Running GNU Guix on top of bare Debian with SysV

Introduction

This section deals with running GNU Guix as a package manager inside an existing distribution - which can be any distro. Before I make the full jump to running GuixSD I decided to run a bare bones Debian with SysV on my laptop (apparently I am one of the few people who does not like systemd) so I still get apt and Debian firmware support when I need it. And then one day, when I know I no longer need apt, I may take the plunge into running GuixSD on my laptop (running stock servers will be easier). Do note that there are quite a few people running GuixSD on their laptops too! But it is not for the faint of heart.

The setup is on an older Thinkpad T420. Pretty much everything works. And because I use the minimalistic i3 windo manager almost everything is invoked from the command line.

Install a bare Debian

Since I already had a Debian installed I could use debootstrap to install a minimal distro on a fresh partition. I used a 10Gb partition, which should be large enough as Guix will go on another partition.

debootstrap stable /mnt/sda3/ http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/

That installs about 170 packages(!) and we may start purging some later.

After the chroot, install SysV and you can optionally purge systemd according to info. Edit /etc/fstab to match your system and install kernel and headers

apt-get install linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-3.16.0-4-all-amd64

which also fetches the free firmware. I also added a networking interface and the openssh software so I can configure remotely. Now we are at 270-odd packages (a minimal Debian is easily 1GB and with X 2GB). Also add users/groups in the new partition so you can login.

Install grub2 on the boot partition, typically

apt-get install grub2
update-grub2
grub-install /dev/sda

and reboot. Recently I also installed an Intel NUC this way. To get it booting a few extra steps were required booting the kernel from grub-efi and following https://wiki.debian.org/GrubEFIReinstall. Note with the Debian installer you can both chroot in console to update grub-efi and remote ssh login from the rescue part of the installer (very nice if you use a non-standard keyboard layout). Don’t forget to rename grubx64.efi to bootx64.efi and add the grub menu:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub-install --boot-directory=/boot /dev/nvme0(n1)

Copy GNU Guix

Next create a partition for Guix and start installing. The quickest way is to copy the relevant files from another system. Guix is good at that because it does not interfere with anything else. Simple way is to copy all files in /gnu/store, /var/guix and the .guix-profile directory in your home dir (note that the proper way to do this is via guix archive). The store on my running laptop is 12Gb in size. It probably is a good idea to reserve at least 20GB, the larger the better.

You may need to set the key and update guix according to guix-notes.

When everything works there is probably nothing else to install because my previous /gnu/store was up-to-date! For example, my installation of python and elixir with dependencies just worked (tm). There is no smoother way to move from one machine to another.

Start replacing services

Running services

On my freshly installed bare system only the following services are running (outside kernel stuff):

ps xau|grep bin
root      1180  0.0  0.0 258672  2252 ?        Ssl  Jun12   0:00 /usr/sbin/rsyslogd
root      1227  0.0  0.0  25904  2076 ?        Ss   Jun12   0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
root      1238  0.0  0.0  19276  1684 ?        Ss   Jun12   0:07 /usr/sbin/irqbalance --pid=/var/run/irqbalance.pid
root      1269  0.0  0.0  55184  3224 ?        Ss   Jun12   0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
root      1293  0.0  0.0  12844  1736 tty1     Ss+  Jun12   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
root      1294  0.0  0.0  12844  1788 tty2     Ss+  Jun12   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
root      1295  0.0  0.0  12844  1860 tty3     Ss+  Jun12   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
root      1296  0.0  0.0  12844  1840 tty4     Ss+  Jun12   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
root      1297  0.0  0.0  12844  1768 tty5     Ss+  Jun12   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
root      1298  0.0  0.0  12844  1852 tty6     Ss+  Jun12   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
root      2457  0.0  0.0  20312  3352 pts/3    Ss   00:58   0:00 /bin/bash
root      2458  0.0  0.0  33872  4008 pts/3    S+   00:58   0:00 /home/pjotr/.guix-profile/bin/guix-daemon --build-users-group=guixbuild

Nice and minimalistic!

Wifi

As root

guix package -i wpa-supplicant iw

My thinkpad laptop needs some non-free firmware - here Debian comes in handy:

apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi
modprobe -r iwlwifi
modprobe iwlwifi
dhclient -v wlan0
iw wlan0 scan|grep -i ssid

should start the interface and show available routers. Now we need to register with the router

wpa_passphrase essid key >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

where essid is the name of the router and key is the access phrase/key.

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf &
dhclient -v wlan0

The last two lines can go into the startup script.

