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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/guix.texi')
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diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi index b925485be5..55c1ac3102 100644 --- a/doc/guix.texi +++ b/doc/guix.texi @@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ GNU Distribution * Package Modules:: Packages from the programmer's viewpoint. * Packaging Guidelines:: Growing the distribution. * Bootstrapping:: GNU/Linux built from scratch. +* Reduced Binary Seed Bootstrap:: A Bootstrap worthy of GNU. * Porting:: Targeting another platform or kernel. System Installation @@ -8694,6 +8695,7 @@ For information on porting to other architectures or kernels, * Package Modules:: Packages from the programmer's viewpoint. * Packaging Guidelines:: Growing the distribution. * Bootstrapping:: GNU/Linux built from scratch. +* Reduced Binary Seed Bootstrap:: A Bootstrap worthy of GNU. * Porting:: Targeting another platform or kernel. @end menu @@ -23552,6 +23554,9 @@ Binutils, libc, and the other packages mentioned above---the These bootstrap binaries are ``taken for granted'', though we can also re-create them if needed (more on that later). +For @code{i686-linux} the Guix bootstrap process is more elaborate, +@pxref{Reduced Binary Seed Bootstrap}. + @unnumberedsubsec Preparing to Use the Bootstrap Binaries @c As of Emacs 24.3, Info-mode displays the image, but since it's a @@ -23705,6 +23710,71 @@ bootstrap GCC with a sequence of assemblers, interpreters, and compilers of increasing complexity, which could be built from source starting from a simple and auditable assembler. Your help is welcome! +@node Reduced Binary Seed Bootstrap +@section The Reduced Binary Seed Bootstrap + +Guix---like other GNU/Linux distributions---is traditionally bootstrapped from +a set of bootstrap binaries: Bourne shell, command-line tools provided by GNU +Coreutils, Awk, Findutils, `sed', and `grep' and Guile, GCC, Binutils, and the +GNU C Library (@pxref{Bootstrapping}). Usually, these bootstrap binaries are +``taken for granted.'' + +Taking these binaries for granted means that we consider them to be a correct +and trustworthy `seed' for building the complete system. Therein lies a +problem: the current combined size of these bootstrap binaries is about 250MB +(@pxref{Bootstrappable Builds,,, mes, Mes Reference Manual}). Auditing or +even inspecting these is next to impossible. + +For @code{i686-linux}, Guix now features a ``Reduced Binary Seed'' bootstrap +@footnote{We would like to say: ``Full Source Bootstrap'' and while we are +working towards that goal it would be hyperbole to use that term for what we +do now.}. + +The Reduced Binary Seed bootstrap removes the most critical tools---from a +trust perspective---from the bootstrap binaries: GCC, Binutils and the GNU C +Library are replaced by: @code{mescc-tools-seed} (a tiny assembler and linker) +@code{mes-seed} (a small Scheme Interpreter and a C compiler writen in Scheme) +and @code{tinycc-seed} (the Mes C Library, built for TinyCC). Using these new +binary seeds and a new set of +@c +packages@footnote{@c +mescc-tools-boot, +nyacc-boot, +mes-boot, +tcc-boot0, +tcc-boot, +make-mesboot0, +diffutils-mesboot, +binutils-mesboot0, +gcc-core-mesboot, +mesboot-headers, +glibc-mesboot0, +gcc-mesboot0, +binutils-mesboot, +make-mesboot, +gcc-mesboot1, +gcc-mesboot1-wrapper, +glibc-headers-mesboot, +glibc-mesboot, +gcc-mesboot, +and +gcc-mesboot-wrapper. +} +@c +the ``missing'' Binutils, GCC, and the GNU C Library are built from source. +From here on the more traditional bootstrap process resumes. This approach +has reduced the bootstrap binaries in size to about 130MB. Work is ongoing to +reduce this further. If you are interested, join us on @code{#bootstrappable} +on the Freenode IRC network. + +@c ./pre-inst-env guix graph --type=bag -e '(begin (use-modules (guix packages)) (%current-system "i686-linux") (@@ (gnu packages commencement) gcc-mesboot))' > doc/images/gcc-mesboot-bag-graph.dot +@c dot -T png doc/images/gcc-mesboot-bag-graph.dot > doc/images/gcc-mesboot-bag-graph.png + +Below is the generated dependency graph for @code{gcc-mesboot}, the bootstrap +compiler used to build the rest of GuixSD. + +@image{images/gcc-mesboot-bag-graph,6in,,Dependency graph of the gcc-mesboot} + @node Porting @section Porting to a New Platform |