5 @setfilename guix-cookbook.info
6 @documentencoding UTF-8
7 @settitle GNU Guix Cookbook
11 Copyright @copyright{} 2019 Ricardo Wurmus@*
12 Copyright @copyright{} 2019 Efraim Flashner@*
13 Copyright @copyright{} 2019 Pierre Neidhardt@*
14 Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Oleg Pykhalov@*
15 Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Matthew Brooks@*
16 Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Marcin Karpezo@*
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Brice Waegeneire@*
18 Copyright @copyright{} 2020 André Batista@*
19 Copyright @copyright{} 2020 Christine Lemmer-Webber@*
20 Copyright @copyright{} 2021 Joshua Branson@*
22 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
23 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
24 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
25 Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A
26 copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free
27 Documentation License''.
30 @dircategory System administration
32 * Guix cookbook: (guix-cookbook). Tutorials and examples for GNU Guix.
36 @title GNU Guix Cookbook
37 @subtitle Tutorials and examples for using the GNU Guix Functional Package Manager
38 @author The GNU Guix Developers
41 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
48 @c *********************************************************************
50 @top GNU Guix Cookbook
52 This document presents tutorials and detailed examples for GNU@tie{}Guix, a
53 functional package management tool written for the GNU system. Please
54 @pxref{Top,,, guix, GNU Guix reference manual} for details about the system,
55 its API, and related concepts.
57 @c TRANSLATORS: You can replace the following paragraph with information on
58 @c how to join your own translation team and how to report issues with the
60 This manual is also available in French (@pxref{Top,,, guix-cookbook.fr,
61 Livre de recettes de GNU Guix}) and German (@pxref{Top,,,
62 guix-cookbook.de, GNU-Guix-Kochbuch}). If you would like to translate
63 this document in your native language, consider joining
64 @uref{https://translate.fedoraproject.org/projects/guix/documentation-cookbook,
65 Weblate} (@pxref{Translating Guix,,, guix, GNU Guix reference manual}).
68 * Scheme tutorials:: Meet your new favorite language!
69 * Packaging:: Packaging tutorials
70 * System Configuration:: Customizing the GNU System
71 * Advanced package management:: Power to the users!
72 * Environment management:: Control environment
74 * Acknowledgments:: Thanks!
75 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license of this document.
76 * Concept Index:: Concepts.
79 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
83 * A Scheme Crash Course:: Learn the basics of Scheme
87 * Packaging Tutorial:: Let's add a package to Guix!
91 * Auto-Login to a Specific TTY:: Automatically Login a User to a Specific TTY
92 * Customizing the Kernel:: Creating and using a custom Linux kernel on Guix System.
97 @c *********************************************************************
98 @node Scheme tutorials
99 @chapter Scheme tutorials
101 GNU@tie{}Guix is written in the general purpose programming language Scheme,
102 and many of its features can be accessed and manipulated programmatically.
103 You can use Scheme to generate package definitions, to modify them, to build
104 them, to deploy whole operating systems, etc.
106 Knowing the basics of how to program in Scheme will unlock many of the
107 advanced features Guix provides --- and you don't even need to be an
108 experienced programmer to use them!
112 @node A Scheme Crash Course
113 @section A Scheme Crash Course
115 @cindex Scheme, crash course
117 Guix uses the Guile implementation of Scheme. To start playing with the
118 language, install it with @code{guix install guile} and start a
119 @dfn{REPL}---short for @uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read%E2%80%93eval%E2%80%93print_loop,
120 @dfn{read-eval-print loop}}---by running @code{guile} from the command line.
122 Alternatively you can also run @code{guix environment --ad-hoc guile -- guile}
123 if you'd rather not have Guile installed in your user profile.
125 In the following examples, lines show what you would type at the REPL;
126 lines starting with ``@result{}'' show evaluation results, while lines
127 starting with ``@print{}'' show things that get printed. @xref{Using Guile
128 Interactively,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}, for more details on the
133 Scheme syntax boils down to a tree of expressions (or @emph{s-expression} in
134 Lisp lingo). An expression can be a literal such as numbers and strings, or a
135 compound which is a parenthesized list of compounds and literals. @code{#true}
136 and @code{#false} (abbreviated @code{#t} and @code{#f}) stand for the
137 Booleans ``true'' and ``false'', respectively.
139 Examples of valid expressions:
143 @result{} "Hello World!"
148 (display (string-append "Hello " "Guix" "\n"))
150 @result{} #<unspecified>
154 This last example is a function call nested in another function call. When a
155 parenthesized expression is evaluated, the first term is the function and the
156 rest are the arguments passed to the function. Every function returns the
157 last evaluated expression as its return value.
160 Anonymous functions are declared with the @code{lambda} term:
164 @result{} #<procedure 120e348 at <unknown port>:24:0 (x)>
167 The above procedure returns the square of its argument. Since everything is
168 an expression, the @code{lambda} expression returns an anonymous procedure,
169 which can in turn be applied to an argument:
172 ((lambda (x) (* x x)) 3)
177 Anything can be assigned a global name with @code{define}:
181 (define square (lambda (x) (* x x)))
187 Procedures can be defined more concisely with the following syntax:
190 (define (square x) (* x x))
194 A list structure can be created with the @code{list} procedure:
202 The @dfn{quote} disables evaluation of a parenthesized expression: the
203 first term is not called over the other terms (@pxref{Expression Syntax,
204 quote,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}). Thus it effectively
205 returns a list of terms.
208 '(display (string-append "Hello " "Guix" "\n"))
209 @result{} (display (string-append "Hello " "Guix" "\n"))
216 The @dfn{quasiquote} disables evaluation of a parenthesized expression
217 until @dfn{unquote} (a comma) re-enables it. Thus it provides us with
218 fine-grained control over what is evaluated and what is not.
221 `(2 a 5 7 (2 ,a 5 ,(+ a 4)))
222 @result{} (2 a 5 7 (2 3 5 7))
225 Note that the above result is a list of mixed elements: numbers, symbols (here
226 @code{a}) and the last element is a list itself.
229 Multiple variables can be named locally with @code{let} (@pxref{Local
230 Bindings,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}):
243 @error{} In procedure module-lookup: Unbound variable: y
246 Use @code{let*} to allow later variable declarations to refer to earlier
257 @dfn{Keywords} are typically used to identify the named parameters of a
258 procedure. They are prefixed by @code{#:} (hash, colon) followed by
259 alphanumeric characters: @code{#:like-this}.
260 @xref{Keywords,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}.
263 The percentage @code{%} is typically used for read-only global variables in
264 the build stage. Note that it is merely a convention, like @code{_} in C.
265 Scheme treats @code{%} exactly the same as any other letter.
268 Modules are created with @code{define-module} (@pxref{Creating Guile
269 Modules,,, guile, GNU Guile Reference Manual}). For instance
272 (define-module (guix build-system ruby)
273 #:use-module (guix store)
278 defines the module @code{guix build-system ruby} which must be located in
279 @file{guix/build-system/ruby.scm} somewhere in the Guile load path. It
280 depends on the @code{(guix store)} module and it exports two variables,
281 @code{ruby-build} and @code{ruby-build-system}.
284 For a more detailed introduction, check out
285 @uref{http://www.troubleshooters.com/codecorn/scheme_guile/hello.htm, Scheme
286 at a Glance}, by Steve Litt.
288 One of the reference Scheme books is the seminal ``Structure and
289 Interpretation of Computer Programs'', by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay
290 Sussman, with Julie Sussman. You'll find a
291 @uref{https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html, free copy
292 online}, together with
293 @uref{https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/,
294 videos of the lectures by the authors}. The book is available in Texinfo
295 format as the @code{sicp} Guix package. Go ahead, run @code{guix install
296 sicp} and start reading with @code{info sicp} (@pxref{,,, sicp, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs}).
297 An @uref{https://sarabander.github.io/sicp/, unofficial ebook is also
300 You'll find more books, tutorials and other resources at
301 @url{https://schemers.org/}.
304 @c *********************************************************************
310 This chapter is dedicated to teaching you how to add packages to the
311 collection of packages that come with GNU Guix. This involves writing package
312 definitions in Guile Scheme, organizing them in package modules, and building
316 * Packaging Tutorial:: A tutorial on how to add packages to Guix.
319 @node Packaging Tutorial
320 @section Packaging Tutorial
322 GNU Guix stands out as the @emph{hackable} package manager, mostly because it
323 uses @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/, GNU Guile}, a powerful
324 high-level programming language, one of the
325 @uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheme_%28programming_language%29, Scheme}
327 @uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_%28programming_language%29, Lisp family}.
329 Package definitions are also written in Scheme, which empowers Guix in some
330 very unique ways, unlike most other package managers that use shell scripts or
335 Use functions, structures, macros and all of Scheme expressiveness for your
339 Inheritance makes it easy to customize a package by inheriting from it and
340 modifying only what is needed.
343 Batch processing: the whole package collection can be parsed, filtered and
344 processed. Building a headless server with all graphical interfaces stripped
345 out? It's possible. Want to rebuild everything from source using specific
346 compiler optimization flags? Pass the @code{#:make-flags "..."} argument to
347 the list of packages. It wouldn't be a stretch to think
348 @uref{https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/USE_flag, Gentoo USE flags} here, but this
349 goes even further: the changes don't have to be thought out beforehand by the
350 packager, they can be @emph{programmed} by the user!
353 The following tutorial covers all the basics around package creation with Guix.
354 It does not assume much knowledge of the Guix system nor of the Lisp language.
355 The reader is only expected to be familiar with the command line and to have some
356 basic programming knowledge.
358 @node A ``Hello World'' package
359 @subsection A ``Hello World'' package
361 The ``Defining Packages'' section of the manual introduces the basics of Guix
362 packaging (@pxref{Defining Packages,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}). In
363 the following section, we will partly go over those basics again.
365 GNU@tie{}Hello is a dummy project that serves as an idiomatic example for
366 packaging. It uses the GNU build system (@code{./configure && make && make
367 install}). Guix already provides a package definition which is a perfect
368 example to start with. You can look up its declaration with @code{guix edit
369 hello} from the command line. Let's see how it looks:
378 (uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/hello/hello-" version
382 "0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i"))))
383 (build-system gnu-build-system)
384 (synopsis "Hello, GNU world: An example GNU package")
386 "GNU Hello prints the message \"Hello, world!\" and then exits. It
387 serves as an example of standard GNU coding practices. As such, it supports
388 command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
389 (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
393 As you can see, most of it is rather straightforward. But let's review the
398 The project name. Using Scheme conventions, we prefer to keep it
399 lower case, without underscore and using dash-separated words.
402 This field contains a description of the source code origin. The
403 @code{origin} record contains these fields:
406 @item The method, here @code{url-fetch} to download via HTTP/FTP, but other methods
407 exist, such as @code{git-fetch} for Git repositories.
408 @item The URI, which is typically some @code{https://} location for @code{url-fetch}. Here
409 the special `mirror://gnu` refers to a set of well known locations, all of
410 which can be used by Guix to fetch the source, should some of them fail.
411 @item The @code{sha256} checksum of the requested file. This is essential to ensure
412 the source is not corrupted. Note that Guix works with base32 strings,
413 hence the call to the @code{base32} function.
