[PATCH] README: add Guix System configure hints

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2 participants
  • Ricardo Wurmus
  • Robert Vollmert
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Submitted by
Robert Vollmert
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Robert Vollmert wrote on 27 May 2019 22:15
(address . guix-patches@gnu.org)(name . Robert Vollmert)(address . rob@vllmrt.net)
20190527201509.60093-1-rob@vllmrt.net
* README: Mention default 'localstatedir' and that 'configure'
needs to be re-run.
---
README | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

Toggle diff (16 lines)
diff --git a/README b/README
index 296df41516..4d459c276d 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -65,6 +65,9 @@ To do so:
value of the currently installed Guix (failing to do that would lead the
new Guix to consider the store to be empty!).
+ On Guix System, this is '/var' by default. Note that you will need to
+ re-run the 'configure' script after updating Guix System.
+
- Run "make", "make check", and "make install".
* How It Works
--
2.20.1 (Apple Git-117)
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Ricardo Wurmus wrote on 28 May 2019 12:34
(name . Robert Vollmert)(address . rob@vllmrt.net)(address . 35936@debbugs.gnu.org)
874l5e27g3.fsf@elephly.net
Hi Robert,

thank you for the patch.

Toggle quote (18 lines)
> * README: Mention default 'localstatedir' and that 'configure'
> needs to be re-run.
> ---
> README | 3 +++
> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/README b/README
> index 296df41516..4d459c276d 100644
> --- a/README
> +++ b/README
> @@ -65,6 +65,9 @@ To do so:
> value of the currently installed Guix (failing to do that would lead the
> new Guix to consider the store to be empty!).
>
> + On Guix System, this is '/var' by default. Note that you will need to
> + re-run the 'configure' script after updating Guix System.
> +

Why would re-running the configure script be required after updating?

This section is about building Guix on a system that already has some
version of Guix to reduce the complexity of establishing a suitable
build environment. I don’t think reconfiguring Guix System is relevant
here.

--
Ricardo
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Robert Vollmert wrote on 28 May 2019 12:59
(name . Ricardo Wurmus)(address . rekado@elephly.net)(address . 35936@debbugs.gnu.org)
CDFD6E90-7A31-4011-A8B2-C95A8BEFACCB@vllmrt.net
Toggle quote (13 lines)
> On 28. May 2019, at 12:34, Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> wrote:
>>
>> + On Guix System, this is '/var' by default. Note that you will need to
>> + re-run the 'configure' script after updating Guix System.
>> +
>
> Why would re-running the configure script be required after updating?
>
> This section is about building Guix on a system that already has some
> version of Guix to reduce the complexity of establishing a suitable
> build environment. I don’t think reconfiguring Guix System is relevant
> here.

It’s my attempt to help people not be as confused as I was. Maybe there
are better ways to achieve this? The two situations:

1. I followed the README instructions to build guix, and was quite confused
by the `localstatedir` business. I seem to be doing the most straightforward
thing, but have to dig through documentation/internet to continue since I
have no idea what/where localstatedir is. (I still don’t, and have been
doing quite fine without the knowledge.)

2. I ran guix pull && guix package -u. And afterwards, the guix development
environment was broken in an obscure way. Re-running guix environment guix
didn’t help. It turns out configure stores some full paths to core utilities,
such as

$ grep ^MKDIR_P config.status
MKDIR_P='/gnu/store/lkrj6zifhk5dk888713dqyzfwk5bich0-profile/bin/mkdir -p’

To me it’s entirely unexpected that after a small OS update my dev environment
should break in this way.
?