2d2ad98910
Reported by Alex Sassmannshausen <alex.sassmannshausen@gmail.com>. * HACKING: Replace "bug-guix" by "guix-devel".
158 lines
6.3 KiB
Org Mode
158 lines
6.3 KiB
Org Mode
-*- mode: org; coding: utf-8; -*-
|
||
|
||
#+TITLE: Hacking GNU Guix and Its Incredible Distro
|
||
|
||
Copyright © 2012, 2013 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
|
||
Copyright © 2013 Nikita Karetnikov <nikita@karetnikov.org>
|
||
|
||
Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
|
||
are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
|
||
notice and this notice are preserved.
|
||
|
||
|
||
* Building from Git
|
||
|
||
When building Guix from a checkout, the following packages are required in
|
||
addition to those mentioned in the installation instructions:
|
||
|
||
- [[http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/][GNU Autoconf]]
|
||
- [[http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/][GNU Automake]]
|
||
- [[http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/][GNU Gettext]]
|
||
- [[http://www.graphviz.org/][Graphviz]]
|
||
|
||
Run ‘./bootstrap’ to download the Nix daemon source code and to generate the
|
||
build system infrastructure using autoconf. It reports an error if an
|
||
inappropriate version of the above packages is being used.
|
||
|
||
The ‘bootstrap’ script, among other things, invokes ‘git submodule update’; if
|
||
you didn’t run it, you may get the following error:
|
||
|
||
make: *** No rule to make target `nix/libstore/schema.sql', needed by
|
||
`nix/libstore/schema.sql.hh'
|
||
|
||
Then, as always, run ‘./configure’. If you get an error like this one:
|
||
|
||
./configure: line 6755: `PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GUILE, guile-2.0 >= 2.0.5)'
|
||
|
||
it probably means that Autoconf couldn’t find ‘pkg.m4’, which is provided by
|
||
pkg-config. Make sure that ‘pkg.m4’ is available. For instance, if you
|
||
installed Automake in ‘/usr/local’, it wouldn’t look for ‘.m4’ files in
|
||
‘/usr/share’. So you have to invoke the following command in that case
|
||
|
||
$ export ACLOCAL_PATH=/usr/share/aclocal
|
||
|
||
See “info '(automake) Macro Search Path'” for more information.
|
||
|
||
Finally, you have to invoke ‘make check’ to run tests. If anything fails,
|
||
take a look at “info '(guix) Installation'” or send a message to
|
||
<guix-devel@gnu.org>.
|
||
|
||
* Running Guix before it is installed
|
||
|
||
Command-line tools can be used even if you have not run "make install".
|
||
To do that, prefix each command with ‘./pre-inst-env’, as in:
|
||
|
||
./pre-inst-env guix build --help
|
||
|
||
Similarly, for a Guile session using the Guix modules:
|
||
|
||
./pre-inst-env guile -c '(use-modules (guix utils)) (pk (%current-system))'
|
||
|
||
The ‘pre-inst-env’ script sets up all the environment variables
|
||
necessary to support this.
|
||
|
||
* The Perfect Setup
|
||
|
||
The Perfect Setup to hack on Guix is basically the perfect setup used
|
||
for Guile hacking (info "(guile) Using Guile in Emacs"). First, you
|
||
need more than an editor, you need [[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs][Emacs]], empowered by the wonderful
|
||
[[http://nongnu.org/geiser/][Geiser]].
|
||
|
||
Geiser allows for interactive and incremental development from within
|
||
Emacs: code compilation and evaluation from within buffers, access to
|
||
on-line documentation (docstrings), context-sensitive completion, M-. to
|
||
jump to an object definition, a REPL to try out your code, and more.
|
||
|
||
To actually edit the code, Emacs already has a neat Scheme mode. But in
|
||
addition to that, you must not miss [[http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ParEdit][Paredit]]. It provides facilities to
|
||
directly operate on the syntax tree, such as raising an s-expression or
|
||
wrapping it, swallowing or rejecting the following s-expression, etc.
|
||
|
||
* Adding new packages
|
||
|
||
Package recipes in Guix look like this:
|
||
|
||
#+BEGIN_SRC scheme
|
||
(package
|
||
(name "nettle")
|
||
(version "2.5")
|
||
(source
|
||
(origin
|
||
(method url-fetch)
|
||
(uri (string-append "mirror://gnu/nettle/nettle-"
|
||
version ".tar.gz"))
|
||
(sha256
|
||
(base32
|
||
"0wicr7amx01l03rm0pzgr1qvw3f9blaw17vjsy1301dh13ll58aa"))))
|
||
(build-system gnu-build-system)
|
||
(inputs `(("m4" ,m4)))
|
||
(propagated-inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)))
|
||
(home-page
|
||
"http://www.lysator.liu.se/~nisse/nettle/")
|
||
(synopsis "GNU Nettle, a cryptographic library")
|
||
(description
|
||
"Nettle is a cryptographic library...")
|
||
(license gpl2+))
|
||
#+END_SRC
|
||
|
||
Such a recipe can be written by hand, and then tested by running
|
||
‘./pre-inst-env guix build nettle’.
|
||
|
||
When writing the recipe, the base32-encoded SHA256 hash of the source
|
||
code tarball, which can be seen in the example above, can be obtained by
|
||
running:
|
||
|
||
guix download http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/nettle/nettle-2.5.tar.gz
|
||
|
||
Alternatively, it is possible to semi-automatically import recipes from
|
||
the [[http://nixos.org/nixpkgs/][Nixpkgs]] software distribution using this command:
|
||
|
||
guix import /path/to/nixpkgs/checkout nettle
|
||
|
||
The command automatically fetches and converts to Guix the “Nix
|
||
expression” of Nettle.
|
||
|
||
* Submitting Patches
|
||
|
||
Development is done using the Git distributed version control system. Thus,
|
||
access to the repository is not strictly necessary. We welcome contributions
|
||
in the form of patches as produced by ‘git format-patch’ sent to
|
||
guix-devel@gnu.org. Please write commit logs in the [[http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html#Change-Logs][GNU ChangeLog format]].
|
||
|
||
As you become a regular contributor, you may find it convenient to have write
|
||
access to the repository (see below.)
|
||
|
||
* Commit Access
|
||
|
||
For frequent contributors, having write access to the repository is
|
||
convenient. When you deem it necessary, feel free to ask for it on the
|
||
mailing list. When you get commit access, please make sure to follow the
|
||
policy below (discussions of the policy can take place on guix-devel@gnu.org.)
|
||
|
||
Non-trivial patches should always be posted to guix-devel@gnu.org (trivial
|
||
patches include fixing typos, etc.)
|
||
|
||
For patches that just add a new package, and a simple one, it’s OK to commit,
|
||
if you’re confident (which means you successfully built it in a chroot setup,
|
||
and have done a reasonable copyright and license auditing.) Likewise for
|
||
package upgrades. We have a mailing list for commit notifications
|
||
(guix-commits@gnu.org), so people can notice. Before pushing your changes,
|
||
make sure to run ‘git pull --rebase’.
|
||
|
||
For anything else, please post to guix-devel@gnu.org and leave time for a
|
||
review, without committing anything. If you didn’t receive any reply
|
||
after two weeks, and if you’re confident, it’s OK to commit.
|
||
|
||
That last part is subject to being adjusted, allowing individuals to commit
|
||
directly on non-controversial changes on parts they’re familiar with.
|