guix/README

-*- mode: org -*-

Guix is Nix[0] from Guile[1]!

Concretely, it allows Nix package management to be done entirely in
Scheme. The goal is to investigate whether Scheme, and in particular
the ability to define EDSLs, would allow it to fulfill the role of the
Nix language.

[0] http://nixos.org/nix/
[1] http://gnu.org/software/guile/


* Hacking

Guix currently depends on the following packages:

  - [[http://gnu.org/software/guile/][GNU Guile 2.0.x]]
  - [[http://nixos.org/nix/][Nix]]
  - [[http://gnupg.org/][GNU libgcrypt]], or [[http://nongnu.org/libchop/][libchop]]

For bootstrapping purposes, it is useful to reuse packages from Nixpkgs.
For this to work, you need to have a checkout of the Nixpkgs repository,
with the `NIXPKGS' environment variable pointing to it.

  - [[http://nixos.org/nixpkgs/][Nixpkgs]]

* How It Works

Guix does the high-level preparation of a /derivation/.  A derivation is
the promise of a build; it is stored as a text file under
=/nix/store/xxx.drv=.  The (guix derivations) module provides the
`derivation' primitive, as well as higher-level wrappers such as
`build-expression->derivation'.

Guix does remote procedure calls (RPCs) to the Nix daemon (the
=nix-worker --daemon= command), which in turn performs builds and
accesses to the Nix store on its behalf.  The RPCs are implemented in
the (guix store) module.

* Contact

The repository is at <https://gitorious.org/guix/>.

Please email <ludo@gnu.org> or <nix-dev@lists.science.uu.nl>, or
join #guile or #nixos on irc.freenode.net or `civodul'.