Re: Best base system for Guix

[pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)]

Hello Alexander.

On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 07:21:38PM +0100, Alexander Asteroth wrote:
> I'm not using a predifined layout from /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols but
> some self-defined variant based on us. This means I have to edit a file
> under /usr/share but that was the way it was done since I work with X11
> (back in the 90s) and so far I haven't found a replacement for it that
> allows to fully define own keyboardlayouts.

You really need to change the Xorg service (if you use X11) and / or
packages.  Guix hard-codes using the xkeyboard-config.

You can set up guix pull to pull from a Git repo in your file system.
See `info "(guix)Using a Custom Guix Channel"`.

guix pull’ing will take longer only for the part you change,
i.e. packages or services will need to be recompiled on guix pull.

Alternatively copy the Xorg X11 service from gnu/services/xorg.scm
from the Guix repo to your own operating system configuration
(/etc/config.scm) or to a file you refer to therein.


> >> Guix configuration is really very different from other
> >> *ix'es. Are packages configurable at all without writing scheme-modules
> >> for them? An where would this configuration go?
> >
> > In Scheme code in your operating system configuration
> > (/etc/config.scm) or in your package manifest, you can add your own
> > package records in-place or you can use a module in which you defined
> 
> But in the end the applications depend on configurartion files that need
> to be placed somewhere (even if generated or parameterized) by some
> scheme code.

Yes, they are built from Scheme code.  That is a good thing though.

Regards,
Florian