Re: Using openjdk9 as the default JDK

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Alex Vong  writes:

> From this page , the
> latest icedtea is for openjdk 8. Does this mean that we have to patch
> icedtea to build openjdk 11?

We already have packages for later JDKs.

-- 
Ricardo

Guix on the ASUS C201PA

[Timothy Sample]

Hi guix-devel,

I was able to get Guix to boot on an ASUS Chromebook C201PA.  This model
of computer is pretty neat.  It’s an ARMv7 (32-bit) machine that can be
run with entirely free software.  There is even a free graphics driver
in the works [1].

I’ve attached a (messy) patch that adds a (hacky) bootloader definition
for Depthcharge and a Linux-Libre package that works on the machine
(using an unsupported version of Linux-Libre).  All those parenthetical
comments are supposed to suggest that this work is not really finished.
Now that the computer runs Guix, it should be straight-forward (if time
consuming) to fix some of these problems and arrive at something nice.

The main reason I’m posting this now is that I believe there is some
interest in this machine, and so maybe other people are also excited to
try it.  :)  Below are some brief installation instructions, and some
details about the patch.

To install, you first need to prepare the disk.  Gentoo has a good
guide [2].  The “cgpt” utility it mentions is provided by the
“vboot-utils” Guix package.  (Also, don’t forget to make a file system
on the second partition before mounting.)  After the disk is prepared,
use the “gnu/system/examples/asus-c201.tmpl” configuration template.  Be
sure that the bootloader and file-system parts point to the right disk.
Finally, you should be able to install Guix using the usual “guix system
init” command.  To be clear, if you mounted the file system on “/mnt”
and copied the configuration template to “asus-c201.scm”, you can run

./pre-inst-env guix system init asus-c201.scm /mnt

The two things this patch changes to get Guix to boot is the bootloader
and kernel.

For the bootloader, these machines use Depthcharge.  Depthcharge boots a
specially packaged and signed kernel image from a specially marked
partition.  This kernel image is written to the partition directly
without a file system.  Other than a bit of metadata about which kernel
partition to try to boot from (it supports an automatic fallback
feature), there is no configuration.  Luckily, Guix already has a
package for the tools that sign the kernel image and add the partition
metadata.

In order to make Depthcharge work, I had to bend Guix’s notion of a
bootloader a little bit.  I use the “bootloader-installer” procedure to
write the kernel image to disk.  In order to tell it which kernel to
write, I overloaded the “configuration-file-generator” to write the
kernel to a special “/boot/depthcharge/vmlinux.kpart” file, which the
installer procedure can write to disk.  This takes advantage of the fact
that Guix writes the configuration file before running the installation
procedure, which I wouldn’t have assumed had I not read the code.
(Which suggests that this is the wrong way to do it!)

There may be a way to improve this by bringing U-Boot into the booting
process.  The next version of U-Boot (to be released in April) will
support this machine directly.  I haven’t looked at it yet.
Alternatively, if using U-Boot directly causes problems, it’s possible
that Depthcharge could boot into U-Boot.

For the kernel, I tracked down a particularly stable version,
configuration, and patchset from a project called PrawnOS [3].  Support
for these machines is a little spotty.  I was unable to get Debian to
boot, and Arch Linux ARM would boot but only most of the time.  PrawnOS
is a project that targets these machines directly, and provides a
Linux-Libre-based system that seems to boot consistently.  After some
tinkering to make it build with Guix and run Guix’s initrd, I got Guix
to work nicely.  (Although it only seems to load the initrd from the
Libreboot version of Depthcharge and not the Google one.)

Unfortunately, PrawnOS currently uses Linux-Libre 4.17, which is not
supported.  Work is under way to use 4.19, which is still supported.
Arch Linux ARM uses Linux 4.20, but it is not as well tested as PrawnOS
on this machine.


-- Tim

[1] https://panfrost.freedesktop.org/
[2] https://wiki.gentoo.org/index.php?title=Asus_Chromebook_C201
[3] https://github.com/SolidHal/PrawnOS

>From 29b903186c1c7bbcdbc8be549ad0c544985aac2c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Timothy Sample 
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2019 09:52:49 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] wip! Add support for ASUS C201.

