Re: It's really easy to use the Hurd to read mailing lists

[Ricardo Wurmus]

>> Already did it a long ago, but got no response, see bug#50477.
>
> Thank you.  This bug report doesn’t seem to be about Guix System being
> “unstable” with the Hurd.  It is just about ping not working inside
> qemu, which is a frequently encountered problem.  See also the Hurd
> wiki:
>
>   […] note that ping doesn't work with QEMU's user-networking stack.
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd/running/qemu.html

The Guix manual also warns against using ping to test networking:

  The default run-vm.sh script that is returned by an invocation of guix
  system vm does not add a -nic user flag by default. To get network
  access from within the vm add the (dhcp-client-service) to your system
  definition and start the VM using $(guix system vm config.scm) -nic
  user. An important caveat of using -nic user for networking is that
  ping will not work, because it uses the ICMP protocol. You’ll have to
  use a different command to check for network connectivity, for example
  guix download.

  https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Running-Guix-in-a-VM.html

-- 
Ricardo

Re: It's really easy to use the Hurd to read mailing lists

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Akib Azmain Turja  writes:

> [[PGP Signed Part:Undecided]]
> Ricardo Wurmus  writes:
>
>> Akib Azmain Turja  writes:
>>
>>>>> Yeah, Hurd is much stable.  But Guix GNU/Hurd isn't :(
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> That's kind of sad.  I wonder what makes GNU/Hurd Guix System not so
>>>> stable.  Is debian GNU/Hurd with the guix package manager running on
>>>> top of it stable?
>>>
>>> I think, but not sure.  Looks like the startup routines of Guix GNU/Hurd
>>> is buggy.
>>
>> Could you please send a bug report to bug-g...@gnu.org?
>>
>> -- 
>> Ricardo
>
> Already did it a long ago, but got no response, see bug#50477.

Thank you.  This bug report doesn’t seem to be about Guix System being
“unstable” with the Hurd.  It is just about ping not working inside
qemu, which is a frequently encountered problem.  See also the Hurd
wiki:

  […] note that ping doesn't work with QEMU's user-networking stack.

https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd/running/qemu.html

-- 
Ricardo

Re: It's really easy to use the Hurd to read mailing lists

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Akib Azmain Turja  writes:

>>> Yeah, Hurd is much stable.  But Guix GNU/Hurd isn't :(
>>>
>>
>> That's kind of sad.  I wonder what makes GNU/Hurd Guix System not so
>> stable.  Is debian GNU/Hurd with the guix package manager running on
>> top of it stable?
>
> I think, but not sure.  Looks like the startup routines of Guix GNU/Hurd
> is buggy.

Could you please send a bug report to bug-g...@gnu.org?

-- 
Ricardo

Updating the hurd in Guix

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Damien Zammit  writes:

> On 11/2/22 3:42 pm, jbra...@dismail.de wrote:
>> Way to go Damien for his 1st Fosdem GNU/Hurd presentation, which he nailed 
>> by the way!  It was an
>> awesome presentation!  If you haven't seen it yet, then you should check it 
>> out here:
>>
>> https://fosdem.org/2022/schedule/event/dzammit/
>>
>> Thanks for your work to get more software drivers for the Hurd Damien!
>>
>
> Thank you for the encouragement, let's get more drivers working in Hurd!
> We need more people to help too.
> I think once the pci and disk is stable we will accelerate.

I suppose it would help to see what commits of what repositories and
what additional patches are required to set up a Hurd system with these
features.

I still haven’t been able to upgrade the Hurd packages in Guix because
it is not clear to me what commits and additional patches we need — and
I don’t have enough time to figure this out by myself.

Could someone please list the needed patches and commits?  (For someone
who is not experienced with Debian at all, I should say that “just use
the Debian patches!” is not actionable advice to me.)

Getting more people to use the latest versions of the Hurd increases the
likelihood of getting more contributions in that area.  With Guix it’s
easy to get a Hurd system started, and I’d be happy to help updating
things — if someone could please point out where all the code is that
should be used.

