Re: [gentoo-dev] [PATCH] install-qa-check.d: Support QA{,_STRICT}_INSTALL_PATHS variables (bug 670902)

[Zac Medico <zmedico@gentoo.org>]

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On 11/12/18 9:44 PM, Michael Orlitzky wrote:
> On 11/12/2018 06:47 PM, Zac Medico wrote:
>>>
>>> The idea being, to put it in the right place by default, and let people
>>> override it with EXTRA_ECONF if they really want to download random
>>> binaries from strangers and run them.
>>
>> I recommend to add /nix to the whitelist because this is the default
>> location for all operating systems, as shown consistently throughout the
>> installation instructions found at
>> https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#chap-installation.
> 
> I mean... I know... my argument is not that they don't tell you to do
> something dumb. If you really want the official experience, you can
> close your eyes, cross your fingers, say a prayer to RMS, and then
> follow their installation instructions:
> 
>  $ curl https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh
> 
> The fact that some people choose to use portage to install it probably
> means that they were looking for something a little less yee-haw.

The benefit of using the ebuild is the same as always, it allows for
automated upgrade, uninstall, etc.

> We
> trust the package manager to not let ebuilds do dumb things to our
> systems: no surprise network access, no random filesystem reads/writes,
> reliable uninstalls, things installed in sensible paths, etc. We
> shouldn't make exceptions to those policies without a good reason.

What does any of this have to do with the nix having a file store under
/nix?

>> The nix manual also has this explicit warning in the "Building Nix from
>> Source" section found at https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#sec-building-source:
>>
>>> Warning: It is best not to change the Nix store from its default,
>> since doing
>>> so makes it impossible to use pre-built binaries from the standard Nixpkgs
>>> channels — that is, all packages will need to be built from source.
> 
> Do I have to be that guy who suggests that if people don't want to build
> from source, then maybe they took a wrong turn back at distrowatch?

They're able to choose between building from source or using prebuilt
packages, and changing the location of the /nix file store is unnecessary.

> You can override the nix store location with EXTRA_ECONF if you really
> want to dump stuff in /nix. At which point the warning is just telling
> you what's up: you're doing something wrong.

What's inherently wrong about nix having a file store under /nix? Is
this purely about FHS?
-- 
Thanks,
Zac


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