Re: Is there a way to upgrade only packages with substitutes?

[L p R n d n]

Hello,

address@hidden writes:

> Hello, Katherine! I fuzzily remember this subject in maillists, maybe we
> discussed this feature. And there were instruction of how to define in `guix
> package -u` those packages you won't update.
> Also I know guix has feature to check substitutes (`guix weather`, is it?).
>
> I think we need a script that will do this:
> 1) guix pull
> 2) get a list of new packages and dependencies that all will be updated
> 3) check which of them haven't substitutes
> 4) run `guix package -u` without those packages that have not substitutes.
> 4.1) or run `guix package -u` without only those big packages you defined like
> 'not to update if they have no substitutes'

I also do think a way of only updating with substitutes would be nice.
However, I'm not really fond of that behaviour. I'm pretty sure it
has already been discussed somewhere and I probably lack knowledge to
give a proper answer but here are my two cents.

IMHO, I would rather go for a server side solution. Something a 'simple'
as a lagging - automated or curated - channel could do the trick. (1
day, 1 week with/out meaningfull commits)
Obviously, that means, a minimal profile won't be able to get its
substitutes as soon as possible but the difference shouldn't be that
large anyway (what is it? 24h? 48h?). Plus, it's a gain in term of computation,
speed of update, use of network etc.

Also, any tool that would automatically resolve in a potential partially
updated profile, even if advertised, is probably a door to a lot of
incomprehension and unwanted behaviour. --do-not-upgrade and -u $package
are ok because the user take an active part in it.

> I think this can be done with guix features but this is hard work, not for 
> usual users.
> And sure guix must have this feature.
>
>
> August 2, 2019 8:42 PM, "Katherine Cox-Buday" <address@hidden> wrote:
>
>> Hey Guix!
>> 
>> Very often I find myself updating systems only to get stuck on building
>> something large like LibreOffice or Un-Googled Chromium. Usually the
>> substitutes for these are available a few days later.
>> 
>> It would be nice if I could pass a flag to `guix package -u` that would
>> disallow building in the event a substitute wasn't available. Is that
>> `--fallback=false`? If so, that's a double-negative; is there a clearer
>> way to represent both without acreting options?
>> 
>> -- 
>> Katherine

Have a nice day,

Lprndn