418 This is where the power of abstraction provided by the Scheme language really
419 shines: in this case, the @code{gnu-build-system} abstracts away the famous
420 @code{./configure && make && make install} shell invocations. Other build
421 systems include the @code{trivial-build-system} which does not do anything and
422 requires from the packager to program all the build steps, the
423 @code{python-build-system}, the @code{emacs-build-system}, and many more
424 (@pxref{Build Systems,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
427 It should be a concise summary of what the package does. For many packages a
428 tagline from the project's home page can be used as the synopsis.
431 Same as for the synopsis, it's fine to re-use the project description from the
432 homepage. Note that Guix uses Texinfo syntax.
435 Use HTTPS if available.
438 See @code{guix/licenses.scm} in the project source for a full list of
442 Time to build our first package! Nothing fancy here for now: we will stick to a
443 dummy @code{my-hello}, a copy of the above declaration.
445 As with the ritualistic ``Hello World'' taught with most programming languages,
446 this will possibly be the most ``manual'' approach. We will work out an ideal
447 setup later; for now we will go the simplest route.
449 Save the following to a file @file{my-hello.scm}.
452 (use-modules (guix packages)
454 (guix build-system gnu)
462 (uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/hello/hello-" version
466 "0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i"))))
467 (build-system gnu-build-system)
468 (synopsis "Hello, Guix world: An example custom Guix package")
470 "GNU Hello prints the message \"Hello, world!\" and then exits. It
471 serves as an example of standard GNU coding practices. As such, it supports
472 command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
473 (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
477 We will explain the extra code in a moment.
479 Feel free to play with the different values of the various fields. If you
480 change the source, you'll need to update the checksum. Indeed, Guix refuses to
481 build anything if the given checksum does not match the computed checksum of the
482 source code. To obtain the correct checksum of the package declaration, we
483 need to download the source, compute the sha256 checksum and convert it to
486 Thankfully, Guix can automate this task for us; all we need is to provide the
489 @c TRANSLATORS: This is example shell output.
491 $ guix download mirror://gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz
493 Starting download of /tmp/guix-file.JLYgL7
494 From https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz...
495 following redirection to `https://mirror.ibcp.fr/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz'...
496 …10.tar.gz 709KiB 2.5MiB/s 00:00 [##################] 100.0%
497 /gnu/store/hbdalsf5lpf01x4dcknwx6xbn6n5km6k-hello-2.10.tar.gz
498 0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i
501 In this specific case the output tells us which mirror was chosen.
502 If the result of the above command is not the same as in the above snippet,
503 update your @code{my-hello} declaration accordingly.
505 Note that GNU package tarballs come with an OpenPGP signature, so you
506 should definitely check the signature of this tarball with `gpg` to
507 authenticate it before going further:
509 @c TRANSLATORS: This is example shell output.
511 $ guix download mirror://gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig
513 Starting download of /tmp/guix-file.03tFfb
514 From https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig...
515 following redirection to `https://ftp.igh.cnrs.fr/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig'...
516 ….tar.gz.sig 819B 1.2MiB/s 00:00 [##################] 100.0%
517 /gnu/store/rzs8wba9ka7grrmgcpfyxvs58mly0sx6-hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig
518 0q0v86n3y38z17rl146gdakw9xc4mcscpk8dscs412j22glrv9jf
519 $ gpg --verify /gnu/store/rzs8wba9ka7grrmgcpfyxvs58mly0sx6-hello-2.10.tar.gz.sig /gnu/store/hbdalsf5lpf01x4dcknwx6xbn6n5km6k-hello-2.10.tar.gz
520 gpg: Signature made Sun 16 Nov 2014 01:08:37 PM CET
521 gpg: using RSA key A9553245FDE9B739
522 gpg: Good signature from "Sami Kerola <kerolasa@@iki.fi>" [unknown]
523 gpg: aka "Sami Kerola (http://www.iki.fi/kerolasa/) <kerolasa@@iki.fi>" [unknown]
524 gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
525 gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
526 Primary key fingerprint: 8ED3 96E3 7E38 D471 A005 30D3 A955 3245 FDE9 B739
529 You can then happily run
531 @c TRANSLATORS: Do not translate this command
533 $ guix package --install-from-file=my-hello.scm
536 You should now have @code{my-hello} in your profile!
538 @c TRANSLATORS: Do not translate this command
540 $ guix package --list-installed=my-hello
542 /gnu/store/f1db2mfm8syb8qvc357c53slbvf1g9m9-my-hello-2.10
545 We've gone as far as we could without any knowledge of Scheme. Before moving
546 on to more complex packages, now is the right time to brush up on your Scheme
547 knowledge. @pxref{A Scheme Crash Course} to get up to speed.
552 In the rest of this chapter we will rely on some basic Scheme
553 programming knowledge. Now let's detail the different possible setups
554 for working on Guix packages.
556 There are several ways to set up a Guix packaging environment.
558 We recommend you work directly on the Guix source checkout since it makes it
559 easier for everyone to contribute to the project.
561 But first, let's look at other possibilities.
564 @subsubsection Local file
566 This is what we previously did with @samp{my-hello}. With the Scheme basics we've
567 covered, we are now able to explain the leading chunks. As stated in @code{guix
571 -f, --install-from-file=FILE
572 install the package that the code within FILE
576 Thus the last expression @emph{must} return a package, which is the case in our
579 The @code{use-modules} expression tells which of the modules we need in the file.
580 Modules are a collection of values and procedures. They are commonly called
581 ``libraries'' or ``packages'' in other programming languages.
583 @node @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}
584 @subsubsection @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}
586 @emph{Note: Starting from Guix 0.16, the more flexible Guix @dfn{channels} are the
587 preferred way and supersede @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}. See next section.}
589 It can be tedious to specify the file from the command line instead of simply
590 calling @code{guix package --install my-hello} as you would do with the official
593 Guix makes it possible to streamline the process by adding as many ``package
594 declaration directories'' as you want.
596 Create a directory, say @file{~/guix-packages} and add it to the @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH}
597 environment variable:
600 $ mkdir ~/guix-packages
601 $ export GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH=~/guix-packages
604 To add several directories, separate them with a colon (@code{:}).
606 Our previous @samp{my-hello} needs some adjustments though:
609 (define-module (my-hello)
610 #:use-module (guix licenses)
611 #:use-module (guix packages)
612 #:use-module (guix build-system gnu)
613 #:use-module (guix download))
615 (define-public my-hello
621 (uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/hello/hello-" version
625 "0ssi1wpaf7plaswqqjwigppsg5fyh99vdlb9kzl7c9lng89ndq1i"))))
626 (build-system gnu-build-system)
627 (synopsis "Hello, Guix world: An example custom Guix package")
629 "GNU Hello prints the message \"Hello, world!\" and then exits. It
630 serves as an example of standard GNU coding practices. As such, it supports
631 command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
632 (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
636 Note that we have assigned the package value to an exported variable name with
637 @code{define-public}. This is effectively assigning the package to the @code{my-hello}
638 variable so that it can be referenced, among other as dependency of other
641 If you use @code{guix package --install-from-file=my-hello.scm} on the above file, it
642 will fail because the last expression, @code{define-public}, does not return a
643 package. If you want to use @code{define-public} in this use-case nonetheless, make
644 sure the file ends with an evaluation of @code{my-hello}:
648 (define-public my-hello
655 This last example is not very typical.
657 Now @samp{my-hello} should be part of the package collection like all other official
658 packages. You can verify this with:
661 $ guix package --show=my-hello
665 @subsubsection Guix channels
667 Guix 0.16 features channels, which is very similar to @samp{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH} but
668 provides better integration and provenance tracking. Channels are not
669 necessarily local, they can be maintained as a public Git repository for
670 instance. Of course, several channels can be used at the same time.
672 @xref{Channels,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for setup details.
674 @node Direct checkout hacking
675 @subsubsection Direct checkout hacking
677 Working directly on the Guix project is recommended: it reduces the friction
678 when the time comes to submit your changes upstream to let the community benefit
681 Unlike most software distributions, the Guix repository holds in one place both
682 the tooling (including the package manager) and the package definitions. This
683 choice was made so that it would give developers the flexibility to modify the
684 API without breakage by updating all packages at the same time. This reduces
687 Check out the official @uref{https://git-scm.com/, Git} repository:
690 $ git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git
693 In the rest of this article, we use @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT} to refer to the location of
697 Follow the instructions in the manual (@pxref{Contributing,,, guix, GNU Guix
698 Reference Manual}) to set up the repository environment.
700 Once ready, you should be able to use the package definitions from the
701 repository environment.
703 Feel free to edit package definitions found in @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/gnu/packages}.
705 The @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/pre-inst-env} script lets you use @samp{guix} over the package
706 collection of the repository (@pxref{Running Guix Before It Is
707 Installed,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
711 Search packages, such as Ruby:
715 $ ./pre-inst-env guix package --list-available=ruby
716 ruby 1.8.7-p374 out gnu/packages/ruby.scm:119:2
717 ruby 2.1.6 out gnu/packages/ruby.scm:91:2
718 ruby 2.2.2 out gnu/packages/ruby.scm:39:2
722 Build a package, here Ruby version 2.1:
725 $ ./pre-inst-env guix build --keep-failed ruby@@2.1
726 /gnu/store/c13v73jxmj2nir2xjqaz5259zywsa9zi-ruby-2.1.6
730 Install it to your user profile:
733 $ ./pre-inst-env guix package --install ruby@@2.1
737 Check for common mistakes:
740 $ ./pre-inst-env guix lint ruby@@2.1
744 Guix strives at maintaining a high packaging standard; when contributing to the
745 Guix project, remember to
749 follow the coding style (@pxref{Coding Style,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}),
751 and review the check list from the manual (@pxref{Submitting Patches,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
754 Once you are happy with the result, you are welcome to send your contribution to
755 make it part of Guix. This process is also detailed in the manual. (@pxref{Contributing,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual})
758 It's a community effort so the more join in, the better Guix becomes!
760 @node Extended example
761 @subsection Extended example
763 The above ``Hello World'' example is as simple as it goes. Packages can be more
764 complex than that and Guix can handle more advanced scenarios. Let's look at
765 another, more sophisticated package (slightly modified from the source):
768 (define-module (gnu packages version-control)
769 #:use-module ((guix licenses) #:prefix license:)
770 #:use-module (guix utils)
771 #:use-module (guix packages)
772 #:use-module (guix git-download)
773 #:use-module (guix build-system cmake)
774 #:use-module (gnu packages ssh)
775 #:use-module (gnu packages web)
776 #:use-module (gnu packages pkg-config)
777 #:use-module (gnu packages python)
778 #:use-module (gnu packages compression)
779 #:use-module (gnu packages tls))
781 (define-public my-libgit2
782 (let ((commit "e98d0a37c93574d2c6107bf7f31140b548c6a7bf")
786 (version (git-version "0.26.6" revision commit))
790 (url "https://github.com/libgit2/libgit2/")
792 (file-name (git-file-name name version))
795 "17pjvprmdrx4h6bb1hhc98w9qi6ki7yl57f090n9kbhswxqfs7s3"))
796 (patches (search-patches "libgit2-mtime-0.patch"))
797 (modules '((guix build utils)))
798 ;; Remove bundled software.
