guix archive export/import and software deployment

[Pjotr Prins]

Guix archive is not working well for me. What I want is to deploy a
package with its runtime dependencies reliably from one machine to
another and update the profile after so it can be run, with its
propagated dependencies.

Dependencies are not all included when exporting. In fact all R
modules are missing, but python modules are included. Ludo's earlier
comment suggests the package is visited and harvested for runtime
links. Apparently the R modules are not linked. Even so, they are in
the package definition, so we should be able to capture them.

The second problem is that there is no elegant way to recreate the
profile now for the full thing. Obviously I have a complex product ;)

At this point I am thinking of harvesting dependencies from a bag and 
tar balling all the /gnu/store/ paths mentioned. It will lead to a
larger tarball, but I don't care about that. Alternatively they will
go on a caching guix server.

Next I am thinking of installing these paths one-by-one so as to
recreate the profile and update the guix database.

Probably not the best way to go. Suggestions?

Ideally I would like also to deploy the software without using guix
(just the /gnu/store) and recreate the profile in user space. That is
for those users who can't be bothered to install the guix daemon. It
is a lesser requirement. But it may work well for tools like
mediagoblin too. The first step to a one-click install, perhaps.

Pj.