website: Add draft 1.2.0 release announcement.
* website/drafts/gnu-guix-1.2.0-released.md: New file.
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title: DRAFT GNU Guix 1.2.0 released
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date: 2020-11-11 15:00:00
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author: Ludovic Courtès
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slug: gnu-guix-1.2.0-released
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tags: Releases, Security
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---
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We are pleased to announce the release of GNU Guix version 1.2.0!
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The release comes with [ISO-9660 installation
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images](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/System-Installation.html),
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a [virtual machine
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image](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Running-Guix-in-a-VM.html),
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and with tarballs to install the package manager on top of your
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GNU/Linux distro, either [from
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source](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Requirements.html) or
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[from
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binaries](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Binary-Installation.html).
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Guix users can update by running `guix pull`.
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It’s been 6 months since the last release, during which 200 people
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contributed code and packages, and a number of people obviously
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contributed to other important tasks—code review, system administration,
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translations, web site updates, Outreachy mentoring, you name it!
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There’s been more than 10,000 commits in that time frame and it is the
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challenge of these release notes to summarize all that activity.
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### Security
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A significant highlight in this release is the ability to *authenticate
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channels*, which probably makes Guix one of the safest ways to deliver
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complete operating systems today. This was the missing link in our
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“software supply chain” and we’re glad it’s now fixed. The end result
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is that `guix pull` and related commands now cryptographically
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authenticate channel code that they fetch; you cannot, for instance,
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retrieve unauthorized commits to the official Guix repository. We
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[detailed the design and
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implementation](https://guix.gnu.org/en/blog/2020/securing-updates/)
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back in July. The manual explains [what you need to know as a
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user](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Channel-Authentication.html)
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and [as a channel
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author](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Specifying-Channel-Authorizations.html).
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Coupled to that, `guix pull` and `guix system reconfigure` now *detect
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potential system downgrades or Guix downgrades* and raise an error.
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This ensures you cannot be tricked into downgrading the software in your
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system, which could potentially reintroduce exploitable vulnerabilities
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in the software you run.
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With these safeguards in place, we have added an [*unattended upgrade
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service*](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Unattended-Upgrades.html)
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that, in a nutshell, runs `guix pull && guix system reconfigure`
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periodically. Unattended upgrades _and_ peace of mind.
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Another important change from a security perspective that we’re proud of
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is [*the reduction of binary seeds to
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60 MiB*](https://guix.gnu.org/en/blog/2020/guix-further-reduces-bootstrap-seed-to-25/)
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on x86_64 and i686, thanks to tireless work on
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[GNU Mes](https://www.gnu.org/software/mes),
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[Gash](https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/gash), and related software.
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On the same security theme, our build daemon and the [`origin`
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programming
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interface](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/origin-Reference.html)
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now accept *new cryptographic hash functions* (in particular SHA-3 and
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BLAKE2s) for [“fixed-output
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derivations”](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Derivations.html)—so
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far we were unconditionally using SHA256 hashes for source code.
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### User experience
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We want Guix to be accessible and useful to a broad audience and that
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has again been a guiding principle for this release. The [graphical
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system
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installer](https://guix.gnu.org/en/videos/system-graphical-installer/)
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and the [script to install Guix on another
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distro](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Binary-Installation.html)
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have both received bug fixes and usability improvements. First-time
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users will appreciate the fact that `guix help` now gives a clear
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overview of the available commands, that `guix` commands are less
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verbose by default (they no longer display a lengthy list of things that
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they’ll download), and that `guix pull` displays a progress bar as it
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updates its Git checkout.
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*Performance improved in several places*. Use of the new [“baseline
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compiler” that landed in
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Guile 3.0.4](https://wingolog.org/archives/2020/06/03/a-baseline-compiler-for-guile)
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leads to reduced build times for Guix itself, which in turn means that
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`guix pull` is much less resource-hungry. Performance got better in
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[several](https://issues.guix.gnu.org/44053#9)
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[other](https://issues.guix.gnu.org/41702#2)
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[areas](https://issues.guix.gnu.org/43340), and more work is yet to
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come.
