Updating Guix package manager on Debian-based systems

[David Seaward]

Hi all,

Previous discussion suggested that Guix (the package manager)
could not be included in Debian (and therefore derivatives) due
to technical policy. As a Debian-derivative user (PureOS and
sometimes Ubuntu) I'd still like a convenient way to try out and
recommend Guix to others. That is, more convenient than the (very
thorough) instructions at
https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Binary-Installation.html

I think this hinges on how to get updates once Guix is installed.
If Guix can perform updates itself (including system
re-configuration as required), then a one-off first-time script
for Debian-based systems would be sufficient. I'm going to
(slowly) try my hand at this as time permits.

But, if Guix can't update itself or can't perform configuration
changes on a parent Debian system (should the need arise), then a
deb package is definitely more suitable. Delivering it in a deb
repository (rather than just offering a deb file to download)
would be best, because then users would get updates easily. For
the user it would be as simple as this...

sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://magical.unicorn/repos/guix
stable main'
# maybe some command here for a key
sudo apt update
sudo apt install guix

Of course, someone would need to keep packaging guix as a deb,
build the debs and push them to https://magical.unicorn/repos --
it wasn't clear to me if this kind of effort is feasible?

Regards,
David