NEWS

   1                                                               -*- org -*-
   2 #+TITLE: Guix NEWS – history of user-visible changes
   3 #+STARTUP: content hidestars
   4
   5 Copyright © 2013 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
   6
   7   Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
   8   are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
   9   notice and this notice are preserved.
  10
  11 Please send Guix bug reports to bug-guix@gnu.org.
  12
  13 * Changes in 0.4 (since 0.3)
  14
  15 ** Package management
  16
  17 *** New ‘--list-generations’ and ‘--delete-generations’ options
  18
  19 The ‘guix package’ command has these two new options, which make it easier to
  20 deal with a profile’s generation.  See “Invoking guix package” in the manual.
  21
  22 *** New ‘guix-register’ program
  23
  24 This program allows the meta-data of a new store to be initialized, by
  25 copying info from an existing store.  It is mostly an internal tool.
  26
  27 ** Programming interfaces
  28
  29 *** New API to bootstrap Autotools-based packages
  30
  31 The (guix build-system gnu) has a new ‘dist-package’ procedure that takes a
  32 package object and source directory, and returns a new package object that
  33 runs ‘./bootstrap && make dist’ or anything similar.
  34
  35 *** ‘derivation’ and related procedures have a #:references-graphs parameter
  36
  37 This parameter instructs the build daemon to populate the derivation’s build
  38 tree with files containing the list of references of the given store files.
  39 This is useful to write code that copies a packages and all its dependencies
  40 to another storage device, such as a QEMU disk image.
  41
  42 *** Extended API to build a GNU system virtual machine image
  43
  44 The (gnu system vm) module has been augmented in many ways: the ‘qemu-image’
  45 procedure can now populate and initialize the image’s store; the new
  46 ‘system-qemu-image’ procedure returns a QEMU image that runs dmd as its init
  47 system, has ‘login’ running on several consoles, has a set of installed
  48 packages, and where Guix can be used.
  49
  50 New (gnu system …) modules have been added to handle the configuration of the
  51 various parts of a GNU/Linux system.  For instance, (gnu system dmd) provides
  52 support for instantiating dmd services; (gnu system linux) helps with Linux
  53 PAM configuration; and so on.
  54
  55 *** <derivation> objects supersede .drv file names in the API
  56
  57 ‘derivation’ and similar procedures no longer return two values (a
  58 <derivation> and a .drv file name); they now return a single value, which is
  59 a <derivation> object.  The <derivation> object embeds the corresponding .drv
  60 file name.  See “Derivations” in the manual for details.
  61
  62 ** GNU distribution
  63
  64 *** 60 new packages
  65
  66 apr, apr-util, cdparanoia, dbus-glib, dfc, dmd, dvdisaster, exiv2, fetchmail,
  67 freefont-ttf, freeglut, geeqie, git, gkrellm, glu, gnome-doc-utils,
  68 gst-plugins-base, gstreamer, guile-cairo, guile-lib, guile-xcb, guix, htop,
  69 itstool, lame, libextractor, libmicrohttpd, lightning, lzip, mingetty, mutt,
  70 net-base, net-tools, ocrad, pspp, python-babel, python-dateutil, python-pytz,
  71 python-setuptools, python-simplejson, python-wrapper, python2-babel,
  72 python2-dateutil, python2-mechanize, python2-pyicu, python2-pysqlite,
  73 python2-pytz, python2-setuptools, python2-simplejson, qemu-system-initrd,
  74 qemu-with-multiple-smb-shares, ripperx, shadow, ttf-bitstream-vera, units,
  75 valgrind, xmlto, xnee, yasm
  76
  77 *** 27 package updates
  78
  79 bigloo 4.0b, cairo 1.12.16, ddrescue 1.17, fontconfig 2.10.93, fplll 4.0.4,
  80 gcc 4.7.3, gcc 4.7.3, glibc 2.18, glibc 2.18, glibc-stripped-tarball 2.18,
  81 gnupg 2.0.21, gnutls 3.2.4, guile 2.0.9, guile 2.0.9, harfbuzz 0.9.21,
  82 imagemagick 6.8.6-9, libdrm 2.4.46, libgcrypt 1.5.3, libjpeg 9, libksba 1.3.0,
  83 linux-libre 3.11, m4 1.4.17, mpfrcx 0.4.2, pari-gp 2.5.4, python 2.7.5, python
  84 3.3.2, texlive 2013
  85
  86 *** Fontconfig font search path made more convenient
  87
  88 Fontconfig, the library used by many graphical applications, such as those
  89 based on GTK+, now knows where to find the default set of fonts.  Additional
  90 fonts installed in the user profile are automatically picked up.
