Guix System Distribution

Guix System Distribution

GuixSD running Xfce, GNU IceCat and GNU Emacs
Developer GNU Project[1]
OS family Unix-like
Working state beta
Source model Open source
Latest preview 0.11.0 (beta)[2] / 3 August 2016 (2016-08-03)[3]
Package manager GNU Guix
Platforms x86_64, i686
Kernel type

Monolithic: Linux-libre

Microkernel: GNU Hurd
Userland GNU
License Free software
Official website gnu.org/software/guix

Guix System Distribution (abbreviated GuixSD[4]) is a Linux distribution centered on GNU Guix package manager.[5][6] It uses the Linux-libre kernel, with support for the GNU Hurd under development. On February 3, 2015, the distribution was added to the Free Software Foundation's list of free Linux distributions.[7]

Features

GNU Guix

Main article: GNU Guix

GuixSD is based on GNU Guix, a purely functional package and system configuration manager derived from Nix, using the GNU Guile implementation of the Scheme programming language. All package recipes, as well as the whole system configuration, are written in declarative embedded domain-specific languages in Guile Scheme.

GNU Shepherd

GuixSD uses the GNU Daemon Shepherd as its init system, which is developed in tandem with Guix and is written in Guile as well. It was previously known as "dmd", which stood for "Daemon managing Daemons" or "Daemons-managing Daemon", but changed names to avoid collision with another project.[8]

The Shepherd takes some inspiration from systemd, another recent init system, in supplying user space functionality as Services, which under the Shepherd are generic functions and object data types that are exported for use by the Shepherd to extend the base operating system in some defined way. Core to the Shepherd model of user space initialisation is the concept of the extension, a form of composability where services are designed to be layered onto other services, augmenting them with more elaborate or specialised behaviours as desired.[9] This expresses the instantiation-based dependency relationships found in many modern init systems,[10] making the system modular, but also allows services to interact variadically with other services in arbitrary ways.

The Shepherd also provides so-called virtual services which allow dynamic dispatch over a class of related service objects, such as all those which instantiate an MTA for the system.[11] A system governed via the Shepherd daemon can represent its user space as a directed acyclic graph, with the "system-service" − responsible for early phases of boot and init − as its root, and all subsequently initialised services as extensions to system-service's functionality, either directly or over other services.[9][12]

Being both written and configured in Guile Scheme, the Shepherd is intended to be highly programmable by the system administrator, but it can also be used to manage per-user profiles of unprivileged daemons and services.[13] Its services and configuration are stored uniformly as object-oriented Scheme code, and while a core set of services are provided with the basic Guix System Distribution,[14] arbitrary new services can be flexibly declared, and through Guile's object system, GOOPS, existing services can be redefined at the user's discretion by asking the Shepherd to dynamically rewrite services in specified ways on instantiation.[15][16]

The Shepherd was originally designed to work with GNU Hurd, and was later adopted by GuixSD.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/about
  2. ↑ Contributors, GuixSD. "GNU's advanced distro and transactional package manager — GuixSD". gnu.org. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  3. ↑ Ludovic Courtès (August 3, 2016). "GNU Guix & GuixSD 0.11.0 released". Savannah. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  4. ↑ "What to call Guix?" (Mailing list). gnu-system-discuss. 2015-01-15.
  5. ↑ "List of Free GNU/Linux Distributions". Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Guix: A New Package Manager & GNU Distribution". Phoronix. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ "FSF adds Guix System Distribution to list of endorsed distributions". Free Software Foundation. 3 February 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ "guix-devel mailing lists". Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  9. 1 2 "GNU Guix Reference Manual: Service Composition". GNU Project. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  10. ↑ "systemd: Unit Dependencies and Order". Fedora Magazine. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  11. ↑ "The GNU Shepherd Manual: Jump Start". GNU Project. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  12. ↑ "GNU Guix Reference Manual: Shepherd Services". GNU Project. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  13. ↑ "The GNU Shepherd Manual". GNU Project. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  14. ↑ "GNU Guix Reference Manual: Services". GNU Project. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  15. ↑ "GNU Guix Reference Manual: Service Types and Services". GNU Project. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  16. ↑ "GNU Guix Reference Manual: Using the Configuration System". GNU Project. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  17. ↑ "GNU Shepherd". GNU project. Retrieved 2016-02-12.

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