Re: Update on distro bootstrapping with Guix

[Ludovic Courtès]

Richard Stallman <address@hidden> skribis:

>     No.  Basically, each package is installed in its own directory, pretty
>     much à la GNU Stow.  However, the directory name contains the hash of
>     all the inputs used to build that package (source code, compiler,
>     libraries, build scripts, etc.)  Thus, when an input changes, the new
>     package ends up being installed in a different directory.
>
> I suggest that, for shared libraries, the hash should disregard the
> library's current version, and consider only the interface version.
> That way, replacement of the shared library won't require any change
> in the installed executable.

I understand the motivation, but that would actually be contrary to the
initial design goals, which enable the nifty features mentioned earlier.

For a detailed rationale, I recommend looking at the papers at
<http://nixos.org/nix/docs.html>.

Thanks,
Ludo’.