#+TITLE: Nonguix Nonguix is a software repository for the [[https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/][GNU Guix]] package manager, which packages some software which cannot be included in the official distribution for ethical or policy-related reasons. Please do NOT promote this repository on any official Guix communication channels, such as their mailing lists or IRC channel, even in response to support requests! This is to show respect for the Guix project's [[http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html][strict policy]] against recommending nonfree software, and to avoid any unnecessary hostility. Before using this channel, you should understand the implications of using nonfree software. Read [[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html][What is free software?]] for more information. (Check out the [[https://gitlab.com/guix-gaming-channels][Guix Gaming Channels]] if you're interested in nonfree games too!) * Warning This channel does not endorse any non-free application. We believe it is non-ethical, harmful to software development and restricts the users freedom. See the [[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html][GNU philosophy]] for a more thorough discussion. Those packages are provided as a last resort, should none of the official Guix packages work for you. You should understand the implication of using non-free software. Some of those implications include: - Endorsement of non-free products and the perpetration of a culture of restriction on liberties. - Non-free software cannot (or hardly) be audited: it can potentially spy on you, destroy or steal your data. As a minimal security measure, it's heavily recommended to run any non-free software inside a container. * Installation Nonguix can be installed as a [[https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/en/html_node/Channels.html][Guix channel]]. To do so, add it to =~/.config/guix/channels.scm=: #+BEGIN_SRC scheme (cons* (channel (name 'nonguix) (url "https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix") ;; Enable signature verification: (introduction (make-channel-introduction "897c1a470da759236cc11798f4e0a5f7d4d59fbc" (openpgp-fingerprint "2A39 3FFF 68F4 EF7A 3D29 12AF 6F51 20A0 22FB B2D5")))) %default-channels) #+END_SRC Then run =guix pull=. * Using Nonfree Firmware and Drivers To use Guix System with the standard Linux kernel and nonfree firmware, edit the ~kernel~ and ~firmware~ fields of the ~operating-system~ definition in =config.scm=: #+BEGIN_SRC scheme ;; Import nonfree linux module. (use-modules (nongnu packages linux) (nongnu system linux-initrd)) (operating-system (kernel linux) (initrd microcode-initrd) (firmware (list linux-firmware)) ... ) #+END_SRC If you only need firmware for a specific piece of hardware, you may be able to save disk space by using a smaller firmware package instead: #+BEGIN_SRC scheme (firmware (cons* iwlwifi-firmware %base-firmware)) #+END_SRC Then of course, run ~sudo guix system reconfigure /etc/config.scm~ to apply your configuration. ** Installation image For some hardware the official Guix installation image won't do (e.g. unsupported wifi). You can generate an installation image running the nonfree Linux kernel and nonfree firmware with the following command: #+begin_src sh guix system disk-image /path/to/this/channel/nongnu/system/install.scm #+end_src Then you can write the generated disk image to a USB thumbdrive with: #+BEGIN_SRC sh # NOTE: This example assumes your thumbdrive is recognized by Linux as /dev/sdb. dd if=/path/to/disk-image of=/dev/sdb bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync #+END_SRC The installation media produced by the above method does not automatically configure your channels specification. You need to add Nonguix "manually" into ~/etc/guix/channels.scm~ and then run ~guix pull~ to make Guix aware of Nonguix scheme libraries. Below is Guile scheme code to include Nonguix in the channel specification. #+BEGIN_SRC scheme (use-modules (ice-9 pretty-print)) (with-output-to-file "/etc/guix/channels.scm" (lambda _ (pretty-print '(cons* (channel (name 'nonguix) (url "https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix")) %default-channels)))) #+END_SRC ** CPU Microcode CPU microcode updates are nonfree blobs that apply directly to a processor to patch its behavior, and are therefore not included in upstream GNU Guix. However, running the latest microcode