On 2025-10-05 22:43, Eduardo Mercovich wrote:
Dear Guix people.
I'm new to Guix, trying it over and old Debian 10 before doing the
change.
While my use is still quite basic, I and very happy with it and it is
highly probable that will change to Guix as a full OS soon (also, I use
emacs a lot, although I'm no programmer, so it seems that there is even
a bit more alignment).
However, I have one issue that -while searched- still am not
understanding and it is creating me problems: guix is taking a lot (and
worst, increasing) amount of Gb on disk. Each time there is an update,
more Gb are used, even if I try to clean after using the garbage
collector leaving only the last version (based on
https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/es/guix.es.html#Invocaci_00f3n-de-guix-gc
, I use it in Spanish).
I have these packages installed:
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
youtube-dl 2021.12.17 out
/gnu/store/a6bhr85yin39wmcz81rnq1zdzrzgixz8-youtube-dl-2021.12.17
glibc-locales 2.41 out
/gnu/store/vaq9j09i3qln1cj6d363r629y3a59krj-glibc-locales-2.41
ntp 4.2.8p18 out
/gnu/store/kzxkxfkwsbp3fjy77qgvcfa4k599f2qq-ntp-4.2.8p18
python 3.11.11 out
/gnu/store/ikfgcgcn91fa6hpvixdx6aw5xmn78jc9-python-3.11.11
rbw 1.14.1 out
/gnu/store/w9xiw42xcq3qrv8yzfij9xxz64yp90fm-rbw-1.14.1
isync 1.5.1 out
/gnu/store/fi4f169h2bailzi31ky1v6gzknm5873h-isync-1.5.1
texlive-etbb 2025.2 out
/gnu/store/prh7rsympbc2gmdx6gfbrlb434ycmjra-texlive-etbb-2025.2
python-wrapper 3.11.11 out
/gnu/store/6j7j50fqj1cmian9q3chjcz371pxvxmv-python-wrapper-3.11.11
powertop 2.15 out
/gnu/store/b11lk53h290p8q3ch0biv3i39i80bdcy-powertop-2.15
git 2.51.0 out
/gnu/store/pzbc4fhf582sj6cplpwsiq624prlgym2-git-2.51.0
cryptsetup 2.8.0 out
/gnu/store/8vrygj68gck65pinn0cxxs33asagmnbh-cryptsetup-2.8.0
zulip-desktop 5.11.1 out
/gnu/store/3vkxrs2gm2bfabzxrykzcjkq87xlg8rb-zulip-desktop-5.11.1
librewolf 142.0.1-1 out
/gnu/store/7dfg0s57wh93p5zsfqql0a7g3vpz2d8s-librewolf-142.0.1-1
ungoogled-chromium 139.0.7258.154-1 out
/gnu/store/7426d0a5dndp073bl8vx4jk4j4gcjqpz-ungoogled-chromium-139.0.7258.154-1
yarn 1.22.22 out
/gnu/store/rqnpz7wv4aw5ppx4zy0lvqba28261kbv-yarn-1.22.22
texlive 20250308 out
/gnu/store/d9wy7aivpp6zw6v2m6x32ql79vanvkz7-texlive-20250308
texlive-librebaskerville2025.2 out
/gnu/store/3qlg2ixla6q9bdks5cy8g4328kclwdrm-texlive-librebaskerville-2025.2
clipmenu 6.2.0-1.7c34ace out
/gnu/store/7bpnx74aizwnxq0w4hk7k4wxs5wcjd3h-clipmenu-6.2.0-1.7c34ace
gnuplot 6.0.1 out
/gnu/store/ixzfdr4mnknscq86hgjcxav7l7sk4ims-gnuplot-6.0.1
tlp 1.8.0 out
/gnu/store/cslnn5gh4xx9d38mfwf7zh8yz84sxhyx-tlp-1.8.0
yt-dlp 2025.09.05 out
/gnu/store/zsc0zzlz5fb3ypd739slhvqlzjck0kl9-yt-dlp-2025.09.05
texlive-inter 2025.2 out
/gnu/store/2safbg6hn08kjhv7bn5qgz58bglk0qi0-texlive-inter-2025.2
gnome-tweaks 46.1 out
/gnu/store/swwlz7q1vcyd51l6svqm1289kiabbr1c-gnome-tweaks-46.1
google-chrome-stable 139.0.7258.127 out
/gnu/store/2xli5ydwvy8wmkbxvpd2533f19nswm01-google-chrome-stable-139.0.7258.127
signal-desktop 7.69.0 out
/gnu/store/ld0iivm9h090ykbygp8g61nrxykgp9zc-signal-desktop-7.69.0
nextcloud-client 3.8.2 out
/gnu/store/x72hphdij2bdi6iwhnlsblf4sx7pbrz6-nextcloud-client-3.8.2
bitwarden-desktop 2025.6.1 out
/gnu/store/7h7mblqz641bxyw3i1frbaaba7qv0mng-bitwarden-desktop-2025.6.1
tlpui 1.8.0 out
/gnu/store/g68lis1fbv60j0zmjisarr0a23b9ky62-tlpui-1.8.0
vlc 3.0.21 out
/gnu/store/c1qlrjn0zq5amgjfmgp027wjrsy58vv3-vlc-3.0.21
inkscape 1.3.2 out
/gnu/store/c2bawxwphkccv97lg9s8g9cl2lbqivj1-inkscape-1.3.2
texlive-todo 2025.2 out
/gnu/store/y48mj9vvivk9mmpf96r21fsx7dzczbk2-texlive-todo-2025.2
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
For these packages, the /gnu/store has 33,3 Gb. From those, 9 seems to
be tex-live and it's various packages, and almost 6 are in ".links/"
Every time I update the packages a few Gbs disappears from disk. And
when I do "guix gc -F 50G" sometimes nothing is recovered. Trying to
leave only the last version seems to be the same (although I may be
doing something wrong and I could check whatever you ask me, just in
case).
Is this expected? What information can I give you to help diagnose what
could be happening?
In any case, thank you very much for sharing your time, attention and
passion. :)
Best...
Hola Eduardo,
El Garbage Collector limpia cosas que ya no están en uso. Usa unas
raíces (root) para saber cuáles sí lo están.
Las raíces son marcas que tu sistema tiene para decir qué debe
mantenerse sin eliminar. Cada vez que actualizas, Guix guarda las
generaciones (generation) anteriores de tu instalación, para que puedas
volver al pasado. Pero esto no es gratis, estas generaciones se quedan
almacenadas en tu sistema como raíces (root), por lo que el Garbage
Collector no las limpia. Esto es importante porque te permite viajar al
pasado, a una configuración anterior, cuando una actualización no ha ido
bien.
Si ya has actualizado y probado que todo funciona como corresponde,
puedes pedirle al sistema que olvide las generaciones anteriores, ya que
no esperas necesitar volver a ellas.
`guix package --delete-generations` borrará todas las generaciones que
no estén activas, aunque puedes especificar cuáles deseas borrar.
Una vez borradas, tu sistema seguirá teniendo el mismo almacenamiento en
uso, porque sólo se han eliminado las raíces, y no el almacenamiento
subyacente. Ahora sí, hacer `guix gc` debería liberar ese espacio en
disco, ya que no hay raíces que lo indiquen al garbage collector que
debe mantenerlo.
Espero que te sirva de ayuda.
Ekaitz
PS: I'm supposed to answer in english to this, but I wanted to: 1) be
more effective and 2) let you know that you can use spanish with me if
you wish.
