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authorLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2016-03-25 23:50:56 +0100
committerLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2016-03-25 23:54:12 +0100
commit6f773606812075ee5c6747c3b7f95285254e48f2 (patch)
treed53aa595127ded44695b5f98fefdca9a3bbd6bad /doc
parentc7762233fbca476225efd2295eb88860815b8633 (diff)
downloadguix-6f773606812075ee5c6747c3b7f95285254e48f2.tar
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doc: Rephrase introduction to give a better overview.
Suggested by myglc2 <myglc2@gmail.com>. * doc/guix.texi (Introduction): Rephrase to mention features and use cases first, and foundations last. (Features): Mention "GuixSD". (Utilities): Change intro: not all the tools are for packagers.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
-rw-r--r--doc/guix.texi72
1 files changed, 47 insertions, 25 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 08d7a08ffa..482cc9942e 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -249,20 +249,52 @@ Coding Style
@node Introduction
@chapter Introduction
+@cindex purpose
GNU Guix@footnote{``Guix'' is pronounced like ``geeks'', or ``ɡiːks''
-using the international phonetic alphabet (IPA).} is a functional
-package management tool for the GNU system. Package management consists
-of all activities that relate to building packages from sources,
-honoring their build-time and run-time dependencies,
-installing packages in user environments, upgrading installed packages
-to new versions or rolling back to a previous set, removing unused
-software packages, etc.
+using the international phonetic alphabet (IPA).} is a package
+management tool for the GNU system. Guix makes it easy for unprivileged
+users to install, upgrade, or remove packages, to roll back to a
+previous package set, to build packages from source, and generally
+assists with the creation and maintenance of software environments.
+
+@cindex user interfaces
+Guix provides a command-line package management interface
+(@pxref{Invoking guix package}), a set of command-line utilities
+(@pxref{Utilities}), a visual user interface in Emacs (@pxref{Emacs
+Interface}), as well as Scheme programming interfaces
+(@pxref{Programming Interface}).
+@cindex build daemon
+Its @dfn{build daemon} is responsible for building packages on behalf of
+users (@pxref{Setting Up the Daemon}) and for downloading pre-built
+binaries from authorized sources (@pxref{Substitutes}).
+
+@cindex extensibility of the distribution
+@cindex customization of packages
+Guix includes package definitions for many GNU and non-GNU packages, all
+of which @uref{https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html, respect the
+user's computing freedom}. It is @emph{extensible}: users can write
+their own package definitions (@pxref{Defining Packages}) and make them
+available as independent package modules (@pxref{Package Modules}). It
+is also @emph{customizable}: users can @emph{derive} specialized package
+definitions from existing ones, including from the command line
+(@pxref{Package Transformation Options}).
+
+@cindex Guix System Distribution
+@cindex GuixSD
+You can install GNU@tie{}Guix on top of an existing GNU/Linux system
+where it complements the available tools without interference
+(@pxref{Installation}), or you can use it as part of the standalone
+@dfn{Guix System Distribution} or GuixSD (@pxref{GNU Distribution}).
+With GNU@tie{}GuixSD, you @emph{declare} all aspects of the operating
+system configuration and Guix takes care of instantiating the
+configuration in a transactional, reproducible, and stateless fashion
+(@pxref{System Configuration}).
@cindex functional package management
-The term @dfn{functional} refers to a specific package management
+Under the hood, Guix implements the @dfn{functional package management}
discipline pioneered by Nix (@pxref{Acknowledgments}).
In Guix, the package build and installation process is seen
-as a function, in the mathematical sense. That function takes inputs,
+as a @emph{function}, in the mathematical sense. That function takes inputs,
such as build scripts, a compiler, and libraries, and
returns an installed package. As a pure function, its result depends
solely on its inputs---for instance, it cannot refer to software or
@@ -286,18 +318,6 @@ This approach is the foundation for the salient features of Guix: support
for transactional package upgrade and rollback, per-user installation, and
garbage collection of packages (@pxref{Features}).
-Guix has a command-line interface, which allows users to build, install,
-upgrade, and remove packages, as well as a Scheme programming interface.
-
-@cindex Guix System Distribution
-@cindex GuixSD
-Last but not least, Guix is used to build a distribution of the GNU
-system, with many GNU and non-GNU free software packages. The Guix
-System Distribution, or GNU@tie{}GuixSD, takes advantage of the core
-properties of Guix at the system level. With GuixSD, users
-@emph{declare} all aspects of the operating system configuration, and
-Guix takes care of instantiating that configuration in a reproducible,
-stateless fashion. @xref{GNU Distribution}.
@c *********************************************************************
@node Installation
@@ -1214,7 +1234,8 @@ In addition, any package transaction may be @emph{rolled back}. So, if,
for example, an upgrade installs a new version of a package that turns
out to have a serious bug, users may roll back to the previous instance
of their profile, which was known to work well. Similarly, the global
-system configuration is subject to transactional upgrades and roll-back
+system configuration on GuixSD is subject to
+transactional upgrades and roll-back
(@pxref{Using the Configuration System}).
All packages in the package store may be @emph{garbage-collected}.
@@ -3878,9 +3899,10 @@ has an associated gexp compiler, such as a @code{<package>}.
@node Utilities
@chapter Utilities
-This section describes tools primarily targeted at developers and users
-who write new package definitions. They complement the Scheme
-programming interface of Guix in a convenient way.
+This section describes Guix command-line utilities. Some of them are
+primarily targeted at developers and users who write new package
+definitions, while others are more generally useful. They complement
+the Scheme programming interface of Guix in a convenient way.
@menu
* Invoking guix build:: Building packages from the command line.