path: root/2018-03-25-guix-libreplanet/guix-libreplanet.org

#+TITLE: Practical, verifiable software freedom with GuixSD
#+AUTHOR: David Thompson
#+EMAIL: dthompson2@worcester.edu
#+DATE: Sunday, March 25th, 2018
#+DESCRIPTION:
#+KEYWORDS:
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* about me

  GNU Guix contributor since 2013

  GNU Guile user and contributor since 2012

  day job: DevOps (AWS, Ruby)

  mastodon: https://toot.cat/@dthompson

  blog: https://dthompson.us

* the four freedoms

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm]{run.jpg}
  \end{center}

  0: The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose

* the four freedoms

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm]{edit.jpg}
  \end{center}

  1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it
     does your computing as you wish

* the four freedoms

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm]{share.jpg}
  \end{center}

  2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor

* the four freedoms

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm]{contribute.jpg}
  \end{center}

  3: The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to
     others

* the four freedoms

  a wonderful set of rights, but often *difficult to exercise in
  practice*

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=10cm]{distracted-boyfriend.png}
  \end{center}

* common issues

  figuring out how to view the exact source for a running program can
  be tricky

  - source packages are good but are a bit arcane IMO

* common issues

  building from source is difficult or sometimes impossible

  - dependency hell
  - non-standard build system
  - build scripts make assumptions that aren't true for your system
  - need multiple package managers

* common issues

  sharing binaries can be tricky, too

  - high barrier to entry for common package formats
  - binary bundles are convenient, but problematic

* common issues

  major system upgrades can lead to sadness

  ever upgrade your system, reboot, and find yourself in a completely
  broken state?

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=9cm]{ron-swanson.jpg}
  \end{center}

* freedom: embedded

  GuixSD removes many of the common barriers that prevent users from
  exercising their four freedoms

* what is guixsd?

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics{guixsd-logo.png}
  \end{center}

  GuixSD is a fully-free GNU/Linux distribution with an advanced
  package manager and system upgrade mechanism

  source code licensed under GPLv3 (*shocker*)

* what is guix?

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=8cm]{guix-logo.png}
  \end{center}

  Guix is GuixSD's package manager (like apt, yum, pacman, etc.)

  - unpriviliged package management
  - per-user profiles
  - atomic updates and rollbacks
  - reproducible builds
  - source-based with transparent binary downloads

* unprivileged package management

  users can build and install software *without root privileges*

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=8cm]{package-install.png}
  \end{center}

* per-user profiles

  each user may have one or more “profiles”, a union of many packages,
  *without clobbering another user’s environment*

  use cases:

  - Alyssa and Ben use different versions of Emacs
  - Alyssa hacks on 2 Ruby projects that require different versions

* transactional upgrades and rollbacks

  experiment without fear!

  =guix package --upgrade emacs=

  oh no, the new version of Emacs is broken!

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm]{oh-no.jpg}
  \end{center}

  =guix package --roll-back=

* a note about binaries

  there is *no central point of trust* for receiving
  pre-built binaries (we call them *substitutes*)

  Guix is a *source-based* package manager, but will *transparently*
  download pre-built binaries from a trusted third party, if
  available.

* inspecting source code

  quickly grab the source code for a package:

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    tar xf $(guix build --source gimp)
  #+END_SRC

* visualizing dependencies

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix graph haunt | dot -Tpng > graph.png
  #+END_SRC

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=11cm]{graph.png}
  \end{center}

* development environments

  =guix environment= is like Python’s virtualenv, Ruby’s rvm, Node’s
  nvm, etc. but for *everything*

  quick example: play with a Ruby REPL without installing Ruby

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix environment --ad-hoc ruby -- irb
  #+END_SRC

* sharing development environments

  #+BEGIN_SRC scheme
    (use-modules (guix profiles)
                 (gnu packages base)
                 (gnu packages guile))

    (packages->manifest
     (list gnu-make
           guile-2.2
           guile-syntax-highlight
           haunt))
  #+END_SRC

  use it:

  =guix environment --manifest=guix.scm=

* containerized environments

  experiment in an environment that is isolated from the rest of the
  system

  example: a relatively constrained web browser

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix environment --ad-hoc icecat \
         --container \
         --network \
         --share=$HOME/.mozilla \
         --share=$HOME/Downloads \
         --expose=/tmp/.X11-unix

    $ DISPLAY=:0.0 icecat
  #+END_SRC

* containerized environments (advanced)