Note that this is the barebones way of running wifi and may not be good enough with more complicated setups, such as eduroam (easily handled using networkmanager). Here is one example using wpa_supplicant, and here is the one I am using today:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

network={
        ssid="eduroam"
        key_mgmt=IEEE8021X WPA-NONE WPA-EAP
        eap=PEAP
        identity="pjort@university.edu"
        password="*****"
        #ca_cert="/location/of/cert" # This might not be required.
        phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
        priority=2
        auth_alg=OPEN
}

openssh on Guix

The first candidate is to run openssh server through Guix because Guix contains a more modern edition, e.g. on Debian stable (which just came out) compared with guix:

/usr/bin/ssh -V
  OpenSSH_6.7p1 Debian-5+deb8u2, OpenSSL 1.0.1t  3 May 2016
guix package -A ssh
  libssh  0.7.3   out     gnu/packages/ssh.scm:46:2
  libssh2 1.7.0   out     gnu/packages/ssh.scm:89:2
  openssh 7.2p2   out     gnu/packages/ssh.scm:116:2

As root on guix install openssh

guix package -i openssh
~/.guix-profile/bin/ssh -V
OpenSSH_7.2p2, OpenSSL 1.0.2h  3 May 2016

now we want to tell the server to use this. First try by hand, e.g.

/root/.guix-profile/sbin/sshd -f /etc/ssh/sshd_config

next update the script in /etc/init.d/ssh to use this command.

Once it works we purge ssh from Debian

apt-get remove openssh-server openssh-client openssh-sftp-server

Feeling lighter already ;)

Environment

Locales

Mixing locales has its problems. With this setup I set both GUIX_LOCPATH and LOCPATH and next the locale:

guix package -i glibc-locales
export LOCPATH="$HOME/.guix-profile/lib/locale"
export GUIX_LOCPATH="$HOME/.guix-profile/lib/locale"
export LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8

Note that Guix can have multiple locales (tied to glibc), see INSTALL.org.

Setting up the desktop

Graphics driver

First thing we need is a driver for X. My laptop has an intel card. Install the following as root (and later as normal user)

guix package -i xf86-video-intel xorg-server xinit slim \
   xterm xf86-input-keyboard xf86-input-mouse xf86-input-evdev \
   xf86-input-libinput xf86-input-synaptics xinput libdrm \
   xf86driproto

xf86-video-intel

Add the search paths to .bashrc (or something):

guix package --search-paths

start X as root

slim

and you should be able to run a desktop with

startx -- ~/.guix-profile/bin/X

I had to add a basic xorg.conf file to point to the drivers.

Note that the X server has to run with root privileges. I am not sure how to work around this, but I set suid permissions in the store for the X server.

A working /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "X.org Configured"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection


Section "ServerFlags"
   Option   "AllowEmptyInput"     "false"
   Option   "AutoAddDevices"      "false"
   Option   "AutoEnableDevices"   "false"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath   "/home/pjotr/.guix-profile/lib/xorg/modules"
    ModulePath   "/home/pjotr/.guix-profile/lib/xorg/modules/drivers"
    ModulePath   "/home/pjotr/.guix-profile/lib/xorg/modules/input"
    ModulePath   "/home/pjotr/.guix-profile/lib/xorg/modules/extensions"
    # XkbDir       "/etc/X11/xkb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load  "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "modesetting"
        BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Now, on my bare X11 system running i3wm, only the following services are running (outside kernel stuff):

ps xau|grep bin
root       334  0.0  0.0  41104  3496 ?        Ss   07:15   0:00 udevd --daemon
root      1073  0.0  0.0  25400  7708 ?        Ss   07:16   0:00 dhclient -v -pf /run/dhclient.eth0.pid -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient.eth0.leases eth0
root      1191  0.0  0.0 258672  3000 ?        Ssl  07:16   0:00 /usr/sbin/rsyslogd
root      1230  0.0  0.0  25904  2124 ?        Ss   07:16   0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
root      1251  0.0  0.0  19276  2056 ?        Ss   07:16   0:00 /usr/sbin/irqbalance --pid=/var/run/irqbalance.pid
root      1275  0.0  0.0  30644  2452 ?        Ss   07:16   0:00 /root/.guix-profile/sbin/sshd -f /etc/ssh/sshd_config
root      1299  0.0  0.0  63528  3076 tty1     Ss   07:16   0:00 /bin/login --
root      1300  0.0  0.0  12844  1824 tty2     Ss+  07:16   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
root      1301  0.0  0.0  12844  1948 tty3     Ss+  07:16   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
root      1302  0.0  0.0  12844  1960 tty4     Ss+  07:16   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
root      1303  0.0  0.0  12844  1928 tty5     Ss+  07:16   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
root      1304  0.0  0.0  12844  1912 tty6     Ss+  07:16   0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
pjotr     1339  0.0  0.0  18028  1956 tty1     S+   07:16   0:00 xinit /home/pjotr/.xinitrc -- /home/pjotr/.guix-profile/bin/X :0 -auth /home/pjotr/.serverauth.1321
root      1340  0.1  0.4 155516 32900 tty7     Ss+  07:16   0:00 /home/pjotr/.guix-profile/bin/X :0 -auth /home/pjotr/.serverauth.1321
pjotr     1344  0.0  0.1 115936  9372 tty1     S    07:16   0:00 i3
pjotr     1348  0.0  0.1  90168  8080 ?        S    07:16   0:00 i3bar --bar_id=bar-0 --socket=/tmp/i3-pjotr.xWV6Ja/ipc-socket.1344
pjotr     1349  0.0  0.0  57320  3924 ?        S    07:16   0:00 i3status

Note the lack of dbus, for example. Still nice and minimalistic. I think this is sweet.

