Subject: Re: [bug#29271] [PATCH 1/1] doc: Split the "Substitutes" section into subsections.

From: myglc2 <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2017 09:37:08 -0500

On 11/12/2017 at 20:25 Leo Famulari writes:

> On Sun, Nov 12, 2017 at 02:56:23PM +0100, Jan Nieuwenhuizen wrote:
>> Chris Marusich writes:
>>
>> > +Substitutes from Hydra are enabled by default when using the Guix System
>> > +Distribution (@pxref{GNU Distribution}).  However, substitutes are
>> > +disabled by default when using Guix on a foreign distribution
>> > +(@pxref{Installation}).
>>
>> It's great to have this clarified, however I wonder about the rationale
>> of this decision?
>
> Copied from my previous message [0]:
>
> ------
> I don't know if there is a design choice here, but the steps required to
> authorize substitutes for Guix on another distro require root. So, we
> can't make it "just work" without the user elevating their privileges.
> It's not the only part of our installation guide that requires root,
> however.
>
> On GuixSD, we can control the entire system during installation, so we
> enable substitutes by default.
> ------
>
> [0]
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2017-11/msg00048.html

ISTM that "disabled by default when using Guix on a foreign
distribution" is too strong. How about ...

Substitutes from Hydra are enabled by default in the Guix System
Distribution (@pxref{GNU Distribution}) and by one of the recommended
installation steps for Guix on a foreign distribution
(@pxref{Installation}).

- George