X-Git-Url: http://git.hcoop.net/jackhill/guix/guix.git/blobdiff_plain/14928016556300a6763334d4279c3d117902caaf..427afa650170133c4888878f55d245d8047c58e2:/README diff --git a/README b/README dissimilarity index 60% index 4d3367ed8f..b9f36f8344 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,154 +1,110 @@ --*- mode: org -*- - -[[http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/][GNU Guix]] (IPA: /ɡiːks/) is a purely functional package manager, and -associated free software distribution, for the [[http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu.html][GNU system]]. In addition -to standard package management features, Guix supports transactional -upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package management, per-user -profiles, and garbage collection. - -It provides [[http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/][Guile]] Scheme APIs, including a high-level embedded -domain-specific languages (EDSLs) to describe how packages are to be -built and composed. - -A user-land free software distribution for GNU/Linux comes as part of -Guix. - -Guix is based on the [[http://nixos.org/nix/][Nix]] package manager. - - -* Requirements - -GNU Guix currently depends on the following packages: - - - [[http://gnu.org/software/guile/][GNU Guile 2.0.x]], version 2.0.7 or later - - [[http://gnupg.org/][GNU libgcrypt]] - - [[http://www.gnu.org/software/make/][GNU Make]] - - optionally [[http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/guile-json/][Guile-JSON]], for the 'guix import pypi' command - - optionally [[http://www.gnutls.org][GnuTLS]] compiled with guile support enabled, for HTTPS support - in the 'guix download' command. Note that 'guix import pypi' requires - this functionality. - -Unless `--disable-daemon' was passed, the following packages are needed: - - - [[http://sqlite.org/][SQLite 3]] - - [[http://www.bzip.org][libbz2]] - - [[http://gcc.gnu.org][GCC's g++]] - -When `--disable-daemon' was passed, you instead need the following: - - - [[http://nixos.org/nix/][Nix]] - -* Installation - -See the manual for the installation instructions, either by running - - info -f doc/guix.info "(guix) Installation" - -or by checking the [[http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/guix.html#Installation][web copy of the manual]]. - -For information on installation from a Git checkout, please see the ‘HACKING’ -file. - -* Installing Guix from Guix - -You can re-build and re-install Guix using a system that already runs Guix. -To do so: - - - Start a shell with the development environment for Guix: - - guix environment guix - - - Re-run the 'configure' script passing it the option - '--with-libgcrypt-prefix=$HOME/.guix-profile/', as well as - '--localstatedir=/somewhere', where '/somewhere' is the 'localstatedir' - value of the currently installed Guix (failing to do that would lead the - new Guix to consider the store to be empty!). - - - Run "make", "make check", and "make install". - -* How It Works - -Guix does the high-level preparation of a /derivation/. A derivation is -the promise of a build; it is stored as a text file under -=/gnu/store/xxx.drv=. The (guix derivations) module provides the -`derivation' primitive, as well as higher-level wrappers such as -`build-expression->derivation'. - -Guix does remote procedure calls (RPCs) to the Guix or Nix daemon (the -=guix-daemon= or =nix-daemon= command), which in turn performs builds -and accesses to the Nix store on its behalf. The RPCs are implemented -in the (guix store) module. - -* Installing Guix as non-root - -The Guix daemon allows software builds to be performed under alternate -user accounts, which are normally created specifically for this -purpose. For instance, you may have a pool of accounts in the -=guixbuild= group, and then you can instruct =guix-daemon= to use them -like this: - - $ guix-daemon --build-users-group=guixbuild - -However, unless it is run as root, =guix-daemon= cannot switch users. -In that case, it falls back to using a setuid-root helper program call -=nix-setuid-helper=. That program is not setuid-root by default when -you install it; instead you should run a command along these lines -(assuming Guix is installed under /usr/local): - - # chown root.root /usr/local/libexec/nix-setuid-helper - # chmod 4755 /usr/local/libexec/nix-setuid-helper - -* Contact - -GNU Guix is hosted at https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/guix/. - -Please email for bug reports or questions regarding -Guix and its distribution; email for -general issues regarding the GNU system. - -Join #guix on irc.freenode.net. - -* Guix & Nix - -GNU Guix is based on [[http://nixos.org/nix/][the Nix package manager]]. It implements the same -package deployment paradigm, and in fact it reuses some of its code. -Yet, different engineering decisions were made for Guix, as described -below. - -Nix is really two things: a package build tool, implemented by a library -and daemon, and a special-purpose programming language. GNU Guix relies -on the former, but uses Scheme as a replacement for the latter. - -Using Scheme instead of a specific language allows us to get all the -features and tooling that come with Guile (compiler, debugger, REPL, -Unicode, libraries, etc.) And it means that we have a general-purpose -language, on top of which we can have embedded domain-specific languages -(EDSLs), such as the one used to define packages. This broadens what -can be done in package recipes themselves, and what can be done around them. - -Technically, Guix makes remote procedure calls to the ‘nix-worker’ -daemon to perform operations on the store. At the lowest level, Nix -“derivations” represent promises of a build, stored in ‘.drv’ files in -the store. Guix produces such derivations, which are then interpreted -by the daemon to perform the build. Thus, Guix derivations can use -derivations produced by Nix (and vice versa). - -With Nix and the [[http://nixos.org/nixpkgs][Nixpkgs]] distribution, package composition happens at -the Nix language level, but builders are usually written in