---
 gnu/bootloader/depthcharge.scm | 107 
 gnu/local.mk   |   1 +
 gnu/packages/bootloaders.scm   |  10 +--
 gnu/packages/linux.scm | 108 -
 gnu/system/examples/asus-c201.tmpl |  60 
 5 files changed, 276 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 gnu/bootloader/depthcharge.scm
 create mode 100644 gnu/system/examples/asus-c201.tmpl

diff --git a/gnu/bootloader/depthcharge.scm b/gnu/bootloader/depthcharge.scm
new file mode 100644
index 00..58cc3f3932
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/bootloader/depthcharge.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
+;;; 

Re: [video repo] when making videos inside container images break

[Gábor Boskovits]

Hello Björn,

Björn Höfling  ezt írta (időpont:
2019. márc. 6., Sze, 7:44):
>
> On Sun, 3 Mar 2019 20:30:51 +0100
> Gábor Boskovits  wrote:
>
>
> > Then I looked around the package definition of inkscape, where I found
> > no sign of cairo...
> >
> > I tried adding it to the container, and it seems to be working fine
> > here.
>
> Hi Gábor,
>
> thank you for that analysis! Do you think it would make sense to add
> cairo as as inputs or propagated-inputs for inkscape?

I don't know. Most of the functionality seems to be intact when it is missing.
However it would be nice to at least notify the user about the missing cairo,
and that it might break image funtionality. I am not in general very statisfied
when a program just picks up its runtime dependencies from whatever
environment it is run... but I feel it's not going to change soon.

Is there any way how we could extend a guix package receipe to list at least
the well-known optional runtime dependencies, and to describe what funtionality
do they add to a program, so the user could select what to install alongside?

>
> Björn

Best regards,
g_bor

Re: [video repo] when making videos inside container images break

[Björn Höfling]

On Sun, 3 Mar 2019 20:30:51 +0100
Gábor Boskovits  wrote:


> Then I looked around the package definition of inkscape, where I found
> no sign of cairo...
> 
> I tried adding it to the container, and it seems to be working fine
> here.

Hi Gábor,

thank you for that analysis! Do you think it would make sense to add
cairo as as inputs or propagated-inputs for inkscape?

Björn


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Description: OpenPGP digital signature

Packages with the same description

[mikadoZero]

Issue:
Packages with the same synopsis and description.

Why does it matter:
This is an issue for people who want to know the difference between the 
packages.  Particularly if they do not understand dependencies or are not going 
to look at the source code for the packages.

Examples:
guile-emacs and emacs
guile-for-guile-emacs and guile

There could be more packages with the same issue.

Cause:
guile-emacs inherits from emacs and guile-for-guile-emacs inherits from guile.  
In both cases they do not have their own synopsis or description.  This results 
in them inheriting the synopsis and description.

Mitigation:
A potential mitigation is to check that if a package inherits it also has it's 
own synopsis and description.  This check could happen in the linting or 
continuous integration.

How-to solve runpath-errors when splitting packages?

[Hartmut Goebel]

Hi,

I'm currently packaging zbar (a bar-code scanner suite). zbar includes
"generic" binaries as well as "qt" anf "gtk" ones (zbarcam, zbarcam-qt,
zbarcam-gtk). I want to avoid having qt or gtk or even both as a
dependency of the `zbar` packages, as these would pull in *huge*
dependencies.

I already managed to split the output into several. Here is an the
file-list for zbar:qt:

/gnu/store/…-zbar-0.22-gtk/bin/zbarcam-gtk
/gnu/store/…-zbar-0.22-gtk/lib/libzbargtk.so.0.0.2
/gnu/store/…-zbar-0.22-gtk/lib/libzbargtk.a
/gnu/store/…-zbar-0.22-gtk/lib/libzbargtk.la
/gnu/store/…-zbar-0.22-gtk/include/zbar/zbargtk.h
/gnu/store/…-zbar-0.22-gtk/lib/pkgconfig/zbar-gtk.pc

Obviously zbarcam-gtk should use libzbargtk.so from the same output.

How can I make zbarcam-gtk find the lib? Any ideas?

I already tried:

0) Nothing special: phase "validate-runpath" fails.

1) Setting "#:validate-runpath? #f": build passes, but the program does
not find the lib.

2) Passing the equivalent of "LDFLAGS=-Wl,-rpath=${out_gtk}/lib
-Wl,-rpath=${out_qt}/lib" to configure. This leads to some "recursive
dependency error".

-- 
Regards
Hartmut Goebel

| Hartmut Goebel  | h.goe...@crazy-compilers.com   |
| www.crazy-compilers.com | compilers which you thought are impossible |

Re: Using openjdk9 as the default JDK

[Gábor Boskovits]

Hello,

2019. márc. 5., K 20:00 dátummal Alex Vong  ezt
írta:

> Ricardo Wurmus  writes:
>
> > Hi Gábor,
> >
> >>> there are a few packages now that require Java 9, such as
> >>> java-eclipse-jdt-compiler-apt (that I’m currently packaging).
> >>>
> >>> We should aim to use openjdk9 as the default JDK.
> >>>
> >>> What do you think?
> >>>
> >>
> >> Do you think that aiming for openjdk11 directly is too much?
> >> 9 is not supported, but 11 will be supported until 2026.
> >>
> >> For further information see
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history
> >
> > Good point.  Let’s use openjdk11 then.
>
> From this page , the
> latest icedtea is for openjdk 8. Does this mean that we have to patch
> icedtea to build openjdk 11?
>
As of openjdk9 openjdk became free, so there is no longer a need for
icetea. That is why there is no newer version, and you can find openjdk 9
10 and 11 in guix.

