Dear Steve.
[...]
I think I got it. However, does this approach (guix home)
supports having 2 different versions of the same software
installed too?
So up to now I understand that we have 3 approaches:
- the shell (a container if I got it right)
- a vm (a similar approach, maybe the same and I don't yet
grok the words?)
- guix home (a change in environmental variables).
OK, got it. In order of complexity:
1. Guix shell
2. Guix Home
3. Guix System in a VM
Great! Thank you... :)
If it's just for one program then `guix shell` should be
sufficient for the job. [...] Shell creates a separated
environment, it's uses Linux namespaces - it's somewhat 'less'
than a full VM. The most common use-case you find for it is to
install different tools for different projects [0]
Seems very reasonable for this.
Eventually the manifest for each shell (or a bigger one) can be
used as the one/s for a new computer that would replicate that
setup.
[...] You can create a `manifest` (list of packages to
install) which
will mean your shell command is easy to use and repeatable.
Yes, exactly this. :)
So lets say we create a file (manifest) called
emacs-experiment.scm [...] Then guix shell would be
something like: guix shell --manifest=<file.scm>
That is the way (music from "The Mandalorian" sounds in the
background). ;P
You could use this with the alias trick from the previous
email, so that in the new 'shell environment' you'd start
emacs using the newer configuration file you're playing with.
It seems perfectly adequate to this use case.
The purpose of `guix home` is to be a full user configuration
manager [...] For your specific example it's overkill
[...] Hopefully that gives you some things to try!
¡Certainly! And with references I'll go for this weekend. :)
[0] I wrote a blog series called `Guix for Software
Developers` that you can find here:
https://www.futurile.net/resources/guix/
[1]
https://www.futurile.net/2022/12/12/guix-managing-apps-with-manifests/
Thank you very much Steve, for the attention and care with the
explanations. :)
Let's hope others find it as useful as me. :)
Warm regards...
--
eduardo mercovich
Donde se cruzan tus talentos
con las necesidades del mundo,
ahí está tu vocación.
(Anónimo)
