How to maintain a private Guix fork
Scope: – customize default #guix channel; – use it in the working environment/system (i.e. “eating your own dog food”); – send patches to #guix upstream; – wait patches are merged;
Preparation
I installed #guix from source code, as described here.
I'm using Stacked-Git for managing patches.
When I need to extend #guix, I search first in the contributor page if there is some open pull request to use as starting point. There can be also Guix channels in external repositories.
I create a patch, using Stacked-Git.
I test the build of packages, using the instructions in Guix manual.
Installing a system
Some packages like the window-manager must be tested on a live system. Better if it is the working environment. I use
sudo -E ./pre-inst-env guix system reconfigure /home/mzan/lavoro/admin/guix/think/config-nonguix.scm
In particular without sudo -E, it will not work correctly.
The build/reconfigure workflow
I'm using just for defining simple scripts, and nushell as scripting language.
These are the scripts in justfile for system build and upgrade:
# Import new changes.
pull:
#!/usr/bin/env nu
guix pull
cd custom-guix-repo
stg branch | into string | str trim | $in == "master"
stg pull
cd ../nonguix-repo
git pull
# Fix permissions, that can be corrupted during sudo system reconfigure
fix-permissions:
sudo chown -R mzan:users custom-guix-repo
sudo chown -R mzan:users /home/mzan/.cache/guix
sudo chown -R mzan:users /home/mzan/.cache/guile
# Recompile from scratch repo files. Slow, but sometime it is required.
repo-bootstrap: fix-permissions
sudo rm -r -f /home/mzan/.cache/guix
sudo rm -r -f /home/mzan/.cache/guile
cd custom-guix-repo && guix shell -D guix help2man git strace pkg-config bash --pure -- bash -c "./bootstrap && ./configure --localstatedir=/var && make clean && make"
# Update repo files. Faster than `repo-bootstrap`.
repo-make: fix-permissions
cd custom-guix-repo && guix shell -D guix help2man git strace pkg-config bash --pure -- make
# Try to build a new version of the system, relaunching the task for 10 times in case of errors.
system-build10: fix-permissions
#!/usr/bin/env nu
cd custom-guix-repo
stg branch | into string | str trim | $in == "master"
for $it in [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10] {
try {
print "###"
print $"### Attempt ($it)"
print "###"
./pre-inst-env guix system build /home/mzan/lavoro/admin/configs/config-think.scm --keep-going
print "###"
print $"### Success at pass ($it)"
print "###"
break
}
print "!!!"
print $"!!! Failure at pass ($it). Wait 60sec and retry."
print "!!!"
sleep 60sec
}
# Like 'system-build10' but using 2 jobs.
system-build10x2: fix-permissions
#!/usr/bin/env nu
cd custom-guix-repo
stg branch | into string | str trim | $in == "master"
for $it in [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10] {
try {
print "###"
print $"### Attempt ($it)"
print "###"
./pre-inst-env guix system build --keep-going --max-jobs=2 /home/mzan/lavoro/admin/configs/config-think.scm
print "###"
print $"### Success at pass ($it)"
print "###"
break
}
print "!!!"
print $"!!! Failure at pass ($it). Wait 60sec and retry."
print "!!!"
sleep 60sec
}
# Like 'system-build10', but it works also if ci.gnu.guix.org is down.
system-build10-fallback: fix-permissions
#!/usr/bin/env nu
cd custom-guix-repo
stg branch | into string | str trim | $in == "master"
for $it in [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10] {
try {
print "###"
print $"### Attempt ($it)"
print "###"
./pre-inst-env guix system build /home/mzan/lavoro/admin/configs/config-think.scm --keep-going --no-substitutes --substitute-urls="https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git https://bordeaux.guix.gnu.org https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix"
print "###"
print $"### Success at pass ($it)"
print "###"
break
}
print "!!!"
print $"!!! Failure at pass ($it). Wait 60sec and retry."
print "!!!"
sleep 60sec
}
# Build the system as normal user and then install it
system-reconfigure: system-build10
#!/usr/bin/env nu
cd custom-guix-repo
stg branch | into string | str trim | $in == "master"
sudo -E ./pre-inst-env guix system reconfigure /home/mzan/lavoro/admin/configs/config-think.scm --keep-going
# Like system-reconfigure but with fallback if CI server is down
system-reconfigure-no-ci: system-build10-fallback
#!/usr/bin/env nu
cd custom-guix-repo
stg branch | into string | str trim | $in == "master"
sudo -E ./pre-inst-env guix system reconfigure /home/mzan/lavoro/admin/configs/config-think.scm --keep-going --no-substitutes --substitute-urls="https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git https://bordeaux.guix.gnu.org https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix"
# Create a new patch in the 'custom-guix-repo'.
new-patch name:
#!/usr/bin/env nu
cd custom-guix-repo
stg branch | into string | str trim | $in == "master"
stg pull
stg new {{name}}
stg series
# Update the (many) packages of the hyprland project
refresh-hyprland:
#!/usr/bin/env sh
cd custom-guix-repo
./pre-inst-env guix refresh -u \
hyprland aquamarine hyprcursor \
hyprlang hyprutils hyprlock hypridle hyprpaper hyprpicker \
hyprwayland-scanner wayland-protocols-next wayland \
xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland
Adding other channels
The additional channels defined in .config/guix/channels.scm and returned by guix describe are not loaded by ./pre-inst-env. For adding them:
– clone the channel content
– make sure to pull updates when you pull the main guix channel
– modify pre-inst-env from something like GUILE_LOAD_PATH="$abs_top_builddir:$abs_top_srcdir${GUILE_LOAD_PATH:+:}$GUILE_LOAD_PATH"
e to something like GUILE_LOAD_PATH="/mnt/bcachefs/home/mzan/lavoro/admin/nonguix-repo:$abs_top_builddir:$abs_top_srcdir${GUILE_LOAD_PATH:+:}$GUILE_LOAD_PATH"
e
– make sure to apply again this modification, if you call just repo-bootstrap