doc: Add section about inferiors.

* doc/guix.texi (Inferiors): New node.
(Channels): Add xref to "Inferiors".
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Ludovic Courtès 2018-09-21 17:03:52 +02:00
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@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ Package Management
* Invoking guix gc:: Running the garbage collector.
* Invoking guix pull:: Fetching the latest Guix and distribution.
* Channels:: Customizing the package collection.
* Inferiors:: Interacting with another revision of Guix.
* Invoking guix describe:: Display information about your Guix revision.
* Invoking guix pack:: Creating software bundles.
* Invoking guix archive:: Exporting and importing store files.
@ -1699,6 +1700,7 @@ guix package -i emacs-guix
* Invoking guix gc:: Running the garbage collector.
* Invoking guix pull:: Fetching the latest Guix and distribution.
* Channels:: Customizing the package collection.
* Inferiors:: Interacting with another revision of Guix.
* Invoking guix describe:: Display information about your Guix revision.
* Invoking guix pack:: Creating software bundles.
* Invoking guix archive:: Exporting and importing store files.
@ -3053,6 +3055,135 @@ package it defines.
This gives you super powers, allowing you to track the provenance of binary
artifacts with very fine grain, and to reproduce software environments at
will---some sort of ``meta reproducibility'' capabilities, if you will.
@xref{Inferiors}, for another way to take advantage of these super powers.
@node Inferiors
@section Inferiors
@c TODO: Remove this once we're more confident about API stability.
@quotation Note
The functionality described here is a ``technology preview'' as of version
@value{VERSION}. As such, the interface is subject to change.
@end quotation
@cindex inferiors
@cindex composition of Guix revisions
Sometimes you might need to mix packages from the revision of Guix you're
currently running with packages available in a different revision of Guix.
Guix @dfn{inferiors} allow you to achieve that by composing different Guix
revisions in arbitrary ways.
@cindex inferior packages
Technically, an ``inferior'' is essentially a separate Guix process connected
to your main Guix process through a REPL (@pxref{Invoking guix repl}). The
@code{(guix inferior)} module allows you to create inferiors and to
communicate with them. It also provides a high-level interface to browse and
manipulate the packages that an inferior provides---@dfn{inferior packages}.
When combined with channels (@pxref{Channels}), inferiors provide a simple way
to interact with a separate revision of Guix. For example, let's assume you
want to install in your profile the current @code{guile} package, along with
the @code{guile-json} as it existed in an older revision of Guix---perhaps
because the newer @code{guile-json} has an incompatible API and you want to
run your code against the old API@. To do that, you could write a manifest for
use by @code{guix package --manifest} (@pxref{Invoking guix package}); in that
manifest, you would create an inferior for that old Guix revision you care
about, and you would look up the @code{guile-json} package in the inferior:
@lisp
(use-modules (guix inferior) (guix channels)
(srfi srfi-1)) ;for 'first'
(define channels
;; This is the old revision from which we want to
;; extract guile-json.
(list (channel
(name 'guix)
(url "https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git")
(commit
"65956ad3526ba09e1f7a40722c96c6ef7c0936fe"))))
(define inferior
;; An inferior representing the above revision.
(inferior-for-channels channels))
;; Now create a manifest with the current "guile" package
;; and the old "guile-json" package.
(packages->manifest
(list (first (lookup-inferior-packages inferior "guile-json"))
(specification->package "guile")))
@end lisp
On its first run, @command{guix package --manifest} might have to build the
channel you specified before it can create the inferior; subsequent runs will
be much faster because the Guix revision will be cached.
The @code{(guix inferior)} module provides the following procedures to open an
inferior:
@deffn {Scheme Procedure} inferior-for-channels @var{channels} @
[#:cache-directory] [#:ttl]
Return an inferior for @var{channels}, a list of channels. Use the cache at
@var{cache-directory}, where entries can be reclaimed after @var{ttl} seconds.
This procedure opens a new connection to the build daemon.
As a side effect, this procedure may build or substitute binaries for
@var{channels}, which can take time.
@end deffn
@deffn {Scheme Procedure} open-inferior @var{directory} @
[#:command "bin/guix"]
Open the inferior Guix in @var{directory}, running
@code{@var{directory}/@var{command} repl} or equivalent. Return @code{#f} if
the inferior could not be launched.
@end deffn
@cindex inferior packages
The procedures listed below allow you to obtain and manipulate inferior
packages.
@deffn {Scheme Procedure} inferior-packages @var{inferior}
Return the list of packages known to @var{inferior}.
@end deffn
@deffn {Scheme Procedure} lookup-inferior-packages @var{inferior} @var{name} @
[@var{version}]
Return the sorted list of inferior packages matching @var{name} in
@var{inferior}, with highest version numbers first. If @var{version} is true,
return only packages with a version number prefixed by @var{version}.
@end deffn
@deffn {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package? @var{obj}
Return true if @var{obj} is an inferior package.
@end deffn
@deffn {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-name @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-version @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-synopsis @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-description @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-home-page @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-location @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-inputs @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-native-inputs @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-propagated-inputs @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-transitive-propagated-inputs @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-native-search-paths @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-transitive-native-search-paths @var{package}
@deffnx {Scheme Procedure} inferior-package-search-paths @var{package}
These procedures are the counterpart of package record accessors
(@pxref{package Reference}). Most of them work by querying the inferior
@var{package} comes from, so the inferior must still be live when you call
these procedures.
@end deffn
Inferior packages can be used transparently like any other package or
file-like object in G-expressions (@pxref{G-Expressions}). They are also
transparently handled by the @code{packages->manifest} procedure, which is
commonly use in manifests (@pxref{Invoking guix package, the
@option{--manifest} option of @command{guix package}}). Thus you can insert
an inferior package pretty much anywhere you would insert a regular package:
in manifests, in the @code{packages} field of your @code{operating-system}
declaration, and so on.
@node Invoking guix describe
@section Invoking @command{guix describe}