Best regards,
g_bor

>

Re: Using openjdk9 as the default JDK

[Alex Vong]

Ricardo Wurmus  writes:

> Hi Gábor,
>
>>> there are a few packages now that require Java 9, such as
>>> java-eclipse-jdt-compiler-apt (that I’m currently packaging).
>>>
>>> We should aim to use openjdk9 as the default JDK.
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>>
>>
>> Do you think that aiming for openjdk11 directly is too much?
>> 9 is not supported, but 11 will be supported until 2026.
>>
>> For further information see 
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history
>
> Good point.  Let’s use openjdk11 then.

From this page , the
latest icedtea is for openjdk 8. Does this mean that we have to patch
icedtea to build openjdk 11?


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature

Re: Video narration

[Laura Lazzati]

Hi!

> Sure.  Can you give me a few more details about what is required:
Oh, that is really great, thank you very much :)

> i) how many videos are there?
Up to now, six (I have to upload the last one). But we can try with 03-help.
If you want, you can build them by cloning
git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix/videos.git.

> ii) are there two types of video, one for command line sessions and one
> for slides?
Yes! The slide videos are really easy, there is a transcript and I
home-made recorded the audios to help.  It is just reading the
transcript. For the command line session videos, it is more difficult,
since the timing is not that exact. In the latter case, I will create
the audios too, I did not do it during my internship because creating
the video for Guix days took me like three days for matching the audio
with the commands and I was not going to be able to create new ones.I
don't know which audio format we will need, maybe someone else could
help with that.
In the repo, maybe we could try with 03-help that has no cli session
videos. We could rename my audio files directory to have it like a
reference,and you could add them to the audios subdir. We can give it
a try with just one, there is a  wip-README but basically you have to
run ./build-video, sh 03-help and just wait.
If everything goes well then go on with the following ones. To watch
them, they work fine with mpv and VLC players. After we have them
working, they will be available in a VM for the community to watch
them and give their suggestions, bugs, and so on, so that they don't
have to build the videos. And when we have our final version, they
will be officially uploaded.

> iii) how big are the files?
Do you mean the audio or the video ones? I have just built the 03-help
and the final video weights about 18 Mb.

Regards, and again, thank you for helping with this :)
Laura

Re: Raco importer

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Brett Gilio writes:

> Pierre Neidhardt writes:
>
>> That'd be awesome!
>
>
> Maybe i'm jumping the gun here. But once I get a working raco importer,
> would there be any objection to moving racket from scheme.scm to
> racket.scm, and subsequently placing raco derived imports in
> racket-xyz.scm?
>
> Brett Gilio

This would be extremely awesome, and is actually something I really need
myself.  I'd be willing to test and assist with implementation where I
can if you can take the lead!

 - Chris

Re: Video narration

[Paul Garlick]

Hi Laura,

> I just wanted to ask you if you are still interested in contributing
> being the narrator of our videos.

Sure.  Can you give me a few more details about what is required:

i) how many videos are there?
ii) are there two types of video, one for command line sessions and one
for slides?
iii) how big are the files?

Best regards,

Paul.

Re: Compressing nars with lzip or similar

[Pierre Neidhardt]

I'll get down to this this week.

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

Video narration

[Laura Lazzati]

Hi Paul!

How are you?

I just wanted to ask you if you are still interested in contributing
being the narrator of our videos.

They have my voice now, and a transcript. Of course that I will
mention the timing, and arrange the subtitles for the command line
session videos, so that you just have to speak. For the slide videos
there is no problem, it is just saying what the transcript says and
the video will adapt to your timing.

Please, let me know if you can/want to do it, or if we should ask
someone else :)

Regards :)
Laura

Re: A potential user is asking me about the videos to learn Guix

[Laura Lazzati]

Hi former mentor :) - sounds weird :/


> > I am writing to the whole list so that all the community can tell me
> > what I should answer.
>
> I've just talked to my client, and we will spin up a VM with 10G stroge for 
> the
> temporary files tomorrow. Until this is done, you could upload the
> final videos to ipfs, and
> also the parts for the narrators.
I will tell them that we are still creating them, that we have a first
version in kind of a beta phase. I don't know if they will know how to
use ipfs. Or I could mention both, that we are still creating them and
that they could watch what we've got  with IPFS. Do you agree?

