Table of Contents

1. MSG (Mac Subsystem for Guix)
   1. Description
2. Now available for both Apple Silicon and Intel based Macs!
   1. README (WIP)
      1. Prerequisites:
      2. Installation
      3. Available Commands (after adding bashrc/zshrc options)
      4. Notes:
      5. Discord:
      6. Interested in supporting the project?

MSG (Mac Subsystem for Guix)

Description

MSG is an attempt to create a native-like experience for GUIX on MacOS, using methods inspired by others like Podman/Docker/Lima.

Now available for both Apple Silicon and Intel based Macs!

README (WIP)

Prerequisites:

• qemu
• wget
• git
• xquartz (optional for GUI applications)

Installation

1. clone the project using git clone https://pagure.io/MSG/msg-qemu.git ~/.guix

2. copy Guix.app from ~/.guix to your Applications folder

3. Run the guix application (this will take a minute to download the most recent image)

4. add these lines to your shell rc file (bashrc/zshrc) to access the guix environment from MacOS :

   alias guix="ssh -i $HOME/.guix/ssh-cert/msg_rsa admin@127.0.0.1 -p 9001 'guix'" 
   alias guix-env='f(){ ssh -X -I $HOME/.guix/ssh-cert/msg_rsa admin@127.0.0.1 -p 9001 /home/admin/.guix-profile/bin/$@;  unset -f f; }; f'
   alias guix-app='f(){ ssh -X -i $HOME/.guix/ssh-cert/msg_rsa admin@127.0.0.1 -p 9001 /home/admin/.guix-profile/bin/$@;  unset -f f; }; f'
   alias guix-shell="ssh -X -i $HOME/.guix/ssh-cert/msg_rsa admin@127.0.0.1 -p 9001"
   

5. Make sure to restart your terminal or source your shellrc file after editing it (e.g source ~/.bashrc)

Available Commands (after adding bashrc/zshrc options)

• guix : A straight passthrough to the guix application
• guix-shell: Connect to the vm over ssh
• guix-env : Can be used to pass cli commands interactively
• guix-app : Used to passthrough X11 applications from the vm to macos using xquartz

Notes:

• Currently guix-env sudo guix system reconfigure /etc/config.scm is not supported. You must use guix-shell to ssh into the environment and then run sudo guix system reconfigure /etc/config.scm
• The host home directory is mounted as /mnt/macos in the virtual environment
• The default user/credentials are admin/admin
• For xquartz to be able to display X11 apps forwarded from the vm, you must open xquartz and go to Top Menu->Xquartz->Settings->Security->Enable 'Allow connections from network clients'
• If xquartz is enabled, you can use the .app files under ~/.guix/apps to launch guix programs from macos

Discord:

Feel free to join the discord server and ask questions/share your experiences! https://discord.gg/WSceSUhs6t

Interested in supporting the project?

Liberapay : https://liberapay.com/SuperKamiGuru/donate