example
Each profile has its own generations:
@example
guix package -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project --list-generations
@end example
You can roll-back to any generation of a given profile:
@example
guix package -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project --switch-generations=17
@end example
Finally, if you want to switch to a profile without inheriting from the
current environment, you can activate it from an empty shell:
@example
env -i $(which bash) --login --noprofile --norc
. my-project/etc/profile
@end example
@node Required packages
@subsection Required packages
Activating a profile essentially boils down to exporting a bunch of
environmental variables. This is the role of the @samp{etc/profile} within the
profile.
@emph{Note: Only the environmental variables of the packages that consume them will
be set.}
For instance, @samp{MANPATH} won't be set if there is no consumer application for man
pages within the profile. So if you need to transparently access man pages once
the profile is loaded, you've got two options:
@itemize
@item
Either export the variable manually, e.g.
@example
export MANPATH=/path/to/profile$@{MANPATH:+:@}$MANPATH
@end example
@item
Or include @samp{man-db} to the profile manifest.
@end itemize
The same is true for @samp{INFOPATH} (you can install @samp{info-reader}),
@samp{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} (install @samp{pkg-config}), etc.
@node Default profile
@subsection Default profile
What about the default profile that Guix keeps in @file{~/.guix-profile}?
You can assign it the role you want. Typically you would install the manifest
of the packages you want to use all the time.
Alternatively, you could keep it ``manifest-less'' for throw-away packages
that you would just use for a couple of days.
This way makes it convenient to run
@example
guix install package-foo
guix upgrade package-bar
@end example
without having to specify the path to a profile.
@node The benefits of manifests
@subsection The benefits of manifests
Manifests are a convenient way to keep your package lists around and, say,
to synchronize them across multiple machines using a version control system.
A common complaint about manifests is that they can be slow to install when they
contain large number of packages. This is especially cumbersome when you just
want get an upgrade for one package within a big manifest.
This is one more reason to use multiple profiles, which happen to be just
perfect to break down manifests into multiple sets of semantically connected
packages. Using multiple, small profiles provides more flexibility and
usability.
Manifests come with multiple benefits. In particular, they ease maintenance:
@itemize
@item
When a profile is set up from a manifest, the manifest itself is
self-sufficient to keep a ``package listing'' around and reinstall the profile
later or on a different system. For ad-hoc profiles, we would need to
generate a manifest specification manually and maintain the package versions
for the packages that don't use the default version.
@item
@code{guix package --upgrade} always tries to update the packages that have
propagated inputs, even if there is nothing to do. Guix manifests remove this
problem.
@item
When partially upgrading a profile, conflicts may arise (due to diverging
dependencies between the updated and the non-updated packages) and they can be
annoying to resolve manually. Manifests remove this problem altogether since
all packages are always upgraded at once.
@item
As mentioned above, manifests allow for reproducible profiles, while the
imperative @code{guix install}, @code{guix upgrade}, etc. do not, since they produce
different profiles every time even when they hold the same packages. See
@uref{https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/33285, the related discussion on the matter}.
@item
Manifest specifications are usable by other @samp{guix} commands. For example, you
can run @code{guix weather -m manifest.scm} to see how many substitutes are
available, which can help you decide whether you want to try upgrading today
or wait a while. Another example: you can run @code{guix pack -m manifest.scm} to
create a pack containing all the packages in the manifest (and their
transitive references).
@item
Finally, manifests have a Scheme representation, the @samp{<manifest>} record type.
They can be manipulated in Scheme and passed to the various Guix @uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Api, APIs}.
@end itemize
It's important to understand that while manifests can be used to declare
profiles, they are not strictly equivalent: profiles have the side effect that
they ``pin'' packages in the store, which prevents them from being
garbage-collected (@pxref{Invoking guix gc,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual})
and ensures that they will still be available at any point in
the future.
Let's take an example:
@enumerate
@item
We have an environment for hacking on a project for which there isn't a Guix
package yet. We build the environment using a manifest, and then run @code{guix
environment -m manifest.scm}. So far so good.
@item
Many weeks pass and we have run a couple of @code{guix pull} in the mean time.
Maybe a dependency from our manifest has been updated; or we may have run
@code{guix gc} and some packages needed by our manifest have been
garbage-collected.
@item
Eventually, we set to work on that project again, so we run @code{guix environment
-m manifest.scm}. But now we have to wait for Guix to build and install
stuff!
@end enumerate
Ideally, we could spare the rebuild time. And indeed we can, all we need is to
install the manifest to a profile and use @code{GUIX_PROFILE=/the/profile;
. "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile} as explained above: this guarantees that our
hacking environment will be available at all times.
@emph{Security warning:} While keeping old profiles around can be convenient, keep in
mind that outdated packages may not have received the latest security fixes.
@node Reproducible profiles
@subsection Reproducible profiles
To reproduce a profile bit-for-bit, we need two pieces of information:
@itemize
@item
a manifest,
@item
a Guix channel specification.
@end itemize
Indeed, manifests alone might not be enough: different Guix versions (or
different channels) can produce different outputs for a given manifest.
