Re: doc: Removing much of Binary Installation

[pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)]

Hello Matt and all.  As a more proper review, I first tried
guix-install.sh on a Debian GNU/Hurd VM.  It fails, telling me:

[1709825168.049]: [ INFO ] init system is: sysv-init
[1709825168.059]: [ FAIL ] Unsupported CPU type: i686-AT386

The script guix-install.sh cannot be used on any GNU/Hurd system.
Vagrant’s guix package is missing on Debian GNU/Hurd as well, which is
fine of course, but we should not claim otherwise.  Therefore, could you
change it like the old instructions and only talk about GNU/Linux?

> If, instead, you want to install the complete GNU operating system,
> @pxref{System Installation}.

Maybe better say “complete Guix operating system”?  *complete* GNU
operating system maybe should only be used for GNU/Hurd.

You suggested in your mail:

Matt <matt@excalamus.com> writes:
> Readers interested
> in those details may read the code for 'guix-install.sh'.

Could you add this suggestion to your diff?

Further:

IIRC, you are removing the manual installation.  Therefore, the sentence
would have to be removed: “The following sections describe two methods
of installation, binary installation and building from source.”

Also,

Matt <matt@excalamus.com> writes:
> - Add commas in appropriate places; after "For...Ubuntu-based
> systems", "Likewise", and the 'or' within the list of substitutes

I’m not a native speaker, but I believe the commas are not necessary.
There particularly does not need to be an Oxford comma before ‘or’.
There could be, but there is no reason to change it.

Similarly, IMO the nuances are more appropriate in the old wording “For
Debian or a derivative such as Ubuntu,” rather than your change “For
Debian and Ubuntu-based systems”.

At the beginning, “You can install the Guix package management tool on
top of an existing” makes it appear as if Guix were not a distribution.
It is both a tool and a distro.  A distro does not need to be an OS.
For example, MSYS2 is a distribution.  I therefore nitpickingly prefer
“You can install Guix”.  Admittedly, the wording was vague before,
perhaps deliberately.

“Use of @file{guix-install.sh} requires Bash, GNU@tie{}tar, wget, and
Xz.” is incomplete when applied to guix-install.sh, which also requires
GnuPG.

Regards,
Florian