# Using \`\`make\`\` to manage guix home and system profiles

**URL:** <https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/using-make-to-manage-guix-home-and-system-profiles/307>\
**Category:** Guix\
**Created:** [February 19, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/using-make-to-manage-guix-home-and-system-profiles/307 "2024-02-19T19:16:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@moto](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/moto)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/using-make-to-manage-guix-home-and-system-profiles/307/1 "2024-02-19T19:16:38Z")

</div>

I am not a Makefile expert by any stretch of the imagination but I’ve been using make to simplify managing guix to minimize typing and wanted to share. The motivation for it comes especially with “pinning” channels to avoid rebuilding packages that take a long time to build and to only reconfigure when the configuration files have actually changed or guix has changed after a pull. Corrections and suggestions appreciated since the finer points of make conventions and syntax elude me.

Note: the way I actually use this is to `include` it in the `Makefile` where I set `GUIX_HOME_CONFIG` `GUIX_SYSTEM_CONFIG` `GUIX_MANIFEST`. Also I think checking out `/var/guix/profiles` really helps to understand how guix works.

```Makefile
# -L :: don't follow links
MAKEFLAGS += -L
CURRENT_GUIX = /var/guix/profiles/per-user/${USER}/current-guix
GUIX_HOME_PROFILE = /var/guix/profiles/per-user/${USER}/guix-home
GUIX_DEFAULT_PROFILE = /var/guix/profiles/per-user/${USER}/guix-profile
GUIX_SYSTEM_PROFILE = /var/guix/profiles/system
GUIX_CHANNELS = ${HOME}/.config/guix/channels.scm

# .guix-home links to $(GUIX_HOME_PROFILE) anyway
$(GUIX_HOME_PROFILE): $(GUIX_HOME_CONFIG) $(CURRENT_GUIX)
	guix home reconfigure $< 

# is sudo -E ok?
$(GUIX_SYSTEM_PROFILE): $(GUIX_SYSTEM_CONFIG) $(CURRENT_GUIX)
	sudo -E guix system reconfigure $<

.PHONY = test-guix-home test-guix-system
test-guix-home: $(GUIX_HOME_CONFIG)
	guix home reconfigure --dry-run --no-substitutes $<

test-guix-system: $(GUIX_SYSTEM_CONFIG)
	sudo -E guix system reconfigure --dry-run --no-substitutes $<

$(GUIX_DEFAULT_PROFILE): $(GUIX_MANIFEST)
	guix package --manifest=$<

$(GUIX_CHANNELS):
	guix describe -f channels > $@

$(GUIX_MANIFEST):
	guix package --export-manifest > $@

.PHONY = home
home: $(GUIX_HOME_PROFILE)

.PHONY = system
system: $(GUIX_SYSTEM_PROFILE)

.PHONY = profile
profile: $(GUIX_DEFAULT_PROFILE)

# guix pull && make channels
.PHONY = channels
channels:
	make --always-make $(GUIX_CHANNELS)

```

My update process looks about like this:

```bash
# update current-guix and pin channels
# channels can be "unpinned" by deleting a channel's commit field.
guix pull && make channels

# reconfigure system
make system

# reconfigure guix-home
make home

```

These I don’t use so much, I included them for “completeness” I guess

```bash
# reconfigure default profile, ie ~/.guix-profile
make profile
# also, can export the manifest of the default profile, again, haven't really used this:
make manifest

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mirkoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mirkoh](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/mirkoh)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/using-make-to-manage-guix-home-and-system-profiles/307/2 "2024-02-19T20:45:41Z")

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Thanks for posting this, I’m following a similar approach, I’m not using channels yet and I usually install the profiles manually, I almost never use `install_profiles` . Here is my makefile (I think that there is a .PHONY statement missing).

```auto
mkfile_path := $(abspath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))
mkfile_dir := $(dir $(mkfile_path))
mkfile_parent_dir := $(abspath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))../)

all: container

container:
	guix home container environment.scm -L $(mkfile_parent_dir)

reconfigure:
	guix home reconfigure environment.scm -L $(mkfile_parent_dir)

install_profiles: $(PROFILES)

PROFILES = \
	base \
	development \
	emacs \
	graphics \
	shell \
	desktop-utils \
	xfce \
	sway

$(PROFILES): 
	mkdir -p ~/.guix-extra-profiles/$@
	guix package -m $(mkfile_dir)/manifests/$@.scm -p ~/.guix-extra-profiles/$@/$@ -L $(mkfile_parent_dir)

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@moto](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/moto)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/using-make-to-manage-guix-home-and-system-profiles/307/3 "2024-02-19T21:44:36Z")

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That looks a lot like I had it setup before even using `MAKEFILE_LIST`.

I only recently started messing around with channels. I have `guix/channel` setup under version-control and in `channels.scm` with `file://` and the local path for the `url`. And then `guix/modules` which are part of `GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH` and `GUILE_LOAD_PATH` (why I have to use `sudo -E` to reconfigure the system profile)

I never implemented the extras profiles but I definitely see the virtue in it. Ideally, just to complicate things, I’d like to get [cuirass setup](https://guix.gnu.org/cuirass/manual/html_node/Specifications.html#Specifications) so that it automatically builds manifests from the channel .