[bug#69343] Simplify bootloader data structures and procedures

[Felix Lechner]

Hi Lilah,

On Fri, Mar 08 2024, Lilah Tascheter wrote:

> this is really useful!! love having access to generation numbers
> alongside boot params, and the terminology fixing's great too :)

Thank you for taking a closer look! Sorry I did not get back to you on
the system-path question before. Of course, you were right.

If you will please accept an excuse for my tardiness: My family has a
new sister. Time passes when a baby cries.

> * (gnu system boot) was missing a few imports that it needs to work.

I regularly notice missing imports, too, but haven't figured out when
they present an obstacle to running a Guile program.

> * (gnu system boot) requires the procedure
> system-linux-image-file-name, which is defined in (gnu system). I
> moved it over to (gnu system boot).

Thanks for doing that! Now you and I are co-conspirators in re-arranging
the procedures.

> * generation->boot-alternative in (guix scripts system) had typos in
> variables resulting in them not being used.

Thank you for finding those. I have poor vision and am not good with
details, including speling.

> * commit messages didn't have relevant gnu changelog info.

Yes, I will read the GNU ChangeLog spec one more time, but all hope may
be lost.

> * one of those commit messages had a wholeass log that's Way too much
> extraneous information and just got in the way

My commit messages are widely regarded as wordy, roundabout and overly
documentative.

> this v2 passes all relevant unit tests, but could still definately use some
> verification that the modified paths function properly before I'd say this is
> ready to be merged.

I use 'guix deploy' and will test your patch series shortly. (Despite
the previous shortcomings, I have been using it in production.) My
branch rebase is overdue.

Unfortunately, I have many custom patches, including some affecting core
packages. A branch rebase locally causes a full bootstrap and takes
about two days.

Given your attention here, I am sure your changes are fine. Folks should
feel free to merge your work before I return with confirmation. Thanks!

Kind regards
Felix