doc: Make '--manifest' more visible.

* doc/guix.texi (Invoking guix package): Mention the declarative approach and
  --manifest in the intro.  And an anchor for --manifest.  Explain why/how it
  can be used.  Tweak wording.
This commit is contained in:
Ludovic Courtès 2015-05-22 11:08:28 +02:00
parent 6fb4fb717d
commit 99bd74d549

@ -941,7 +941,7 @@ guix package @var{options}
Primarily, @var{options} specifies the operations to be performed during
the transaction. Upon completion, a new profile is created, but
previous generations of the profile remain available, should the user
previous @dfn{generations} of the profile remain available, should the user
want to roll back.
For example, to remove @code{lua} and install @code{guile} and
@ -951,6 +951,11 @@ For example, to remove @code{lua} and install @code{guile} and
guix package -r lua -i guile guile-cairo
@end example
@command{guix package} also supports a @dfn{declarative approach}
whereby the user specifies the exact set of packages to be available and
passes it @i{via} the @option{--manifest} option
(@pxref{profile-manifest, @option{--manifest}}).
For each user, a symlink to the user's default profile is automatically
created in @file{$HOME/.guix-profile}. This symlink always points to the
current generation of the user's default profile. Thus, users can add
@ -1062,21 +1067,32 @@ substring ``emacs'':
$ guix package --upgrade . --do-not-upgrade emacs
@end example
@item --manifest=@var{file}
@item @anchor{profile-manifest}--manifest=@var{file}
@itemx -m @var{file}
Create a new @dfn{generation} of the profile from the manifest object
@cindex profile declaration
@cindex profile manifest
Create a new generation of the profile from the manifest object
returned by the Scheme code in @var{file}.
A manifest file may look like this:
This allows you to @emph{declare} the profile's contents rather than
constructing it through a sequence of @code{--install} and similar
commands. The advantage is that @var{file} can be put under version
control, copied to different machines to reproduce the same profile, and
so on.
@c FIXME: Add reference to (guix profile) documentation when available.
@var{file} must return a @dfn{manifest} object, which is roughly a list
of packages:
@findex packages->manifest
@example
(use-package-modules guile emacs gcc)
(use-package-modules guile emacs)
(packages->manifest
(list guile-2.0
emacs
(list emacs
guile-2.0
;; Use a specific package output.
(list gcc "debug")))
(list guile-2.0 "debug")))
@end example
@item --roll-back