  #+latex: \tiny{
  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    # Create a Guix container that shares the host's network devices,
    # GnuPG config, SSH config, and MySQL socket directory.  The container
    # includes all of the software that is needed to build the gem set
    # with Bundler.
    guix environment --container --network \
         --share=$HOME/.gnupg --share=$HOME/.ssh --share=/run/mysqld --share=$HOME/Code \
         --ad-hoc ruby@2.2 mariadb imagemagick libxml2 libxslt gcc-toolchain@4.9 \
         gcc@4.9:lib make git coreutils openssh libffi pkg-config which sed gawk \
         openssl grep findutils procps nss-certs sqlite inetutils rsync gnupg \
         pinentry-tty
    # Tweak the environment such that Ruby gems end up in the right place
    # and their binaries can be found.
    export GEM_HOME=$PWD/.gems
    export PATH=$GEM_HOME/bin:$PATH
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LIBRARY_PATH
    export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=$HOME/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh
    gpg-agent --daemon --enable-ssh-support --default-cache-ttl=10800 \
              --pinentry-program=$(which pinentry-tty)
    # Create gem directory.
    mkdir -p .gems
    # Create /usr/bin/env so Ruby scripts work.
    mkdir -p /usr/bin && ln -s $(which env) /usr/bin/env
    # Bundle!
    gem install bundler
    bundle config build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries --with-xml2-include=$C_INCLUDE_PATH/libxml2
    bundle
    # Start the server!
    rails server
  #+END_SRC
  #+latex: }

* system configurations

  system configuration files *fully describe* the resulting operating
  system

  since they are just text files, they can be easily backed up, stored
  in a version control system, and shared with other people

* sharing system configurations

  #+latex: \tiny{
  #+BEGIN_SRC scheme
    (operating-system
      (host-name "izanagi")
      (timezone "America/New_York")
      (locale "en_US.UTF-8")
      (bootloader (grub-configuration (target "/dev/sda")))
      (file-systems (cons (file-system
                            (device "root")
                            (title 'label)
                            (mount-point "/")
                            (type "ext4"))
                          %base-file-systems))
      (users (list (user-account
                    (name "dave")
                    (comment "David Thompson")
                    (group "users")
                    (supplementary-groups '("wheel" "netdev" "audio" "video"
                                            "cdrom" "kvm" "input" "dialout")
                    (home-directory "/home/dave"))))
      (packages (cons* arc-theme arc-icon-theme
                       htop less man-db ncurses nss-certs openssh unzip rsync
                       gnome-shell-extensions gnome-tweak-tool
                       %base-packages))
      (services (cons* (gnome-desktop-service)
                       %desktop-services))
      (name-service-switch %mdns-host-lookup-nss))
  #+END_SRC
  #+latex: }

* transactional upgrades and rollbacks redux

  system upgrades are transactional, too!

  =sudo guix system reconfigure my-machine.scm=

  oh no, the latest GuixSD updates broke my system!

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm]{oh-no.jpg}
  \end{center}

  no worries, just reboot and select the previous, working version
  from the bootloader menu

* sharing binaries

  start a server to share your builds:

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix publish
  #+END_SRC

  have a friend download them:

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix build \
         --substitute-urls=http://guix.example.com:8080 \
         hello
  #+END_SRC

  host your own Guix LAN party!

  \tiny{(okay that sounds kinda boring)}

* reproducible builds

  reproducible builds produce *bit-identical binaries* when performed
  multiple times under the same conditions.

  when builds are reproducible, we gain the ability to detect when
  binaries are compromised

  requires fixing issues in upstream build systems that are
  nondeterministic

* reproducible builds

  this is a *cross-distro effort*, but Guix was built to facilitate
  reproducibility from the beginning

  see Chris Lamb's talk /“You think you're not a target? A tale of
  three developers...”/ from yesterday for a deeper dive

  \center\huge{https://reproducible-builds.org}

* reproducible builds

  is this build reproducible on my machine?

  =guix build --rounds=3 python=

* challenge authority

  is this build reproducible on many machines?

  is this build compromised?

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix challenge emacs \
         --substitute-urls="https://mirror.hydra.gnu.org \
           https://bobs-questionable-binaries.biz"
  #+END_SRC

* reasons for mismatched binaries

  innocent build nondeterminism:
  - timestamps
  - hardware-specific optimizations (looking at you, ATLAS)
  - build directories
  - bad parallelism

  *or maybe…*

  - malicious tampering

* view the source

  show me how Ruby is built:

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    export EDITOR=emacs
    guix edit ruby
  #+END_SRC

* customize packages

  build Ruby using different source code:

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix build ruby --with-source=ruby-2.5.0.tar.gz
  #+END_SRC

* customize packages in Guix itself

  let's make some changes to the source code itself!

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git
    cd guix
    guix environment guix
    ./configure
    make
    ./pre-inst-env guix edit ruby
    guix build ruby
  #+END_SRC

  now make a patch and send it to us!