Thanks!

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Hurd Security vulnerabilities, please upgrade!

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Samuel,

In the past months, Sergey Bugaev has been working on fixing 
some
Hurd security vulnerabilities. This is now fixed in the latest 
Debian

packages, so please upgrade and reboot!


Thanks for the fixes and the heads-up!


hurd >= 1:0.9.git20210404-9
libc0.3 >= 2.31-13+hurd.1
gnumach-image-1.8-* >= 2:1.8+git20210809-1


I’m a little unclear on what this means for distributions like 
Guix.  Should we just update to the latest version from git?  Are 
there specific commits we should use if it’s not just the latest?


Thanks!

--
Ricardo

Re: License of Hurd's common lisp bindings

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Maxime,


Ricardo Wurmus schreef op do 29-04-2021 om 23:33 [+0200]:

[...]
Are you compiling this on a Hurd system?  Or do you build it on 
GNU+Linux first?


On GNU+Linux first.  I don't have a good GNU+Hurd setup yet.
I can create a childhurd, but then I still have to send patches
from the childhurd to the parent system somehow .


Ah, good.  It’s same as for me: I don’t really have a good 
GNU+Hurd development setup yet.


I looked at the code and wonder if perhaps we should just rewrite 
the CL code to do without multiple inheritance and instead use 
compound conditions where necessary.  Another option is to write 
plain Guile bindings using the CL bindings only for reference.


There are also a couple of C wrappers in the libs directory, which 
we would implement differently in Guile (e.g. by using the FFI 
directly).<


What do you think?


I ran into a few minor problems with the build.  I ran “hall dist 
-x” to generate build system files, but there are errors when 
running “autoreconf -vif”.


“doc/scheme-hurd.texi” does not exist, so I changed that in 
hall.scm to “docs” and created an empty “scheme-hurd.texi” file. 
I also had to manually link the README file with “ln -s README.org 
README”.


The real problems start, of course, with the condition types in 
cffi/src/early-types.lisp etc… :)


--
Ricardo

Re: License of Hurd's common lisp bindings

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Maxime Devos  writes:


Ricardo Wurmus schreef op do 29-04-2021 om 17:29 [+0200]:

Hi Maxime,

are you still interested in working on Guile bindings for the 
Hurd?


I'm still interested, but the conversion Common Lisp -> Scheme
was a lot more tedious and tricky than expected at first, so I
stopped actively working on it. The last commit was three weeks
ago.


I can imagine.

  If so, do you have a public repository where we could 
collaborate?


<https://notabug.org/mdevos/guile-hurd> (branch: scheme-guile)


Excellent, thank you.

(1) gradually implement more of Common Lisp in 
"hurd-cl-compat.scm",
such that more code ‘just compiles’ without source code 
tweaks


Are you compiling this on a Hurd system?  Or do you build it on 
GNU+Linux first?


(2) when necessary or more convenient, convert the code to 
Scheme.
For example, Scheme conditions do not support multiple 
inheritance,

and :before and :after is not supported in GOOPS.


Re multiple inheritance: Scheme has compound conditions, which 
might be enough.


If you create an account at notabug.org, I could grant you 
commit
access, or we could just use the pull request system.  Commits 
should
be signed. If you create an account, can you send me a 
PGP-signed

message with your user name to confirm you're not some imposter?


Thanks.  I have just created an account: 
https://notabug.org/rekado


I probably won’t push directly, and probably won’t hack on it 
right away, but eventually I might submit some pull requests.


(Your current key is BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 
235F ACAC,

right?)


That’s correct.

--
Ricardo


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature

Re: License of Hurd's common lisp bindings

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Maxime,

are you still interested in working on Guile bindings for the 
Hurd?  If so, do you have a public repository where we could 
collaborate?