799 (snippet '(delete-file-recursively "deps"))))
800 (build-system cmake-build-system)
801 (outputs '("out" "debug"))
803 `(#:tests? #true ; Run the test suite (this is the default)
804 #:configure-flags '("-DUSE_SHA1DC=ON") ; SHA-1 collision detection
806 (modify-phases %standard-phases
807 (add-after 'unpack 'fix-hardcoded-paths
809 (substitute* "tests/repo/init.c"
810 (("#!/bin/sh") (string-append "#!" (which "sh"))))
811 (substitute* "tests/clar/fs.h"
812 (("/bin/cp") (which "cp"))
813 (("/bin/rm") (which "rm")))))
814 ;; Run checks more verbosely.
816 (lambda _ (invoke "./libgit2_clar" "-v" "-Q")))
817 (add-after 'unpack 'make-files-writable-for-tests
818 (lambda _ (for-each make-file-writable (find-files "." ".*")))))))
820 (list libssh2 http-parser python-wrapper))
824 ;; These two libraries are in 'Requires.private' in libgit2.pc.
826 (home-page "https://libgit2.github.com/")
827 (synopsis "Library providing Git core methods")
829 "Libgit2 is a portable, pure C implementation of the Git core methods
830 provided as a re-entrant linkable library with a solid API, allowing you to
831 write native speed custom Git applications in any language with bindings.")
832 ;; GPLv2 with linking exception
833 (license license:gpl2))))
836 (In those cases were you only want to tweak a few fields from a package
837 definition, you should rely on inheritance instead of copy-pasting everything.
840 Let's discuss those fields in depth.
842 @subsubsection @code{git-fetch} method
844 Unlike the @code{url-fetch} method, @code{git-fetch} expects a @code{git-reference} which takes
845 a Git repository and a commit. The commit can be any Git reference such as
846 tags, so if the @code{version} is tagged, then it can be used directly. Sometimes
847 the tag is prefixed with a @code{v}, in which case you'd use @code{(commit (string-append
850 To ensure that the source code from the Git repository is stored in a
851 directory with a descriptive name, we use @code{(file-name (git-file-name name
854 The @code{git-version} procedure can be used to derive the
855 version when packaging programs for a specific commit, following the
856 Guix contributor guidelines (@pxref{Version Numbers,,, guix, GNU Guix
859 How does one obtain the @code{sha256} hash that's in there, you ask? By
860 invoking @command{guix hash} on a checkout of the desired commit, along
864 git clone https://github.com/libgit2/libgit2/
870 @command{guix hash -rx} computes a SHA256 hash over the whole directory,
871 excluding the @file{.git} sub-directory (@pxref{Invoking guix hash,,,
872 guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
874 In the future, @command{guix download} will hopefully be able to do
875 these steps for you, just like it does for regular downloads.
877 @subsubsection Snippets
879 Snippets are quoted (i.e. non-evaluated) Scheme code that are a means of patching
880 the source. They are a Guix-y alternative to the traditional @file{.patch} files.
881 Because of the quote, the code in only evaluated when passed to the Guix daemon
882 for building. There can be as many snippets as needed.
884 Snippets might need additional Guile modules which can be imported from the
885 @code{modules} field.
887 @subsubsection Inputs
889 There are 3 different input types. In short:
893 Required for building but not runtime -- installing a package
894 through a substitute won't install these inputs.
896 Installed in the store but not in the profile, as well as being
897 present at build time.
898 @item propagated-inputs
899 Installed in the store and in the profile, as well as
900 being present at build time.
903 @xref{Package Reference,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for more details.
905 The distinction between the various inputs is important: if a dependency can be
906 handled as an @emph{input} instead of a @emph{propagated input}, it should be done so, or
907 else it ``pollutes'' the user profile for no good reason.
909 For instance, a user installing a graphical program that depends on a
910 command line tool might only be interested in the graphical part, so there is no
911 need to force the command line tool into the user profile. The dependency is a
912 concern to the package, not to the user. @emph{Inputs} make it possible to handle
913 dependencies without bugging the user by adding undesired executable files (or
914 libraries) to their profile.
916 Same goes for @emph{native-inputs}: once the program is installed, build-time
917 dependencies can be safely garbage-collected.
918 It also matters when a substitute is available, in which case only the @emph{inputs}
919 and @emph{propagated inputs} will be fetched: the @emph{native inputs} are not required to
920 install a package from a substitute.
923 You may see here and there snippets where package inputs are written
924 quite differently, like so:
927 ;; The "old style" for inputs.
929 `(("libssh2" ,libssh2)
930 ("http-parser" ,http-parser)
931 ("python" ,python-wrapper)))
934 This is the ``old style'', where each input in the list is explicitly
935 given a label (a string). It is still supported but we recommend using
936 the style above instead. @xref{package Reference,,, guix, GNU Guix
937 Reference Manual}, for more info.
940 @subsubsection Outputs
942 Just like how a package can have multiple inputs, it can also produce multiple
945 Each output corresponds to a separate directory in the store.
947 The user can choose which output to install; this is useful to save space or
948 to avoid polluting the user profile with unwanted executables or libraries.
950 Output separation is optional. When the @code{outputs} field is left out, the
951 default and only output (the complete package) is referred to as @code{"out"}.
953 Typical separate output names include @code{debug} and @code{doc}.
955 It's advised to separate outputs only when you've shown it's worth it: if the
956 output size is significant (compare with @code{guix size}) or in case the package is
959 @subsubsection Build system arguments
961 The @code{arguments} is a keyword-value list used to configure the build process.
963 The simplest argument @code{#:tests?} can be used to disable the test suite when
964 building the package. This is mostly useful when the package does not feature
965 any test suite. It's strongly recommended to keep the test suite on if there is
968 Another common argument is @code{:make-flags}, which specifies a list of flags to
969 append when running make, as you would from the command line. For instance, the
973 #:make-flags (list (string-append "prefix=" (assoc-ref %outputs "out"))
980 $ make CC=gcc prefix=/gnu/store/...-<out>
983 This sets the C compiler to @code{gcc} and the @code{prefix} variable (the installation
984 directory in Make parlance) to @code{(assoc-ref %outputs "out")}, which is a build-stage
985 global variable pointing to the destination directory in the store (something like
986 @file{/gnu/store/...-my-libgit2-20180408}).
988 Similarly, it's possible to set the configure flags:
991 #:configure-flags '("-DUSE_SHA1DC=ON")
994 The @code{%build-inputs} variable is also generated in scope. It's an association
995 table that maps the input names to their store directories.
997 The @code{phases} keyword lists the sequential steps of the build system. Typically
998 phases include @code{unpack}, @code{configure}, @code{build}, @code{install} and @code{check}. To know
999 more about those phases, you need to work out the appropriate build system
1000 definition in @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm}:
1003 (define %standard-phases
1004 ;; Standard build phases, as a list of symbol/procedure pairs.
1005 (let-syntax ((phases (syntax-rules ()
1006 ((_ p ...) `((p . ,p) ...)))))
1007 (phases set-SOURCE-DATE-EPOCH set-paths install-locale unpack
1010 patch-source-shebangs configure patch-generated-file-shebangs
1012 patch-shebangs strip
1014 validate-documentation-location
1015 delete-info-dir-file
1016 patch-dot-desktop-files
1017 install-license-files
1018 reset-gzip-timestamps
1019 compress-documentation)))
1025 (add-to-load-path "/path/to/guix/checkout")
1026 ,use (guix build gnu-build-system)
1027 (map first %standard-phases)
1028 @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)
1031 If you want to know more about what happens during those phases, consult the
1032 associated procedures.
1034 For instance, as of this writing the definition of @code{unpack} for the GNU build
1038 (define* (unpack #:key source #:allow-other-keys)
1039 "Unpack SOURCE in the working directory, and change directory within the
1040 source. When SOURCE is a directory, copy it in a sub-directory of the current
1042 (if (file-is-directory? source)
1047 ;; Preserve timestamps (set to the Epoch) on the copied tree so that
1048 ;; things work deterministically.
1049 (copy-recursively source "."
1050 #:keep-mtime? #true))
1052 (if (string-suffix? ".zip" source)
1053 (invoke "unzip" source)
1054 (invoke "tar" "xvf" source))
1055 (chdir (first-subdirectory "."))))
1059 Note the @code{chdir} call: it changes the working directory to where the source was
1061 Thus every phase following the @code{unpack} will use the source as a working
1062 directory, which is why we can directly work on the source files.
1063 That is to say, unless a later phase changes the working directory to something
1066 We modify the list of @code{%standard-phases} of the build system with the
1067 @code{modify-phases} macro as per the list of specified modifications, which may have
1068 the following forms:
1072 @code{(add-before @var{phase} @var{new-phase} @var{procedure})}: Run @var{procedure} named @var{new-phase} before @var{phase}.
1074 @code{(add-after @var{phase} @var{new-phase} @var{procedure})}: Same, but afterwards.
1076 @code{(replace @var{phase} @var{procedure})}.
1078 @code{(delete @var{phase})}.
1081 The @var{procedure} supports the keyword arguments @code{inputs} and @code{outputs}. Each
1082 input (whether @emph{native}, @emph{propagated} or not) and output directory is referenced
1083 by their name in those variables. Thus @code{(assoc-ref outputs "out")} is the store
1084 directory of the main output of the package. A phase procedure may look like
1088 (lambda* (#:key inputs outputs #:allow-other-keys)
1089 (let ((bash-directory (assoc-ref inputs "bash"))
1090 (output-directory (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
1091 (doc-directory (assoc-ref outputs "doc")))
1096 The procedure must return @code{#true} on success. It's brittle to rely on the return
1097 value of the last expression used to tweak the phase because there is no
1098 guarantee it would be a @code{#true}. Hence the trailing @code{#true} to ensure the right value
1099 is returned on success.
1101 @subsubsection Code staging
1103 The astute reader may have noticed the quasi-quote and comma syntax in the
1104 argument field. Indeed, the build code in the package declaration should not be
1105 evaluated on the client side, but only when passed to the Guix daemon. This
1106 mechanism of passing code around two running processes is called @uref{https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.00833, code staging}.
1108 @subsubsection Utility functions
1110 When customizing @code{phases}, we often need to write code that mimics the
1111 equivalent system invocations (@code{make}, @code{mkdir}, @code{cp}, etc.)@: commonly used during
1112 regular ``Unix-style'' installations.
1114 Some like @code{chmod} are native to Guile.
1115 @xref{,,, guile, Guile reference manual} for a complete list.
1117 Guix provides additional helper functions which prove especially handy in the
1118 context of package management.
1120 Some of those functions can be found in
1121 @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/guix/build/utils.scm}. Most of them mirror the behaviour
1122 of the traditional Unix system commands:
1126 Like the @samp{which} system command.
1128 Akin to the @samp{find} system command.
1130 Like @samp{mkdir -p}, which creates all parents as needed.
1132 Similar to @samp{install} when installing a file to a (possibly
1133 non-existing) directory. Guile has @code{copy-file} which works
1135 @item copy-recursively
1137 @item delete-file-recursively
1140 Run an executable. This should be used instead of @code{system*}.
1141 @item with-directory-excursion
1142 Run the body in a different working directory,
1143 then restore the previous working directory.
