GNU bug report logs - #30728
guix-install.sh doesn't work if run with "sudo"

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From: Chris Marusich <cmmarusich <at> gmail.com>
To: Clément Lassieur <clement <at> lassieur.org>
Cc: Ricardo Wurmus <rekado <at> elephly.net>, 30728 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#30728: guix-install.sh doesn't work if run with "sudo"
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2018 18:08:40 +0200

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Clément Lassieur <clement <at> lassieur.org> writes:

> Ricardo Wurmus <rekado <at> elephly.net> writes:
>
>> Clément Lassieur <clement <at> lassieur.org> writes:
>>
>>>> The manual says (see: (guix) Binary Installation):
>>>>
>>>>   3. Make ‘root’’s profile available under ‘~/.guix-profile’:
>>>>
>>>>           # ln -sf /var/guix/profiles/per-user/root/guix-profile \
>>>>                    ~root/.guix-profile
>>>
>>> I think the manual is wrong here.  This only makes sense if the user is
>>> 'root'.  Otherwise, the user would expect Guix to be installed in their
>>> home, not in root's home.
>>
>> Step 2 says “As root, run: […]”.  “~root” resolves to “/root”, not to
>> “$HOME/root”, so it even works when run as a regular user.
>>
>> The manual seems correct to me and this is what the script aims to
>> implement.
>
> But ~/.guix-profile may resolve to /home/user/.guix-profile.  So it
> should be ~root/.guix-profile instead of ~/.guix-profile.

Ah, I think I now see the cause of our miscommunication.

It's possible to interpret the manual's use of ~ and $HOME to mean "the
unprivileged user's home directory", instead of "root's home directory".
I think that's a mistake in the manual, since the "ln" clearly makes
root's profile available under root's home directory, and the step
involving $HOME doesn't make sense unless $HOME expands to root's home
directory.

I've updated my patch; it now also changes the following line...

  3. Make ‘root’’s profile available under ‘~/.guix-profile’:

...to this:

  3. Make ‘root’’s profile available under ‘~root/.guix-profile’:

How does that sound?

-- 
Chris

[0001-guix-install.sh-Explicitly-set-root-s-home-directory.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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