I second the request for license clarification.  With the GPL, 
strict versioning without the upgrade clause makes combining works 
difficult.  One example is the use of Linux code in the Hurd.  If 
an updated GPLv4 came along, all that GPLv3 only code could not be 
easily combined with GPLv4 code, which is a complication that is 
best avoided in the free software realm.


--
Ricardo

Re: Compiling glibc: mutex-solid.c:20:10: fatal error: cthreads.h: No such file or directory

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Joshua Branson  writes:

> Does guix system use your crosshurd to cross compile the hurd from X86_64?

No.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: It's 2021, I want to contribute to the Hurd development. Where should I start?

[Ricardo Wurmus]

haha wang  writes:

> I have joined the #hurd IRC channel, but it is moderated and I can't post any 
> message. How to
> get over it?

You need to register your nick with Freenode.  See here:

https://freenode.net/kb/answer/registration

This has become necessary due to excessive amounts of spam in the past
years.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: It's 2021, I want to contribute to the Hurd development. Where should I start?

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi,

> I want to contribute to the GNU Hurd Project and
> read the guide pages on the official site.

Good!  The best way to get started is to first use the Hurd VM image.
Then I’d suggest getting the sources and setting up a development
environment.  This isn’t as clear as it should be due to the fact that
there are unmerged patches to the Hurd that may be required to reproduce
the source code that corresponds to the Hurd image you’re using.

If you have found a project that seems interesting to you I suggest
stopping by the #hurd IRC channel to ask for details.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Help with Outreachy internship

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Almudena Garcia  writes:

>> You would have to wait until the next round of internships.
> When is the next round?

The Outreachy website says:

  Future internship rounds will be May 2021 (initial applications open
  in late January 2021) and December 2021 (initial applications open in
  late August 2021).

There are usually two rounds each year.

>> Even then I do not know if the Hurd community has enough people willing
>> to dedicate a significant amount of time to write a project proposal and
>> mentor the project.
> Are there any volunteers for this? ;)

There could be only after representatives of the Hurd community contact
the Outreachy organization to ask to participate in the next rounds.
That’s a precondition.

>> Unlike GSoC where the project proposal can be a single sentence and no
> dedicated mentors are assigned,
> GSoC requires a mentor too.

With Outreachy the mentor is the person who submits the project
proposal.  With GSoC the mentor/project association is less rigid.

> I continue interested in this but, in fact, it seems so difficult :(

There isn’t much you can do about it, so it shouldn’t seem difficult to
you :)  Once the Hurd community participates in Outreachy there may be an
opportunity for you to have an internship, but in my uneducated opinion
the community currently isn’t robust enough to divert time for
internships.

Here’s another idea: there has been some recent overlap between Guix and
the Hurd.  The Guix community does participate in Outreachy and will in
all likelihood do so again in the forseeable future.  Perhaps there is a
way to frame your project idea such that it could be beneficial to Guix
and thus would work fine as an Outreachy internship with the Guix
community?

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Help with Outreachy internship

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi,

> Some days ago, I read about the Free Software Foundation offering
> internships to contribute with GNU projects (like Hurd). I'm interested in
> making an internship contributing with Hurd.
> https://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships/internships
>
> But, to get paid, I need to manage this via Outreachy (
> https://www.outreachy.org/docs/internship/) and, in the FSF, has explained
> to me that I need to reach out to someone at Hurd.

The deadline for communities (such as the Hurd) to submit plans for
internship projects has already passed.  Outreachy is now in the early
stages of the winter round of internships; this means that prospective
interns are now contacting the communities they would like to work with
and make first contributions.

At this point it is no longer possible for communities to submit plans
for internship projects (it’s more involved than in GSoC, requires a
real plan with milestones, and requires guaranteed funding for at least
one internship).  You would have to wait until the next round of
internships.

Even then I do not know if the Hurd community has enough people willing
to dedicate a significant amount of time to write a project proposal and
mentor the project.  Unlike GSoC where the project proposal can be a
single sentence and no dedicated mentors are assigned, Outreachy
requires more work on the side of the community.