  91
  92 *** More GUI applications
  93
  94 The ‘emacs’ and ‘racket’ packages are now linked against GTK+.  New GTK+
  95 applications have been added (see above.)
  96
  97 *** Packaging guidelines
  98
  99 The documentation of packaging guidelines has been augmented.  See the manual
 100 under “GNU Distribution”.
 101
 102 *** Support for Python 3 along with Python 2
 103
 104 Python 3 has been added to the distribution, and Python packages that support
 105 it are now built for both Python 2 and Python 3.  See the “Python Modules”
 106 section of the manual for details.
 107
 108 ** Internationalization
 109
 110 Updated translations: eo.
 111
 112 ** Bugs fixed
 113
 114 *** Workarounds for Guile 2.0.5 now work on Debian derivatives
 115 *** The dependency graph image has correct size in PDF output
 116 *** 'ldd' now works correctly on x86_64
 117 *** Xorg server test suite no longer fails (http://bugs.gnu.org/15392)
 118 *** module-init-tools now builds (http://bugs.gnu.org/15182, http://bugs.gnu.org/15187)
 119 *** Hop 2.4 builds with newer Bigloo (http://bugs.gnu.org/15194)
 120
 121 * Changes in 0.3 (since 0.2)
 122
 123 ** Package management
 124
 125 *** Cross-compilation support
 126
 127 Guix can now cross-build packages.  On the command-line, this is achieved with
 128 the new ‘--target’ command-line option of ‘guix build’.  At the Scheme level,
 129 the guts of this is the ‘package-cross-derivation’ procedure.  Core packages
 130 of the distribution can already be cross-compiled.  See the manual for
 131 details.
 132
 133 *** New ‘--max-silent-time’ option for “guix build” and “guix package”
 134
 135 See the manual for details.
 136
 137 *** New ‘--fallback’ option for “guix build” and “guix package”
 138
 139 This option instructs to fall back to local builds when the substituter fails
 140 to download a substitute.
 141
 142 *** New ‘--requisites’ option for “guix gc”
 143
 144 See the manual for details.
 145
 146 *** New ‘--key-download’ option for “guix refresh”
 147
 148 See the manual for details.
 149
 150 ** Programming interfaces
 151
 152 *** New ‘package-cross-derivation’ procedure in (guix derivations)
 153
 154 See the manual for details.
 155
 156 *** New ‘%current-target-system’ SRFI-39 parameter
 157
 158 This parameter is like ‘%current-system’, but for cross-compilation.  It
 159 allows code in package definitions (such as in the ‘arguments’ field) to know
 160 whether it is being cross-compiled, and what the target system is.