1145 A ``@command{sed}-like'' function.
1148 @xref{Build Utilities,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}, for more
1149 information on these utilities.
1151 @subsubsection Module prefix
1153 The license in our last example needs a prefix: this is because of how the
1154 @code{license} module was imported in the package, as @code{#:use-module ((guix licenses)
1155 #:prefix license:)}. The Guile module import mechanism
1156 (@pxref{Using Guile Modules,,, guile, Guile reference manual})
1157 gives the user full control over namespacing: this is needed to avoid
1158 clashes between, say, the
1159 @samp{zlib} variable from @samp{licenses.scm} (a @emph{license} value) and the @samp{zlib} variable
1160 from @samp{compression.scm} (a @emph{package} value).
1162 @node Other build systems
1163 @subsection Other build systems
1165 What we've seen so far covers the majority of packages using a build system
1166 other than the @code{trivial-build-system}. The latter does not automate anything
1167 and leaves you to build everything manually. This can be more demanding and we
1168 won't cover it here for now, but thankfully it is rarely necessary to fall back
1171 For the other build systems, such as ASDF, Emacs, Perl, Ruby and many more, the
1172 process is very similar to the GNU build system except for a few specialized
1175 @xref{Build Systems,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}, for more
1176 information on build systems, or check the source code in the
1177 @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/build} and
1178 @samp{$GUIX_CHECKOUT/guix/build-system} directories.
1180 @node Programmable and automated package definition
1181 @subsection Programmable and automated package definition
1183 We can't repeat it enough: having a full-fledged programming language at hand
1184 empowers us in ways that reach far beyond traditional package management.
1186 Let's illustrate this with some awesome features of Guix!
1188 @node Recursive importers
1189 @subsubsection Recursive importers
1191 You might find some build systems good enough that there is little to do at all
1192 to write a package, to the point that it becomes repetitive and tedious after a
1193 while. A @emph{raison d'être} of computers is to replace human beings at those
1194 boring tasks. So let's tell Guix to do this for us and create the package
1195 definition of an R package from CRAN (the output is trimmed for conciseness):
1198 $ guix import cran --recursive walrus
1200 (define-public r-mc2d
1204 (define-public r-jmvcore
1208 (define-public r-wrs2
1212 (define-public r-walrus
1219 (uri (cran-uri "walrus" version))
1222 "1nk2glcvy4hyksl5ipq2mz8jy4fss90hx6cq98m3w96kzjni6jjj"))))
1223 (build-system r-build-system)
1225 `(("r-ggplot2" ,r-ggplot2)
1226 ("r-jmvcore" ,r-jmvcore)
1228 ("r-wrs2" ,r-wrs2)))
1229 (home-page "https://github.com/jamovi/walrus")
1230 (synopsis "Robust Statistical Methods")
1232 "This package provides a toolbox of common robust statistical
1233 tests, including robust descriptives, robust t-tests, and robust ANOVA.
1234 It is also available as a module for 'jamovi' (see
1235 <https://www.jamovi.org> for more information). Walrus is based on the
1236 WRS2 package by Patrick Mair, which is in turn based on the scripts and
1237 work of Rand Wilcox. These analyses are described in depth in the book
1238 'Introduction to Robust Estimation & Hypothesis Testing'.")
1242 The recursive importer won't import packages for which Guix already has package
1243 definitions, except for the very first.
1245 Not all applications can be packaged this way, only those relying on a select
1246 number of supported systems. Read about the full list of importers in
1247 the guix import section of the manual
1248 (@pxref{Invoking guix import,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}).
1250 @node Automatic update
1251 @subsubsection Automatic update
1253 Guix can be smart enough to check for updates on systems it knows. It can
1254 report outdated package definitions with
1257 $ guix refresh hello
1260 In most cases, updating a package to a newer version requires little more than
1261 changing the version number and the checksum. Guix can do that automatically as
1265 $ guix refresh hello --update
1269 @subsubsection Inheritance
1271 If you've started browsing the existing package definitions, you might have
1272 noticed that a significant number of them have a @code{inherit} field:
1275 (define-public adwaita-icon-theme
1276 (package (inherit gnome-icon-theme)
1277 (name "adwaita-icon-theme")
1281 (uri (string-append "mirror://gnome/sources/" name "/"
1282 (version-major+minor version) "/"
1283 name "-" version ".tar.xz"))
1286 "17fpahgh5dyckgz7rwqvzgnhx53cx9kr2xw0szprc6bnqy977fi8"))))
1288 `(("gtk-encode-symbolic-svg" ,gtk+ "bin")))))
1291 All unspecified fields are inherited from the parent package. This is very
1292 convenient to create alternative packages, for instance with different source,
1293 version or compilation options.
1296 @subsection Getting help
1298 Sadly, some applications can be tough to package. Sometimes they need a patch to
1299 work with the non-standard file system hierarchy enforced by the store.
1300 Sometimes the tests won't run properly. (They can be skipped but this is not
1301 recommended.) Other times the resulting package won't be reproducible.
1303 Should you be stuck, unable to figure out how to fix any sort of packaging
1304 issue, don't hesitate to ask the community for help.
1306 See the @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/contact/, Guix homepage} for information on the mailing lists, IRC, etc.
1309 @subsection Conclusion
1311 This tutorial was a showcase of the sophisticated package management that Guix
1312 boasts. At this point we have mostly restricted this introduction to the
1313 @code{gnu-build-system} which is a core abstraction layer on which more advanced
1314 abstractions are based.
1316 Where do we go from here? Next we ought to dissect the innards of the build
1317 system by removing all abstractions, using the @code{trivial-build-system}: this
1318 should give us a thorough understanding of the process before investigating some
1319 more advanced packaging techniques and edge cases.
1321 Other features worth exploring are the interactive editing and debugging
1322 capabilities of Guix provided by the Guile REPL@.
1324 Those fancy features are completely optional and can wait; now is a good time
1325 to take a well-deserved break. With what we've introduced here you should be
1326 well armed to package lots of programs. You can get started right away and
1327 hopefully we will see your contributions soon!
1330 @subsection References
1334 The @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/en/html_node/Defining-Packages.html, package reference in the manual}
1337 @uref{https://gitlab.com/pjotrp/guix-notes/blob/master/HACKING.org, Pjotr’s hacking guide to GNU Guix}
1340 @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/guix-ghm-andreas-20130823.pdf, ``GNU Guix: Package without a scheme!''}, by Andreas Enge
1343 @c *********************************************************************
1344 @node System Configuration
1345 @chapter System Configuration
1347 Guix offers a flexible language for declaratively configuring your Guix
1348 System. This flexibility can at times be overwhelming. The purpose of this
1349 chapter is to demonstrate some advanced configuration concepts.
1351 @pxref{System Configuration,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for a complete
1355 * Auto-Login to a Specific TTY:: Automatically Login a User to a Specific TTY
1356 * Customizing the Kernel:: Creating and using a custom Linux kernel on Guix System.
1357 * Guix System Image API:: Customizing images to target specific platforms.
1358 * Connecting to Wireguard VPN:: Connecting to a Wireguard VPN.
1359 * Customizing a Window Manager:: Handle customization of a Window manager on Guix System.
1360 * Running Guix on a Linode Server:: Running Guix on a Linode Server
1361 * Setting up a bind mount:: Setting up a bind mount in the file-systems definition.
1362 * Getting substitutes from Tor:: Configuring Guix daemon to get substitutes through Tor.
1363 * Setting up NGINX with Lua:: Configuring NGINX web-server to load Lua modules.
1366 @node Auto-Login to a Specific TTY
1367 @section Auto-Login to a Specific TTY
1369 While the Guix manual explains auto-login one user to @emph{all} TTYs (
1370 @pxref{auto-login to TTY,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}), some
1371 might prefer a situation, in which one user is logged into one TTY with
1372 the other TTYs either configured to login different users or no one at
1373 all. Note that one can auto-login one user to any TTY, but it is
1374 usually advisable to avoid @code{tty1}, which, by default, is used to
1375 log warnings and errors.
1377 Here is how one might set up auto login for one user to one tty:
1380 (define (auto-login-to-tty config tty user)
1381 (if (string=? tty (mingetty-configuration-tty config))
1382 (mingetty-configuration
1387 (define %my-services
1388 (modify-services %base-services
1390 (mingetty-service-type config =>
1392 config "tty3" "alice"))))
1396 (services %my-services))
1399 One could also @code{compose} (@pxref{Higher-Order Functions,,, guile,
1400 The Guile Reference Manual}) @code{auto-login-to-tty} to login multiple
1401 users to multiple ttys.
1403 Finally, here is a note of caution. Setting up auto login to a TTY,
1404 means that anyone can turn on your computer and run commands as your
1406 However, if you have an encrypted root partition, and thus already need
1407 to enter a passphrase when the system boots, auto-login might be a
1411 @node Customizing the Kernel
1412 @section Customizing the Kernel
1414 Guix is, at its core, a source based distribution with substitutes
1415 (@pxref{Substitutes,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}), and as such building
1416 packages from their source code is an expected part of regular package
1417 installations and upgrades. Given this starting point, it makes sense that
1418 efforts are made to reduce the amount of time spent compiling packages, and
1419 recent changes and upgrades to the building and distribution of substitutes
1420 continues to be a topic of discussion within Guix.
1422 The kernel, while not requiring an overabundance of RAM to build, does take a
1423 rather long time on an average machine. The official kernel configuration, as
1424 is the case with many GNU/Linux distributions, errs on the side of
1425 inclusiveness, and this is really what causes the build to take such a long
1426 time when the kernel is built from source.
1428 The Linux kernel, however, can also just be described as a regular old
1429 package, and as such can be customized just like any other package. The
1430 procedure is a little bit different, although this is primarily due to the
1431 nature of how the package definition is written.
1433 The @code{linux-libre} kernel package definition is actually a procedure which
1437 (define* (make-linux-libre version hash supported-systems
1439 ;; A function that takes an arch and a variant.
1440 ;; See kernel-config for an example.
1441 (extra-version #false)
1442 (configuration-file #false)
1443 (defconfig "defconfig")
1444 (extra-options %default-extra-linux-options)
1445 (patches (list %boot-logo-patch)))
1449 The current @code{linux-libre} package is for the 5.1.x series, and is
1453 (define-public linux-libre
1454 (make-linux-libre %linux-libre-version
1456 '("x86_64-linux" "i686-linux" "armhf-linux" "aarch64-linux")
1457 #:patches %linux-libre-5.1-patches
1458 #:configuration-file kernel-config))
1461 Any keys which are not assigned values inherit their default value from the
1462 @code{make-linux-libre} definition. When comparing the two snippets above,
1463 you may notice that the code comment in the first doesn't actually refer to
1464 the @code{#:extra-version} keyword; it is actually for
1465 @code{#:configuration-file}. Because of this, it is not actually easy to
1466 include a custom kernel configuration from the definition, but don't worry,
1467 there are other ways to work with what we do have.
