Re: Blog: Guix packaging tutorial

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Pierre,

> Ricardo Wurmus <address@hidden> writes:
>> * I wonder if maybe we should avoid using “guix package” for the first
>>   example and use “guix build” instead.  The reason is that “guix
>>   package” might cause additional builds to be performed dependent on
>>   the state of the user’s default profile (because of profile hooks).
>>   Using “guix build” bypasses this issue completely.  What do you think?
>
> Hmm... Installing a package is something more familiar than just "building".
> Besides, with the new "cleaner" output, it's only a few lines which the user 
> is
> going to see all the time, so I don't think there is much complexity we can
> trim here.
>
> If we first build, then package, it makes the "easy" example an extra step 
> more
> complicated.

I assumed we would just build the package, not build and install.  When
packaging something, the common thing to do is to build, change, build
again, … and in the end maybe install (or submit to the mailing list).

>> * “Create a folder” –> “Create a directory”; “folder” is a GUI metaphor,
>>   but that’s nitpicking to be fair.  I prefer “directory”, but use
>>   “folder” if you find it better :)
>
> Funny, I did not know that :p What is the GUI metaphor precisely?  I 
> personally
> prefer "folder" for the simple reason that it's shorter, but I don't mind
> changing ;)

A directory is a file system concept: a special kind of file that is a
directory of files.  IIRC the term “folder” was introduced with Windows
and the metaphor is that of a physical folder to store paper documents;
it came together with the icon of a cardboard folder, which is still
used in modern GUIs.

>> * The section on “Recursive importers” does not mention any recursive
>>   importers :)  How about using the CRAN importer here, which supports
>>   recursive importing with the “-r” option?
>
> Hmm... I can't get this to work.
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> guix import cran --recursive lubridate
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> returns only one package.

That’s because the recursive importer won’t import packages for which
Guix already has package definitions (except for the very first).
“r-lubridate” already exists, and so do all its dependencies.

Currently, “walrus” and some of its dependencies have not been packaged
yet, so this command will give you representative output:

    guix import cran -r walrus

> In fact, the "-r,--recursive" flag is missing from
> the `guix import cran -h` documentation (while it's there for pipy).  I cannot
> get it to work for pipy either.

Oh, that’s a bug then.  We should fix that.

--
Ricardo