[Nix-dev] Sidestepping the community builds trust issue?

[Jonn Mostovoy]

As Nicolas pointed out after we have presented our plan of attacking
this problem (and as it was mentioned by Dan here), builds are only
locally-reproducible.
There is no guarantee that a build built by my machine and your
machine will yield the same hash.

It got me thinking -

 1. Did anybody measure deviation in output hashes we'll face if we
are to try to "simply" distribute the builds?
 2. Do you think that asking companies / individuals to contribute
standard hardware with standard nixos configuration would reduce the
deviation in output hashes?

Regarding proposed approach -

 1. Priorities in distributed systems make Joe Armstrong sad.
 2. We're increasing distribution at a cost of bigger decentralization.
 3. Even if this workaround works, it's still a hack. It will lead to
community not perceiving what is a problem as a problem. I say we
should avoid success at all costs and deliver the correct solution to
the problem of distributed builds.
—
Kindest regards,
¬Σ


On Fri, Dec 25, 2015 at 10:57 AM, Michael Raskin <7c6f434c at mail.ru> wrote:
>>A web-of-trust type approach is what I have previously heard discussed. In
>>the context of such an approach, I have three things to say in support of
>>my proposal.
>
>>3. In those first two points, I claim some advantage relative to a
>>web-of-trust style approach. However, both ideas are fully compatible.
>>Precisely because my suggestion makes no changes to the current trust
>>model, it would be just as easy (or difficult) to add in a web-of-trust
>>style mechanism afterwards. However, of the two, it seems to me that this
>>idea has significantly lower barriers to full implementation in the short
>>term, which is why I bring it up.
>
> I think that web-of-trust model allows to get some benefits even when
> Nix builds are only a part of the computer's load. In that sense it gets
> lower barrier of entry for contributors. But maybe there are enough
> teams who do have full-time Nix build slaves…
>
>
>
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