-*- mode: org; coding: utf-8; -*-

#+TITLE: Tentative GNU Guix Road Map

Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>

  Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
  are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
  notice and this notice are preserved.

The goals of the GNU Guix project are two-fold:

  - to build a purely functional package manager, based on Nix and
    Guile;

  - to use it to build a practical 100% free software distribution of
    GNU/Linux and possibly other GNU variants, with a focus on the
    promotion and tight integration of GNU components–the GNU system.

Since its inception, the project has gone a long way towards that goal.  Below
is a list of items we want for version "1.0" of the Guix System Distribution.
There will be a few 0.x releases by then to give the new features more
exposure and testing.

You're welcome to discuss this road map on guix-devel@gnu.org or #guix on
the Libera Chat IRC network!

* Features scheduled for 1.0

  - larger & more robust build farm
    + we need a powerful, dedicated front-end
    + armhf-linux build machine
    + leave Hydra in favor of 'guix publish' + custom code?
  - more OS features
    + LVM support
    + encrypted root
    + configurable name service switch
    + whole-system unit tests, using VMs
  - more service definitions
    + mcron, postfix(?), wicd(?), etc.
  - better 'guix system'
    + 'reconfigure' should be able to restart non-essential services
    + support for '--list-generations' and '--delete-generations'
  - better 'guix pull'
    + using Git to fetch the source instead of re-downloading everything
    + build more quickly
    + install new .mo files and new manual
    + authentication of the Guix source: use signed commits?
  - simplified, purely declarative service list in 'operating-system'
    + it should be possible to inspect the service instance declarations and
      settings
  - GUIs
    + integrate guix-web?
    + guile-ncurses installer?
  - 'guix publish'?

* Features for later

  - complete GNU/Hurd port
  - use content-based addressing when downloading substitutes to reduce
    bandwidth requirements
    + design nar v2 format where file contents are replaced by their hashes
    + leverage /gnu/store/.links
  - binary origin tracking
    + keep signatures in sqlite.db
    + preserve signatures upon import/export
  - peer-to-peer distribution of updates (GNUnet?)
  - more deterministic builds
    + identify & fix sources of non-determinism in builds
    + strengthen guix-daemon containers to further increase reproducibility
    + trusting-trust: bootstrap with different tool chains
    + fixed-point: re-bootstrap until fixed point is reached
    + distributed validation: compare contents of store items with others
      * resist a hydra.gnu.org compromise
  - reproducible containers: mix of 'guix environment' and 'guix system vm'
  - execute code with least privilege
    + build containers like guix-daemon does
    + provide a Plash-like interface in Bash
  - daemon rewritten in Guile
  - more shepherd integration
    + monitor network interfaces and start/stop events based on that
    + include a DHCP client written in Scheme
ripts/system.scm,
guix/scripts/weather.scm,
tests/builders.scm,
tests/channels.scm,
tests/cpan.scm,
tests/derivations.scm,
tests/gexp.scm,
tests/graph.scm,
tests/guix-daemon.sh,
tests/monads.scm,
tests/pack.scm,
tests/packages.scm,
tests/profiles.scm,
tests/system.scm: Remove #:use-module (guix grafts).
</span></span></td><td>Ludovic Courtès</td></tr>
<tr><td><span title='2021-07-18 19:50:01 +0200'>2021-07-18</span></td><td><a href='/guix/commit/tests/pack.scm?id=0e47fcced442d8e7c1b05184fdc1c14f10ed04ec'>Merge branch 'master' into core-updates</a></td><td>Ludovic Courtès</td></tr>
<tr><td><span title='2021-07-18 02:02:34 -0400'>2021-07-18</span></td><td><a href='/guix/commit/tests/pack.scm?id=aeded14b8342c1e72afd014a1bc121770f8c3a1c'>pack: Allow embedding custom control files in deb packs.</a><span class='msg-avail'>...<span class='msg-tooltip'>* guix/scripts/pack.scm (self-contained-tarball/builder)
[extra-options]: New argument.
(self-contained-tarball, squashfs-image, docker-image)
(debian-archive): Likewise.  Remove two TODO comments.  Document
EXTRA-OPTIONS.  Use the custom control files when provided.
(%deb-format-options): New variable.
(show-deb-format-options, show-deb-format-options/detailed): New procedures.
(%options): Register new options.
(show-help): Augment with new usage.
(guix-pack): Validate and propagate new argument values.
* doc/guix.texi (Invoking guix pack)[deb]: Document how to list advanced
options.  Add an example.
* tests/pack.scm (deb archive...): Provide extra-options to the debian-archive
procedure, and validate that the provided files are embedded in the pack.
</span></span></td><td>Maxim Cournoyer</td></tr>
<tr><td><span title='2021-07-11 00:39:56 +0200'>2021-07-11</span></td><td><a href='/guix/commit/tests/pack.scm?id=152b167cfac863885e00a5e94d0f1a687d165923'>pack: Adjust test to earlier &lt;compressor&gt; changes.</a><span class='msg-avail'>...<span class='msg-tooltip'>This is a followup to 5a0997ef7f3968d216328b8c63a6e36dd29a5ab8, which
broke the "self-contained tarball" test.

