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bug#46803: User manual does not explain Profiles (nor GUIX_PROFILE)
From: |
Ludovic Courtès |
Subject: |
bug#46803: User manual does not explain Profiles (nor GUIX_PROFILE) |
Date: |
Sun, 14 Mar 2021 11:56:47 +0100 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/27.1 (gnu/linux) |
Hello,
zimoun <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com> skribis:
> Effectively, profiles is not explicitly defined but implicitly, for
> instance:
>
> <https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Features>
>
> Otherwise, the most explicit definition is in the Cookbook:
>
> Guix provides a very useful feature that may be quite foreign to
> newcomers: profiles. They are a way to group package
> installations together and all users on the same system are free
> to use as many profiles as they want.
>
> <https://guix.gnu.org/cookbook/en/html_node/Guix-Profiles-in-Practice.html>
[...]
> <https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/concepts/environments.html>
>
> And from this old time, I remember that examples really helps, for
> instance.
>
> <https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/getting-started.html#managing-environments>.
>
> Therefore, the section «Getting Started» could be a bit extended with a
> paragraph about Profiles and one or two examples. WDYT?
>
> <https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Getting-Started>
Thanks for the pointers! How about these changes to “Getting Started”
and “Invoking guix package”?
Ludo’.
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 4cf241c56a..00bd087628 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -2751,7 +2751,10 @@ you can go ahead and install it (run this command as a
regular user,
guix install emacs
@end example
-You've installed your first package, congrats! In the process, you've
+You've installed your first package, congrats! The package is now
+visible in your default @dfn{profile}, @file{$HOME/.guix-profile}---a
+profile is a directory containing installed packages.
+In the process, you've
probably noticed that Guix downloaded pre-built binaries; or, if you
explicitly chose to @emph{not} use pre-built binaries, then probably
Guix is still building software (@pxref{Substitutes}, for more info).
@@ -3061,7 +3064,10 @@ retaining precise @dfn{provenance tracking} of the
software.
@cindex package removal
The @command{guix package} command is the tool that allows users to
install, upgrade, and remove packages, as well as rolling back to
-previous configurations. It operates only on the user's own profile,
+previous configurations. These operations work on a user
+@dfn{profile}---a directory of installed packages. Each user has a
+default profile in @file{$HOME/.guix-profile}.
+The command operates only on the user's own profile,
and works with normal user privileges (@pxref{Features}). Its syntax
is: