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authorLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2016-03-19 14:45:58 +0100
committerLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2016-03-19 15:07:46 +0100
commitef5f5c8659b1ca3999e362dfa33478e0a0150ced (patch)
treee2967b666c0434b76e4a16a9346f50fa04067958 /doc/guix.texi
parent7c49ab5b1c1aa79a06504456e4decc5112c5b9f9 (diff)
build: Protect against misconfiguration of localstatedir.
Suggested by Jookia <166291@gmail.com>. * m4/guix.m4 (GUIX_CURRENT_LOCALSTATEDIR, GUIX_CHECK_LOCALSTATEDIR): New macros. * config-daemon.ac: Use 'GUIX_CHECK_LOCALSTATEDIR'. * Makefile.am (DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS): Add --localstatedir. * doc/guix.texi (Requirements): Mention --localstatedir. (The Store): Mention LOCALSTATEDIR as such.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/guix.texi')
-rw-r--r--doc/guix.texi14
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index b36be05686..868948adfc 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -527,6 +527,14 @@ following packages are also needed:
C++11 standard.
@end itemize
+When configuring Guix on a system that already has a Guix installation,
+be sure to specify the same state directory as the existing installation
+using the @code{--localstatedir} option of the @command{configure}
+script (@pxref{Directory Variables, @code{localstatedir},, standards,
+GNU Coding Standards}). The @command{configure} script protects against
+unintended misconfiguration of @var{localstatedir} so you do not
+inadvertently corrupt your store (@pxref{The Store}).
+
When a working installation of @url{http://nixos.org/nix/, the Nix package
manager} is available, you
can instead configure Guix with @code{--disable-daemon}. In that case,
@@ -2945,9 +2953,9 @@ Sub-directories in the store are referred to as @dfn{store items} or
sometimes @dfn{store paths}. The store has an associated database that
contains information such as the store paths referred to by each store
path, and the list of @emph{valid} store items---results of successful
-builds. This database resides in @file{/var/guix/db} (or under whatever
-state directory was specified @i{via} @option{--localstatedir} at
-configure time).
+builds. This database resides in @file{@var{localstatedir}/guix/db},
+where @var{localstatedir} is the state directory specified @i{via}
+@option{--localstatedir} at configure time, usually @file{/var}.
The store is @emph{always} accessed by the daemon on behalf of its clients
(@pxref{Invoking guix-daemon}). To manipulate the store, clients