is important to avoid nasty CPU bugs and hardware security vulnerabilities. To enable early loading of CPU microcode, use the ~microcode-initrd~ function to add the microcode to the Initial RAM Disk. Most users can simply import ~(nongnu system linux-initrd)~ and add ~(initrd microcode-initrd)~ to their ~operating-system~ definition, as illustrated above. If you need to customize the ~initrd~ for some reason, you should first understand the upstream documentation on [[https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Initial-RAM-Disk.html][Initial RAM Disks]]. ~microcode-initrd~ simply wraps another ~initrd~ function, which you can swap out for your own. For example, this: #+BEGIN_SRC scheme (initrd microcode-initrd) #+END_SRC is exactly equivalent to: #+BEGIN_SRC scheme (initrd (lambda (file-systems . rest) (apply microcode-initrd file-systems #:initrd base-initrd #:microcode-packages (list amd-microcode intel-microcode) rest))) #+END_SRC ** Broadcom Wireless Some Broadcom wireless hardware requires a proprietary kernel module in addition to firmware. To use such hardware you will also need to add a service to load that module on boot, and blacklist conflicting kernel modules: #+BEGIN_SRC scheme (use-modules (nongnu packages linux)) (operating-system (kernel linux) ;; Blacklist conflicting kernel modules. (kernel-arguments '("modprobe.blacklist=b43,b43legacy,ssb,bcm43xx,brcm80211,brcmfmac,brcmsmac,bcma")) (kernel-loadable-modules (list broadcom-sta)) (firmware (cons* broadcom-bt-firmware %base-firmware)) ...) #+END_SRC ** Avoiding kernel recompilation Since prebuilt substitutes are not currently available for Nonguix, you may find that ~guix system reconfigure~ recompiles the kernel frequently due to version bumps in the kernel package. An inferior can be used to pin the kernel version and avoid lengthy rebuilds. You must pin both Guix and Nonguix, as the Nonguix kernel packages derive from those in Guix (so changes in either could cause a rebuild). Your preferred kernel version must be available in both pinned channels. Consult the output of ~guix system describe~ to get the commits of Guix and Nonguix for the current generation. Once you have determined the commits to use, create an inferior in your system configuration file that pins the channels to them. Then grab the appropriately-versioned Linux package from the inferior to use as your kernel. #+BEGIN_SRC scheme (use-modules (srfi srfi-1) ; for `first' (guix channels)) (operating-system (kernel (let* ((channels (list (channel (name 'nonguix) (url "https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix") (commit "ff6ca98099c7c90e64256236a49ab21fa96fe11e")) (channel (name 'guix) (url "https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git") (commit "3be96aa9d93ea760e2d965cb3ef03540f01a0a22")))) (inferior (inferior-for-channels channels))) (first (lookup-inferior-packages inferior "linux" "5.4.21")))) ...) #+END_SRC * Contributing Contributions are welcome! If there's a package you would like to add, just fork the repository and create a Merge Request when your package is ready. Keep in mind: - Nonguix follows the same [[https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/en/html_node/Coding-Style.html][coding style]] as GNU Guix. If you don't use Emacs, you should make use of the indent script from the GNU Guix repository (=./etc/indent-code.el=). - Commit messages should follow the same [[https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html][conventions]] set by GNU Guix. - Although licensing restrictions are relaxed, packages should still have accurate license metadata. - If a package could be added to upstream GNU Guix with a reasonable amount of effort, then it probably doesn't belong in Nonguix. This isn't a dumping ground for subpar packages, but sometimes we may accept free software packages which are currently too cumbersome to properly build from source. - If your package is a game, you should submit it to the [[https://gitlab.com/guix-gaming-channels][Guix Gaming Channels]] instead. If you have a history of making quality contributions to GNU Guix or Nonguix and would like commit access, just ask! Nontrivial changes should still go through a simple Merge Request and code review process, but Nonguix needs more people involved to succeed as a community project. * Community If you want to discuss Nonguix-related topics, you can hang out and stay in touch on the =#nonguix= IRC channel on Freenode.