Bash. -Conversely, Guix encourages the use of Scheme for both package -composition and builders. Likewise, the core functionality of Nix is -written in C++ and Perl; Guix relies on some of the original C++ code, -but exposes all the API as Scheme. - -* Related software - - - [[http://nixos.org][Nix, Nixpkgs, and NixOS]], functional package manager and associated - software distribution, are the inspiration of Guix - - [[http://www.gnu.org/software/stow/][GNU Stow]] builds around the idea of one directory per prefix, and a - symlink tree to create user environments - - [[http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~arnej/store/storedoc_6.html][STORE]] shares the same idea - - [[https://live.gnome.org/OSTree/][GNOME's OSTree]] allows bootable system images to be built from a - specified set of packages - - The [[http://www.gnu.org/s/gsrc/][GNU Source Release Collection]] (GSRC) is a user-land software - distribution; unlike Guix, it relies on core tools available on the - host system +-*- mode: org -*- + +[[https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/][GNU Guix]] (IPA: /ɡiːks/) is a purely functional package manager, and +associated free software distribution, for the [[https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu.html][GNU system]]. In addition +to standard package management features, Guix supports transactional +upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package management, per-user +profiles, and garbage collection. + +It provides [[https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/][Guile]] Scheme APIs, including a high-level embedded +domain-specific languages (EDSLs) to describe how packages are to be +built and composed. + +GNU Guix can be used on top of an already-installed GNU/Linux distribution, or +it can be used standalone (we call that “Guix System”). + +Guix is based on the [[https://nixos.org/nix/][Nix]] package manager. + + +* Requirements + +If you are building Guix from source, please see the manual for build +instructions and requirements, either by running: + + info -f doc/guix.info "Requirements" + +or by checking the [[https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Requirements.html][web copy of the manual]]. + +* Installation + +See the manual for the installation instructions, either by running + + info -f doc/guix.info "Installation" + +or by checking the [[https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Installation.html][web copy of the manual]]. + +* Building from Git + +For information on building Guix from a Git checkout, please see the relevant +section in the manual, either by running + + info -f doc/guix.info "Building from Git" + +or by checking the [[https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Building-from-Git.html][web_copy of the manual]]. + +* How It Works + +Guix does the high-level preparation of a /derivation/. A derivation is +the promise of a build; it is stored as a text file under +=/gnu/store/xxx.drv=. The (guix derivations) module provides the +`derivation' primitive, as well as higher-level wrappers such as +`build-expression->derivation'. + +Guix does remote procedure calls (RPCs) to the build daemon (the =guix-daemon= +command), which in turn performs builds and accesses to the store on its +behalf. The RPCs are implemented in the (guix store) module. + +* Contact + +GNU Guix is hosted at https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/guix/. + +Please email for questions and for bug +reports; email for general issues regarding the +GNU system. + +Join #guix on irc.libera.chat. + +* Guix & Nix + +GNU Guix is based on [[https://nixos.org/nix/][the Nix package manager]]. It implements the same +package deployment paradigm, and in fact it reuses some of its code. +Yet, different engineering decisions were made for Guix, as described +below. + +Nix is really two things: a package build tool, implemented by a library +and daemon, and a special-purpose programming language. GNU Guix relies +on the former, but uses Scheme as a replacement for the latter. + +Using Scheme instead of a specific language allows us to get all the +features and tooling that come with Guile (compiler, debugger, REPL, +Unicode, libraries, etc.) And it means that we have a general-purpose +language, on top of which we can have embedded domain-specific languages +(EDSLs), such as the one used to define packages. This broadens what +can be done in package recipes themselves, and what can be done around them. + +Technically, Guix makes remote procedure calls to the ‘nix-worker’ +daemon to perform operations on the store. At the lowest level, Nix +“derivations” represent promises of a build, stored in ‘.drv’ files in +the store. Guix produces such derivations, which are then interpreted +by the daemon to perform the build. Thus, Guix derivations can use +derivations produced by Nix (and vice versa). + +With Nix and the [[https://nixos.org/nixpkgs][Nixpkgs]] distribution, package composition happens at +the Nix language level, but builders are usually written in Bash. +Conversely, Guix encourages the use of Scheme for both package +composition and builders. Likewise, the core functionality of Nix is +written in C++ and Perl; Guix relies on some of the original C++ code, +but exposes all the API as Scheme. + +* Related software + + - [[https://nixos.org][Nix, Nixpkgs, and NixOS]], functional package manager and associated + software distribution, are the inspiration of Guix + - [[https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/][GNU Stow]] builds around the idea of one directory per prefix, and a + symlink tree to create user environments + - [[https://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~arnej/store/storedoc_6.html][STORE]] shares the same idea + - [[https://live.gnome.org/OSTree/][GNOME's OSTree]] allows bootable system images to be built from a + specified set of packages + - The [[https://www.gnu.org/s/gsrc/][GNU Source Release Collection]] (GSRC) is a user-land software + distribution; unlike Guix, it relies on core tools available on the + host system