Subject: [bug#66148] Fix Guix version number in pulled (=most) manuals

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2023 01:07:23 +0200

Hi all,

To avoid expensive rebuilds, (guix self) explicitly substitutes 
the less than satisfying "0.0-git" as version number for the 
Texinfo manual.

In some cases, that's merely ugly and confusing:

> This document describes GNU Guix version 0.0-git, a functional
> package management tool written for the GNU system.

or

> If you’re running Debian or a derivative such as Ubuntu, you can
> instead install the package (it might be a version older than
> 0.0-git but you can update it afterwards by running ‘guix 
> pull’):

But in most cases it's worse:

> 1. Download the binary tarball from
> ‘https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-binary-0.0-git.x86_64-linux.tar.xz’,

eek

> $ wget 
> https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-binary-0.0-git.x86_64-linux.tar.xz.sig
> $ gpg --verify guix-binary-0.0-git.x86_64-linux.tar.xz.sig

boo

> An ISO-9660 installation image that can be written to a USB 
> stick
> or burnt to a DVD can be downloaded from
> ‘https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-system-install-0.0-git.x86_64-linux.iso’

nein

> make sure you checked the GPG signature of ‘guix-0.0-git.tar.gz’

Imagine coming to this with a fresh mind & without our knowledge 
that this is ‘obviously wrong’.  After all: this is the official 
upstream updater, not some random git snapshot!

(Only later will you find out the truth that it is both, but 
you'll no longer care.)

Anyway.  So hesitant am I to even READ future (gnu packages 
package-management) versions from older Guixen that I've committed 
the crime of regex, twice.  Punish me by sharing your thoughts.

Kind regards,

T G-R