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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/guix.texi | 78 |
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diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi index 1bd2a841e8..07ef96627a 100644 --- a/doc/guix.texi +++ b/doc/guix.texi @@ -236,20 +236,90 @@ manager, which can be done on top of a running GNU/Linux system. If, instead, you want to install the complete GNU operating system, @pxref{System Installation}. -The build procedure for Guix is the same as for other GNU software, and -is not covered here. Please see the files @file{README} and -@file{INSTALL} in the Guix source tree for additional details. - @menu +* Binary Installation:: Getting Guix running in no time! * Requirements:: Software needed to build and run Guix. * Running the Test Suite:: Testing Guix. * Setting Up the Daemon:: Preparing the build daemon's environment. * Invoking guix-daemon:: Running the build daemon. @end menu +@node Binary Installation +@section Binary Installation + +This section describes how to install Guix on an arbitrary system from a +self-contained tarball providing binaries for Guix and for all its +dependencies. This is often quicker than installing from source, which +is described in the next sections. The only requirement is to have +GNU@tie{}tar and Xz. + +Installing goes along these lines: + +@enumerate +@item +Download the binary tarball from +@code{ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-binary-@value{VERSION}.@var{system}.tar.xz}@footnote{As +usual, make sure to download the associated @file{.sig} file and to +verify the authenticity of the tarball against it!}, where @var{system} +is @code{x86_64-linux} for an @code{x86_64} machine already running the +kernel Linux, and so on. + +@item +As @code{root}, run: + +@example +# cd / +# tar xf guix-binary-@value{VERSION}.@var{system}.tar.xz +@end example + +This creates @file{/gnu/store} (@pxref{The Store}), @file{/var/guix}, +and @file{/root/.guix-profile}. @file{/root/.guix-profile} is a +ready-to-use profile for @code{root} where Guix is installed. + +@item +Setup the daemon as explained below (@pxref{Setting Up the Daemon}), and +run it: + +@example +# /root/.guix-profile/bin/guix-daemon --build-users-group=guix-builder +@end example + +@item +Make the @command{guix} command available to other users on the machine, +for instance with: + +@example +# mkdir -p /usr/local/bin +# cd /usr/local/bin +# ln -s /root/.guix-profile/bin/guix +@end example +@end enumerate + +And that's it! + +There are two things to note. First, don't unpack the tarball on a +working Guix system since that would overwrite its own essential files. +Second, the @code{guix} package must remain available in @code{root}'s +profile, or it would become subject to garbage collection---in which +case you would find yourself badly handicapped by the lack of the +@command{guix} command. + +The tarball in question can be (re)produced simply by running the +following command in the Guix source tree: + +@example +make guix-binary.@var{system}.tar.xz +@end example + + @node Requirements @section Requirements +This section lists requirements when building Guix from source. The +build procedure for Guix is the same as for other GNU software, and is +not covered here. Please see the files @file{README} and @file{INSTALL} +in the Guix source tree for additional details. + GNU Guix depends on the following packages: @itemize |