Fonts

This description appeals to me:

guix package --show=font-terminus
location: gnu/packages/fonts.scm:381:2
homepage: http://terminus-font.sourceforge.net/
license: SIL OFL 1.1
synopsis: Simple bitmap programming font
description: Terminus Font is a clean, fixed width bitmap font, designed for
+ long (8 and more hours per day) work with computers.

Install

guix package -i font-terminus

The fonts are stored in $HOME/.guix-profile/share/fonts/terminus. Now you can do

xterm -fa 'terminus' -fs 20

or

xterm -fa 'terminus' -fn 9x15

to get a large font. Another interesting set is font-liberation:

synopsis: Fonts compatible with Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New
description: The Liberation font family aims at metric compatibility with
+ Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New.
+ - Sans (a substitute for Arial, Albany, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, and
+ Bitstream Vera Sans);
+ - Serif (a substitute for Times New Roman, Thorndale, Nimbus Roman, and
+ Bitstream Vera Serif);
+ - Mono (a substitute for Courier New, Cumberland, Courier, Nimbus Mono L, and
+ Bitstream Vera Sans Mono).

Usage

xterm -fa 'Mono' -fs 20

Keyboard layout

guix package -i xset setxkbmap

I had to copy my keyboard layout into the store (not recommended, I need to add a proper package!)

root@monza:/gnu/store/cqwv78pirkfka92flin1hs34sb5i8v1k-xkeyboard-config-2.17# cp /home/pjotr/workman share/X11/xkb/symbols/

Mouse

I find the speed of the external mouse to be high. Get the id

xinput list

list properties

xinput list-props 6

Decerate using the mouse id, the propedty id and a new value. On my system:

xinput set-prop 6 243 3.0

External screen

xrandr --output LVDS-1 --same-as VGA-1 --output VGA-1 --auto

Sleep mode

echo -n mem > /sys/power/state

Battery status

i3wm comes with a status bar. To get battery info:

acpi -b
  Battery 0: Discharging, 98%, 04:42:42 remaining

Other services

Wifi

Connect to eduroam

No need for networkmanager!! This works at University of Utrecht and Wageningen University:

pkill wpa_supplicant
wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant_eduroam.conf &
dhclient -v wlan0

where /etc/wpa_supplicant_eduroam.conf contains

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

network={
        ssid="eduroam"
        key_mgmt=IEEE8021X WPA-NONE WPA-EAP
        eap=PEAP
        identity="email/account"
        password="****"
        #ca_cert="/location/of/cert" # This might not be required.
        phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
        priority=2
        auth_alg=OPEN
}

Fan control

Create /etc/modprobe.d/thinkpad_acpi.conf with:

options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1

Reload the module and switch off the fan with

 echo level 0 > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

It is recommended to have a daemon running such as thinkfan. The settings I use now are

hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon2/temp1_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon2/temp2_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon2/temp3_input
(0,     0,      65)
(1,     65,     70)
(2,     70,     72)
(3,     72,     74)
(4,     74,     76)
(5,     76,     78)
(6,     78,     80)
(7,     80,     32767)

stunnel

Currently use Debian stunnel (I know).

Conclusion

Complicated screen, keyboard, power management, fan control and wifi setup work fine. I switch for my daily work seamlessly between work station and laptop since they have the exact same tools.

Reproducibility between machines is a Guix feature.

I have a few minor niggles I still need to improve. The remaining item is that I would like to improve the fonts.

For the rest it is rather perfect!! Next time I may try a pure Guix setup!

Note: ultimately I did cave in to run cups, Chrome, FireFox and Skype on top of Debian dependencies. Now dbus is also running. But still, most software is Guix installed and the number of background processes is minimal. Cups has a Guix package - I just did not bother to figure out how to run it. And if you can live without these tools you can go a long way with pure Guix!

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OTHER_DISTRO.org

OTHER_DISTRO.org

Running GNU Guix on top of bare Debian with SysV

Table of Contents

Introduction

Install a bare Debian

Copy GNU Guix

Start replacing services

Running services

Wifi

openssh on Guix

Environment

Locales

Setting up the desktop

Graphics driver

Fonts

Keyboard layout

Mouse

External screen

Sleep mode

Battery status

Other services

Wifi

Connect to eduroam

Fan control

stunnel

Conclusion

Files

OTHER_DISTRO.org

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History

OTHER_DISTRO.org

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Running GNU Guix on top of bare Debian with SysV

Table of Contents

Introduction

Install a bare Debian

Copy GNU Guix

Start replacing services

Running services

Wifi

openssh on Guix

Environment

Locales

Setting up the desktop

Graphics driver

Fonts

Keyboard layout

Mouse

External screen

Sleep mode

Battery status

Other services

Wifi

Connect to eduroam

Fan control

stunnel

Conclusion