I don’t know if the Hurd participates as a community in Outreachy.  This
requires prior application and approval by Outreachy.  Yes, the FSF is a
sponsor, and projects under the GNU umbrella have participated in the
past, but this doesn’t mean that any community under GNU can simply
participate.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Running the Hurd in qemu possibilities

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Joshua Branson  writes:

> My username in Guix System is "joshua".  I got the ssh command from
> the wiki here: […]

Since you’re using Guix System, I’d like to point out that you can also
reconfigure your system to run a “childhurd” service.  This is a Hurd VM
built from Guix that you can toggle on or off with “herd start/stop
childhurd”.  Open the Guix manual in your favourite info reader, and
look up “childhurd” in the index.

The service lets you set up network forwarding and sharing of secrets
with the host system for convenience.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: [PATCH] SMP initialization: detection and enumeration

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Almudena Garcia  writes:

> But I've already committed these changes in my repository. How can I
> recommit them?

You can change commits with “git rebase”.  Use “git rebase -i” for
interactive rebasing, which gives you a list of commits to which you can
apply changes.  If you want to change all commits and their contents you
might also just reset to a commit before your changes and then re-stage
changes as needed from your worktree.

> Added to this, I need to generate the patch using the "master" branch
> (which points to gnumach's upstream) to compare with the mine.

You can rebase your changes on top of the master branch of the gnumach
repository.  Add the gnumach repository as a remote with “git remote add
upstream https://…” and then do “git fetch upstream; git rebase
upstream/master” to rebase your commits on top of that remote’s master
branch.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: [PATCH] SMP initialization: detection and enumeration

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi,

for any patch it’s best to not just show a single large diff but to
split the changes into logically related commits.  You’re probably
working with Git, so the unit that we’re working with is a Git commit.

You should group related changes and commit them together.  The commit
message should describe the changes in a GNU-style ChangeLog format; you
may also add additional descriptions.  Here’s an example:

--8<---cut here---start->8---
kern: Frobnicate the jabberwocky.

In order to frobnicate the jabberwocky without confusion we only add the
core functionality here.

* kern/smp.c, kern/smp.h: New files.
* Makefrag.am (libkernel_a_SOURCES): Add them.
--8<---cut here---end--->8---

To commit only some changes and not others you can select lines of
interest with “git add -p” (or similar).  Once all connected changes
have been staged you can commit them.  Do this repeatedly until you have
a series of commits that are all small enough that a reviewer can
understand them (and thus your thinking) at a glance.

You can then turn that series of commits into a series of patches with
“git format-patch”.  For example, “git format-patch -10” will generate
10 patch files from the last 10 commits.  You can attach these patches
to an email, or if you have configured “git send-email” correctly you
could send them directly via email to this list.  A reviewer can then
comment on each commit individually and apply them one by one if they
pass muster.

(This process is similar for most GNU packages.)

Hope this helps!

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Sound support for Hurd and shortfalls of ALSA

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Damien,

> I would like to know what the Hurd community thinks about this wiki,
> and whether anyone would like to help me design and implement
> a new server API for sound that will run in Hurd userspace,
> without the existing flaws of the ALSA design.
>
> No one seems interested to redesign one for Linux possibly because
> it's too difficult to change the Linux kernel sound API and ALSA
> is almost good enough for most purposes.

For the Hurd one of the main questions is what this will mean for
existing applications.  While it is possible to implement a new audio
stack for the Hurd due to its modular nature, I wonder how applications
would use it when currently they all use ALSA, JACK, OSS, etc.

What is the API provided to user applications?  Or would it be enough to
add support for this new API to JACK, so that all audio applications
using JACK automatically benefit from this?

