Re: RFC: Install Wizard considerations

[Thomas Ingram]

On 03/25/2016 03:35 PM, myglc2 wrote:
> o) Since GuixSD is much more bleeding-edge than Guix, if we make it
>     easier to install GuixSD, we make it easier for new users to bleed.
>
> o) The fact of the matter is that GuixSD hardware support is weak
>     (examples: no boot from MDADM, missing solutions for non-free
>     hardware). If we make it easy for new users to go in this direction
>     by making it easy to install, we know that many will hit these issues
>     and become discouraged.

I agree that GuixSD is currently limited and still beta software, but 
when GuixSD is more feature complete do we want it to be approachable to 
general users or do we want it limited to Guix power users?

My thinking was one day we would want a general user to be able to 
easily use GuixSD, so at some point we'll need a nice friendly 
installer. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the end goals of GuixSD though.

> So, IMO, if we want to make it easier for new users to try Guix, right
> now we need a Guix/GNU/Linxu install wizard much more than we need a
> GuixSD install wizard.
>
> Looking at the big picture, the ideal installer would seamlessly handle
> Guix/GNU/Linux and GuixSD installs. It might do something like the
> following:
>
> Examine the environment & determine the possible ways that Guix and/or
> GuixSD can be installed, then walk the user through choices, for
> example:
>
> - netboot?
>   - fdisk & GuixSD?
> - GNU/Linux system?
>   - ?root user?
>    - install Guix?
>    - put GuixSD netboot on USB?
>    - install GuixSD to disk?
>    - install GuixSD dual boot?
>   - running in user space?
>    - guix installed?
>     - set up git clone?
>    - guix not present?
>     - can you sudo?
>      - yes - got to '?root user' above
>      - no
>       - install Guix in user space?
>       - put GuixSD netboot on USB?
>
> In any event, the end user should end up with a functioning Guix setup
> in which all guix features described in the manual are working, (except
> those requiring root, e.g. guix system reconfigure).
I completely agree that to expand Guix's user base we need to get more 
people using it on any GNU/Linux. I really appreciate the feedback 
although I'm worried I'm a bit too inexperienced, I don't know if I have 
the skill to write something to handle such a diverse set of installs.

This is why I've been aiming to write the GuixSD installer where much of 
it can be easily automated through the lovely operating-system 
declaration which (it's my understand that) is exclusive to GuixSD. 
Perhaps Dyan, who also proposed for GSoC a Guix installer could work on 
this general Guix installer and I could focus on a installer for GuixSD, 
he seems more experienced than me so he would probably have a better 
shot at handling a more complicated install process on other distros.

---
Thomas Ingram