* sharing custom packages

  #+latex: \tiny{
  #+BEGIN_SRC scheme
    (define-public openfst
      (let ((commit "58983d37849a24ad80cf908098e2af7c4863941d"))
        (package
          (name "openfst")
          (version (string-append "1.4.1-1." (string-take commit 7)))
          (source (origin
                    (method git-fetch)
                    (uri (git-reference
                          (url "https://github.com/cobaltspeech/stable-openfst.git")
                          (commit commit)))
                    (file-name (string-append name "-" version))
                    (sha256
                     (base32
                      "0yikm03d82j6rpzqkg41yhs91lg4s9k03zhiqx7cndw9xqdsnbg1"))))
          (build-system gnu-build-system)
          (arguments
           '(#:configure-flags '("--with-pic"
                                 "--enable-shared"
                                 "--enable-static")))
          (synopsis "Finite-state transducer library")
          (description "OpenFst is a library for constructing, combining,
    optimizing, and searching weighted finite-state
    transducers (FSTs).")
          (home-page "https://github.com/cobaltspeech/stable-openfst")
          (license license:asl2.0))))
  #+END_SRC
  #+latex: }

 #+latex: \normalsize{
 #+BEGIN_SRC sh
  guix build --load-path=$HOME/my-packages openfst
 #+END_SRC
 #+latex: }

* interoperate with other systems

  need a Docker image?

  =guix pack --format=docker guile emacs geiser=

  (tangent: see /Solving the deployment crisis with GNU Guix/ from
  LibrePlanet 2016 for reasons why Docker may not be so great)

* interoperate with other systems

  or maybe you want something similar to snap or flatpak?

  make a tarball bundle that anyone can extract on their GNU/Linux
  system:

  =guix pack guile emacs geiser=

* import foreign packages

  or maybe you want assistance translating foreign packages into Guix
  packages:

  #+BEGIN_SRC sh
    guix import pypi flask
    guix import gem pry
    guix import elpa magit
  #+END_SRC

  and many more (CRAN, CPAN, Crate, etc.)

* literally: embedded

  fun fact: GuixSD now runs on the Beaglebone Black single-board
  computer!

  #+latex: \scriptsize{
  #+BEGIN_SRC scheme
    (operating-system
      (bootloader (bootloader-configuration
                   (bootloader u-boot-beaglebone-black-bootloader)
                   (target "/dev/mmcblk1")))
      (initrd-modules (cons "omap_hsmmc" %base-initrd-modules))
      (services (cons* (dhcp-client-service)
                       (agetty-service
                        (agetty-configuration
                         (extra-options '("-L"))
                         (baud-rate "115200")
                         (term "vt100")
                         (tty "ttyO0")))
                       %base-services))
      ...)
  #+END_SRC
  #+latex: }

  \normalsize{hopefully more ARM systems coming soon!}

* extending guix

  \begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm]{guile-logo.png}
  \end{center}

  GuixSD is essentially a big Scheme library

  with a little Scheme know-how its easy to write new packages,
  services, and tools that use the exact same APIs that the core Guix
  tools use

* extending guix (silly example)

  #+latex: \tiny{
  #+BEGIN_SRC scheme
    > (use-modules (guix packages) (gnu packages emacs))
    > (for-each (lambda (name)
                  (display (string-append "hey, " name "! You're an Emacs dependency!\n")))
                (sort (map car (package-inputs emacs)) string<))

    hey, acl! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, alsa-lib! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, dbus! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, giflib! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, gnutls! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, gtk+! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, imagemagick! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libice! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libjpeg! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libotf! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libpng! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, librsvg! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libsm! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libtiff! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libx11! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libxft! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libxml2! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, libxpm! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, m17n-lib! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, ncurses! You're an Emacs dependency!
    hey, zlib! You're an Emacs dependency!
  #+END_SRC
  #+latex: }

* the stack

  core components written in Scheme:

  - initial RAM disk
  - init system (GNU Shepherd)
  - package manager

  lots of code reuse and opportunities for extension

* challenges

  - usabliity
  - the npm problem
  - self-hosting compilers
  - cluster deployments

* the freedom to contribute

  The GNU Guix project has a welcoming community:

  - *code of conduct*
  - *Outreachy*
  - *Google Summer of Code*
  - oh, and no copyright assignment (in case you were wondering)

  we need your help to bring GuixSD to a wider audience!

  join us!

* thanks!

  \begin{center}
  docs, past talks, source code, mailing list/IRC info, etc.:
  \huge{\textbf{https://gnu.org/s/guix}}
  \end{center}

* credits

  © 2018 David Thompson

  Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0

  (sans the memes which I use under fair-use)

  GNU run, edit, share, contribute images:
  https://shop.fsf.org/tshirts-hoodies/4-gnus-4-freedoms-t-shirt