Enthusiastic implementation in the Hurd is unlikely if adoption required
active support from audio application developers.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Two web pages? The web page looks abandoned

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Ben Card  writes:

>> Also the website looks old, which can scare off potential developers
>> and contributors.
> I agree! Well, I don't know if "looking old" is the problem, but it's
> definitely lacking proper maintenance.
>
>> Did you consider updating the website? What about forking Guix's
>> website (or any other better looking website)?  I can help if the task
>> won't be massive - I have some experience with html5, css3 and JS,
>> I've done some small projects like webGL games, simple websites.
> The Guix website is nice, but is based on Haunt, which is static (not a
> Wiki), while the Hurd's website is based on ikiwiki. I think it would be
> a good idea to keep the current underlying technology, but the frontend
> could definitely use some work.

Does anyone edit the wiki pages online?  If editing happens purely
offline in git, what is the advantage of using a wiki?

-- 
Ricardo

[PATCH] doc: Add missing word.

[Ricardo Wurmus]

* doc/mach.texi (Features): Add missing word.
---
 doc/mach.texi | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/doc/mach.texi b/doc/mach.texi
index 07cb0ad1..dcf0f93c 100644
--- a/doc/mach.texi
+++ b/doc/mach.texi
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ IPC, currently not available in GNU Mach).
 
 @item it exists
 The Mach microkernel is real software that works Right Now.
-It is not a research or a proposal.  You don't have to wait at all
+It is not a research project or a proposal.  You don't have to wait at all
 before you can start using and developing it.  Mach has been used in
 many operating systems in the past, usually as the base for a single
 UNIX server.  In the GNU system, Mach is the base of a functional
-- 
2.25.1

[PATCH] rump_kernel: Add link to Robert's project.

[Ricardo Wurmus]

---
 rump_kernel.mdwn | 4 
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/rump_kernel.mdwn b/rump_kernel.mdwn
index 338f5581..71b376e0 100644
--- a/rump_kernel.mdwn
+++ b/rump_kernel.mdwn
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ License|/fdl]]."]]"""]]
 
 A tutorial introduction for those interested in using and deploying rump 
kernels.
 
+  * 
+
+"User space approach to audio device driving on UNIX-like systems" by 
Robert Millan Hernandez.
+
 
 # Source Code
 
-- 
2.25.1

Re: I cannot edit the wiki

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Joshua,

> Can't locate URI/Escape.pm in @INC (you may need to install the URI::Escape 
> module) (@INC contains: 
> /home/joshua/.guix-profile/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/x86_64-linux-thread-multi
>  /home/joshua/.guix-profile/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0 
> /home/joshua/.guix-profile/lib/perl5/site_perl 
> /gnu/store/ziinjmbnq004866mwjrczsk12wf35qb8-perl-5.30.0/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/x86_64-linux-thread-multi
>  
> /gnu/store/ziinjmbnq004866mwjrczsk12wf35qb8-perl-5.30.0/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0
>  
> /gnu/store/ziinjmbnq004866mwjrczsk12wf35qb8-perl-5.30.0/lib/perl5/5.30.0/x86_64-linux-thread-multi
>  /gnu/store/ziinjmbnq004866mwjrczsk12wf35qb8-perl-5.30.0/lib/perl5/5.30.0) at 
> /home/joshua/.guix-profile/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/IkiWiki.pm line 9.
> BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at 
> /home/joshua/.guix-profile/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/IkiWiki.pm line 9.
> Compilation failed in require at 
> /home/joshua/.guix-profile/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/IkiWiki/Setup/Standard.pm
>  line 7.
> BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at 
> /home/joshua/.guix-profile/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/IkiWiki/Setup/Standard.pm
>  line 7.
> Compilation failed in require at ./ikiwiki.setup line 11.

Do you have the perl-uri-escape package installed?

> Undefined subroutine ::Markdown called at 
> /gnu/store/mx9dvnjgn7v0cwqrnvfnpjw40hwn46mi-ikiwiki-3.20190228/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.30.0/IkiWiki/Plugin/mdwn.pm
>  line 193.
>
> The last error I see is:
>
> open2: exec of makeinfo --html --no-split --output=- -P 
> /home/joshua/prog/gnu/hurd/web/. -I /home/joshua/prog/gnu/hurd/web 
> /tmp/texinfo.nvmeFSKzRu/texinfo.texi failed: No such file or directory at 
> /home/joshua/prog/gnu/hurd/web/.library/IkiWiki/Plugin/texinfo.pm line 174.

