Re: guix pack -f docker and name ?

[zimoun]

Hi ludo,

On Mon, 20 May 2019 at 17:42, Ludovic Courtès <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> Hi Simon,
>
> zimoun <address@hidden> skribis:
>
> > 1.
> > The name of the tar is given at the end of the command `guix pack`. If
> > you forget to track it, then you need to re-run `guix pack` (obviously
> > with the very same parameters) to get it again.
> > It is not super user-friendly. :-)
> >
> > What to think to add an option to name a symbolic link to this file in
> > the store ?
> >
> > Currently, I am doing that by hand:
> >   guix pack -f docker ...
> >   # copy the name /gnu/store/<hash>-docker-pack.tar
> >   ln -s paste my-name
> >
> > In general, I choose my-name as <foo-bar>-<hash> with <foo-bar>
> > something to quickly remember what it is and the <hash> to be sure of
> > what it is.
>
> I think ‘guix pack’ should have a ‘-r/--root’ option like ‘guix build’
> so you can do:
>
>   guix pack -r my-image -f docker foo bar baz
>
> WDYT?

Yes, it better fits what I am more or less doing by hand.
Nice `guix pack` owns this option.

>
> > 2.
> > Once loaded with `docker load < /gnu/store/<hash>-docker-pack.tar`
> > then `docker image ls` list all the images. The REPOSITORY and TAG are
> > not super helpful. :-)
> > It is always: profile and <hash>.
> >
> > Maybe REPOSITORY should be guix and TAG should be <short-hash>-<name>.
> > Because when one has more than 2 images, after holidays it is not
> > possible to remember or they needs to track in a separate file what it
> > is.
>
> I agree, we can do better here.  :-)
>
> We could allow for user-provided names, and/or, when ‘--save-provenance’
> is used, we could show the commit ID or something.
>
> Ideas?

I was proposing:
 guix pack -f docker -r foo
generates the file:
/gnu/store/<long-hash>-docker-pack.tar
where the symlink foo to this file and the field REPOSITORY should be
guix and the field TAG should `foo-<short-hash>` where <short-hash>`
is let say 6 characters.

I do not know if it is the right way. What do people using Docker think ?


> You’ve already proposed other improvements to ‘guix pack -f’, and I
> think you should email a concise reminder to each specific improvement
> to bug-guix so we keep track of them.  I may be able to work on them
> soonish.

Ok.
You mean one "ticket" by minor "feature"?
Or one "ticket" collecting all the minor improvements (items)?

All the best,
simon