Re: Some general guix questions

[George Clemmer]

Divan Santana <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi great guix community,
>
> 1. What is the recommendations around when to install a package system
>    wide (via guix system reconfigure manifest.scm) vs in your user
>    profile? I'm confused if i3/various X packages and other desktop
>    packages should be installed in one or the other? Or even the pros
>    and cons of each. Is this in the manual?

FWIW, when you run a single-user system (e.g. a desktop or server that
only you use), it can be convenient to install any packages that you
want available in root system-wide. E.g, I use ...

(define sys-packages
  '(
    "cups"
    "emacs-no-x"
    "emacs-guix"
    "emacs-magit"
    "emacs-paredit"
    "freeipmi"
    "git"
    "glibc-utf8-locales"
    "mdadm"
    "mosh"
    "nss-certs"
    "openssh"
    "qemu"
    "screen"
    "smartmontools"
    ))
...
 (packages (append (map specification->package
                        sys-packages)
                   %base-packages))

> 2. One can install packages via a manifest or via a frontend tool like
>    emacs-guix or helm system packages.  I like the former, because
>    it's like your system is defined in a manifest and evaluated, and
>    you can keep track in git etc, suppose infrastructure as code. But
>    I like the latter too and I believe some others do too. Is there a
>    way to get the best of both worlds here? Any thoughts on the
>    matter.

I find it convenient to maintain a Guix manifest under Git but I feel
free to "dabble" using emacs-guix. I "roll back" to the manifest set by
using the emacs-guix Generation-List running 'guix package -m'.

> 3. If I run guix system vm --fallback system.scm I get a vm I can run,
>    which is really awesome. If I then do a guix pull and guix system
>    vm --fallback system.scm I get /another/ VM which I can run. How is
>    the previous VMs garbage collected, I wonder?

Your 'guix system vm' results will be protected from gc if you specify
the ‘--root=FILE’ option.

HTH - George