* tests/pack.scm (%gzip-compressor): Add 'list' in third field.
</span></span></td><td>Ludovic Courtès</td></tr>
<tr><td><span title='2021-06-29 14:53:21 -0400'>2021-06-29</span></td><td><a href='/guix/commit/tests/pack.scm?id=82daab42811a2e3c7684ebdf12af75ff0fa67b99'>pack: Add support for the deb format.</a><span class='msg-avail'>...<span class='msg-tooltip'>* .dir-locals.el (scheme-mode)[gexp-&gt;derivation]: Define indentation rule.
* guix/scripts/pack.scm (debian-archive): New procedure.
(%formats): Register the new deb format.
(show-formats): Add it to the usage string.
* tests/pack.scm (%ar-bootstrap): New variable.
(deb archive with symlinks): New test.
* doc/guix.texi (Invoking guix pack): Document it.
* NEWS: Add news entry.
</span></span></td><td>Maxim Cournoyer</td></tr>
<tr><td><span title='2021-06-29 14:53:21 -0400'>2021-06-29</span></td><td><a href='/guix/commit/tests/pack.scm?id=8108c266dc2fbc70602b2aa5c6887bf17bed16e8'>tests: pack: Fix compressor extension.</a><span class='msg-avail'>...<span class='msg-tooltip'>* tests/pack.scm (%gzip-compressor): Add the missing leading period to the
gzip compressor file extension.
</span></span></td><td>Maxim Cournoyer</td></tr>
<tr><td><span title='2020-07-20 23:25:09 +0200'>2020-07-20</span></td><td><a href='/guix/commit/tests/pack.scm?id=b3802495f607fd5e17c5acf0be2ee014036e2464'>pack: Build the store database under a UTF-8 locale.</a><span class='msg-avail'>...<span class='msg-tooltip'>Fixes &lt;https://bugs.gnu.org/42389&gt;.
Reported by branjam4@gmail.com.

* guix/scripts/pack.scm (store-database)[build]: Add calls to 'setenv'
and 'setlocale'.
* tests/pack.scm ("self-contained-tarball + localstatedir, UTF-8 file
names"): New test.
</span></span></td><td>Ludovic Courtès</td></tr>
<tr><td><span title='2020-07-20 23:25:09 +0200'>2020-07-20</span></td><td><a href='/guix/commit/tests/pack.scm?id=181e0dddd68dc58190bd4831ea5d1ecbd420d83a'>pack: 'self-contained-tarball' runs derivation in a UTF-8local.</a><span class='msg-avail'>...<span class='msg-tooltip'>* guix/scripts/pack.scm (self-contained-tarball)
[set-utf8-locale]: New variable.
[build]: Use it.
* tests/pack.scm ("self-contained-tarball"): Use a &lt;profile&gt; record
instead of 'profile-derivation'.
</span></span></td><td>Ludovic Courtès</td></tr>