Guix having multiple profiles as nice but having two different default profiles is confusing and I'm unclear as to what the benefit of having two is supposed to be. Surely a single default profile would be simpler? Not clear when GUIX_PROFILE should point to one and when to the other.
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The .config/guix-current directory contains just the guix program itself and the list of packages. Running guix pull updates both of these.
The .guix_profile directory contains all other packages you install with guix install.
I assume that purpose is so that you can share the same guix between your main profile and other profiles (eg. guix install --profile) as well as allowing upgrade of guix without independently of these profiles.
Ben Sturmfels
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I don't see why I couldn't use a guix installed in .guix_profile to upgrade other profiles by passing an appropriate flag. Likewise since guix doesn't seem to expose dependencies in the profile I don't see why I need a separate profile to upgrade guix independently of other packages in the profile. – William Hay Jun 21 '21 at 05:57
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I found a post that gives reasons why guix is installed in a separate profile: https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-11/msg01157.html. The reasons given are that it could cause undesirable behavior where upgrading guix creates a new generation or, theoretically, prevents rollback. Ensuring that rollback works seems like an adequate reason to me so I guess my question is answered but I'm not sure why creating a new generation is considered undesirable.
William Hay
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