Do you have the texinfo package installed which provides “makeinfo”?

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Some Hurd related thoughts from someone who has no right to talk

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Joshua,

> We need to show people how to use mailing lists.  I'm actually wanting
> to make a youtube video explaining this...Mailings lists are still super
> hard.  They are not intuitive...

What do you find unintuitive about them?  Do you mean the patch workflow
via email or general discussion via mailing list?

> I've started using Gnus, because John
> Wigley (current Emacs maintainer) recommended it.  But it is really easy
> to subscribe to a mailing list and have your inbox get flooded.  I
> personally can no longer use my hotmail account, because I subscribed to
> emacs-devel, bug hurd, bug guix, and guix devel.  My inbox was
> completely flooded with emails, I was unable to unsubscribe to guix
> devel, and It's really hard to filter email from a mailing list out of
> your inbox.
>
> I'm currently able to use multiple mailing lists because I subscribe to
> them via the email "+" trick.  I think I'm subscribed to bug-hurd with
> jbranso+bug-h...@gnu.org.  And I have a rule that filters email sent to
> that email address to a separate bug hurd folder.

I’m subscribed to many mailing lists and I filter on the “List-Id”
header.  (You will also find a link to unsubscribe in the
“List-Unsubscribe” header.)  I found it more cumbersome to use email
address tags like “+bug-hurd”.

Gnus is a complex piece of software and I have to admit that despite
living in Emacs I have not been able to make it work for me.  I use
mu4e, which makes searching and filtering of emails very easy.  In fact,
on the server side I only have a rule to file all mailing list emails to
a separate IMAP folder.  I access the mails of individual mailing lists
by filtering with mu4e.

My filter rule for Emacs devel, for example, looks simply like this:

list:emacs-devel.gnu.org

I bound that mu4e search to a bookmark so I don’t need to type it.  For
Guile things its

(list:guile-user.gnu.org OR list:guile-devel.gnu.org OR
list:bug-guile.gnu.org)

and so on.

I’ll gladly share more information about this set up off list.

> We need to have GNU/Hurd hangouts, just like the Emacs hangouts.
> I had one such hangout, but only one person showed up.  I'm not
> sure what free software solution we should have to do Hurd
> hangouts.  Maybe Google Chat is still the best solution...

What do you mean by “GNU/Hurd hangouts”?

> We need an easy way to have people assign code to GNU.  If you live in
> the U.S. you can actually use an electronic signature!  We could have
> software that would automate the copyright assigning process.

I think the problem here is not due to a lack of automation software,
but due to the fact that this is a legal process and changes thus have
to be coordinated with lawyers to make sure the assignment is still
considered valid.

--
Ricardo

Re: boot guixsd

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Rene,

> I'm reviewing how GNU GuixSD/Linux boot,
>
> $ cat /proc/cmdline
> BOOT_IMAGE=/gnu/store/jnww66749r8ck6l2rwgvpzzbnazs0392-linux-libre-4.15.5/bzImage
>  --root=root --system=/gnu/store/qcia33hqzi6md3q18frs16piis6xxy9i-system 
> --load=/gnu/store/qcia33hqzi6md3q18frs16piis6xxy9i-system/boot
>
> To perform the activation is done as a parameter through the scheme file 
> '/var/guix/profiles/system/boot'.
>
> In GNU Hurd as a workaround I add the lines to the '/libexec/rc' file:
> --
> echo running GuixSD boot ..
> guile -s /var/guix/profiles/system/boot
> --
>
> After loading GNU Mach and GNU Hurd it shows:
> --
> In unknown file:
>  ?: 9 [apply-smob/1 #]
>   In ice-9/boot-9.scm:
> 66: 8 [call-with-prompt prompt0 ...]
>   In ice-9/eval.scm:
>432: 7 [eval # #]
>   In ice-9/boot-9.scm:
>   2412: 6 [save-module-excursion # ice-9/boot-9.scm:4084:3 ()>
>   ]
>   4089: 5 [#]
>   In /var/guix/profiles/system/boot:
>  1: 4 [#]
>   In unknown file:
>  ?: 3 [primitive-load 
> "/gnu/store/rjp22rca3gv8lrrbb9j4sry9i3n1bvlp-activate"]
>   In ice-9/eval.scm:
>432: 2 [eval # ()]
>   In 
> /gnu/store/6dvydkcda77dxkpbn5jsj4vsmr19gb7v-module-import/gnu/build/activatio
>   n.scm:
>449: 1 [activate-current-system #f]
>   In unknown file:
>  ?: 0 [symlink #f "/run/current-system.new"]
>
>   ERROR: In procedure symlink:
>   ERROR: Wrong type (expecting string): #f

