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Re: [OT, deeply] Guix

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On Mon 08 Nov 2021 at 22:16:20 (-0500), Stefan Monnier wrote:
> >> >> In contrast, with NixOS/Guix that list is available in a plain text
> >> >> editable file.
> > I'm not sure I'd call scheme a "plain text".
> 
> Interesting.  What I mean is a file that's intended to be manipulated by
> a text editor rather than by some other program.  It might *also* be
> manipulated by other programs, but often it makes things more complicated.
> 
> It usually means that its visual presentation is intended to be
> human-readable (e.g. with indentation and comments to help understand
> the structure and intention).
> [ That's what makes it hard to manipulate with other programs, since
>   you need to preserve layout and comments whose meaning relates to
>   intentions (i.e. hard to formalize) and hence difficult to preserve
>   other than by another human.  ]

That's rather a stretch. If the text is /structured/, it's not Plain
Text. Sure, it's a text file and not binary, but that's usual for
Linux OSes. Here (Guix), it's actually source code written in guile,
a scheme variant AIUI. (For Nix, it's some other language.)

Earlier,

> I would love to see Debian move towards a model like that of NixOS or
> Guix.  One of the main benefits I see of those systems is that it has
> a declarative description of what the system should contain.

I can't see the point. You can have the Guix package manager¹ now, as
it allegedly installs on top of "foreign distros" (their term). It
appears to me that you need well-resourced machines to benefit by its
ability to have different versions of packages for the system, and
yet more for individual users. I'm not typically in that position.
And I don't see how you track security with all those versions around.
I'll be sticking with APT for the time being.

¹ I think it's misguided to call the package manager and the
  OS? / Distribution? / whatever it is   by the same name.

Cheers,
David.

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[OT, deeply] Guix riveravaldez <riveravaldezmail@gmail.com> - 2021-10-26 01:50 +0200
  Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> - 2021-10-26 12:10 +0200
  Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-10-26 15:30 +0200
    Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-11-07 08:30 +0100
    Re: [OT, deeply] Guix didier gaumet <didier.gaumet@gmail.com> - 2021-11-07 12:40 +0100
      Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-11-07 15:00 +0100
        Re: [OT, deeply] Guix David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-11-08 16:10 +0100
          Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2021-11-08 17:00 +0100
            Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> - 2021-11-08 22:50 +0100
              Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-11-09 04:30 +0100
                Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> - 2021-11-10 23:30 +0100
                Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-11-11 10:00 +0100
              Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2021-11-09 13:40 +0100
          Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-11-09 04:20 +0100
            Re: [OT, deeply] Guix David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-11-11 06:20 +0100
              Re: [OT, deeply] Guix Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-11-12 16:10 +0100

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