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We’re giving users more flexibility on the command line, with the
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addition of three [*package transformation
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options*](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Package-Transformation-Options.html):
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`--with-debug-info` ([always debug in good
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conditions](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Rebuilding-Debug-Info.html)!),
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`--with-c-toolchain`, and `--without-tests`.
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The *reference manual* has been expounded: there’s a new [“Getting
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Started”
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section](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Getting-Started.html),
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the [“Programming Interface”
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section](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Programming-Interface.html)
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contains more info for packagers. We added code examples in many
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places; in the on-line copy of the manual, identifiers in those code
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snippets are clickable, linking to the right place in the Guix or Guile
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manuals.
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Last but not least, *the manual is fully translated* to
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[French](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/fr/html_node/),
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[German](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/de/html_node/), and
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[Spanish](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/es/html_node/), with partial
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translations in [Russian](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/ru/html_node/) and
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[Chinese](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/zh-cn/html_node/).
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### More goodies
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But there’s more! Support for *whole-system cross-compilation*—as in
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`guix system build --target=arm-linux-gnueabihf config.scm`—has been
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improved. That, together with a lot of porting work both for packages
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and for the Guix System machinery, brings [the `hurd-vm`
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service](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Virtualization-Services.html#index-hurd_002dvm_002dservice_002dtype)—a
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cross-compiled Guix GNU/Hurd system [running as a virtual machine under
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GNU/Linux](https://guix.gnu.org/en/blog/2020/childhurds-and-substitutes/).
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This in turn has let us start work on native GNU/Hurd support.
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Related to this, the new `(gnu image)` module implements a flexible
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interface to operating system images; from the command line, it is
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accessible _via_ [`guix system disk-image
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--image-type=TYPE`](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Invoking-guix-system.html).
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Several _image types_ are supported: compressed ISO-9660, qcow2
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containing ext4 partitions, ext2 with Hurd options, and so on. This is
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currently implemented using
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[`genimage`](https://github.com/pengutronix/genimage).
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In addition to those already mentioned, a dozen of new system services
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are available, including services for
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[Ganeti](https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2020/running-a-ganeti-cluster-on-guix/),
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[LXQt](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Desktop-Services.html#index-lxqt_002ddesktop_002dservice_002dtype),
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[Gemini](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Web-Services.html#index-gmnisrv),
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and [Guix Build
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Coordinator](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Guix-Services.html).
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XXX packages have been added, for a total of [more than 15K
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packages](https://guix.gnu.org/en/packages); XXX were upgraded. The
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distribution comes with GNU libc 2.31, GCC 10.2, GNOME 3.34,
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Xfce 4.14.2, Linux-libre 5.9.3, and LibreOffice 6.4.6.2 to name a few.
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There’s also a new [build system for packages built with
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Maven](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Build-Systems.html#index-maven_002dbuild_002dsystem).
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The [`NEWS` file](XXX) lists additional noteworthy changes and bug fixes
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you may be interested in.
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### Try it!
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You can go ahead and [download this new
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version](https://guix.gnu.org/en/download/)—we’ve been told [you may
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soon be able to `apt install guix`](https://packages.debian.org/guix) if
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you’re on Debian or a derivative distro!—and [get in touch with
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us](https://guix.gnu.org/en/contact/).
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Enjoy!
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#### About GNU Guix
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[GNU Guix](https://guix.gnu.org) is a transactional package manager and
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an advanced distribution of the GNU system that [respects user
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freedom](https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html).
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Guix can be used on top of any system running the Hurd or the Linux
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kernel, or it can be used as a standalone operating system distribution
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for i686, x86_64, ARMv7, and AArch64 machines.
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In addition to standard package management features, Guix supports
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transactional upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package management,
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per-user profiles, and garbage collection. When used as a standalone
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GNU/Linux distribution, Guix offers a declarative, stateless approach to
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operating system configuration management. Guix is highly customizable
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and hackable through [Guile](https://www.gnu.org/software/guile)
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programming interfaces and extensions to the
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[Scheme](http://schemers.org) language.
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