This shows that “activate-current-system” from the (gnu build
activation) module is given #f, when actually it should be given a
string containing the location of the system in the store.

For reconfiguration the new system can be specified with the
GUIX_NEW_SYSTEM environment variable.  You may need to set this
environment variable before booting.

The problem here is that the default system is either whatever
GUIX_NEW_SYSTEM holds or the result of evaluating “(boot-time-system)”,
which is Linux-specific:

--8<---cut here---start->8---
(define (boot-time-system)
  "Return the '--system' argument passed on the kernel command line."
  (find-long-option "--system" (linux-command-line)))
--8<---cut here---end--->8---

We should adjust this procedure to do the right thing when we didn’t
boot Linux.

Hope this helps!

--
Ricardo

GPG: BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 235F ACAC
https://elephly.net

Re: Hurd lecture

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Brent,

> I put a screencast of the lecture on youtube:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwsuAEF2FYE

thank you.  This was very interesting.  The introduction to Mach IPC and
memory management was especially good.  I wonder if a shorter variant of
this part of the lecture could be used by new contributors as an
alternative to reading the Mach kernel postscript books.

Personally, I’m very interested in a Single System Image Hurd cluster; I
still have a bunch of unused Sun cluster nodes with x86_64 CPUs, but
sadly there is no high-speed network to connect them all (just regular
old 1G network cards).

In your experience, is high-speed network very important or are there
ways to make it unlikely that memory has to be transferred across nodes?

--
Ricardo

GPG: BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 235F ACAC
https://elephly.net

Re: Porting with Guix

[Ricardo Wurmus]

ren...@openmailbox.org writes:

> Now there are two errors related to the 'Check' phase of libgc and 
> guile:
> In libgc shows:

[…]

>   building of 
> `/gnu/store/y3icscjhkk7pa7dg21xqy46riysi36rn-libgc-7.6.0.drv' timed
>   out after 3600 seconds of silence

You can increase the timeout:

   guix build --max-silent-time=9

The argument specifies the number of seconds of silence before
cancelling the build.  There also is “--timeout” for cancelling builds
unconditionally even when they produce output.

-- 
Ricardo

GPG: BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 235F ACAC
http://elephly.net

Re: Porting with Guix

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Manolis,

> Now on the problem, I suppose you are using the Guix version from my
> github repo? The wip-hurd branch is an older version which is probably
> why you have those issues. I created a new branch in my github repo
> called wip-hurd-native for you to clone. I cherry picked my latest
> commits from upstream guix master and core-updates into that branch.

Are there additional changes needed compared to Guix 0.12.0?  Do you
happen to have a write-up on how to get started with the Hurd and Guix?

> Please don't forget to place the latest guile tarball from
> ftp://snf-656163.vm.okeanos.grnet.gr/i586-gnu/2016/ in
> gnu/packages/bootstrap/i586-gnu as well.

Should this be changed in Guix proper?

-- 
Ricardo

GPG: BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 235F ACAC
http://elephly.net