doc: Document `guix-build'.

* doc/guix.texi (Invoking guix-build): Populate.
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Ludovic Courtès 2012-11-07 17:07:15 +01:00
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@node Invoking guix-build
@section Invoking @command{guix-build}
The @command{guix-build} command builds packages or derivations and
their dependencies, and prints the resulting store paths. It is mainly
useful for distribution developers. The general syntax is:
@example
guix-build @var{options} @var{package-or-derivation}@dots{}
@end example
@var{package-or-derivation} may be either the name of a package found in
the software distribution such as @code{coreutils}, or a derivation such
as @file{/nix/store/xxx-coreutils-8.19.drv}. Alternatively, the
@code{--expression} option may be used to specify a Scheme expression
that evaluates to a package; this is useful when disambiguation among
several same-named packages or package variants is needed.
The @var{options} may be zero or more of the following:
@table @code
@item --expression=@var{expr}
@itemx -e @var{expr}
Build the package @var{expr} evaluates to.
For example, @var{expr} may be @code{(@@ (distro packages guile)
guile-1.8)}, which unambiguously designates this specific variant of
version 1.8 of Guile.
@item --source
@itemx -S
Build the packages' source derivations, rather than the packages
themselves.
For instance, @code{guix-build -S gcc} returns something like
@file{/nix/store/xxx-gcc-4.7.2.tar.bz2}, which is GCC's source tarball.
@item --system=@var{system}
@itemx -s @var{system}
Attempt to build for @var{system}---e.g., @code{i686-linux}---instead of
the host's system type.
An example use of this is on Linux-based systems, which can emulate
different personalities. For instance, passing
@code{--system=i686-linux} on an @code{x86_64-linux} system allows users
to build packages in a complete 32-bit environment.
@item --derivations
@itemx -d
Return the derivation paths, not the output paths, of the given
packages.
@item --keep-failed
@itemx -K
Keep the build tree of failed builds. Thus, if a build fail, its build
tree is kept under @file{/tmp}, in a directory whose name is shown at
the end of the build log. This is useful when debugging build issues.
@item --dry-run
@itemx -n
Do not build the derivations.
@item --no-substitutes
Build instead of resorting to pre-built substitutes.
@item --cores=@var{n}
@itemx -c @var{n}
Allow the use of up to @var{n} CPU cores for the build. The special
value @code{0} means to use as many CPU cores as available.
@item --root=@var{file}
@itemx -r @var{file}
Make @var{file} a symlink to the result, and register it as a garbage
collector root.
@end table
Behind the scenes, @command{guix-build} is essentially an interface to
the @code{package-derivation} procedure of the @code{(guix packages)}
module, and to the @code{build-derivations} procedure of the @code{(guix
store)} module.
@c *********************************************************************
@node Acknowledgments
@chapter Acknowledgments