You can output the Guix channel specification with @samp{guix describe
--format=channels}.
Save this to a file, say @samp{channel-specs.scm}.
On another computer, you can use the channel specification file and the manifest
to reproduce the exact same profile:
@example
GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES=$HOME/.guix-extra-profiles
GUIX_EXTRA=$HOME/.guix-extra
mkdir "$GUIX_EXTRA"/my-project
guix pull --channels=channel-specs.scm --profile "$GUIX_EXTRA/my-project/guix"
mkdir -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES/my-project"
"$GUIX_EXTRA"/my-project/guix/bin/guix package --manifest=/path/to/guix-my-project-manifest.scm --profile="$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project
@end example
It's safe to delete the Guix channel profile you've just installed with the
channel specification, the project profile does not depend on it.
@c *********************************************************************
@node Environment management
@chapter Environment management
Guix provides multiple tools to manage environment. This chapter
demonstrate such utilities.
@menu
* Guix environment via direnv:: Setup Guix environment with direnv
@end menu
@node Guix environment via direnv
@section Guix environment via direnv
Guix provides a @samp{direnv} package, which could extend shell after
directory change. This tool could be used to prepare a pure Guix
environment.
The following example provides a shell function for @file{~/.direnvrc}
file, which could be used from Guix Git repository in
@file{~/src/guix/.envrc} file to setup a build environment similar to
described in @pxref{Building from Git,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference
Manual}.
Create a @file{~/.direnvrc} with a Bash code:
@example
# Thanks <https://github.com/direnv/direnv/issues/73#issuecomment-152284914>
export_function()
@{
local name=$1
local alias_dir=$PWD/.direnv/aliases
mkdir -p "$alias_dir"
PATH_add "$alias_dir"
local target="$alias_dir/$name"
if declare -f "$name" >/dev/null; then
echo "#!$SHELL" > "$target"
declare -f "$name" >> "$target" 2>/dev/null
# Notice that we add shell variables to the function trigger.
echo "$name \$*" >> "$target"
chmod +x "$target"
fi
@}
use_guix()
@{
# Set GitHub token.
export GUIX_GITHUB_TOKEN="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
# Unset 'GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH'.
export GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH=""
# Recreate a garbage collector root.
gcroots="$HOME/.config/guix/gcroots"
mkdir -p "$gcroots"
gcroot="$gcroots/guix"
if [ -L "$gcroot" ]
then
rm -v "$gcroot"
fi
# Miscellaneous packages.
PACKAGES_MAINTENANCE=(
direnv
git
git:send-email
git-cal
gnupg
guile-colorized
guile-readline
less
ncurses
openssh
xdot
)
# Environment packages.
PACKAGES=(help2man guile-sqlite3 guile-gcrypt)
# Thanks <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-09/msg00859.html>
eval "$(guix environment --search-paths --root="$gcroot" --pure guix --ad-hoc $@{PACKAGES[@@]@} $@{PACKAGES_MAINTENANCE[@@]@} "$@@")"
# Predefine configure flags.
configure()
@{
./configure --localstatedir=/var --prefix=
@}
export_function configure
# Run make and optionally build something.
build()
@{
make -j 2
if [ $# -gt 0 ]
then
./pre-inst-env guix build "$@@"
fi
@}
export_function build
# Predefine push Git command.
push()
@{
git push --set-upstream origin
@}
export_function push
clear # Clean up the screen.
git-cal --author='Your Name' # Show contributions calendar.
# Show commands help.
echo "
build build a package or just a project if no argument provided
configure run ./configure with predefined parameters
push push to upstream Git repository
"
@}
@end example
Every project containing @file{.envrc} with a string @code{use guix}
will have predefined environment variables and procedures.
Run @command{direnv allow} to setup the environment for the first time.
@c *********************************************************************
@node Acknowledgments
@chapter Acknowledgments
Guix is based on the @uref{https://nixos.org/nix/, Nix package manager},
which was designed and
implemented by Eelco Dolstra, with contributions from other people (see
the @file{nix/AUTHORS} file in Guix.) Nix pioneered functional package
management, and promoted unprecedented features, such as transactional
package upgrades and rollbacks, per-user profiles, and referentially
transparent build processes. Without this work, Guix would not exist.
The Nix-based software distributions, Nixpkgs and NixOS, have also been
an inspiration for Guix.
GNU@tie{}Guix itself is a collective work with contributions from a
number of people. See the @file{AUTHORS} file in Guix for more
information on these fine people. The @file{THANKS} file lists people
who have helped by reporting bugs, taking care of the infrastructure,
providing artwork and themes, making suggestions, and more---thank you!
This document includes adapted sections from articles that have previously
been published on the Guix blog at @uref{https://guix.gnu.org/blog}.
@c *********************************************************************
@node GNU Free Documentation License
@appendix GNU Free Documentation License
@cindex license, GNU Free Documentation License
@include fdl-1.3.texi
@c *********************************************************************
@node Concept Index
@unnumbered Concept Index
@printindex cp
@bye
@c Local Variables:
@c ispell-local-dictionary: "american";
@c End:
|