1469 There are two ways to create a kernel with a custom kernel configuration. The
1470 first is to provide a standard @file{.config} file during the build process by
1471 including an actual @file{.config} file as a native input to our custom
1472 kernel. The following is a snippet from the custom @code{'configure} phase of
1473 the @code{make-linux-libre} package definition:
1476 (let ((build (assoc-ref %standard-phases 'build))
1477 (config (assoc-ref (or native-inputs inputs) "kconfig")))
1479 ;; Use a custom kernel configuration file or a default
1480 ;; configuration file.
1483 (copy-file config ".config")
1484 (chmod ".config" #o666))
1485 (invoke "make" ,defconfig)))
1488 Below is a sample kernel package. The @code{linux-libre} package is nothing
1489 special and can be inherited from and have its fields overridden like any
1493 (define-public linux-libre/E2140
1495 (inherit linux-libre)
1497 `(("kconfig" ,(local-file "E2140.config"))
1498 ,@@(alist-delete "kconfig"
1499 (package-native-inputs linux-libre))))))
1502 In the same directory as the file defining @code{linux-libre-E2140} is a file
1503 named @file{E2140.config}, which is an actual kernel configuration file. The
1504 @code{defconfig} keyword of @code{make-linux-libre} is left blank here, so the
1505 only kernel configuration in the package is the one which was included in the
1506 @code{native-inputs} field.
1508 The second way to create a custom kernel is to pass a new value to the
1509 @code{extra-options} keyword of the @code{make-linux-libre} procedure. The
1510 @code{extra-options} keyword works with another function defined right below
1514 (define %default-extra-linux-options
1515 `(;; https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2014-04/msg00039.html
1516 ("CONFIG_DEVPTS_MULTIPLE_INSTANCES" . #true)
1517 ;; Modules required for initrd:
1518 ("CONFIG_NET_9P" . m)
1519 ("CONFIG_NET_9P_VIRTIO" . m)
1520 ("CONFIG_VIRTIO_BLK" . m)
1521 ("CONFIG_VIRTIO_NET" . m)
1522 ("CONFIG_VIRTIO_PCI" . m)
1523 ("CONFIG_VIRTIO_BALLOON" . m)
1524 ("CONFIG_VIRTIO_MMIO" . m)
1525 ("CONFIG_FUSE_FS" . m)
1527 ("CONFIG_9P_FS" . m)))
1529 (define (config->string options)
1530 (string-join (map (match-lambda
1532 (string-append option "=m"))
1534 (string-append option "=y"))
1536 (string-append option "=n")))
1541 And in the custom configure script from the `make-linux-libre` package:
1544 ;; Appending works even when the option wasn't in the
1545 ;; file. The last one prevails if duplicated.
1546 (let ((port (open-file ".config" "a"))
1547 (extra-configuration ,(config->string extra-options)))
1548 (display extra-configuration port)
1551 (invoke "make" "oldconfig")
1554 So by not providing a configuration-file the @file{.config} starts blank, and
1555 then we write into it the collection of flags that we want. Here's another
1559 (define %macbook41-full-config
1560 (append %macbook41-config-options
1564 (@@@@ (gnu packages linux) %default-extra-linux-options)))
1566 (define-public linux-libre-macbook41
1567 ;; XXX: Access the internal 'make-linux-libre' procedure, which is
1568 ;; private and unexported, and is liable to change in the future.
1569 ((@@@@ (gnu packages linux) make-linux-libre) (@@@@ (gnu packages linux) %linux-libre-version)
1570 (@@@@ (gnu packages linux) %linux-libre-hash)
1572 #:extra-version "macbook41"
1573 #:patches (@@@@ (gnu packages linux) %linux-libre-5.1-patches)
1574 #:extra-options %macbook41-config-options))
1577 In the above example @code{%file-systems} is a collection of flags enabling
1578 different file system support, @code{%efi-support} enables EFI support and
1579 @code{%emulation} enables a x86_64-linux machine to act in 32-bit mode also.
1580 @code{%default-extra-linux-options} are the ones quoted above, which had to be
1581 added in since they were replaced in the @code{extra-options} keyword.
1583 This all sounds like it should be doable, but how does one even know which
1584 modules are required for a particular system? Two places that can be helpful
1585 in trying to answer this question is the
1586 @uref{https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Kernel, Gentoo
1588 @uref{https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/README.html?highlight=localmodconfig,
1589 documentation from the kernel itself}. From the kernel documentation, it
1590 seems that @code{make localmodconfig} is the command we want.
1592 In order to actually run @code{make localmodconfig} we first need to get and
1593 unpack the kernel source code:
1596 tar xf $(guix build linux-libre --source)
1599 Once inside the directory containing the source code run @code{touch .config}
1600 to create an initial, empty @file{.config} to start with. @code{make
1601 localmodconfig} works by seeing what you already have in @file{.config} and
1602 letting you know what you're missing. If the file is blank then you're
1603 missing everything. The next step is to run:
1606 guix environment linux-libre -- make localmodconfig
1609 and note the output. Do note that the @file{.config} file is still empty.
1610 The output generally contains two types of warnings. The first start with
1611 "WARNING" and can actually be ignored in our case. The second read:
1614 module pcspkr did not have configs CONFIG_INPUT_PCSPKR
1617 For each of these lines, copy the @code{CONFIG_XXXX_XXXX} portion into the
1618 @file{.config} in the directory, and append @code{=m}, so in the end it looks
1622 CONFIG_INPUT_PCSPKR=m
1626 After copying all the configuration options, run @code{make localmodconfig}
1627 again to make sure that you don't have any output starting with ``module''.
1628 After all of these machine specific modules there are a couple more left that
1629 are also needed. @code{CONFIG_MODULES} is necessary so that you can build and
1630 load modules separately and not have everything built into the kernel.
1631 @code{CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD} is required for reading from hard drives. It is
1632 possible that there are other modules which you will need.
1634 This post does not aim to be a guide to configuring your own kernel however,
1635 so if you do decide to build a custom kernel you'll have to seek out other
1636 guides to create a kernel which is just right for your needs.
1638 The second way to setup the kernel configuration makes more use of Guix's
1639 features and allows you to share configuration segments between different
1640 kernels. For example, all machines using EFI to boot have a number of EFI
1641 configuration flags that they need. It is likely that all the kernels will
1642 share a list of file systems to support. By using variables it is easier to
1643 see at a glance what features are enabled and to make sure you don't have
1644 features in one kernel but missing in another.
1646 Left undiscussed however, is Guix's initrd and its customization. It is
1647 likely that you'll need to modify the initrd on a machine using a custom
1648 kernel, since certain modules which are expected to be built may not be
1649 available for inclusion into the initrd.
1651 @node Guix System Image API
1652 @section Guix System Image API
1654 Historically, Guix System is centered around an @code{operating-system}
1655 structure. This structure contains various fields ranging from the
1656 bootloader and kernel declaration to the services to install.
1658 Depending on the target machine, that can go from a standard
1659 @code{x86_64} machine to a small ARM single board computer such as the
1660 Pine64, the image constraints can vary a lot. The hardware
1661 manufacturers will impose different image formats with various partition
1664 To create images suitable for all those machines, a new abstraction is
1665 necessary: that's the goal of the @code{image} record. This record
1666 contains all the required information to be transformed into a
1667 standalone image, that can be directly booted on any target machine.
1670 (define-record-type* <image>
1673 (name image-name ;symbol
1675 (format image-format) ;symbol
1676 (target image-target
1678 (size image-size ;size in bytes as integer
1680 (operating-system image-operating-system ;<operating-system>
1682 (partitions image-partitions ;list of <partition>
1684 (compression? image-compression? ;boolean
1686 (volatile-root? image-volatile-root? ;boolean
1688 (substitutable? image-substitutable? ;boolean
1692 This record contains the operating-system to instantiate. The
1693 @code{format} field defines the image type and can be @code{efi-raw},
1694 @code{qcow2} or @code{iso9660} for instance. In the future, it could be
1695 extended to @code{docker} or other image types.
1697 A new directory in the Guix sources is dedicated to images definition. For now
1698 there are four files:
1701 @item @file{gnu/system/images/hurd.scm}
1702 @item @file{gnu/system/images/pine64.scm}
1703 @item @file{gnu/system/images/novena.scm}
1704 @item @file{gnu/system/images/pinebook-pro.scm}
1707 Let's have a look to @file{pine64.scm}. It contains the
1708 @code{pine64-barebones-os} variable which is a minimal definition of an
1709 operating-system dedicated to the @b{Pine A64 LTS} board.
1712 (define pine64-barebones-os
1714 (host-name "vignemale")
1715 (timezone "Europe/Paris")
1716 (locale "en_US.utf8")
1717 (bootloader (bootloader-configuration
1718 (bootloader u-boot-pine64-lts-bootloader)
1719 (targets '("/dev/vda"))))
1720 (initrd-modules '())
1721 (kernel linux-libre-arm64-generic)
1722 (file-systems (cons (file-system
1723 (device (file-system-label "my-root"))
1726 %base-file-systems))
1727 (services (cons (service agetty-service-type
1728 (agetty-configuration
1729 (extra-options '("-L")) ; no carrier detect
1730 (baud-rate "115200")
1736 The @code{kernel} and @code{bootloader} fields are pointing to packages
1737 dedicated to this board.
1739 Right below, the @code{pine64-image-type} variable is also defined.
1742 (define pine64-image-type
1745 (constructor (cut image-with-os arm64-disk-image <>))))
1748 It's using a record we haven't talked about yet, the @code{image-type} record,
1752 (define-record-type* <image-type>
1753 image-type make-image-type
1755 (name image-type-name) ;symbol
1756 (constructor image-type-constructor)) ;<operating-system> -> <image>
1759 The main purpose of this record is to associate a name to a procedure
1760 transforming an @code{operating-system} to an image. To understand why
1761 it is necessary, let's have a look to the command producing an image
1762 from an @code{operating-system} configuration file:
1765 guix system image my-os.scm
1768 This command expects an @code{operating-system} configuration but how
1769 should we indicate that we want an image targeting a Pine64 board? We
1770 need to provide an extra information, the @code{image-type}, by passing
1771 the @code{--image-type} or @code{-t} flag, this way:
1774 guix system image --image-type=pine64-raw my-os.scm
1777 This @code{image-type} parameter points to the @code{pine64-image-type}
1778 defined above. Hence, the @code{operating-system} declared in
1779 @code{my-os.scm} will be applied the @code{(cut image-with-os
1780 arm64-disk-image <>)} procedure to turn it into an image.
1782 The resulting image looks like:
1786 (format 'disk-image)
1787 (target "aarch64-linux-gnu")
1788 (operating-system my-os)
1791 (inherit root-partition)
1792 (offset root-offset)))))
1795 which is the aggregation of the @code{operating-system} defined in
1796 @code{my-os.scm} to the @code{arm64-disk-image} record.
1798 But enough Scheme madness. What does this image API bring to the Guix user?
1803 mathieu@@cervin:~$ guix system --list-image-types
1804 The available image types are:
1812 - uncompressed-iso9660
1819 and by writing an @code{operating-system} file based on
1820 @code{pine64-barebones-os}, you can customize your image to your
1821 preferences in a file (@file{my-pine-os.scm}) like this:
1824 (use-modules (gnu services linux)
1825 (gnu system images pine64))
1827 (let ((base-os pine64-barebones-os))
1830 (timezone "America/Indiana/Indianapolis")
1833 (service earlyoom-service-type
1834 (earlyoom-configuration
1835 (prefer-regexp "icecat|chromium")))
1836 (operating-system-user-services base-os)))))
1842 guix system image --image-type=pine64-raw my-pine-os.scm
1848 guix system image --image-type=hurd-raw my-hurd-os.scm
1851 to get an image that can be written directly to a hard drive and booted
1854 Without changing anything to @code{my-hurd-os.scm}, calling:
1857 guix system image --image-type=hurd-qcow2 my-hurd-os.scm
1860 will instead produce a Hurd QEMU image.