> Wdyt?
Great! I will write Paul for the narrations to see if he is
interested. Remember that tomorrow I will be out of town cause I am
travelling to the course I am taking, and I have to study some
material they sent us. And will give a talk telling about Outreachy
and Guix -promoting it as usual ;) - I know that I am not an intern
anymore ;) but I really want the videos to be online and let people
watch them. And next week when I come back I will be writing our TODO
list - let me know where to share it - reviewing all the emails.

And for the whole community: if you would like to contribute with the
videos, you are welcome to help :)

Regards :)
Laura

Re: A potential user is asking me about the videos to learn Guix

[Gábor Boskovits]

Hello Laura,

Laura Lazzati  ezt írta (időpont: 2019.
márc. 5., K, 13:06):
>
> Hi Guix!
> (Sorry Gábor, Björn, Ludo and Ricardo for the CC)
>
> Since I've been answering questions on my Twitter account about
> Outreachy, there is a person asking me where to find the videos, for
> using - and who knows, joining ;), you can't deny I am a great
> promoter of the project - Guix
>
> Would you like me to tell them that we are still creating them and
> give them the URL so that they can make them running the scripts?.
> They don't have the narrator, but they have my voice. I can tell them
> to watch them with VLC.
> WDYT?
>
> I am writing to the whole list so that all the community can tell me
> what I should answer.
>

I've just talked to my client, and we will spin up a VM with 10G stroge for the
temporary files tomorrow. Until this is done, you could upload the
final videos to ipfs, and
also the parts for the narrators.

My first thing will be to add these files to the vm when we are ready,
and then will share the temporary
urls on guix devel.

Wdyt?

> Regards :)
> Laura

Best regards,
g_bor

A potential user is asking me about the videos to learn Guix

[Laura Lazzati]

Hi Guix!
(Sorry Gábor, Björn, Ludo and Ricardo for the CC)

Since I've been answering questions on my Twitter account about
Outreachy, there is a person asking me where to find the videos, for
using - and who knows, joining ;), you can't deny I am a great
promoter of the project - Guix

Would you like me to tell them that we are still creating them and
give them the URL so that they can make them running the scripts?.
They don't have the narrator, but they have my voice. I can tell them
to watch them with VLC.
WDYT?

I am writing to the whole list so that all the community can tell me
what I should answer.

Regards :)
Laura

Re: Using openjdk9 as the default JDK

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Gábor,

>> there are a few packages now that require Java 9, such as
>> java-eclipse-jdt-compiler-apt (that I’m currently packaging).
>>
>> We should aim to use openjdk9 as the default JDK.
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>
> Do you think that aiming for openjdk11 directly is too much?
> 9 is not supported, but 11 will be supported until 2026.
>
> For further information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history

Good point.  Let’s use openjdk11 then.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Using openjdk9 as the default JDK

[Gábor Boskovits]

Hello Ricardo,

Ricardo Wurmus  ezt írta (időpont: 2019. márc. 5.,
K, 10:09):
>
> Hi Guix,
>
> there are a few packages now that require Java 9, such as
> java-eclipse-jdt-compiler-apt (that I’m currently packaging).
>
> We should aim to use openjdk9 as the default JDK.
>
> What do you think?
>

Do you think that aiming for openjdk11 directly is too much?
9 is not supported, but 11 will be supported until 2026.

For further information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history

> --
> Ricardo
>
>

Best regards,
g_bor

Re: Using openjdk9 as the default JDK

[Julien Lepiller]

Le 2019-03-05 10:08, Ricardo Wurmus a écrit :

Hi Guix,

there are a few packages now that require Java 9, such as
java-eclipse-jdt-compiler-apt (that I’m currently packaging).

We should aim to use openjdk9 as the default JDK.

What do you think?

--
Ricardo


sounds good, but that will give us a lot of work.

I'd like to suggest upgrading to java 11 instead, and build
packages that don't support it with the -source argument.

I've got some packages locally that require -source 1.6 and
one that requires -source 1.4. I do it in this way currently:

(add-before 'build 'use-1.4
  (lambda _
(substitute* "build.xml"
  (("

Using openjdk9 as the default JDK

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Guix,

there are a few packages now that require Java 9, such as
java-eclipse-jdt-compiler-apt (that I’m currently packaging).

We should aim to use openjdk9 as the default JDK.

What do you think?

--
Ricardo