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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/guix.texi | 38 |
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 19 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi index cf54fe4215..4206076a9b 100644 --- a/doc/guix.texi +++ b/doc/guix.texi @@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ Documentation License.'' GNU Guix@footnote{``Guix'' is pronounced like ``geeks'', or ``ɡiːks'' using the international phonetic alphabet (IPA).} is a functional package management tool for the GNU system. Package management consists -in all the activities that relate to building packages from source, -honoring the build-time and run-time dependencies on packages, +of all activities that relate to building packages from sources, +honoring their build-time and run-time dependencies, installing packages in user environments, upgrading installed packages to new versions or rolling back to a previous set, removing unused software packages, etc. @@ -105,17 +105,17 @@ software packages, etc. @cindex functional package management The term @dfn{functional} refers to a specific package management discipline. In Guix, the package build and installation process is seen -as a function, in the mathematical sense: that function takes inputs, -such as build scripts, a compiler, and libraries depended on, and -returns the installed package. As a pure function, its result depends +as a function, in the mathematical sense. That function takes inputs, +such as build scripts, a compiler, and libraries, and +returns an installed package. As a pure function, its result depends solely on its inputs---for instance, it cannot refer to software or scripts that were not explicitly passed as inputs. A build function -always produces the same result when passed a given set of inputs. Last -but not least, a build function cannot alter the system's environment in +always produces the same result when passed a given set of inputs. It +cannot alter the system's environment in any way; for instance, it cannot create, modify, or delete files outside of its build and installation directories. This is achieved by running -build processes in dedicated ``chroots'', where only their explicit -inputs are visible. +build processes in isolated environments (or @dfn{chroots}), where only their +explicit inputs are visible. @cindex store The result of package build functions is @dfn{cached} in the file @@ -126,12 +126,11 @@ a hash of all the inputs used to build that package; thus, changing an input yields a different directory name. This approach is the foundation of Guix's salient features: support for -transactional package upgrades and rollback, per-user installation, and +transactional package upgrade and rollback, per-user installation, and garbage collection of packages (@pxref{Features}). -Guix has a command-line interface allowing users to build, install, +Guix has a command-line interface, which allows users to build, install, upgrade, and remove packages, as well as a Scheme programming interface. -The remainder of this manual describes them. Last but not least, Guix is used to build a distribution of the GNU system, with many GNU and non-GNU free software packages. @xref{GNU @@ -175,19 +174,20 @@ following packages are also needed: @item @url{http://gcc.gnu.org, GCC's g++} @end itemize -When a working installation of the Nix package manager is available, you +When a working installation of @url{http://nixos.org/nix/, the Nix package +manager} is available, you can instead configure Guix with @code{--disable-daemon}. In that case, -@url{http://nixos.org/nix/, Nix} replaces the three dependencies above. +Nix replaces the three dependencies above. Guix is compatible with Nix, so it is possible to share the same store between both. To do so, you must pass @command{configure} not only the same @code{--with-store-dir} value, but also the same -@code{--localstatedir} value (the latter is essential because it -specifies where the database that store meta-data about the store is -located, among other things.) The default values are +@code{--localstatedir} value. The latter is essential because it +specifies where the database that stores metadata about the store is +located, among other things. The default values are @code{--with-store-dir=/nix/store} and @code{--localstatedir=/nix/var}. -Note that @code{--disable-daemon} is orthogonal and is not required if -your goal is to share the same store as Nix. +Note that @code{--disable-daemon} is not required if +your goal is to share the store with Nix. @node Setting Up the Daemon @section Setting Up the Daemon |