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GNU Guix launchesGNU Guix launchesPosted Nov 28, 2012 21:23 UTC (Wed) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313)In reply to: GNU Guix launches by mathstuf Parent article: GNU Guix launches
The issue is that the main case for why this feature is needed is a very close overlap with the cases where it is very questionable due to the reasons mentioned above.
As far as installing multiple compilers, go read Rob Landley's notes of the fun he has doing cross compiles, specifically all the work he has to do to beat gcc into using the right version of things. It sure doesn't look like it would be nearly as trivial as "install multiple copies of gcc in different directories"
If I had to do that, I'd use debbootstrap to create chroot sandboxes with different versions installed in each one. You don't even need containers, let alone VMs.
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GNU Guix launches Posted Nov 29, 2012 14:23 UTC (Thu) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link]
I do actually use debootstrap with chroot sandboxes precisely to be able to manage multiple software environments. However, this only works reliably for genuine chroots and not fakechroots, at least if you want to sample other distribution versions (mostly because of system library incompatibilities), and it gets to the point where you also need a newer kernel version to run significantly newer distribution versions. At that point, I actually use User Mode Linux, but there are plenty of root privilege obstacles that would prevent me from having such a sandbox if I didn't have root access.
Setting up chroot sandboxes isn't really so lightweight, but I suppose it is at the lighter end of the virtualisation spectrum in the broadest sense of the term.
GNU Guix launches Posted Nov 29, 2012 17:14 UTC (Thu) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]
I don't want to install old RPMs as-is; that way does indeed lead down into its own dependency hell. I would like to recompile Fedora 14 RPMs for my current machine and still be able to install it somewhere.
GNU Guix launches Posted Nov 29, 2012 18:00 UTC (Thu) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link]
I don't do things with RPMs, but if I wanted to build a Debian package for my current distribution version, I guess I'd go through the usual dpkg-buildpackage route (or use pbuilder if I had root access) after tweaking the package metadata. Since I only ever back-port things (and not that often given that I may choose to run them in a chroot), I don't know how much work would actually be necessary to forward-port a package, but quite possibly not that much.
Installing the package is another matter, though. Without root access, I'd have to hope that my fakechroot sandbox is up to the task, but given that it would be the same distribution version, the chances of that are a bit higher than they otherwise might be. I suppose that febootstrap would be able to deliver the same experience for Fedora, potentially not even needing fakechroot to do an initial bootstrap.
GNU Guix launches Posted Nov 29, 2012 17:20 UTC (Thu) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]
Hmm…installing a different GCC in macports looks like it just dumped it all in its own subdirectory. I'm not so interested in cross compilers, just different versions of various compilers.
I don't know why GCC would have problems with it unless you used the same $PREFIX for all of them. It's not like GCC would know to look anywhere other than its installation tree and possibly the system. Usually I use $HOME/misc/root/$name-$version as the prefix so that removing one is an rm -rf without having to rely on whatever (usually broken) uninstall mechanisms the project uses. LLVM is certainly happy being installed to $HOME/misc/root/llvm-3.2svn without being confused by the system version.
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