Re: installing a mirror for offline installation

[Quiliro]

El Fri, 26 May 2017 13:20:36 +0200
Ricardo Wurmus <address@hidden> escribió:

> 
> Quiliro <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > I finally could install bare-bones.scm GuixSD working machine. Now i
> > am interested in installing a mirror [of hydra] for offline
> > installation. There is no telecommunications where I live. So I could
> > bring the server to download substitutes and then take it back to my
> > network for local download. I was told that an nginx mirror of hydra
> > would cache only substitutes after they have been requested through
> > it.
> 
> This is a little complicated.  We build software continuously with
> Hydra, so what you want would only really work for one particular
> version of Guix.
> 
> Hydra provides binaries not only for a single version of Guix, so you
> cannot just copy everything.  What you *can* do, however, is this:
> 
> * provision a portable computer with lots of disk space

Will 100GB be enough? 1TB?

> * check out the version of Guix you plan to install elsewhere
> 
> * build *every* package that you know you will need at the remote site.
>   (This could be done by building a system configuration, for example.)

I have no idea how to do this. I know how to install a group of packages to 
make a desktop for example. But is there a group where all packages are 
installed? Could there be a conflict where one package is not downloaded 
because it will conflict with another? (I know this is usually not the case in 
GuixSD but all cases have been considered?)

>   This will lead to every needed store item to be in your local
>   /gnu/store.  Note that you don’t have to build everything from source;
>   you can download substitutes for most things.
> 
> * set up “guix publish” to share items from your store with others.
>   Also make sure to export your local key and authorize it on the
>   machines that should install Guix “offline”.
> 
> * On the machines that are to be installed override the substitute
>   server to be the local address of your portable computer running “guix
>   publish”.  This could be a local IP address.
> 
> * Make sure that the machines use the exact same version of Guix,
>   e.g. the latest release.
> 
> As the machines are installed they will download substitutes from the
> portable computer instead of trying to go online to talk to hydra.
> Since the portable computer has all needed binaries in its store,
> nothing has to be built from source.
> 
> All you need for this on the remote offline site is a LAN where your
> portable computer acts as a substitute server.
> 
> Does this make sense?

It does. Thank you.