GNU bug report logs - #33285
Installing, then removing, a package yields a different profile

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From: Ricardo Wurmus <rekado <at> elephly.net>
To: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Cc: Chris Marusich <cmmarusich <at> gmail.com>, 33285 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#33285: Installing, then removing, a package yields a different profile
Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2019 15:29:16 +0100

Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org> writes:

> Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org> skribis:
>
>> Actually, to do things correctly, we should really store the .drv in the
>> ‘manifest’ file.  That way, manifest entries would always contains a
>> valid “lowerable” object (a package or a derivation record), as opposed
>> to a store reference that happens to be valid.
>
> On second thought that’s probably not a great idea: we’d retain
> references to the .drv themselves, which can end up taking a bit of
> space, especially if --gc-keep-outputs is in use.
>
> So… the more I think about it the more I’m tempted to punt on this one.
>
> The discrepancy we see here does not happen when using --manifest, which
> is probably what matters most.

I think it’s fine to leave it as it is, then.  “--install” and
“--remove” are stateful and should be expected to have quirks like this.
(E.g. upgrading Guix in between two “--install”s can lead to
a mosaic of a profile that could not be produced any other way.)

“--manifest” is the recommended way to get reproducible profile
generations, so if that’s working fine I’m okay with closing this as
wontfix.  Chris, what do you think?

Thanks for investigating!

--
Ricardo

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