bug#22695: Binary Installation bugs and suggestions

[Ricardo Wurmus]

myglc2 <address@hidden> writes:

> I attempted to perform 'Binary Installation' on Debian 8 following ...
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Binary-Installation.html#Binary-Installation
>
> last updated November 04, 2015

I suggest looking at the latest version of the manual in the repository
when using the latest version.  In a related bug report I already
commented that I think it would be good to host the latest version of
the manual on the website.

> Bugs:
>
> A) The 4 occurrences of '~root' should be replaced with '/root'

This is equivalent.  In bash “~root” expands to the home directory of
the root user, which usually is “/root”.

> B) What does 'On hosts using the systemd init system, drop
>    /root/.guix-profile/lib/systemd/system/guix-daemon.service in
>    /etc/systemd/system.' mean.
>
>    FWIW, I tried ...
>
> cp /root/.guix-profile/lib/systemd/system/guix-daemon.service \
>    /etc/systemd/system/guix-daemon.service
>
> ... which did not work.

How did it “not work”?  Dropping the file there does not start the
service automatically.  You’ll need to reload the service definitions
and then actually start the service.  But that’s really systemd
knowledge, and I don’t think it belongs in the Guix manual unless it’s
really short.

> Suggestions:
>
>  1)'guix archive --authorize < 
> /root/.guix-profile/share/guix/hydra.gnu.org.pub'
>
>    ... produced ...
>
>    'warning: failed to install locale: Invalid argument'
>
>    It is not good that the first guix operation that root attempts
>    throws a warning.  Apparently this is to be expected, as careful
>    study of '2.6 Application Setup' might suggest.  As a minimum, we
>    should advise root that the warning is expected.

I wonder why we get this error in the first place.  I’d rather eliminate
the error than tell people to ignore it.

Any ideas what causes it?

> 2) 'And that’s it! For additional tips and tricks, see Application
>    Setup.' should be changed to say something like, 'This completes
>    root-level install of Guix, However each of your users will need to
>    first set their Locales and, if they intend to use X Window system,
>    X11 fonts, as described in '2.6 Application Setup' before Guix will
>    be fully functional.

The first item in the “Application Setup” section is about locales.  I
think it is sufficient the way it is now.  The section in question is
about how to install Guix.  Locales and X11 fonts are not required to
use Guix.

> 3) Is it possible for root to pre-configure locales and X11 fonts for
>    users?

Only by traditional means: installing “glibc-locales” in a shared
location and augmenting /etc/profile to set GUIX_LOCPATH.  This is not

> 4) What do we mean by, 'The guix package must remain available in root’s
>    profile, or it would become subject to garbage collection—in which
>    case you would find yourself badly handicapped by the lack of the
>    guix command.'
>
>    What does root have to do to assure that 'The guix package remains
>    available'?

I think this means that the root user should not uninstall guix with
guix.

> 5) We should tell root how to verify that the installation was
>    successful.  If 'make guix-binary.system.tar.xz' is intended to do
>    this, we need to explain where to run it and how to verify the
>    result.

The install was successful if “guix package -i hello” (or similar)
works.  Building the binary is only really useful when hacking on a git
clone of the repository.  It’s only mentioned there to show that the
binary tarball isn’t special.  I do think it would be better to have
this in a footnote or somewhere else where it doesn’t hurt the flow.

> 6) Should a root 'guix pull' be recommended?

Depends.  I think it’s not so useful as users other than root will be
using Guix mostly.  For every Guix user “guix pull” (or installing from
git) is recommended, so root is not special.

> 7) Given the "invasive" nature of this install, an uninstall script, or,
>    as a minimum, explicit instructions of how to remove Guix, really
>    must be provided.

Guix doesn’t touch anything but /gnu, $prefix/etc/guix/acl, and
$localstatedir.  It can be uninstalled by removing these files.  I agree
that adding this information to the manual would not hurt.

> 8) It seems unlikely that a typical sysadmin will be willing to install
>    Guix following the instructions as they now stand. This might be
>    addressed by providing a Guix package for popular distributions.

Sysadmin here :) I installed it according to the instructions but also
expanded on them by setting up a shared store.  I’ll try to prepare an
RPM to simplify installation on distributions derived from Red Hat /
Fedora.

> 9) We leave the root user with no locales or X11 fonts.  Do we recommend
>    this?

I hardly ever use the root user’s Guix profile when using Guix on a
foreign distribution.  I don’t think root needs X11 fonts as it isn’t
supposed to have its own X session.

~~ Ricardo