@@ -35724,9 +35724,21 @@ bootloader boot menu:
@table @code
@item describe
-Describe the current system generation: its file name, the kernel and
+Describe the running system generation: its file name, the kernel and
bootloader used, etc., as well as provenance information when available.
+@quotation Note
+The @emph{running} system generation---referred to by
+@file{/run/current-system}---is not necessarily the @emph{current}
+system generation---referred to by @file{/var/guix/profiles/system}: it
+differs when, for instance, you chose from the bootloader menu to boot
+an older generation.
+
+It can also differ from the @emph{booted} system generation---referred
+to by @file{/run/booted-system}---for instance because you reconfigured
+the system in the meantime.
+@end quotation
+
@item list-generations
List a summary of each generation of the operating system available on
disk, in a human-readable way. This is similar to the
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
-;;; Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;; Copyright © 2013-2022 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
;;; Copyright © 2013 Nikita Karetnikov <nikita@karetnikov.org>
;;; Copyright © 2014, 2016 Alex Kost <alezost@gmail.com>
;;; Copyright © 2015 Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>
@@ -2037,9 +2037,14 @@ (define (profile-regexp profile)
(make-regexp (string-append "^" (regexp-quote (basename profile))
"-([0-9]+)")))
-(define (generation-number profile)
- "Return PROFILE's number or 0. An absolute file name must be used."
- (or (and=> (false-if-exception (regexp-exec (profile-regexp profile)
+(define* (generation-number profile
+ #:optional (base-profile profile))
+ "Return PROFILE's number or 0. An absolute file name must be used.
+
+Optionally, if BASE-PROFILE is provided, use it instead of PROFILE to
+construct the regexp matching generations. This is useful in special cases
+like: (generation-number \"/run/current-system\" %system-profile)."
+ (or (and=> (false-if-exception (regexp-exec (profile-regexp base-profile)
(basename (readlink profile))))
(compose string->number (cut match:substring <> 1)))
0))
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
-;;; Copyright © 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;; Copyright © 2014-2022 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
;;; Copyright © 2016 Alex Kost <alezost@gmail.com>
;;; Copyright © 2016, 2017, 2018 Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com>
;;; Copyright © 2017, 2019 Mathieu Othacehe <m.othacehe@gmail.com>
@@ -1328,7 +1328,7 @@ (define-syntax-rule (with-store* store exp ...)
(x (leave (G_ "wrong number of arguments~%"))))))
(list-generations pattern)))
((describe)
- (match (generation-number %system-profile)
+ (match (generation-number "/run/current-system" %system-profile)
(0
(leave (G_ "no system generation, nothing to describe~%")))
(generation