nonguix/README.org

#+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 image --image-size=7.2GiB /path/to/this/channel/nongnu/system/install.scm
#+end_src

As indicated bellow, you will need to run ~guix pull~ to download the
Nonguix package descriptions. Some free space on your USB thumbdrive is
required for this operation to succeed. The ~--image-size~ option allows
you to specify the size of the image and, as such, to allocate free space
to it. The given value is purely indicative. It obviously depends on your
thumbdrive capacity.

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, blacklist conflicting kernel modules, and while not
required, it is recommended to stay with Linux LTS releases:

#+BEGIN_SRC scheme
  (use-modules (nongnu packages linux))

  (operating-system
    (kernel linux-lts)
    ;; 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 [[https://libera.chat/][Libera Chat]].