 161
 162 *** New (guix hash) module; new ‘open-sha256-port’ and ‘sha256-port’ procedures
 163
 164 This improves performance of SHA256 computations.
 165
 166
 167 ** GNU distribution
 168
 169 *** 33 new packages
 170
 171 alsa-lib, babel, cairo, cvs, gcal, gcc-cross-mips64el-linux-gnuabi64, gd,
 172 gdk-pixbuf, graphviz, grue-hunter, gtk+, gts, harfbuzz, imagemagick, iproute2,
 173 iptables, libspectre, mpg321, noweb, pango, plotutils, privoxy, pytz, racket,
 174 rubber, rush, strace, tk, torsocks, unrtf, vc-dwim, wordnet, xlockmore
 175
 176 *** 25 package updates
 177
 178 automake 1.14, ed 1.9, freeipmi 1.2.8, gawk 4.1.0, gcc 4.8.1, gettext 0.18.3,
 179 glib 2.37.1, gmp 5.1.2, gnutls 3.2.1, gzip 1.6, help2man 1.43.3, libapr 1.4.8,
 180 libaprutil 1.5.2, libassuan 2.1.1, libffi 3.0.13, libgc 7.2d, libgpg-error
 181 1.12, libidn 1.28, libpng 1.5.17, lout 3.40, lsh 2.1, nettle 2.7.1, qemu
 182 1.5.1, tzdata 2013d, xorriso 1.3.0
 183
 184 *** Binary packages now available for i686-linux
 185
 186 The build farm at http://hydra.gnu.org now provides 32-bit GNU/Linux binaries
 187 (i686-linux), in addition to the x86_64-linux binaries.  Both can be
 188 transparently used as substitutes for local builds on these platforms.
 189
 190 *** Debug info packages
 191
 192 Some packages now have a “debug” output containing debugging information.  The
 193 “debug” output can be used by GDB, and can be installed separately from the
 194 other outputs of the package.  See “Installing Debugging Files” in the manual.
 195
 196 *** Bootstrap binaries can be cross-compiled
 197
 198 The distribution can now be ported to new architectures (currently
 199 GNU/Linux-only) by cross-compiling the “bootstrap binaries”.  See “Porting”
 200 in the manual.
 201
 202 *** Bootstrapping documented
 203
 204 See “Bootstrapping” in the manual, for information on how the GNU
 205 distribution builds “from scratch”.
 206
 207 ** Internationalization
 208
 209 New translations: eo, pt_BR.
 210
 211 ** Bugs fixed
 212 *** “guix --help” now works when using Guile 2.0.5
 213 *** Binary substituter multi-threading and pipe issues fixed
 214
 215 These could lead to random substituter crashes while substituting a binary.
 216 See commits 0332386 and 101d9f3 for details.
 217
 218 *** Binary substituter gracefully handles lack of network connectivity
 219
 220 *** Daemon properly handles rebuilds of multiple-output derivations
 221
 222 Previously it would fail when rebuilding a multiple-output derivation when
 223 some (but not all) of its outputs were already present.  See
 224 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-guix/2013-06/msg00038.html and
 225 https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/122 .
 226
 227 *** ‘guix package -i foo:out’ no longer removes other outputs of ‘foo’
 228
 229 Previously only the ‘out’ output of package ‘foo’ would be kept in the
 230 profile.
 231
 232 *** Replacement (srfi srfi-37) provided if the user’s one is broken
 233
 234 When the user’s (srfi srfi-37) is affected by http://bugs.gnu.org/13176 (Guile
 235 < 2.0.9), a replacement with the bug fix is provided.  This bug would affect
 236 command-line argument processing in some cases.
 237
 238 * Changes in 0.2 (since 0.1)
 239
 240 ** Package management
 241
 242 *** Guix commands are now sub-commands of the “guix” program
 243
 244 Instead of typing “guix-package”, one now has to type “guix package”, and so
 245 on.  This has allowed us to homogenize the user interface and initial program
 246 setup, and to allow commands to be upgradable through “guix pull”.
 247
 248 *** New “guix package --upgrade” option
 249
 250 As the name implies, this option atomically upgrades all the packages
 251 installed in a profile or the set of packages matching a given regexp.
 252 See “Invoking guix package” in the manual.
 253
 254 *** New “guix package --search” option
 255
 256 Performs a full text search in package synopses and descriptions, and returns
 257 the matching packages in recutils format.  See “Invoking guix package” in the
 258 manual, for details.