1862 @node Connecting to Wireguard VPN
1863 @section Connecting to Wireguard VPN
1865 To connect to a Wireguard VPN server you need the kernel module to be
1866 loaded in memory and a package providing networking tools that support
1867 it (e.g. @code{wireguard-tools} or @code{network-manager}).
1869 Here is a configuration example for Linux-Libre < 5.6, where the module
1870 is out of tree and need to be loaded manually---following revisions of
1871 the kernel have it built-in and so don't need such configuration:
1875 (use-service-modules desktop)
1876 (use-package-modules vpn)
1880 (services (cons (simple-service 'wireguard-module
1881 kernel-module-loader-service-type
1884 (packages (cons wireguard-tools %base-packages))
1885 (kernel-loadable-modules (list wireguard-linux-compat)))
1888 After reconfiguring and restarting your system you can either use
1889 Wireguard tools or NetworkManager to connect to a VPN server.
1891 @subsection Using Wireguard tools
1893 To test your Wireguard setup it is convenient to use @command{wg-quick}.
1894 Just give it a configuration file @command{wg-quick up ./wg0.conf}; or
1895 put that file in @file{/etc/wireguard} and run @command{wg-quick up wg0}
1899 Be warned that the author described this command as a: “[…] very quick
1900 and dirty bash script […]”.
1903 @subsection Using NetworkManager
1905 Thanks to NetworkManager support for Wireguard we can connect to our VPN
1906 using @command{nmcli} command. Up to this point this guide assumes that
1907 you're using Network Manager service provided by
1908 @code{%desktop-services}. Ortherwise you need to adjust your services
1909 list to load @code{network-manager-service-type} and reconfigure your
1912 To import your VPN configuration execute nmcli import command:
1915 # nmcli connection import type wireguard file wg0.conf
1916 Connection 'wg0' (edbee261-aa5a-42db-b032-6c7757c60fde) successfully added
1919 This will create a configuration file in
1920 @file{/etc/NetworkManager/wg0.nmconnection}. Next connect to the
1924 $ nmcli connection up wg0
1925 Connection successfully activated (D-Bus active path: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/6)
1928 By default NetworkManager will connect automatically on system boot. To
1929 change that behaviour you need to edit your config:
1932 # nmcli connection modify wg0 connection.autoconnect no
1935 For more specific information about NetworkManager and wireguard
1936 @uref{https://blogs.gnome.org/thaller/2019/03/15/wireguard-in-networkmanager/,see
1937 this post by thaller}.
1939 @node Customizing a Window Manager
1940 @section Customizing a Window Manager
1947 You could install StumpWM with a Guix system by adding
1948 @code{stumpwm} and optionally @code{`(,stumpwm "lib")}
1949 packages to a system configuration file, e.g.@: @file{/etc/config.scm}.
1951 An example configuration can look like this:
1955 (use-package-modules wm)
1959 (packages (append (list sbcl stumpwm `(,stumpwm "lib"))
1963 @cindex stumpwm fonts
1964 By default StumpWM uses X11 fonts, which could be small or pixelated on
1965 your system. You could fix this by installing StumpWM contrib Lisp
1966 module @code{sbcl-ttf-fonts}, adding it to Guix system packages:
1970 (use-package-modules fonts wm)
1974 (packages (append (list sbcl stumpwm `(,stumpwm "lib"))
1975 sbcl-ttf-fonts font-dejavu %base-packages)))
1978 Then you need to add the following code to a StumpWM configuration file
1979 @file{~/.stumpwm.d/init.lisp}:
1982 (require :ttf-fonts)
1983 (setf xft:*font-dirs* '("/run/current-system/profile/share/fonts/"))
1984 (setf clx-truetype:+font-cache-filename+ (concat (getenv "HOME") "/.fonts/font-cache.sexp"))
1986 (set-font (make-instance 'xft:font :family "DejaVu Sans Mono" :subfamily "Book" :size 11))
1990 @subsection Session lock
1993 Depending on your environment, locking the screen of your session might come built in
1994 or it might be something you have to set up yourself. If you use a desktop environment
1995 like GNOME or KDE, it's usually built in. If you use a plain window manager like
1996 StumpWM or EXWM, you might have to set it up yourself.
2001 If you use Xorg, you can use the utility
2002 @uref{https://www.mankier.com/1/xss-lock, xss-lock} to lock the screen of your session.
2003 xss-lock is triggered by DPMS which since Xorg 1.8 is auto-detected and enabled if
2004 ACPI is also enabled at kernel runtime.
2006 To use xss-lock, you can simple execute it and put it into the background before
2007 you start your window manager from e.g. your @file{~/.xsession}:
2014 In this example, xss-lock uses @code{slock} to do the actual locking of the screen when
2015 it determines it's appropriate, like when you suspend your device.
2017 For slock to be allowed to be a screen locker for the graphical session, it needs to
2018 be made setuid-root so it can authenticate users, and it needs a PAM service. This
2019 can be achieved by adding the following service to your @file{config.scm}:
2022 (screen-locker-service slock)
2025 If you manually lock your screen, e.g. by directly calling slock when you want to lock
2026 your screen but not suspend it, it's a good idea to notify xss-lock about this so no
2027 confusion occurs. This can be done by executing @code{xset s activate} immediately
2028 before you execute slock.
2030 @node Running Guix on a Linode Server
2031 @section Running Guix on a Linode Server
2032 @cindex linode, Linode
2034 To run Guix on a server hosted by @uref{https://www.linode.com, Linode},
2035 start with a recommended Debian server. We recommend using the default
2036 distro as a way to bootstrap Guix. Create your SSH keys.
2042 Be sure to add your SSH key for easy login to the remote server.
2043 This is trivially done via Linode's graphical interface for adding
2044 SSH keys. Go to your profile and click add SSH Key.
2045 Copy into it the output of:
2048 cat ~/.ssh/<username>_rsa.pub
2051 Power the Linode down.
2053 In the Linode's Storage tab, resize the Debian disk to be smaller.
2054 30 GB free space is recommended. Then click "Add a disk", and fill
2055 out the form with the following:
2065 Set it to the remaining size
2068 In the Configurations tab, press "Edit" on the default Debian profile.
2069 Under "Block Device Assignment" click "Add a Device". It should be
2070 @file{/dev/sdc} and you can select the "Guix" disk. Save Changes.
2072 Now "Add a Configuration", with the following:
2078 Kernel:GRUB 2 (it's at the bottom! This step is @b{IMPORTANT!})
2081 Block device assignment:
2084 @file{/dev/sda}: Guix
2087 @file{/dev/sdb}: swap
2090 Root device: @file{/dev/sda}
2093 Turn off all the filesystem/boot helpers
2096 Now power it back up, booting with the Debian configuration. Once it's
2097 running, ssh to your server via @code{ssh
2098 root@@@var{<your-server-IP-here>}}. (You can find your server IP address in
2099 your Linode Summary section.) Now you can run the "install guix from
2100 @pxref{Binary Installation,,, guix, GNU Guix}" steps:
2103 sudo apt-get install gpg
2104 wget https://sv.gnu.org/people/viewgpg.php?user_id=15145 -qO - | gpg --import -
2105 wget https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/plain/etc/guix-install.sh
2106 chmod +x guix-install.sh
2111 Now it's time to write out a config for the server. The key information
2112 is below. Save the resulting file as @file{guix-config.scm}.
2117 (use-service-modules networking
2119 (use-package-modules admin
2126 (host-name "my-server")
2127 (timezone "America/New_York")
2128 (locale "en_US.UTF-8")
2129 ;; This goofy code will generate the grub.cfg
2130 ;; without installing the grub bootloader on disk.
2131 (bootloader (bootloader-configuration
2134 (inherit grub-bootloader)
2135 (installer #~(const #true))))))
2136 (file-systems (cons (file-system
2140 %base-file-systems))
2143 (swap-devices (list "/dev/sdb"))
2146 (initrd-modules (cons "virtio_scsi" ; Needed to find the disk
2147 %base-initrd-modules))
2149 (users (cons (user-account
2152 ;; Adding the account to the "wheel" group
2153 ;; makes it a sudoer.
2154 (supplementary-groups '("wheel"))
2155 (home-directory "/home/janedoe"))
2156 %base-user-accounts))
2158 (packages (cons* nss-certs ;for HTTPS access
2163 (service dhcp-client-service-type)
2164 (service openssh-service-type
2165 (openssh-configuration
2166 (openssh openssh-sans-x)
2167 (password-authentication? #false)
2169 `(("janedoe" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub"))
2170 ("root" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub"))))))
2174 Replace the following fields in the above configuration:
2176 (host-name "my-server") ; replace with your server name
2177 ; if you chose a linode server outside the U.S., then
2178 ; use tzselect to find a correct timezone string
2179 (timezone "America/New_York") ; if needed replace timezone
2180 (name "janedoe") ; replace with your username
2181 ("janedoe" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub")) ; replace with your ssh key
2182 ("root" ,(local-file "janedoe_rsa.pub")) ; replace with your ssh key
2185 The last line in the above example lets you log into the server as root
2186 and set the initial root password (see the note at the end of this
2187 recipe about root login). After you have done this, you may
2188 delete that line from your configuration and reconfigure to prevent root
2191 Copy your ssh public key (eg: @file{~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub}) as
2192 @file{@var{<your-username-here>}_rsa.pub} and put
2193 @file{guix-config.scm} in the same directory. In a new terminal run
2197 sftp root@@<remote server ip address>
2198 put /path/to/files/<username>_rsa.pub .
2199 put /path/to/files/guix-config.scm .
2202 In your first terminal, mount the guix drive:
2206 mount /dev/sdc /mnt/guix
2209 Due to the way we set up the bootloader section of the guix-config.scm,
2210 only the grub configuration file will be installed. So, we need to copy
2211 over some of the other GRUB stuff already installed on the Debian system:
2214 mkdir -p /mnt/guix/boot/grub
2215 cp -r /boot/grub/* /mnt/guix/boot/grub/
2218 Now initialize the Guix installation:
2221 guix system init guix-config.scm /mnt/guix
2225 Now from the Linode console, select boot and select "Guix".
2227 Once it boots, you should be able to log in via SSH! (The server config
2228 will have changed though.) You may encounter an error like:
2231 $ ssh root@@<server ip address>
2232 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
2233 @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
2234 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
2235 IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
2236 Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
2237 It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
2238 The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is
2239 SHA256:0B+wp33w57AnKQuHCvQP0+ZdKaqYrI/kyU7CfVbS7R4.
2240 Please contact your system administrator.
2241 Add correct host key in /home/joshua/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
2242 Offending ECDSA key in /home/joshua/.ssh/known_hosts:3
2243 ECDSA host key for 198.58.98.76 has changed and you have requested strict checking.
2244 Host key verification failed.
2247 Either delete @file{~/.ssh/known_hosts} file, or delete the offending line
2248 starting with your server IP address.
