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| author | Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> | 2014-02-21 20:22:57 +0100 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> | 2014-02-21 23:49:53 +0100 |
| commit | 0dbd88db3933fac9c79adb107ab4a6932f33ea99 (patch) | |
| tree | 9ca896308b9f9c04aff151b8161f9efb396acc81 /doc | |
| parent | 96c7448f370227c9777a6acdac4ac65f1884fb43 (diff) | |
| download | patches-0dbd88db3933fac9c79adb107ab4a6932f33ea99.tar patches-0dbd88db3933fac9c79adb107ab4a6932f33ea99.tar.gz | |
doc: More on what's special about the archive format.
* doc/guix.texi (Invoking guix archive): Expound on what sets the Nar
format apart.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/guix.texi | 18 |
1 files changed, 13 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi index b2733fbec9..36e68668ef 100644 --- a/doc/guix.texi +++ b/doc/guix.texi @@ -1095,11 +1095,19 @@ the target machine's store. The @code{--missing} option can help figure out which items are missing from the target's store. Archives are stored in the ``Nix archive'' or ``Nar'' format, which is -comparable in spirit to `tar'. When exporting, the daemon digitally -signs the contents of the archive, and that digital signature is -appended. When importing, the daemon verifies the signature and rejects -the import in case of an invalid signature or if the signing key is not -authorized. +comparable in spirit to `tar', but with a few noteworthy differences +that make it more appropriate for our purposes. First, rather than +recording all Unix meta-data for each file, the Nar format only mentions +the file type (regular, directory, or symbolic link); Unix permissions +and owner/group are dismissed. Second, the order in which directory +entries are stored always follows the order of file names according to +the C locale collation order. This makes archive production fully +deterministic. + +When exporting, the daemon digitally signs the contents of the archive, +and that digital signature is appended. When importing, the daemon +verifies the signature and rejects the import in case of an invalid +signature or if the signing key is not authorized. @c FIXME: Add xref to daemon doc about signatures. The main options are: |