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chapter 4: add note about proprietary software in Guix
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src/thesis/4-conclusion.typ

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@@ -196,17 +196,24 @@ to manage, especially when dealing with networking, storage and security.
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Guix has been an interesting tool to evaluate. While the learning curve is
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steeper than Docker, the benefits are significant. I appreciated the strict and
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declarative approach to package management, which aligns well with the
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reproducibility goals. The idea of using an existing general purpose language
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for declaring packages and configurations is a powerful idea. The community is
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small but active, however since no proprietary tools are packaged, it can be a
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challenge for users to find the software they need. There are workarounds
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existing but it is not advertised by the Guix community which tend to focus and
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adhere to the free software philosophy #cite(<fsfwebsite>, form: "normal"). The
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performance of Guix is great, since no containerization is involved, the
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software runs natively on the system and accessing storage and network is a
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breeze. Guix extensively uses `git` #cite(<git>, form: "normal") for fetching
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packages and configurations, and the information displayed to the user while
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running it is very clean and clear.
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reproducibility goals. The idea of using an existing general-purpose language
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for declaring packages and configurations is a powerful idea. The Guix community
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is small but active. The absence of proprietary tools in the official repository
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can pose challenges for users who require specific software, and while there are
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workarounds for using proprietary software, these are not highlighted by the
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Guix community, which remains dedicated to free software. However, this strong
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adherence to the GNU philosophy and the principles of the @fsfwebsite ensures
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that Guix maintains its commitment to software freedom and user respect. This
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has an immediate consequence on long-term and archivable reproducibility by
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mitigating issues associated with proprietary software, which may become
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unavailable or unmaintained over time
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#cite(<9403875>, form: "normal", supplement: [Criterion 8]). The performance of
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Guix are great; since no containerization is involved, the software runs
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natively on the system, making accessing storage and network services
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straightforward. Guix extensively uses `git` #cite(<git>, form: "normal") for
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fetching package configurations. The command line user interface is very
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intuitive, and the information displayed to the user while running it is very
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clean and clear.
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Nix has been the most interesting approaches to evaluate, technically but also
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politically. The learning curve is steep, but the benefits are significant.

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