Hi, I recently converted my guix configuration to be stored in a channel, primarily to allow me to reference files in the repository but yet still have a self-contained configuration. It also allows me to easily build packages and images from my local guix instance. I also like how the specification of my system (or home) is precisely defined by a set of channels, and an expression which evaluates to the operating-system (or home-configuration) that I'm deploying. As per the guix manual: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- If you want configuration.scm to be self-contained, we recommend that modules or files it refers to be part of a channel. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- This all being said, I noticed an issue in that I'm unable to determine the provenance of a system when my configuration is stored in a guix channel. Specifically, if I have a guix channel that contains two modules, each of which exports a %system variable of type operating-system, I cannot tell which one was used to instantiate the system. This is due to two issues. The first is because when `-e|--expression` arguments are used, `configuration-file` is set to `#f` in the generations provenance file but the expression itself is not stored in the provenance file, and is not listed in `guix system describe`, `guix system list-generations`, etc.. commands. --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- sudo -i guix system reconfigure -e '(@ (my config system-a) %system)' --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- ➜ guix system describe Generation 30 Mar 28 2022 22:50:55 (current) file name: /var/guix/profiles/system-30-link canonical file name: /gnu/store/886xwflic0dnf86d460yf7n5wg3jng7w-system label: GNU with Linux 5.16.16 bootloader: grub-efi root device: label: "root" kernel: /gnu/store/44hi9qg3mrp6c6cb1rqwx47xhg1663d9-linux-5.16.16/bzImage channels: guix: repository URL: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git branch: master commit: e584a093f943be216fdc93895281fde835836b8d my-config-channel: repository URL: https://not-yet-on-the-internet.com branch: master commit: 918a3bf799038a019c7394cda480ee67db8a0009 --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Change the system to 'system-b': --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- sudo -i guix system reconfigure -e '(@ (my config system-b) %system)' --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- ➜ guix system describe Generation 31 Mar 28 2022 23:10:01 (current) file name: /var/guix/profiles/system-31-link canonical file name: /gnu/store/jpkxxyh6zi3gh8pbml3r9l1iccibw5mk-system label: GNU with Linux 5.16.16 bootloader: grub-efi root device: label: "root" kernel: /gnu/store/jpkxxyh6zi3gh8pbml3r9l1iccibw5mk-linux-5.16.16/bzImage channels: guix: repository URL: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git branch: master commit: e584a093f943be216fdc93895281fde835836b8d my-config-channel: repository URL: https://not-yet-on-the-internet.com branch: master commit: 918a3bf799038a019c7394cda480ee67db8a0009 --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Notice how there is no way to see which configuration was used to create the system. The second issue is that when `-L|--load-path` is used along with either a file or expression to specify the operating-system or home-configuration, it essentially 'tarnishes' the provenance of the system, in that the following deployment is not differentiable from the preceding one/s, despite them being different. --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- sudo -i guix system reconfigure -L my-local-channel-but-with-changes -e '(@ (my config system-a) %system)' --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- ➜ guix system describe Generation 32 Mar 28 2022 23:10:01 (current) file name: /var/guix/profiles/system-32-link canonical file name: /gnu/store/s1f82wy0mj1zv3jvrzzc86h86zrdv336-system label: GNU with Linux 5.16.16 bootloader: grub-efi root device: label: "root" kernel: /gnu/store/s1f82wy0mj1zv3jvrzzc86h86zrdv336-linux-5.16.16/bzImage channels: guix: repository URL: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git branch: master commit: e584a093f943be216fdc93895281fde835836b8d my-config-channel: repository URL: https://not-yet-on-the-internet.com branch: master commit: 918a3bf799038a019c7394cda480ee67db8a0009 --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Thank you for reading -- Collin J. Doering http://rekahsoft.ca http://blog.rekahsoft.ca http://git.rekahsoft.ca