On 2018-12-30 19:19, Jone wrote:
snip
And additionally I would like to see two things:
1. FAQ
Which questions do you propose to include?
Where would you suggest to place this faq? In the manual? website?
I just wrote the following suggestions to a GuixSD FAQ:
General:
* Is GuixSD a 'do-it-yourself' GNU/Linux distribution like e.g. Arch
Linux and Gentoo?
* Yes and no. Both the distributions mentioned mess a lot with states
and configuration files in different formats and are based on a
completely different way of configuring the OS.
With GuixSD the goal is to configure /everything/ in the declaration of
the OS and never having to edit a single configuration file in some
obscure location.
The roll-back functionality of Guix makes it easy to undo almost any
changes to the state in Guix imposed by your fiddling with the
configuration.
GuixSD also makes it possible to /easily/ replicate a friends OS
configuration making it possible to collaborate and share your ideas on
how to configure the whole OS much more easily than traditional
distributions.
There are already up to a hundred shared operating system declarations
available online for your to copy or get ideas from.
* Is it a rolling release distribution?
* Yes. But anyone could turn it into any stable or whatever release
model via 'guix channel'.
* How does channels affect the distribution?
* They let you compose and maintain your own release of Guix.
* Any stable ones available yet?
* No, not known to us.
* Can I easily share my installed system configuration and
package-manifest with a friend?
* Yes. The declaration, usually a file called config.scm, used to
instantiate the system makes this easy. It contains no secret
information. The same goes for package-manifests.
* I am a complete GNU OS beginner. Should I use GuixSD?
* If you are a beginner and want to use GuixSD, you must be willing to
invest time into learning a new system, and accept that GuixSD is
designed as a 'do-it-yourself' or 'copy-from-your-friend' distribution;
it is the user who assembles the system via a configuration written in
Scheme.
Before asking for help, do your own independent research by reading the
manual, searching online & searching the mailing lists. There is a
reason these resources were made available to you in the first place.
Many thousands of volunteered hours have been spent compiling this
excellent information.
* Is Guix going to be so good that people will have a hard time avoiding
it? When will the beta end?
* We don't know yet. You can take a look at our ROADMAP
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/tree/ROADMAP and look up the
latest features in the latest release statement.
Package-related:
* Why is compilation so time-consuming compared to substitutes?
* Compiling is necessary to convert almost any modern program from a
high-level language (like Guile Scheme, Python, C++) to low-level
machine code.
Whether you compile yourself or let others do it for you, your ordinary
GNOME enabled desktop takes a total of about 3-5 days of compile time on
a consumer level 2-core Intel 64-bit PC. *(is this accurate Mark?)
* How will I know if substitutes are available from the build farms
before running 'guix pull'?
* Generally you don't. This is a missing feature. You are welcome to
help improving Guix or Cuirass to make this possible.
* Why do Guix mess around with environment variables when other
distributions don't?
* Why does environment variables need to be manually set sometimes in
GuixSD - could that not be automated?
* If this is needed you have probably found a bug. Ie. right now many
package definitions lack search-path definitions (e.g. guile-readline,
guile-colorized, and many others) causing them to not be set automatically.
* Is package X available?
* Maybe! Take a look at the package list of the website or search our
git-repo for the name.
If you are up for it, maybe you can package it yourself by importing it
*LINK, following the package guide *LINK or by reading the package
descriptions of similar programs already in Guix.
Any thoughts?
See also
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Frequently_asked_questions
--
Cheers Swedebugia