 259
 260 *** New “guix pull” command
 261
 262 The command pulls the latest version of Guix–both the package management
 263 modules and the distribution.  See the manual for details.
 264
 265 *** New binary substituter
 266
 267 The “substituter” mechanism allows pre-built binaries to be transparently
 268 downloaded instead of performing a build locally.  Currently binaries are
 269 available for x86_64 Linux-based GNU systems from http://hydra.gnu.org.  The
 270 distribution is continuously built and binaries are made available from there.
 271
 272 See http://hydra.gnu.org/jobset/gnu/master under “Job status” for the list of
 273 available binary packages.
 274
 275 *** New “guix refresh” command
 276
 277 The command is used by Guix maintainers.  It automatically updates the
 278 distribution to the latest upstream releases of GNU software.
 279
 280 *** New “guix hash” command
 281
 282 Convenience command to compute the hash of a file.  See the manual for
 283 details.
 284
 285 *** Nix daemon code updated
 286
 287 The daemon code from Nix, used by the ‘guix-daemon’ command, has been updated
 288 to current Nix ‘master’.
 289
 290 ** Programming interfaces
 291
 292 *** (guix download) now supports HTTPS, using GnuTLS
 293
 294 It allows package source tarballs to be retrieved over HTTPS.
 295
 296 *** New ‘native-search-path’ and ‘search-path’ package fields
 297
 298 Packages can define in their ‘native-search-path’ field environment variables
 299 that define search paths and need to be set for proper functioning of the
 300 package.  For instance, GCC has ‘CPATH’ and ‘LIBRARY_PATH’ in its
 301 ‘native-search-path’, Perl has ‘PERL5LIB’, Python has ‘PYTHONPATH’, etc.
 302 These environment variables are automatically set when building a package that
 303 uses one of these.
 304
 305 *** Package inputs can be a function of the target system type
 306
 307 The ‘inputs’ field of a package can now be conditional on the value of
 308 (%current-system).  This is useful for packages that take system-dependent
 309 tarballs as inputs, such as GNU/MIT Scheme.
 310
 311 *** New build systems
 312
 313 The ‘perl-build-system’, ‘python-build-system’, and ‘cmake-build-system’ have
 314 been added.  They implement the standard build systems for Perl, Python, and
 315 CMake packages.
 316
 317 *** Tools to build Linux initrds, QEMU images, and more
 318
 319 The (gnu packages linux-initrd) module provides a procedure to build a Linux
 320 initrd (“initial RAM disk”).  The initrd embeds Guile, which is used to
 321 evaluate the given expression.  The example below returns an initrd that
 322 mounts the /proc file system and starts a REPL:
 323
 324   (expression->initrd
 325     '(begin
 326        (mkdir "/proc")
 327        (mount "none" "/proc" "proc")
 328        ((@ (system repl repl) start-repl))))
 329
 330 More examples in the linux-initrd.scm file.
 331
 332 Experimental interfaces to produce and use QEMU images are provided by the
 333 (gnu system vm) module.  For instance, the
 334 ‘expression->derivation-in-linux-vm’ evaluates the given Scheme expression in
 335 a QEMU virtual machine running the Linux kernel and Guile.
 336
 337 ** GNU distribution
 338
 339 Many updates and additions have been made to the distribution.  Here are the
 340 highlights.
 341
 342 *** Major updates
 343
 344 GCC 4.7.3 (the default) and GCC 4.8.0, Binutils 2.23.2, Guile 2.0.9,
 345 Coreutils 8.20, GDB 7.6, Texinfo 5.1.
 346
 347 *** Noteworthy new packages
 348
 349 TeXLive, Xorg, GNU GRUB, GNU Parted, QEMU and QEMU-KVM, Avahi, Bigloo,
 350 CHICKEN, Scheme48, Hugs, Python, Lua, Samba.