Re: Improving the README and new user experience

[Dan Partelly]

It is my oppinion that first you should very clearly define what you want from GuixSD 

a) is GuixSD to be a system which sees wide adoption , or is a system by developers for developers.

b) What kind of users ? Industrial use or amateurs at home ?

c) Server space, desktop space or both ?

d) if server space, actively think at security  and to the stability of the OS. Identify potential security risks of  running the custom kernel you have. Document it. Be open about it . Think at the implications of running a conservative garbage collector in several system demons. Uptime should be measured in year(s). See if it is a problem or not.Measure it .  Document it.

e) GuixSD is decent OS  and  follows NIX on the path of innovation . It would be a pitty to remain a niche used by a very small group of ppl . Do not focus just on the fact that the system is transactional, atomic and so on. Make it rock stable.

I'm not quite sure yet how to improve the experience to new users.

1. Once you know this there is a lot you can do. Scheme is a good configuration language, but if you lack info on all the basics administration tasks and the semantics of the DSL the user is screwed. Documenting it is a must, for all common adminsitrative tasks

2. Make sure you use sound development practices, do not inflict the users upon the bleeding edge of your repository. I cannot stress enough how important this is, regardless of what you shoose to be the market of your product.

3. Treat it as a product, not as a hacking playground. I know it is not funny, but my guess is that it will help with adoption

4. Once you reach 1.0 , stop. Reflect on the bugs you have, and what documentation you lack. Make bug solving a priority for several point releases over new features. Or do both if you have sufficient manpower.

e) AIX Smitty is a great rpogram for configuring the system. It generates scripts, which the admin can execute and bring the OS in the desired state. You can generate Scheme from a similar system configuration tool, indicate the user it should review it, then

execute system recofniguration with guix command. 

On Jun 20, 2018, at 10:20, Pierre Neidhardt <address@hidden> wrote:

I'm not quite sure yet how to improve the experience to new users.  I'd
need to install it several times, with other people and for different
scenarios before I can be a better judge.