2250 Be sure to set your password and root's password.
2253 ssh root@@<remote ip address>
2254 passwd ; for the root password
2255 passwd <username> ; for the user password
2258 You may not be able to run the above commands at this point. If you
2259 have issues remotely logging into your linode box via SSH, then you may
2260 still need to set your root and user password initially by clicking on
2261 the ``Launch Console'' option in your linode. Choose the ``Glish''
2262 instead of ``Weblish''. Now you should be able to ssh into the machine.
2264 Hooray! At this point you can shut down the server, delete the
2265 Debian disk, and resize the Guix to the rest of the size.
2268 By the way, if you save it as a disk image right at this point, you'll
2269 have an easy time spinning up new Guix images! You may need to
2270 down-size the Guix image to 6144MB, to save it as an image. Then you
2271 can resize it again to the max size.
2273 @node Setting up a bind mount
2274 @section Setting up a bind mount
2276 To bind mount a file system, one must first set up some definitions
2277 before the @code{operating-system} section of the system definition. In
2278 this example we will bind mount a folder from a spinning disk drive to
2279 @file{/tmp}, to save wear and tear on the primary SSD, without
2280 dedicating an entire partition to be mounted as @file{/tmp}.
2282 First, the source drive that hosts the folder we wish to bind mount
2283 should be defined, so that the bind mount can depend on it.
2286 (define source-drive ;; "source-drive" can be named anything you want.
2288 (device (uuid "UUID goes here"))
2289 (mount-point "/path-to-spinning-disk-goes-here")
2290 (type "ext4"))) ;; Make sure to set this to the appropriate type for your drive.
2293 The source folder must also be defined, so that guix will know it's not
2294 a regular block device, but a folder.
2296 (define (%source-directory) "/path-to-spinning-disk-goes-here/tmp") ;; "source-directory" can be named any valid variable name.
2299 Finally, inside the @code{file-systems} definition, we must add the
2303 (file-systems (cons*
2305 ...<other drives omitted for clarity>...
2307 source-drive ;; Must match the name you gave the source drive in the earlier definition.
2310 (device (%source-directory)) ;; Make sure "source-directory" matches your earlier definition.
2311 (mount-point "/tmp")
2312 (type "none") ;; We are mounting a folder, not a partition, so this type needs to be "none"
2313 (flags '(bind-mount))
2314 (dependencies (list source-drive)) ;; Ensure "source-drive" matches what you've named the variable for the drive.
2317 ...<other drives omitted for clarity>...
2322 @node Getting substitutes from Tor
2323 @section Getting substitutes from Tor
2325 Guix daemon can use a HTTP proxy to get substitutes, here we are
2326 configuring it to get them via Tor.
2329 @emph{Not all} Guix daemon's traffic will go through Tor! Only
2330 HTTP/HTTPS will get proxied; FTP, Git protocol, SSH, etc connections
2331 will still go through the clearnet. Again, this configuration isn't
2332 foolproof some of your traffic won't get routed by Tor at all. Use it
2335 Also note that the procedure described here applies only to package
2336 substitution. When you update your guix distribution with
2337 @command{guix pull}, you still need to use @command{torsocks} if
2338 you want to route the connection to guix's git repository servers
2342 Guix's substitute server is available as a Onion service, if you want
2343 to use it to get your substitutes through Tor configure your system as
2348 (use-service-module base networking)
2354 (service tor-service-type
2356 (config-file (plain-file "tor-config"
2357 "HTTPTunnelPort 127.0.0.1:9250"))))
2358 (modify-services %base-services
2360 config => (guix-configuration
2362 ;; ci.guix.gnu.org's Onion service
2363 (substitute-urls "https://bp7o7ckwlewr4slm.onion")
2364 (http-proxy "http://localhost:9250")))))))
2367 This will keep a tor process running that provides a HTTP CONNECT tunnel
2368 which will be used by @command{guix-daemon}. The daemon can use other
2369 protocols than HTTP(S) to get remote resources, request using those
2370 protocols won't go through Tor since we are only setting a HTTP tunnel
2371 here. Note that @code{substitutes-urls} is using HTTPS and not HTTP or
2372 it won't work, that's a limitation of Tor's tunnel; you may want to use
2373 @command{privoxy} instead to avoid such limitations.
2375 If you don't want to always get substitutes through Tor but using it just
2376 some of the times, then skip the @code{guix-configuration}. When you
2377 want to get a substitute from the Tor tunnel run:
2380 sudo herd set-http-proxy guix-daemon http://localhost:9250
2381 guix build --substitute-urls=https://bp7o7ckwlewr4slm.onion …
2384 @node Setting up NGINX with Lua
2385 @section Setting up NGINX with Lua
2386 @cindex nginx, lua, openresty, resty
2388 NGINX could be extended with Lua scripts.
2390 Guix provides NGINX service with ability to load Lua module and specific
2391 Lua packages, and reply to requests by evaluating Lua scripts.
2393 The following example demonstrates system definition with configuration
2394 to evaluate @file{index.lua} Lua script on HTTP request to
2395 @uref{http://localhost/hello} endpoint:
2398 local shell = require "resty.shell"
2401 local timeout = 1000 -- ms
2402 local max_size = 4096 -- byte
2404 local ok, stdout, stderr, reason, status =
2405 shell.run([[/run/current-system/profile/bin/ls /tmp]], stdin, timeout, max_size)
2412 (use-service-modules #;… web)
2413 (use-package-modules #;… lua)
2418 (service nginx-service-type
2419 (nginx-configuration
2422 (file-append nginx-lua-module "/etc/nginx/modules/ngx_http_lua_module.so")))
2423 (lua-package-path (list lua-resty-core
2428 (lua-package-cpath (list lua-resty-signal))
2430 (list (nginx-server-configuration
2431 (server-name '("localhost"))
2435 (nginx-location-configuration
2437 (body (list #~(format #f "content_by_lua_file ~s;"
2438 #$(local-file "index.lua"))))))))))))))
2441 @c *********************************************************************
2442 @node Advanced package management
2443 @chapter Advanced package management
2445 Guix is a functional package manager that offers many features beyond
2446 what more traditional package managers can do. To the uninitiated,
2447 those features might not have obvious use cases at first. The purpose
2448 of this chapter is to demonstrate some advanced package management
2451 @pxref{Package Management,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual} for a complete
2455 * Guix Profiles in Practice:: Strategies for multiple profiles and manifests.
2458 @node Guix Profiles in Practice
2459 @section Guix Profiles in Practice
2461 Guix provides a very useful feature that may be quite foreign to newcomers:
2462 @emph{profiles}. They are a way to group package installations together and all users
2463 on the same system are free to use as many profiles as they want.
2465 Whether you're a developer or not, you may find that multiple profiles bring you
2466 great power and flexibility. While they shift the paradigm somewhat compared to
2467 @emph{traditional package managers}, they are very convenient to use once you've
2468 understood how to set them up.
2470 If you are familiar with Python's @samp{virtualenv}, you can think of a profile as a
2471 kind of universal @samp{virtualenv} that can hold any kind of software whatsoever, not
2472 just Python software. Furthermore, profiles are self-sufficient: they capture
2473 all the runtime dependencies which guarantees that all programs within a profile
2474 will always work at any point in time.
2476 Multiple profiles have many benefits:
2480 Clean semantic separation of the various packages a user needs for different contexts.
2483 Multiple profiles can be made available into the environment either on login
2484 or within a dedicated shell.
2487 Profiles can be loaded on demand. For instance, the user can use multiple
2488 shells, each of them running different profiles.
2491 Isolation: Programs from one profile will not use programs from the other, and
2492 the user can even install different versions of the same programs to the two
2493 profiles without conflict.
2496 Deduplication: Profiles share dependencies that happens to be the exact same.
2497 This makes multiple profiles storage-efficient.
2500 Reproducible: when used with declarative manifests, a profile can be fully
2501 specified by the Guix commit that was active when it was set up. This means
2502 that the exact same profile can be
2503 @uref{https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2018/multi-dimensional-transactions-and-rollbacks-oh-my/,
2504 set up anywhere and anytime}, with just the commit information. See the
2505 section on @ref{Reproducible profiles}.
2508 Easier upgrades and maintenance: Multiple profiles make it easy to keep
2509 package listings at hand and make upgrades completely frictionless.
2512 Concretely, here follows some typical profiles:
2516 The dependencies of a project you are working on.
2519 Your favourite programming language libraries.
2522 Laptop-specific programs (like @samp{powertop}) that you don't need on a desktop.
2525 @TeX{}live (this one can be really useful when you need to install just one
2526 package for this one document you've just received over email).
2532 Let's dive in the set up!
2534 @node Basic setup with manifests
2535 @subsection Basic setup with manifests
2537 A Guix profile can be set up @emph{via} a so-called @emph{manifest specification} that looks like
2541 (specifications->manifest
2543 ;; Version 1.3 of package-2.
2545 ;; The "lib" output of package-3.
2551 @pxref{Invoking guix package,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual}, for
2554 We can create a manifest specification per profile and install them this way:
2557 GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES=$HOME/.guix-extra-profiles
2558 mkdir -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project # if it does not exist yet
2559 guix package --manifest=/path/to/guix-my-project-manifest.scm --profile="$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project
2562 Here we set an arbitrary variable @samp{GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES} to point to the directory
2563 where we will store our profiles in the rest of this article.
2565 Placing all your profiles in a single directory, with each profile getting its
2566 own sub-directory, is somewhat cleaner. This way, each sub-directory will
2567 contain all the symlinks for precisely one profile. Besides, ``looping over
2568 profiles'' becomes obvious from any programming language (e.g.@: a shell script) by
2569 simply looping over the sub-directories of @samp{$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES}.
2571 Note that it's also possible to loop over the output of
2574 guix package --list-profiles
2577 although you'll probably have to filter out @file{~/.config/guix/current}.
2579 To enable all profiles on login, add this to your @file{~/.bash_profile} (or similar):
2582 for i in $GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES/*; do
2583 profile=$i/$(basename "$i")
2584 if [ -f "$profile"/etc/profile ]; then
2585 GUIX_PROFILE="$profile"
2586 . "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile
2592 Note to Guix System users: the above reflects how your default profile
2593 @file{~/.guix-profile} is activated from @file{/etc/profile}, that latter being loaded by
2594 @file{~/.bashrc} by default.
2596 You can obviously choose to only enable a subset of them:
2599 for i in "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project-1 "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project-2; do
2600 profile=$i/$(basename "$i")
2601 if [ -f "$profile"/etc/profile ]; then
2602 GUIX_PROFILE="$profile"
2603 . "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile
2609 When a profile is off, it's straightforward to enable it for an individual shell
2610 without "polluting" the rest of the user session:
2613 GUIX_PROFILE="path/to/my-project" ; . "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile
2616 The key to enabling a profile is to @emph{source} its @samp{etc/profile} file. This file
2617 contains shell code that exports the right environment variables necessary to
2618 activate the software contained in the profile. It is built automatically by
2619 Guix and meant to be sourced.
2620 It contains the same variables you would get if you ran:
2623 guix package --search-paths=prefix --profile=$my_profile"
2626 Once again, see (@pxref{Invoking guix package,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual})
2627 for the command line options.
