Re: non-input dependencies Was: guile-dbi from guix not working

[Zelphir Kaltstahl]

Hi!

On 5/29/22 10:58, raingloom wrote:
> On Sun, 29 May 2022 13:27:23 +0530
> Arun Isaac <arunisaac@systemreboot.net> wrote:
>
> > Hi Zelphir,
> >
> > > Should guile-dbd-sqlite3 not be a dependency of guile-dbi then? But
> > > on the other hand, what if one only wanted to interact with one
> > > database type and not the other? So maybe not a must have dependency
> > > then. Hm. What is the typical Guix solution for this kind of
> > > "specialization" of a library? I think in the Python world, in
> > > requirements files it would be something like
> > > `library[specialization] == version`, to install that variant.
> > You can think of guile-dbd-* as plugins for guile-dbi. So, you install
> > guile-dbi along with whatever plugins you want for guile-dbi. It's no
> > different from installing emacs and installing emacs packages of
> > interest. I don't think we need a special Guix feature for this.
> >
> > But, guile-dbi should be fixed to produce a proper error message that
> > a required plugin is missing. It should not produce misleading error
> > messages like "file not found". If you're up for it, you can try
> > reporting this to guile-dbi upstream.
> >
> > Cheers!
> > Arun
> I disagree, Guix packages should make it clear when they have
> non-input dependencies. Users should not be forced to play
> dependency-whack-a-mole.
> Run-time dependencies should either be listed in the package
> description or in some extra field.
> I absolutely hate it that I have to go look at bug trackers and
> external docs to find out why a package I installed isn't working
> correctly, especially when other package managers have already solved
> this issue.
> We don't have to do the exact same thing as them, but there has to be
> some way for a user to know if, for example, they need ffmpeg in their
> manifest if they want to use yt-dlp.

I think I get both of your viewpoints. I did not think of the database specific 
packages as plugins, but it makes sense. However, it also makes sense, that you 
need at least one of them, to actually do anything with guile-dbi (as far as I 
know), so it is also not the case, that you could make much use of guile-dbi 
without any of those packages.

Maybe one solution could be having 1 general package acting like guile-dbi 
package is acting now, in terms of dependencies, and also having N packages, one 
for each guile-dbi + database specific combination, so that you can install a 
package that does take care of installing all things required for working with 
that specific database.

But maybe that would become too many packages in the future to keep track of and 
update accordingly. And also now I know what mistake I made and things work. But 
what about the next person? Is there some way, that there could be a hint, when 
installing guile-dbi, that you might need another package as well? And how often 
is there such a situation? Maybe creating a general solution is not worth it, or 
maybe it is.

Of course, the error message could be better, as it also directed me to tripple 
and quadruppel checking, that I am specifying the correct filename and that I am 
not insane.

Anyway, thanks for the help and the explanations all : )

Best regards,
Zelphir

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repositories: https://notabug.org/ZelphirKaltstahl