2629 To upgrade a profile, simply install the manifest again:
2632 guix package -m /path/to/guix-my-project-manifest.scm -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project
2635 To upgrade all profiles, it's easy enough to loop over them. For instance,
2636 assuming your manifest specifications are stored in
2637 @file{~/.guix-manifests/guix-$profile-manifest.scm}, with @samp{$profile} being the name
2638 of the profile (e.g.@: "project1"), you could do the following in Bourne shell:
2641 for profile in "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/*; do
2642 guix package --profile="$profile" --manifest="$HOME/.guix-manifests/guix-$profile-manifest.scm"
2646 Each profile has its own generations:
2649 guix package -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project --list-generations
2652 You can roll-back to any generation of a given profile:
2655 guix package -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project --switch-generations=17
2658 Finally, if you want to switch to a profile without inheriting from the
2659 current environment, you can activate it from an empty shell:
2662 env -i $(which bash) --login --noprofile --norc
2663 . my-project/etc/profile
2666 @node Required packages
2667 @subsection Required packages
2669 Activating a profile essentially boils down to exporting a bunch of
2670 environmental variables. This is the role of the @samp{etc/profile} within the
2673 @emph{Note: Only the environmental variables of the packages that consume them will
2676 For instance, @samp{MANPATH} won't be set if there is no consumer application for man
2677 pages within the profile. So if you need to transparently access man pages once
2678 the profile is loaded, you've got two options:
2682 Either export the variable manually, e.g.
2684 export MANPATH=/path/to/profile$@{MANPATH:+:@}$MANPATH
2688 Or include @samp{man-db} to the profile manifest.
2691 The same is true for @samp{INFOPATH} (you can install @samp{info-reader}),
2692 @samp{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} (install @samp{pkg-config}), etc.
2694 @node Default profile
2695 @subsection Default profile
2697 What about the default profile that Guix keeps in @file{~/.guix-profile}?
2699 You can assign it the role you want. Typically you would install the manifest
2700 of the packages you want to use all the time.
2702 Alternatively, you could keep it ``manifest-less'' for throw-away packages
2703 that you would just use for a couple of days.
2704 This way makes it convenient to run
2707 guix install package-foo
2708 guix upgrade package-bar
2711 without having to specify the path to a profile.
2713 @node The benefits of manifests
2714 @subsection The benefits of manifests
2716 Manifests are a convenient way to keep your package lists around and, say,
2717 to synchronize them across multiple machines using a version control system.
2719 A common complaint about manifests is that they can be slow to install when they
2720 contain large number of packages. This is especially cumbersome when you just
2721 want get an upgrade for one package within a big manifest.
2723 This is one more reason to use multiple profiles, which happen to be just
2724 perfect to break down manifests into multiple sets of semantically connected
2725 packages. Using multiple, small profiles provides more flexibility and
2728 Manifests come with multiple benefits. In particular, they ease maintenance:
2732 When a profile is set up from a manifest, the manifest itself is
2733 self-sufficient to keep a ``package listing'' around and reinstall the profile
2734 later or on a different system. For ad-hoc profiles, we would need to
2735 generate a manifest specification manually and maintain the package versions
2736 for the packages that don't use the default version.
2739 @code{guix package --upgrade} always tries to update the packages that have
2740 propagated inputs, even if there is nothing to do. Guix manifests remove this
2744 When partially upgrading a profile, conflicts may arise (due to diverging
2745 dependencies between the updated and the non-updated packages) and they can be
2746 annoying to resolve manually. Manifests remove this problem altogether since
2747 all packages are always upgraded at once.
2750 As mentioned above, manifests allow for reproducible profiles, while the
2751 imperative @code{guix install}, @code{guix upgrade}, etc. do not, since they produce
2752 different profiles every time even when they hold the same packages. See
2753 @uref{https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/33285, the related discussion on the matter}.
2756 Manifest specifications are usable by other @samp{guix} commands. For example, you
2757 can run @code{guix weather -m manifest.scm} to see how many substitutes are
2758 available, which can help you decide whether you want to try upgrading today
2759 or wait a while. Another example: you can run @code{guix pack -m manifest.scm} to
2760 create a pack containing all the packages in the manifest (and their
2761 transitive references).
2764 Finally, manifests have a Scheme representation, the @samp{<manifest>} record type.
2765 They can be manipulated in Scheme and passed to the various Guix @uref{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Api, APIs}.
2768 It's important to understand that while manifests can be used to declare
2769 profiles, they are not strictly equivalent: profiles have the side effect that
2770 they ``pin'' packages in the store, which prevents them from being
2771 garbage-collected (@pxref{Invoking guix gc,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference Manual})
2772 and ensures that they will still be available at any point in
2775 Let's take an example:
2779 We have an environment for hacking on a project for which there isn't a Guix
2780 package yet. We build the environment using a manifest, and then run @code{guix
2781 environment -m manifest.scm}. So far so good.
2784 Many weeks pass and we have run a couple of @code{guix pull} in the mean time.
2785 Maybe a dependency from our manifest has been updated; or we may have run
2786 @code{guix gc} and some packages needed by our manifest have been
2790 Eventually, we set to work on that project again, so we run @code{guix environment
2791 -m manifest.scm}. But now we have to wait for Guix to build and install
2795 Ideally, we could spare the rebuild time. And indeed we can, all we need is to
2796 install the manifest to a profile and use @code{GUIX_PROFILE=/the/profile;
2797 . "$GUIX_PROFILE"/etc/profile} as explained above: this guarantees that our
2798 hacking environment will be available at all times.
2800 @emph{Security warning:} While keeping old profiles around can be convenient, keep in
2801 mind that outdated packages may not have received the latest security fixes.
2803 @node Reproducible profiles
2804 @subsection Reproducible profiles
2806 To reproduce a profile bit-for-bit, we need two pieces of information:
2812 a Guix channel specification.
2815 Indeed, manifests alone might not be enough: different Guix versions (or
2816 different channels) can produce different outputs for a given manifest.
2818 You can output the Guix channel specification with @samp{guix describe
2820 Save this to a file, say @samp{channel-specs.scm}.
2822 On another computer, you can use the channel specification file and the manifest
2823 to reproduce the exact same profile:
2826 GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES=$HOME/.guix-extra-profiles
2827 GUIX_EXTRA=$HOME/.guix-extra
2829 mkdir "$GUIX_EXTRA"/my-project
2830 guix pull --channels=channel-specs.scm --profile "$GUIX_EXTRA/my-project/guix"
2832 mkdir -p "$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES/my-project"
2833 "$GUIX_EXTRA"/my-project/guix/bin/guix package --manifest=/path/to/guix-my-project-manifest.scm --profile="$GUIX_EXTRA_PROFILES"/my-project/my-project
2836 It's safe to delete the Guix channel profile you've just installed with the
2837 channel specification, the project profile does not depend on it.
2839 @c *********************************************************************
2840 @node Environment management
2841 @chapter Environment management
2843 Guix provides multiple tools to manage environment. This chapter
2844 demonstrate such utilities.
2847 * Guix environment via direnv:: Setup Guix environment with direnv
2850 @node Guix environment via direnv
2851 @section Guix environment via direnv
2853 Guix provides a @samp{direnv} package, which could extend shell after
2854 directory change. This tool could be used to prepare a pure Guix
2857 The following example provides a shell function for @file{~/.direnvrc}
2858 file, which could be used from Guix Git repository in
2859 @file{~/src/guix/.envrc} file to setup a build environment similar to
2860 described in @pxref{Building from Git,,, guix, GNU Guix Reference
2863 Create a @file{~/.direnvrc} with a Bash code:
2866 # Thanks <https://github.com/direnv/direnv/issues/73#issuecomment-152284914>
2870 local alias_dir=$PWD/.direnv/aliases
2871 mkdir -p "$alias_dir"
2872 PATH_add "$alias_dir"
2873 local target="$alias_dir/$name"
2874 if declare -f "$name" >/dev/null; then
2875 echo "#!$SHELL" > "$target"
2876 declare -f "$name" >> "$target" 2>/dev/null
2877 # Notice that we add shell variables to the function trigger.
2878 echo "$name \$*" >> "$target"
2886 export GUIX_GITHUB_TOKEN="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
2888 # Unset 'GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH'.
2889 export GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH=""
2891 # Recreate a garbage collector root.
2892 gcroots="$HOME/.config/guix/gcroots"
2894 gcroot="$gcroots/guix"
2900 # Miscellaneous packages.
2901 PACKAGES_MAINTENANCE=(
2915 # Environment packages.
2916 PACKAGES=(help2man guile-sqlite3 guile-gcrypt)
2918 # Thanks <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-09/msg00859.html>
2919 eval "$(guix environment --search-paths --root="$gcroot" --pure guix --ad-hoc $@{PACKAGES[@@]@} $@{PACKAGES_MAINTENANCE[@@]@} "$@@")"
2921 # Predefine configure flags.
2924 ./configure --localstatedir=/var --prefix=
2926 export_function configure
2928 # Run make and optionally build something.
2934 ./pre-inst-env guix build "$@@"
2937 export_function build
2939 # Predefine push Git command.
2942 git push --set-upstream origin
2944 export_function push
2946 clear # Clean up the screen.
2947 git-cal --author='Your Name' # Show contributions calendar.
2949 # Show commands help.
2951 build build a package or just a project if no argument provided
2952 configure run ./configure with predefined parameters
2953 push push to upstream Git repository
2958 Every project containing @file{.envrc} with a string @code{use guix}
2959 will have predefined environment variables and procedures.
2961 Run @command{direnv allow} to setup the environment for the first time.
2963 @c *********************************************************************
2964 @node Acknowledgments
2965 @chapter Acknowledgments
2967 Guix is based on the @uref{https://nixos.org/nix/, Nix package manager},
2968 which was designed and
2969 implemented by Eelco Dolstra, with contributions from other people (see
2970 the @file{nix/AUTHORS} file in Guix.) Nix pioneered functional package
2971 management, and promoted unprecedented features, such as transactional
2972 package upgrades and rollbacks, per-user profiles, and referentially
2973 transparent build processes. Without this work, Guix would not exist.
2975 The Nix-based software distributions, Nixpkgs and NixOS, have also been
2976 an inspiration for Guix.
2978 GNU@tie{}Guix itself is a collective work with contributions from a
2979 number of people. See the @file{AUTHORS} file in Guix for more
2980 information on these fine people. The @file{THANKS} file lists people
2981 who have helped by reporting bugs, taking care of the infrastructure,
2982 providing artwork and themes, making suggestions, and more---thank you!
2984 This document includes adapted sections from articles that have previously
2985 been published on the Guix blog at @uref{https://guix.gnu.org/blog}.
2988 @c *********************************************************************
2989 @node GNU Free Documentation License
2990 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License
2991 @cindex license, GNU Free Documentation License
2992 @include fdl-1.3.texi
2994 @c *********************************************************************
2996 @unnumbered Concept Index
3002 @c ispell-local-dictionary: "american";